Weirwater Vales

Overview

The Weirwater Vales are located in Wickmoor in the Dawnish territory of Weirwater. Custodianship of the Vales grants an Imperial title; a seat on the Imperial Bourse; and a seasonal bounty of valuable weirwood

The Resource

Weirwater is named for the forests that dot this landscape and the rich supplies of weirwood they produce. The Weirwater Vales are an Imperial resource, and while there is some occasional grumbling from the earls, this is unlikely to change. The houses of Seerken and deCourney who once claimed the land on which the Vales stand each blame the other for the fact that they no longer control the weirwood forest - their feud has persisted for nearly four hundred years and shows no sign of abating any time soon.

Legend claims that the first weavers made a pact with an eternal to enchant the woods, but that the magic has slowly dwindled over time. Yet there is still magic here, of a sort.

The workers of Weirwater Vale are used to it, but every so often visitors to the area make an unsettling discovery. Colloquially known as a Bone Hanger, it is a tree decorated with wild flowers, ribbons, and small knicknacks made with twine and sticks. Whenever such trees are found, workers will take undue care removing all the decorations, and pack them in a box made of the first weirwood harvested that season. The workers then fell the weirwood tree, knowing that it will be the best wood of the seasons harvest. The box of decorations is left in a certain place, an old ring of black stone, for the mysterious owner to collect. By the next season, the box will be gone, and perhaps another tree will be decorated.

Visitors to the area are sometimes unaware of the traditions. Some are unlucky enough to take one of the knickknacks, possibly as a keepsake, or some sort of memento. If one of the workers discovers the accidental crime, they make every effort to return the trinket to the Bone Hanger. As long as it is returned before nightfall, there will be no tragic consequences. Every so often someone will come to the Vales intending to stop the "idolatrous" reverence for the Bone Hangers. On one occasion, an ambitious priest from Holberg tried to make a name for themselves by stripping a tree of its decorations and burning them.

Disrespect for the Bone Hangers always ends in the same way. The transgressor will be found a short time later, serving as a grisly decoration on another weirwood tree. The workers will draw lots as to who will remove the body - it is gruesome, bloody work.

The nature of the spirit that haunts the Weirwater Vales is a matter for debate. More than one scholar has pointed to the proximity of Karov and wondered if the spirit is not some creature of the eternal realms as is often theorised, but an exiled Varushkan sovereign. Regardless of its nature, there is no doubt that there is something in the woods here, and that it will not tolerate disrespect.