Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #253

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #253 

September 11th, 2023 

• Number: 253 

• Name:  Deep Dive on a Site of Interest: Boarfang Mountain and the Dead Woods of Ceannar  – Part 1 

• Location: Northeast corner of Flattop Hills 

• Population (approx.): Varies 

• Brief:  In the northeast corner of Ceannar, where the Flattop Hills near Staplefish Bay, is the tallest peak of the range known as Boarfang Mountain, so named for the large twin spires at the top, connected by a ridge of smaller spires resembling the lower jaw of the wild boars commonly found in the hills below. If one were to view Boarfang from above, one would see that the “jaw line” is about half of a circular summit ridge about the top of a now long extinct volcano. Eons ago, perhaps in a prior age undreamt of, Boarfang was an active volcano and suffered a cataclysmic eruption that tore the summit apart resulting in the uniquely shaped remains. 

• At that time a great forest covered the slopes and vast fields of snow covered the summits of Boarfang and nearby peaks. The explosion sent a great surge of snow, mud, crushed rock and water down the slopes to bury a great swath of the forest, and any number of creatures living therein, as far as away as 10 to 15 miles from the eruption. Millenia ago, the first Kin to arrive on Ceannar found sparse tangled forest climbing the slopes back toward the fangs of the boar. But in between those young trees, spring rains and coast winds slowly unearthed the tops of the vast buried forest of now petrified wood. The entire forest is dark, tangled, unmapped and full of a variety of strange and dangerous animals, monsters and undead. 

• On the slopes below the southern fang, an area that few have seen let alone explored, is an area of dead forest unlike the petrified lumber buried in the slopes further east and north. Suggesting some ancient magical aspect to the eruption, one can find quiet groves of petrified trees rising from a forest floor of hardened lava or volcanic glass. The clusters are haunted by the souls of those killed in the eruption, bound to the sites for eternity. When the wind rises, the solid branches and leaves creak creating a soft sound like muted wind chimes. 

• Geography: Boarfang mountain rises about 100 miles directly north of the Ceannar Highway between Overlook (#8) and East’arbor (#117). The petrified portion of forest covers about 100 square miles east of the mountain, the living forest covers the land from the coast to the north, past the peak, to about halfway to the highway. Small settlements, most oriented towards logging and hunting, are scattered throughout the woods.