The Ravenwood

[Whiskeyjack]

An area I've been working on for my game world. Two of the players come from this area and it will soon have a fairly central plot to the game.

The Ravenwood
After the Chaos War, most of the surviving Elves moved to the Southern areas of the Palladium world, settling in what would one day become the New Kingdom and the surrounding areas. A distinct population split off from their kin and settled far to the North, in what would become known as the Northern Hinterlands. The area they settled became known as the Ravenwood for the large ravens that inhabited that particular forest.
As their Southern kin began building their empire, the Elves of the North became a distant memory, then a legend, and eventually were forgotten entirely. In their new home they discovered many wonderous things. The climate was altered slightly. Summers were warmer, and winters, while incredibly snowy, were spared from the full brunt of the cold that the rest of the hinterlands saw. This was due to the forest itself. The Ravenwood is actually a magical forest, made out of one tree whose root system has spread throughout the entire forest, sprouting through the earth regularly to form the thousands of “trees” that make up the forest. It’s unknown if this tree is related to the fabled Millennium Trees, but it is quite different, as it has no true intelligence, and does not bestow gifts although wood harvested from the branches do make exceptional staves, bows and handles.
The sheer size of the trees and the interlinking canopies has allowed the Elves to create an entire city hidden in the branches, with roads large enough for wagons to be drawn along them, unseen from the forest floor.
During the millenniums that the Elves have lived here, they have formed a symbiotic relationship with the forest. This allows them to navigate and blend in with uncanny ease, putting any hostile force that enters the forest at a severe disadvantage. The local monster races have learned to give the forest a wide birth. Only the bugbears of the Ophids Grassland seem to be too stupid to learn their lesson and continue to send raiding parties to their deaths. This is one of the reasons that their populations in the grasslands remain manageable.
Another inhabitant of the forest has also become a regular ally to the Elves of Ravenwood. The unusually large ravens that lived here were also unusual in their intelligence. Many an Elven wizard used them as their familiar, and even regular Elves found that they made exceptional companions, similar to dogs and cats in many other parts of the world. The Ravens can be found in most households where they function as part companion, part messenger, and sometimes as the eyes and ears of their Elven companion.
Another common inhabitant of the forest are the Ravenwood Dragons. Used as mounts by the Elves during the war, several hundred survived and were brought by the Elves to the forest. While they were originally a mountainous creature, they adapted readily to the giant trees, and can now be found throughout the forest, both as domesticated mounts and wild animals. While not true dragons, these large, warm blooded reptiles are the masters of the forest, moving through the large trees at incredible speeds, leaping from trunk to trunk or running through the large branches of the upper canopy.
The dragons are the official mount of the Elven Rangers, with every ranger receiving their own egg upon completion of their training. The egg is looked after by the ranger until hatching, at which point the dragon and Elf form a strong bond that will stay for the duration of their lives. If the Elf is ever killed, the dragon will abandon the elves and join her wild brethren. If the dragon is killed, there is a 50% chance that the Elf will take on a new egg. If they don’t, they usually remain with the Ranger Corps, but tend to take on extremely dangerous missions and are prone to taking risks.
The Kingdom of Ravenwood consists of five cities and several small outposts scattered throughout the forest. The capital city of Allethemar is located at the center of the forest. Invisible from the ground, when rising to the canopy the full beauty of the city is apparent. Towering spires three to five stories tall extend from the thick branches to just below the top of the canopy with large bridges made from living wood connecting them. Glowing mosses and fungi provide a soft blue light at night giving the city an ethereal beauty.
Approximately 50,000 Elves call Allethemar home and it is the central governing location for the Ranger Corps, the military and the crafters guilds, as well as home to the Royal family. All positions in Ravenwood are hereditary with skills being passed on from parents to children. Strangely, this has been their tradition for thousands of years. It’s possible that the lack of a true lower class and lack of coinage has helped with this. Every person fills a valuable roll and has their basic needs met.
