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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ralts Bloodthorne" data-source="post: 3005174" data-attributes="member: 6390">Lolinian KingdomAlthough no cities appear on the map, the Lolinian Kingdom is recognised by the entirety of the lands of the Middle Kingdom. The single road through is maintained primarily by kobolds, goblins, half-orcs, orcs, and ogres.Sixty years ago, the three cities that act as the terminus of the Great Highway were each visited by a lone kobold, dressed in fine silks and jeweled like nobility. Each kobold strode directly to the courthouse of the city, and handed a scrolltube to the clerks. Once this was done, the kobold vanished in a puff of shadows.The scroll set the borders for the Lolinian Kingdom, as well as naming it. It also detailed that each caravan would be taxed by animal and axle, not the goods it carried. It also stated that the population of the woods, be they monster or humaniod or demihuman were under the protection of the "High King of the Forest" and any incursion into those lands would be considered an act of war.Strenfjord and Deenerian both figured it would better to be safe than sorry, and with the sudden cessetation of troll, ogre, and other monster depredations along the border, they recognised the kingdom.The elves of Lelenetree however, scoffed at the idea of a humaniod kingdom, and while they refused to officially recognise it, although they stopped the raiding.Less than six months later, caravans carrying exotic woodworks, spices, rare preserved meats, silverworks, and iron goods, exited after work crews cut aside the brush at the border. As borderguards watched, the caravans exited, and work parties of orcs and hobgoblins quickly set the cobbles of a major highway under the watchful eye of an ogre.Strenfjord and Deenerian both welcomed the caravans, levying only the normal taxes upon them, and allowed the caravans to sell their goods. Both Strenfjord and Deenerian allowed the caravans to purchase warehouses and shops, as well as hostels for their caravan personnel to stop into. Lelenetree however, chose to slap massive taxes on the caravans, and only allowed the caravans to sell their goods at horribly depreciated prices. Still, the caravans arrived like clockwork every three months.However, 25 years ago,  particularly greedy and unprincipled elven noble chose to imprison the caravan members, and seize the goods. After a week, they released the caravan members and chased them across the border with whips.For three months, nothing happened. And those who travelled the Great Highway spoke of an eerie feeling of watching eyes. Then a large force of hundreds of orcs, hobgoblins, scores of ogres, thousands of kobolds and goblins, swept over the Lelenetree city. They only slew those who directly fought them, content to chase away the elves with whips and snarling wargs.THe elven noble, however, was captured, held down, and molten silver poured into his ear.The elves responded by sending over 2000 troops into the forest. They marched into the forest, and were never seen again. Two months later, a caravan exited the forest, acting as if nothing happened.Since that time, the forest kingdom has been inviolate.Inside the forest, there is a fairly large kingdom. With Ogre Magi's, blues, and kobold sorcerers acting as the nobility, the orcs, kobolds, hobgoblins, trolls, and goblins acting as the commoners.There are no cities, per-se, only tribes who live in harmony with the forest. Each tribe is led by a druid shaman, and they stay on the move. There are a few locations, mostly in caverns, where the work to produce the trade items take place.There are a few small "towns" scattered here and there, most of which are either in caves or high up in trees.The Great Shadowed WoodlandsRumored to be haunted by nearly everyone, tales tell of a great calamity that befell a mighty kingdom in centuries past. There are a few scattered ruins here and there, some of elvish make, others of unknown make.These ruins of unknown make have strange doors, multistory buildings, and bits and pieces of powerful arcane are found within them.The highway leading through the woods has been there since the woods were discovered, however, since travel began upon it, and the two ruins occupied and repaired, debris is often found on the road, and sometimes decades or centuries old trees are found in the middle of the road, seemingly sprung up overnight.Many loggers and cobblestone layers make good money working for a year or two on the highway to keep it clear. However, the work is dangerous, and many people die in "accidents' such as treefalls, rockslides, or just plain vanish.There is a high preponderance of nymphs, satyrs, and dryads that prey on the clearing teams, or on caravans that rest for the night away from the road. There are also many small fey-folk, but as the elves learned, these fey are not friendly.The wood is also full of orgrillians and ettins. Orgrillians to the north of the road, ettins to the south, and more than one convoy has found themselves caught between dozens of Orgrillians and dozens of ettins battling it out with clubs and stones.Rumors persist of a huge pipe organ, with four rows of keys, somewhere in the strange ruins found in the northern part of the woods.Pheastus KingdomA kingdom primarily of humans, the Pheastus Kingdom often sends logging parties to the edge of the Shadowed Woodlands to log the mighty trees there. Sadly, the logging parties have a high fatality rate. One sage has estimated that five loggers die for every two trees harvested. Still, logging continues near the great cities that border the forest.The single city that the great road comes out to does not send out logging parties, the baron in charge of the city having noticed that the more logging that takes place, the more "fiercely" the wood tries to destroy the road.All of the cities that border the Great Shadowed Woodlands are walled, and offer suffer attacks by Orgrillians in the North, and Ettins in the south.The Pheastus Kingdom is ruled over by the Council of Barons, who elects one of their number every 25 years. Each baron rules over one of the walled cities, and many times makes war upon the one of the other cities.To the South is the "Desolate Barony" where the noble family was slain through assassination one night, and the gates were opened to another baron's armies. What was meant to be merely a capture of a city turned into a week long orgy of rape, massacres, and looting. THousands were killed, and virtually everyone within the city was massacred. Thrown on bonfires, used for target practice, slaughtered for enjoyment. The invading baron's troops became drunk on the bloodshed, becoming more and more savage.Then a fog descended over the city, and strange howls and babbling roars could be heard within. When the fog lifted, the walls were bare, and the colors leached out of all the buildings. The gates were open, but no movement could be seen inside. None of the invading army, or the original inhabitants came out of the walls, and over the summer the entire forest of the hills to the north turned blighted and diseased. Many travellers have entered the hills, searching for the invading barons camp, and have never returned.The city that the baron had invaded from was right next to the Great Shadowed Woodlands, and those who survived the destruction of the walled city spoke of trees that moved on their own, ettins ravening through the populace, ghost sweeping across the population.In a single week, the city was gone, and the forest had moved in a leaque. When it was logged back to the original border, ony scattered and moss covered stones were in evidence.(more to follow)</blockquote>

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