A lot of my homebrew settings feature forests in a prominent role. I’m not entirely sure why that is – maybe it’s a western fantasy trope that’s stuck in my head? (Murkwood?)
Cambria is similar in some ways to Dark Sun, but very different in others. It’s a planet-wide (ish) cityscape that’s fallen into disrepair after an apocalyptic magical event and ensuing dark age.
I’ve always thought that it was a rainforest, for the most part, maybe with pines in the mountains or huge kelp beds near the coasts. I’ve always focussed more on a couple of small cities built in the largest remains of ruined skyscrapers amongst the trees.
I’d like to think that I came up with a better grounding on why everything is like it is, but I honestly don’t think I did. Maybe magic now interferes with the world in a similar way to Dark Sun, but it’s causing all kinds of mutated plant life to vegetate everywhere? That could still be cool, and a fun mechanic to incorporate if needed.
The Old Crown has a couple of large wooded areas that I’ve written bits about, though I don’t think I’ve dedicated much to them specifically.
Kingsmeet / Kingsmead is a small town that borders Slateleaf forest, inland and upriver from Queenstown. Slateleaf was named that way because many of the plants growing there had darker, greyish leaves – but this was some kind of interesting feature of the forest, as the seeds taken away from the area would grow with green leaves.
Redwood was so named because of the large redwood trees, though I’d also been toying with the idea of high iron content in the soil and maybe in the trees themselves. The place was filled with bandits who may or may not have been affiliated with the Broken Circle thieves/assassins guild, so thematically maybe the trees could even bleed.
And the Northwood was a small area north of Queenstown that was traditionally hunted by the noble families but had been used excessively for timber for shipbuilding so was a shell of its former self.
(Yes, I’m aware these names are pretty on the nose. It’s a feature of the setting that names have power and deep meaning – I should really write something about the true name stuff I had in my head!)
jot jot ïota 