Even the living areas are similar throughout the kingdom. A family that harvests medicinal plants from the forest will live in a house that is indistinguishable from a general in the military. The Ravenwood Castle is the only real exception to this. The royal family lives in the top floor of the central spire, with the lower four floors being used as administrative areas for the military, ranger corps, crafts guilds, healers and other sections of government. It’s interesting to note that there is no special privilege to living in different areas or heights of the city. Every house has a large balcony with gardens and seating areas that look out over the city. They will be personalized by the occupants, so a healer will likely have herb gardens to grow plants with medicinal properties, a soldier will have areas set up with archery ranges and sparring circles and crafters will have areas with the tools of their trade, a small kiln for drying wood or a forge.
At the cardinal directions lie the other four cities of the Ravenwood. To the North is Nilen Asari, in the South is Nilen Ilarion, to the East is Nilen Lyathalume and in the West is Nilen Caelorna. Each city has approximately 10,000 Elves living in them.
Nilen Asari in the North houses the main military of the Kingdom due to the large population of Coyles in the area. Stubborn and aggressive as well as clever they have earned the respect of the Elves. While small bands occasionally enter the forest to gather herbs or seek shelter during particularly harsh winters, they also tend to send large raiding parties from time to time. The city also has a large number of Rangers to help patrol the forest.
Nilen Lyathalume houses the main diplomatic arm of the kingdom due to their proximity to the Wolfen Empire. While trade is very limited at the moment, the Elves know that it is only a matter of time before the Empire spreads to the West. So far they have cultured a very friendly relationship with the Wolfen in the area, mostly from the Oak Leaf Tribe. While there isn’t a current official relationship between the two they Wolfen have known of Ravenwoods existence for long enough that they are beginning to draft plans for an official treaty.
Nilen Caelorna protects the West of the kingdom from incursions from the Ophids Grasslands. This has made the city the main training ground for the Ranger Corps. While the humans, orcs and goblin barbarians have long since learned to stay away from all but the fringes of the forest, the bugbears seem to have made it their mission to infiltrate and destroy the kingdom. This hasn’t gone well for the bugbears, but they continue to send raiding parties to their deaths in hopes of scoring a victory over the Elves. Two tribes of centaurs are regular inhabitants of the Western forest during the winter time and are on good terms with the Elves. They regularly trade supplies of herbs and pelts from the grasslands for bows, spears and polearms made by the Elves.
Nilen Ilarion sits in an area of hundreds of lakes in the South of the forest. Here they fish the rich waters for the majority of meat that the Elves eat. Unique in the kingdom, Nilen Ilarion has several buildings built on the forest floor along the shores of many of the lakes. Here they build and repair boats, make nets and fishing poles and have the docks for the fleet. Specially trained Elves also dive the depths of the lakes to harvest freshwater oysters and the blue pearls that are found within them as well as the pearls from the rare giant clams. These giant pearls are natural PPE batteries and are used for many magical creations in the kingdom.
Spread throughout the forest are a couple dozen small villages that tend to lie in areas of importance, either for a specific plant that grows in the area, a strategic defense or similar feature. These villages will have 2D4x50 inhabitants.
Other Inhabitants
The Split Paw and Shattered Eye tribes of Kankoran live in the North and South areas of the forest respectively. Each tribe has been long time allies of the Elves and have called the Ravenwood their home for over a thousand years. They have a friendly rivalry with each other and meet twice a year to compete in games of skill, strength and endurance. The Kankoran form another line of defence for the forest as they are masters of stealth and tracking and aggressively protect their home from any that seek to do harm.
Bow of the Ravenwood
