Editing The Endless Wilds (section)

=Forces of the Wilds=
The Wilds are boundless, tractless, endless forests, deserts, and tundras. As far as anyone knows, they stretch even across the seas that existed before the Great Bloom. Cities are barely noticeable breaks in the endless wilderness, just tiny shelters against the onrushing tide of nature. The Wilds are unlike the forests or deserts that existed before the Great Bloom; they are more vicious, more pure- they exist as if in a world untouched by man or elf. They are the embodiment of the idea of nature, of the indefinable concept of Wild. Lurking in the Wilds are beasts, some recognizable, and some nightmarish and twisted. There are a small number of Wild creatures that understand language and sometimes even cooperate with settlements; but most are destructive and bestial.

Under the Wilds are the Dungeons, the twisted and ruined remains of what came before the Great Bloom. The Wilds grew over  and consumed the ruins and remains, and now the wealth of entire lost nations rests hidden underground, tangled and merged together. The Dungeons roil and writhe, changing in capricious and unpredictable ways. Hunters once tried to map them but now accept that they are beyond civilization's comprehension. Sometimes Mages can predict when the Dungeons are about to shift, but these predictions are often no more than educated guesses. Rarely, pieces of the Dungeon are exposed to the world in thunderous explosions; these rare chances allow Hunters to delve into them for profit or glory. Sometimes, they return with great treasures or ancient technology; more often, they never return. Dungeon entrances have a habit of springing up near towns, like an invitation from the Wilds to enter. The dangers of exploring the Dungeons this way are numerous, and most explorers rarely venture more than an hour in before returning to the surface. Those who venture in say that dark things lurk in the Dungeons, although most refuse to talk about it further than that.

The Wilds are constantly trying to overwhelm what remains of the civilized world, and only the Mana-Siphons stop them from growing out of control. Even so, the Wilds constantly send monsters to attack settlements, as well as use Druids to sabotage the settlements from within. Paths between settlements are quickly reclaimed and erased, and those who wander too far often never return. Those that do are often changed, touched by the Wilds and irrevocably different. Sometimes this manifests as a strange gift- wings, scaly armor, night eyes; sometimes the person has been made into a Druid or has simply gone insane. Most do not remember anything of their time in the Wilds apart from a collection of fragmented memories, meaning nothing.

Deep in the Wilds, there are the Cores. Here, the ground itself is constantly in motion, entire castles can float and some say the Wild Gods live somewhere inside. Mana is constantly being given off by the God in waves of pure energy, which cause the Wilds and the Dungeons to intermingle in strange ways. Nowhere is the power of the Wild stronger than in these locations, the strongholds of the Gods. Only a handful are known to exist, and none have entered them and returned to tell whether the Gods still live.

==The Gods==
Curious things. Even our smartest Mages can’t quite pin down what exactly makes them tick, or how they come to be born. For the purpose of this guide, most popular theories will be presented. No God is similar to another, as Hunters say. What little we have gathered from what few survivors there are from a God’s wrath are that their powers are vast and strange. Reports have ranged from the fiery wrath of volcanoes spewing from their hands, to legions of dark beasts at their beck and call. Negotiations usually precede an attack. Usually. Most Gods will demand the settlement give back a portion of its land, or refrain from killing a certain species. Strange and seemingly random things that we have yet to string together. Yet, profit of some sort may be had from them in a few isolated cases, negotiations with a Wild God has yielded success - or at least so we believe. But there might be a hidden cost not yet apparent. In all cases, use EXTREME caution.

A theory that has been tossed around some Mage circles, is that Gods are the result of an long process of events. Firstly, there has to be a huge abundance of Mana, such as in the deep Wilds (where they are most commonly seen). And plenty of space, an entire region in fact. Slowly, the Mana will begin to concentrate, bumping into itself more and more. This is different than what is experience in a dungeon, where mana is shoved into close quarters in a very short amount of time and causes an explosion. Slowly, the Mana takes a recognizable shape. Some Hunters say that witnessing the Birth of a God will drive one mad, into '''Druidism'''. Many wouldn’t put much stock into their ramblings, though.

Another theory is that that they are far older beings, having been in existence since the dawn of times, though limited by the weak Mana. With the Great Bloom and the convergence of Mana the gods found the means to enter our plane of existence directly. This theory is disputed by many, feeling that concepts like “divine plane” to be pseudo-science at best, semi-religious raving at worst.

Another common belief is that of the '''Church of Fools'''. Its members believe that in the days before the Great Bloom, Man began to pray for his Gods to bless him with their presence on the earth. He wished to learn their secrets of Mana and become just like them. However, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. The Gods fell to Earth, impacting around the world. Each perished at the force of such impact, shattering into pieces and forming the despicable Gods of The Wilds.

