The Forest

The Forest of Kéthiel is perhaps the oldest forest in the world. It lies to the north of the country of Aleron and west of Torrigan, stretching north into the Roof of the World and west to the very edge of the cliffs over the Sea of Glass.
The Forest is thick and deep, and centuries old. Its trees grow to tremendous heights and girths--some so large that four grown men cannot encircle their trunks with their arms. The Forest of Kéthiel is largely unexplored, and there are many rumors as to the sort of creatures and mysteries lying within.
Near the Forest's northeast corner is the Lake of the Crescent Moon, a large body of water in the shape of a thin crescent. The Lake of the Crescent Moon feeds the Crescent River, which flows through Torrigan on its way to join with the Leviathan near its beginnings, a little further south.

The Forest is inhabited and vigilantly guarded by the elves of Kéthiel, a race of wild, reclusive forest elves. They are the reason that the lumber trade does not steadily demolish the Forest, and the reason hunters and travelers rarely enter its depths. They are a savage people, and tolerate little from outsiders.

The elves of Kéthiel are a slender, lithe race, tending to be a little smaller of stature than the average human and possessed of surprising strength and toughness. Their features tend to be fierce and strong; their skin is dark, their hair black or dark brown, their eyes black, brown, or dark, cool green. They wear mostly leathers and furs, as they do not do much weaving and rarely trade with the outside world. The leathers made by the Kéthiel are very soft and supple, far more so than the leather commonly found in human markets.
The Kéthiel often paint their faces with clay and damp earth in order to better camouflage themselves. They wear their hair long, both men and women, and often braid it with beads, feathers, leaves, and bits of wood and shell, both for camouflage and for decoration.

The elves of the Kéthiel are hunters and guardians of nature, very closely attuned to the land and the plants and creatures that live upon it. They live in carefully constructed dwellings in the branches of the trees of their Forest, and are constantly watching for interlopers into their territory. They are not tolerant or forgiving--they give one warning, and only one, to those who intrude; if the intruder does not turn back, he is slain with no further warning, usually by the lethally aimed arrows of the elves. If someone is caught poaching, cutting the trees of the Kéthiel, or otherwise doing evil, he or she is not even granted a warning, but is summarily killed. Some travelers have gained the acceptance and even friendship of the Kéthiel, but they are only a small handful of people, and have proved somehow to the elves that they are worthy of the honor and will never betray it.
The Kéthiel have a deep and abiding respect for the land and its creatures, and never hunt or cut more than they need to survive. They have a written language, and keep histories of their clans on clay tablets. They are expert herbalists and potters, and are matched in their bowmanship only by the winged Avarel of the Roof of the World. They take their magic from the earth as well, and there are quite a few Kéthiel who form a bond with one of the creatures of the forest--a hawk, a wolf, a deer--and become, in essence, brother or sister to that creature.
The Kéthiel have a fairly good relationship with the few knots of Llowra who live in the Forest, building their stone Wreshalal in places that nature has cleared over time. The Kéthiel and the Llowra generally leave each other well enough alone, interacting only occasionally when one needs something of the other.

Copyright © 1999 Abigail Laughlin and the members of the Circle of Stone.