Ironwood Forest

The Ironwood Forest is a dense, magical forest in northwestern Brennis. The forest was formed during the union of Yala(Goddess of Life) and Sifor(God of the Sun), whose love filtered down into the trees of the ironwood, hardening their wood and bark into a rigid substance as strong as steel and light as pine. Wodea(Goddess of Plants) was born from the magic filtered down from the trees, and the wood elves were created to tend her garden.

Even before the Godswar the wood elves were particularly xenophobic, keeping outsiders at arms length. All non elf humanoids are turned away. Most who wander more than a few dozen feet off the designated Godsroad into the forest find themselves at a loss of consciousness and wake up with a few bruises back where they entered. Some who arrive for more nefarious purposes are never seen again.

Wood elves do not often leave the forest, but occasionally some will leave as craftsmen or merchants selling ironwood goods. Since wood elves are the only ones that can work and shape ironwood, whenever an ironwood ship is commissioned an elder of the wood elves will leave the forest and work with whatever country ordered the wood. No elves would dare cut down an ironwood tree, but on occasion the soil near a river will erode to the point where a tree will fall of its own volition. Selling these fallen trees for ironwood lumber is an incredibly important source of income for the elves, who use that money to purchase magic items for unknown purposes.

The wild elves are born of the ironwood trees themselves. When a couple desires a child, they pray to a Mother Tree, an ancient ironwood tree in the depths of the forest. The couple meditates next to the tree, and if the forest desires it a child will be placed swaddled in ironwood leaves when their spirits return to their bodies. The Mother Tree an elf was born to is a closely guarded secret, for any tree that dies will kill any of the elves born of it.