Known Gods:

* '''Ofnoet''', is one of many exceptions in this world. One of the few Gods known to harbor open benevolence towards Humans, he helps to lead the Circle of Harmony. He is an elusive figure, only showing up to help solve particularly bad disputes between members. His powers are largely unknown but are rumored to revolve around “enlightenment” and the “encouragement of all kinds of growth”.

* '''The Presence''', the fabled collective consciousness of an old death cult and keeper of Mezcotal, is a being neither aligned with the Wilds nor with mankind. According to the tales, it certainly has the powers to be ranked with the Gods, but certainly not the behavior. Perhaps it is a neutral party in the post-Bloom world merely waiting for a convincing argument to support either side, or to take matters into its own hands and pursue an independent agenda.

==Druids==
These people existed before the Great Bloom, but their existence was never a threat to Civilization. Before the Bloom, Druids were simply in a spiritual communion with nature, regardless of the machinations of Civilization. Now, they exist as a constant danger and their numbers only seem to grow as some become corrupted by or begin to worship the Wilds. Working within cities and settlements, druids commit murder and sabotage in the hopes of destroying all that remains of civilization. If discovered, they might give their last shred of humanity over to the Wilds, becoming avatars of the Wilds, humongous, eldritch creatures needing considerable force to stop.

Within the Wilds exist circles of these Druids, whole collections of these madmen, seemingly living in harmony with the chaotic will of the wilderness around them. How they manage to do so without raising the ire of the beasts or the Wilds themselves is a point of immense curiosity for civilized Mages. Even more so, there has been rumor of even larger organizations of these Druids, called the '''Peht-Hah''' by one such Druid prior to his execution in the early days after the Bloom. Unfortunately, not much more is known, given that said Druid wouldn't give any more such information before his death.

==Lizardmen==
These are a sly and curious folk. Original reports of them are scarce, but detail them as stark naked, lone hunters. However, as reports got more and more recent, people started to notice a pattern. Soon, small tribal gatherings of Lizardmen were reported following an increase in encounters with Settlements. Some people speculate The Wilds have picked their newest favorite, their champions. These beastfolk are fast learners, and have a strange fascination with human ways of life and technologies. Records detail them even beginning to smith crude spears and shields after a city attempted to eradicate them with a regiment of Hunters that preferred spears and shields. Several Policemen admit to receiving the frantic calls of paranoid citizens that believe Lizardmen are watching them, these reports seem to increase exponentially every following summer.

One particularly bad summer, which recorded over a thousand cases across the known world, preceded a shocking Hunter discovery. A group of over twenty Hunters were assigned to eradicate a nearby tribe, the group was surprised to find out the Lizardmen had evacuated. Within the abandoned huts and canopy housing, Hunters discovered several pieces of both pottery and scribed tablets. Scholars couldn't help but to believe that the lizardmen, previously thought of as tribal champions of the Wilds, at best, were actually forming a civilization of their own when they had evacuated to news of the Hunter advance. One such artifact found at the site seemed to be a crude map with some unique markings near the bottom of a squiggly-drawn landmass. Perhaps they found something of importance there.

==Beasts==
Of course, the Wilds have produced a whole bevy of creatures as varied as they are dangerous. Those that inhabit the Wilds are too myriad, too different in even the slightest ways to catalogue effectively. Thus, for convenience, Hunter manuals provide their readers with standard archetypes that ''most'' beasts will adhere to. There is always the off chance that a Hunter will come across something entirely different.

* [[TEW - Beasts - Aquatic|Aquatic]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Arachnid|Arachnid]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Avian|Avian]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Beastfolk|Beastfolk]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Construct|Construct]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Divine|Divine]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Ectoplasm|Ectoplasm]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Eldritch|Eldritch]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Elemental|Elemental]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Gelatinous|Gelatinous]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Humanoid|Humanoid]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Insect|Insect]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Microbe|Microbe]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Quadrupedal|Quadrupedal]]
* [[TEW - Beasts - Saurian|Saurian]]

===Fiends: Beasts of Legend===
Even in a world as diverse and dangerous as that of ''The Endless Wilds'', there are creatures which are unique enough to where legends arise of their existence. We'll call them Fiends for now to differentiate them from standard creatures.

* [[TEW - Fiends - The Bleeder|The Bleeder]]: A cat with red eyes and large claws and teeth which appears in the Cities after especially gruesome deaths.
* [[TEW - Fiends - Larry|Larry]]: A fish-like creature which seems to specifically prey upon the sailors of Mistwatch.
* [[TEW - Fiends - The Lost Golem|The Lost Golem]]: An elusive figure which stalks the drunk residents of Frost's Grip upon nightfall.
* [[TEW - Fiends - The Monkey King|The Monkey King]]: A slowly strengthening spirit which haunts the Wet Tooth, an inn deep in the heart of Sulinad.
* [[TEW - Fiends - The Snake Knight|The Snake Knight]]: A terrible serpentine beast clad in an orange carapace roaming the countryside near Aes Kalon.