These magical bows are made from the living wood of the Ravenwood forest and are issued to every Ravenwood Ranger. Each bow is unique as they are grown from a living branch of the tree over the course of a year, shaped through the magic of the bowyer. They are incredibly durable, bordering on indestructible (250 SDC). Only called shots aimed at the bow itself will damage them, allowing them to be used as a hand to hand weapon inflicting 2D6 damage. They also have the ability to heal themselves by sticking an end into the ground in an area that is exposed to the sun. The bow will draw on the moisture from the ground and the sun to mend itself like a living tree. The bow will heal 5 SDC per hour as long as the sun is touching it. Redirected sunlight and soils that are too dry will not allow the bow to heal.
Each bow is custom made for a particular user. The final shaping during the last week of growing will be used for this purpose. It requires the person the bow is intended for to cut their palm and hold the riser of the bow, permanently bonding the two. This allows the users strength bonus to be added to damage inflicted from the arrows shot from the bow. In the hands of another the bow will be at -4 to strike and parry and only inflicts 1D6 damage with no strength bonus.
The bow is designed to shoot regular wooden arrows but allows the shooter to enchant a limited number of arrows with a variety of effects. In addition, any regular arrow shot from the bow will fly as if it was designed for the bow, allowing even weakly spined arrows to inflict maximum damage at full range.
Bonuses: +2 to strike with arrows, +2 to parry in hand to hand. Damage is 3D6+PS bonus for arrows, 2D6 + PS bonus as a staff.
Enchanted arrows. Each bow can fire a range of arrows with magical effects. Three arrows can be enchanted per level per day (3 at level 1, 6 at level 2, 9 at level 3 etc).
Grapple line arrow. The arrow trails a line that attaches to the bow. When the arrow hits, it sticks to the target and holds firm (no damage), allowing the user to stop a fall, swing from tree to tree, or climb a tree or wall. The arrow has a standard range, and can hold up to 350 lbs. The bow can magically retract the line at a speed of 10, allowing the user to just hold on. If used while falling the line will stretch when the limit is reached, preventing the bow from being ripped from the archers hands.
Flaming arrow. The arrow bursts into flames when released and will continue to burn until extinguished or the arrow is consumed (takes around 3 minutes). There is a 70% chance per minute of setting combustibles on fire. Damage: 3D6+6. Double damage to creatures susceptible to heat or fire.
Ice arrow. The arrow is encased in ice when released. If it hits a person it will cause numbness resulting in penalties of -2 to strike, parry and dodge and -25% on any skill requiring manual dexterity. If the arrow is fired into water it will freeze a 10’ diameter area to a depth of 3”, enough for a being weighing up to 300lbs to safely walk on. Damage: 3D6. Inflicts double damage to beings susceptible to cold.
Teleportation arrow. These arrows teleport the shooter to the spot that they hit. Momentum is stopped when teleporting, so if used when falling, it is possible to shoot the ground while still 1000’ up and land safely where the arrow strikes. Maximum range is 2000’.
Multiplier arrow. When released the arrow multiplies into 4 identical arrows. The initial strike roll counts for all four arrows. Dodging or parrying the arrows is done at a -6. Only a large shield can be used for parrying more than one of the arrows.
Parrying arrow. These arrows can be used to parry projectile or hand to hand attacks. The shooters roll to strike must equal or exceed the attackers roll to strike in order to successfully parry the attack. Being magically guided, they suffer no penalty to hit moving or small targets, as long as it is a parry. These arrows inflict no damage, even if parrying a punch/kick or similar attack.
Signal arrow. With a simple thought the archer can shoot an arrow that will whistle in a pattern of their choosing. It can range from a single long whistle, to complex patterns to form a code. The arrow will whistle until the pattern is completed or it hits something. If shot in a high arc the whistle can be maintained for a maximum of 15 seconds.

[kiralon]

Is the -6 to dodge or parry the arrows an addition to the standard -10 (harder) or is it replacing the -10 (easier) and are the negatives different for a longbowman like they are with normal arrows ?

[Whiskeyjack]

I intended it as in addition. It is 4 arrows. In my games I do projectiles a bit different. Simply shooting at someone using a shield will give an archer a negative to hit of -2-6 depending on the size of the shields. Shields also get a much reduced penalty to parry arrows making shields actually useful for blocking attacks.
Longbowmen would get their better stats for parrying.