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Time Line

• Forest was conjoined to the sphere of necromancy corrupting nature.
• This was blamed on the drow and Kerney Oakrot developed the control collar
• The Nar and Sol Silvani joined forces and overthrew the drow. Given the choice of extinction or permanent slavery for their people the drow chose slavery. This was punishment for the crime of corrupting the entire plane.
• The Hierophants were once the ruling caste of the plane. However the Nar and Sol Silvani overthrew then and they retreated to their glades of power.
• Nar and Sol Silvani war with each other.
• Kerney Oakrot tries to prevent the war (?) by bringing the ruling houses of each side together in marriage. Queen Flaron and King Nearlass.
• Instead they fight a duel. At the height of the battle the Queen slips and the King closes in on the prone ruler. The Queens warriors outraged by the lack of honour displayed charge the field to defend her to the inevitable result. *This is the tale of the Nar Silvani so a pinch of salt must be take with it.
• Hunter Greenshield is reduced to a puddle on Orin Rakatha and I believe some form of re-birth took place creating "The Hunter" a mindless creature of great nature power. The rebirth may have failed due to the fact that Hunter was not truly dead.
• Some young Nar and Sol Silvani have grown disillusioned with the war and have decided to join forces in rebellion against their elders with the help of Rollu and Sunset the latter being one of the Hierophants.
• Kerney has accessed an ancient and powerful artefact that has opened a portal to the realm of undead (plane of sleepless dead???). It is drawing through powerful undead which he is able to control through this item.
• The plane is being (or was) misaligned with the glades of power hence Rollu and Jezra have lost contact.
• Travellers to the plane now show up as "unranked travellers" and could possibly be controlled as such by Kerney with the artefact. This could be similar to the effect of possession on the plane of sleepless dead? I would suggest that visitors to the plane try blessing themselves before entering to test this effect. Authors Note: This was tried on our last visit and proved to be ineffective.
• Kerney has also summoned Arboreal Snakemen, believed to be a creature of myth onto the FOUT they are working for him.
• Sunset and Rollu followed the Snakeman after a Valley group injured it, the intent was to take the fight to Oakrot, and nothing has been heard of Rollu and Sunset since.
• Sunset and his companions reputedly slew Oakrot, although Rollu did not take part in the attack having exhausted his power.
• Oakrot has since been seen and now appears to be a “creature of the forest” as the Hunter and Rollu appear, created of earth, sticks and forest debris.
• Nar and Sol Silvani begin form an army and begin advancing on the "Dark Heart of the Wood" with the intention of reaching a building in the centre. I suspect that the Nar and Sol Silvani are being controlled using the Master Torc to take over those wearing the Control Torcs.
• The Dark Heart was guarded by 24 guardians, spider creatures and Ferals.
• At the centre of the Dark Heart lay some sort of power centre that was linked to the mind of one of the Yuan-Ti (Snakemen creatures). I am unsure as to what this actually signifies.

