Yuirwood
The Yuirwood is named for the Yuir, the ancient star elves and green elves who once made this part of the world their home. Once this vast, green forest covered almost the entire peninsula, but today Aglarond’s largest cities and most of its people are scattered along its rocky northern coast. In six centuries of human settlement, its northern edges have receded up to fifty miles from the coast at some points, but the tenacious forest seems to be making a comeback.
The Yuirwood divides Aglarond into two nations—or three, if you count Altumbel as separate, as its inhabitants do. The Aglarond most travelers see is the old human realm of Velprin along the coastal plains of the northern shore. It consists of wide, rolling farmlands and handsome port cities, interspersed with the manors and estates of Aglarond’s human nobility and wealthy merchants. While half-elves thrive here, they are outnumbered by their human kin. Some fear that in the lands north of the Yuirwood, Aglarond’s half-elven heritage is slowly drowning in a rising sea of humanity.
The other Aglarond—the old, true land—consists of the half-elf villagers and foresters who call the Yuirwood their home. These are an insular people, suspicious of strangers, even fellow Aglarondans of the coasts. They recognize the rule of the Simbul and her advisory council but have as little to do with the outside world as possible. Those who get to know the people of the Yuirwood find them to be warm companions and loyal friends. This is rare, however, since the half-elves hide in the deep woods and do not confront strangers unless pressed by need or circumstance. The Yuirwood is a temperate deciduous forest, with milder winters than typical of a land at this latitude. In the spring and summer, it is a sweltering tangle of brush and dense thickets, virtually impassable to anyone who doesn’t know its ways. A low but rugged spine of forest-covered hills runs the length of the peninsula, and from these well-watered highlands innumerable streams descend to the coastal lands, although few are large enough to be termed rivers. Game is plentiful but wary, as dangerous beasts and monstrous predators hunt through the green gloom. Few truly malevolent creatures haunt the forest, but foul-tempered beasts such as boars or monstrous spiders are every bit as dangerous to the unwary traveler.
Strange enchantments and old, strong magic are thick in the Yuirwood. The ancient star elves were masters of powerful magic, and they left behind two legacies that continue to be useful. First, the Yuirwood is impenetrable to detection and scrying magic. Attempts to pierce the Yuirwood’s leafy canopy reveal the wood, but that’s it. They cannot reveal any specific location, nor can they magically locate or track anyone under its boughs. The subject is not shielded in any way—it just seems not to be there, or anywhere else, at all. Over the centuries, this phenomenon has served Aglarond well, since enemies who inspect the place magically find nothing to report.
Second, the Yuirwood is littered with ruins, remnants of the great elven society that once called this land home. These are wonderful places for treasure seekers, but the most amazing ruins are the circles of menhirs, standing stone monuments carved in an ancient Elven dialect. The magic of these circles has faded with the strength of the Yuirwood itself, but there is some power left in them. The menhir circles, many of which are nearly swallowed by the forest’s undergrowth, form a network of portals that can be activated by those who know their secret. This knowledge is guarded by an elite group of half-elven druids and rangers known as the Masters of the Yuirwood. Using these circles, they can quickly transport themselves and their friends from one point in the Yuirwood to another instantaneously.
Menhir circles sometimes trigger themselves by the light of a full moon, and they are frequently employed by the Yuirwood’s fey folk on these nights. Any of these portals can connect to any other menhir circle within the Yuirwood, but never beyond—at least not intentionally. When not triggered by a Master of the Yuirwood, treat these stone circles as malfunctioning portals.
