Brocéliande

The vallorn has an iron grip on the ancestral homeland of the Navarr

Overview

Lush Brocéliande, on the border between Dawn and Highguard, is considered by the Navarr as its ancestral homeland and is the single largest forested expanse in the Empire. This is where Navarr and Thorn first danced. The Navarr have been unable to make any significant gains in this territory against the Vallorn, and there is limited Navarr presence here.

The majority of Navarr steadings in Brocéliande are centred around Boar's Dell in the north, and around the Broch in vallorn-infested Black Boughs. While all steadings fight against vallornspawn, those in Brocéliande generally see the most "action" - especially the Broch situated as it is deep inside the circumference of the Brocéliande infestation. Green lung is a constant threat in much of Brocéliande.

Much of the interior of the territory is still unknown to modern scholars, both within the Navarr and without. The vallorn covers the vast majority of the land here, choking any Terunael ruins or artefacts, and drowning those who venture too far with its powerful, deadly miasma.

Recent History

Over the last fifty years, much of the forest was infiltrated by barbarian orc communities settling from the Barrens. They largely avoided the Navarr, although there were rumours of some limited trade between isolated steadings and groups of barbarians. The orcs in the south were brutally conquered when the Druj took and held Elereal, but the orcs of the Mallum made no effort to push for further control of Brocéliande. Indeed, they seemed more interested in keeping the vallornspawn at bay than in engaging with the Navarr.

After the Druj hold of the Barrens was temporarily broken, most of the orc settlers retreated out of Brocéliande, leaving their makeshift camps to fall into disuse or be overrun by vallornspawn. They rejoined their original nation - the Great Forest Orcs.

Major Features

The Broch

The largest collection of steadings of the Navarr, well-defended and constantly guarded. It is the western edge of the Navarri’s watch on the horrors of Brocéliande. It is both a place of sanctuary, and a place of ritual where vates gather when necessary to counter specific magical threats. The First Dance steading are based in the Broch and seek more than any to investigate new ways to fight against the Vallorn. Few can spend too much time here - even if the danger were not sufficient, there is the ever-present risk of green lung.

The rise of the Heirs of Terunael left the Broch vulnerable to attack and without the efforts of the Empire, and the emissaries of Tharim, it might well have fallen to the vallorn's malice. As it is, the steading was seriously damaged and left isolated in the depths of the vallorn. The Navarr who lived there reached out to the Imperial Senate for support. Shortly before the Summer Solstice 384YE work was completed on heavily fortifying the Broch, leaving it a place of relative safety in the vallorn infested territory.

Buried deep within the miasma at Black Boughs, even with the recent reinforcement the Broch is perhaps the steading most at risk of being overrun.

Regions

Elerael

• Quality: Forest

Elerael was one of the few regions of Brocéliande initially under Navarr control. The most prominent steading here, Eleri’s Stead, was once a comparatively peaceable place, a Navarr counterpart to High Chalcis where herbs and forest plants were studied. It was swept away as orcs flooded from the Forest of Peytaht.

The orcs were most likely Druj from Reikos, but it is not clear how much of a presence they still maintain here. Some Navarr scouts have reported an increase in vallornspawn attacks into Elerael, increasing in severity dramatically after the Reikos trods were damaged in 378YE.

Elerael is the home to the large and influential Brackensong Steading who give sanctuary for those who walk the dangerous Trods that weave through the Vallorn of Brocéliande. The Splitroot Striding use Elerael to walk the trods into Dark Ranging where, up until the declaration of war in Winter 378YE, they were one of the few stridings to trade with the Orcs of the Barrens.

Black Boughs

• Qualities: Forest, Vallorn

The Broch is a small enclave of safety inside the miasma of the vallorn.

Boar's Dell

• Quality: Forest

The northernmost region of Brocéliande is the site of Greenstead, a stone-walled steading built with support from Rucastle as Dawn and the Navarr threw a ring around the dark heart of the forest there. It is often assaulted, but with Dawnish support it has always held. There has long been a bond - and several intermarriages - between the two settlements.

Dark Ranging

• Qualities: Forest, Vallorn

Dark Ranging is entirely embraced by the vallorn. In the wake of the defeat of the Heirs of Terunael in 383YE, there was a small window of opportunity during which the vallorn might have been routed, but unfortunately it proved impossible to take advantage of that chance.

Greenweald

• Qualities: Forest, Vallorn

Greenweald is entirely infested with the vallorn. There are ruins here, but they have proved almost impossible to reach in any more than the most limited way.

Terunael

• Qualities: Forest, Vallorn, Vallornheart

This is the heart of the vallorn in Brocéliande, and the most storied of the ancestral cities of the Navarr. The ruins of Terunael itself - the capital of that ancient empire - lie somewhere here, surrounding the immortal heart of the largest vallorn outside of Visokuma in Axos.

Vale's Lament

• Qualities: Forest, Vallorn

Between Reikos to the east and Casinea to the west, Vale's Lament is entirely infested by the vallorn. From time to time, vallornspawn and even the occasional miasma seeps across the borders into Highguard.

OOC Note

• As of Autumn 379YE, the Vallorn occupies Back Boughs, Dark Ranging, Greenweald, Vale's Lament and Terunael. The Navarr (and thus the Empire) holds Boar's Dell and Elerael.
• To claim Brocéliande, the Empire needs to hold four of the seven regions. This is currently impossible without reducing the power of the Vallorn.
• Herb gardens in the territory benefit from the Broch and produce an extra 3 drams of bladeroot each season.