Great Forest at Reikos
Overview
The Great Forest at Reikos is located on the southern borders of the Great Forest of Peytaht. It covers the eastern hills of Broken Ride in the Highborn territory of Reikos. Custodianship of the Great Forest grants an Imperial title; a seat on the Imperial Bourse; and a seasonal bounty of valuable weirwood
The Resource
On the borders of Reikos, the great forest is an abundant source of valuable timber including precious weirwood. It was lost when the territory was over-run by Druj barbarians in 369YE, and liberated by Dawnish and Navarr forces shortly before the Winter Solstice 379YE. Only swift Imperial action prevented the orcs from firing the groves in a final, spiteful attempt to deny them to the Empire.
The Great Forest at Reikos covers the eastern hills of Broken Ride, and the trees beyond the groves are an abundant source of valuable timber. Before Reikos fell to the orcs, it was an Imperial seat; the Imperial Senate has not yet allocated the weirwood however, and may choose to either reinstate its previous status, or make it a Highborn national resource like the Vigilant Swan.
The weirwood groves, and the section of forest that the Highborn harvest for lumber, is only a fraction of the area covered by the Great Forest of Peytaht. The forest extends north into the Barrens, where it covers many times more acres of land than the small area that is part of Reikos. It merges with vallorn haunted Brocéliande to the east, and in theory the forests of southern Semmerholm and western Astolat are part of the same contiguous forest. Legends say that at one time, the forest of Peytaht was much, much larger.
The Highborn woods are relatively safe - or at least they were before the Druj braved the heart of the great forest and launched their surprise invasion. The further north one travels, however, the more eerie and inhospitable the woods become. Beyond the northern borders of Reikos, the forest is largely untouched and there are many local tales of travelers or foolhardy entrepreneurs disappearing without a trace after pushing too far into unknown areas.