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OctaviusIII 06-11-07, 02:50 AM

I'm designing a bit about the Gloaming for someone, and here's what I have for the moment. If anyone has any suggestions, comments, or comparisons to what you've done, I would love to hear 'em. The shifter guide stopped. “Stay close,” he whispered. He sniffed the wind, examining the scents that might betray the presence of something uninvited. A few moments later, he pronounced the all-clear, and the adventurers continued. From a tree, the shadow watched their progress, waiting for the right moment. The Gloaming is not a place one wishes to go ill-prepared. Although Khorvaire has its share of haunted woods, none are quite as dark or as dangerous as the Gloaming, a 555 square mile forest of gloom. The deeper you go, the deeper the shadows grow. Nighttime is truly pitch dark. The light of the moons scarcely provides illumination. Lighting a fire doesn't help much either, and mostly serves to attract undue attention. There are no roads, no man-made trails in the Gloaming. Anyone trying to move through must carve their own trail or follow the deer trails that wind their way around. At the center, it is not deer that carve the trails. Cold winters, cool summers. As one enters the area, it becomes progressively cooler than the surrounding forest. Roughly the climate of southern Germany. The vines around you change from vibrant green to a deep purple and green-red. Common poisonous plants, such as poison ivy, grow rampant. It is not uncommon for the vine hanging down to leave you with a nasty rash. Left untreated, some rashes grow into the eyes and leave a person blind, or worse. Other plants have strangled out the lives of the trees and have become tree-like themselves, using the rotting trunk of the host as its skeleton. Poisonous plants do have medicinal value, and some grow here in strength and numbers not seen anywhere else. Some in the Silver Flame believe that a special variety of deadly nightshade, found only in the Gloaming, is a cure for lycanthropy, although that has not been substantiated. Barghests form the top of the food chain. The last thing a careless adventurer will probably see is a pair of glowing orange eyes piercing the shadows beneath a bush. The pack claims all the land their territory, although realistically they don't need it all to hunt and share it with packs of worgs and wolves, as well as a few shadow mastiffs from Mabar. They hunt Vedalis and Jorasco poachers, moose and other deer, as well as lesser predators such as foxes and common wolves. Owls and bats live in the trees; mosquitos swarm visitors, sometimes to the detriment of their health; rats and mice have taken the place of squirrels as the tiny mammal of choice. Ants build their nests above ground, and woe to the man who kicks what he thought was just a pile of tree needles and leaves. Wasps zealously guard their nests, and have been known to chase their victims for miles. The ecology also includes a good number of spiders, centipedes, and worms. Just because it's a Mabar manifest zone doesn't mean it isn't fertile: it just means that everything there feels darker, more menacing. Even herbivores are more aggressive. A few shadows also haunt the woods, hunting unwary travelers and hating their exile from the Eternal Night. Beyond the barghests, the Ashbound see the area as a holy site and to tread there and disturb its natural order is to invite their wrath. A clan of Ashbound gnomes and goblins guard the area, using the worgs as scouts and mounts.