People and Groups

• Rollu - The reincarnated spirit of the Old Valley Druid who was killed by a single arrow fired by an empire monk while he was meditating on controlling an earth elemental that was keeping members of the Empires Unit 17 in his cave. Now he is a creature of Earth, stone and Wood and is seen as an "unkillable monster" by the natives of FOUT. He has great powers of Nature and Necromancy (although I have seen little evidence of his using Necromancy). An Ally to be sure.
• Nar Silvani - A group of elves. They wield the powers of Chaos, evil and a smidgen of neutral. They operate in bands lead by an individual of age and stature who will wear one of the control collars. They live in the forests. They are ruled by a council of elders and a Queen who is voted into office. Some of them have expressed dislike for the present queen.
• Sol Silvani - Another group of elves. Powers of Law, Goodness and the Mind (psionic?). They are glade dwellers and the tales tell of martial glory resplendent legions etc. However the Nar Silvani used the powers of chaos to shatter the legions causing them to run in random directions. Now they operate in small groups lead by a champion supported by a mage, priest and some lesser warriors. They are still lead by a King however that is all the information I have gleaned about them.
• Mor Silvani - Drow - Slaves or hunted. Jezra said that a group of free drow live in "the Dark Heart of the Wood" where people fear to go. Interesting, a Valley group will no doubt stick their noses in soon.
• Jezra Hunnet SoulShriever - SoulShriever is a rank given to those on the path to become a hierophant. He is an ally of Rollu's and a major player in the Drow resistance. He and his drowic allies lived in the "dark heart of the wood" where the Nar and Sol Silvani feared to tread. We assisted him and some of his people to escape via a grove and he is now the head of the Kalid Pulse sect of the Earthwarp (a position originally offered to Rollu as the Leader of the Pulse, Narsil the Decayer, feared he was growing to weak to hold onto power and wished leadership to go to someone of his choice and not taken by force).
• Kerney Oakrot - The master hierophant, awarded this rank for creating the Drow control collars, the Master Collars that he sells or distributes to the leaders of the Nar and Sol Silvani. He dwells in the Glade of the Poisoned Heart, which has a connection to Fearons Elven glade upon Orin Rakatha.
• Allani Vissellial - An elder of the Nar Silvani, appears to display the powers of a Grey Sorcerer and possibly wizardry in other colours. He was in possession of a Master Collar. Most notably he seems to with (or more likely for even if he does not realise it) Oakrot. He was killed on my last mission the Forest however he could have returned in undead form or been resurrected by Oakrot.
• Arboreal Snakemen (Authors Note - Yuan-ti I believe) - Summoned from legend by Oakrot to act as allies. The inhabitants of the Forest has thought them myth until they were seen some months ago. I am unaware of the exact nature of these creatures. These creatures, if they are the same as the ones faced on the last patrol, use Psionic powers and have the ability to poison their blades using saliva.
• Undead - These come principally in two forms.
  • Naturally created undead. These grow in the forest as natural creatures and are seen as such by the natives of the plane. They are unranked and cannot be controlled in the usual fashion although Oakrot can using the artefact he owns. Most common are things such as wood ghouls and wood ghasts
  • Created undead. These will typically be sent by a Hierophant as few others have that ability now. The prefix Wood upon the forest does not appear to count in the control invocation (ie a Wood-Ghoul can be controlled or dismissed) I have not had opportunity to test if this is true for Double named undead with a Wood Prefix (such as a Wood Warrior Ghoul?) and Dismiss. The types I have encountered so far are.
    • Wood Ghouls/Ghasts - as the Orin Rakathan equivalent with the added bonus that they are controllable. Power certainly affected them however I am unsure of other weaknesses (Rank 4-6)
    • Crimson Tenders - Red creatures that wield fire magic to a great extent. Affected by magic, unsure of other weaknesses. Rank 7 (Authors Note - not controllable!).
    • Woodsmen - Sentient undead with intelligence, some we met could speak and tried to tempt us to attack them knowing that our ward would fall if we did so. They are warriors and I saw none use any magic or power. I believe they were affected by any form of attack.
  On a side note Skeletons are very rare upon the Forest perhaps due to the fact that the undead grow in the woods and the Ghouls appear formed from Wood, dirt etc. Few bodies must be available in order to create such creatures (in fact Jezra indicated that Skeletons are considered valuable on the Plane).

Other Things of Note

• Power and Magic are closely related on the plane. Rollu called forth the powers of the woods to create a ward similar to those that I can create (only much more powerful) however when it was examined it was found to contain mana and not power. No distinction is made by the natives of the Forest between Magic and Power.
• Leesan Herbs - This is a herb that grows upon the forest that provides relief and temporary immunity to the wood-ghoul paralysis, The herbs must be fresh however and once dried they lose their potency.
• ?????? Herb - There is another herb of great power that also must be used fresh. It is capabale of calling a spirit back to the body (as per an elixir) without regard of the injuries that slew them if applied within 1 minute of death it does not appear to be limited in any way as our elixirs are.
• ?????? Herb - Another herb we were shown can be used to restore life to the dead. The Herb is suffused in water for a minute that the leaf is placed into the mouth of the deceased along with a few drops of the water. Life is restored almost instantly.
• The Champion of the Swan Guard of the Sol Silvani was apparently an elf from Tharanduill.
• The Sol Silvani number members of the Deep Woods (as per the old Valley Plane) amongst their number.

The information within this document has been drawn together from a number of sources including the authors own experiences. Some may be inaccurate, should any member of the Valley discover anything new, or anything within here to be false then please contact me so I may update my notes. Should anyone have further questions then please feel free to contact me through the usual channels.

May the Spheres Guide and Protect You,

Shard,
High Priest of the Grey Wardens.
Ixanith Huranduill Jaraxle,
Soothsayer of Spirior.