Editing Autia (section)

====The Fairy Lands (Soulwood, Tavern Woods, Halem, Fluffwood, Wolf-Kin Band)====

'''Wolf-Kin Band:'''

''Hardcore worshippers of the wolf god Grumm. They wander the Northern Wastes and Tavern Woods stirring up trouble. Nantic humans, but consider themselves to be part wolf (incorrectly).''

'''The Tavern Woods:'''
''No-man's land home to isolated taverns and communities catering to travelers. Home to a small nation of magic snakes who sell their venom at a certain tavern. Mostly Nantic humans.''

'''Halem:'''
On the north coast (between Fluffwood and Harlbourg) lie a people who everyone calls gepids who State is called Halem. They aren't humans but have the same back structure, they are very reclusive and don't usually interact with visitors, some wear bodysuits that cover up all their fitters to seem less hostile to humans, but there true from is one of squid-like, with hair and legs replaced by tentacles with sometimes the occurrences of eyes on their head. they don't really fight wars but when someone invades there usually completely destroyed but not by killing them but by causing such fear with scar tactics and illusion magic that only after a few casualties whole armies run. usually, no one is killed and the injured are return. they are peaceful people and they want it to stay that way.

'''Fluffwood:'''
''Home to evil fey creatures, though some of them are kind of cute. Basically weird fairy tale stuff plus giant corgis.''

Within the endless forests of Fluffwood and other such places, one can find the Fairy Elves and their giant corgi mounts. Although they appear harmless, they are actually famous for brutally torturing trespassers and leaving their writhing bodies bound to trees at the edges of their territory. They also sometimes mount raids on neighboring communities in order to capture slaves to sell to the hags for magical experimentation. Attempts to launch reprisals against them have almost always failed due to their high mobility within the dense forests, and ability to flee back to Fairy Land (aka the Third Layer of Hell) via hidden magic portals.

Fluffwood gets its name from the various fuzzy fungi that grow within the deeper parts of the forest.

Most of these fungi are harmless, but the hags, elves, and other dark spirits of forests can sometimes use magic to cause fungi spores to take root and grow rapidly on living beings (who are typically bound). This process is even more painful then it looks since the fungi have poisonous roots that bore deep into the flesh and bone.

'''Soulwood:'''

South of the Tavern Woods, spread a vast and convoluted series of great trees and a gentle sunlight shining through the canopy. Would be travelers typically find themselves right where they started to their immense confusion and irritation, however this is more than just bad tracking skills as the forest has a primitive intelligence to it and seeks to repel intruders. When a particularly skilled tracker or force of warriors enter they may be able to bypass this primary boundary, however this is merely the first of many defenses as the forest twists and weaves itself to impede these beings and should they still have the resolve to pass through the path they started on they will encounter the forest's children, the ents. Being a slow-witted and tranquil race the ents merely seek to wander about as they discover new trees to grant sentience in the manner they have been uplifted. A delicate ritual is undertaken to coax out the spirit in the tree and imbue the spirit with a magical core allowing it to move around like a mortal being would. These rituals are undertaken by the ents mages, elderly trees with great wooden harps that they play. These harps form the primary source of ent spells alongside a crude form of healing magic and this auditory magic serves as a means to entrance and command the many creatures of the forest alongside controlling the very earth itself. These spiritsingers, as they are called by the other ents can perform tasks like making a seed become a tree in a day with their talents leading to them becoming respected elders among the treekin. Occasionally an ent seeks to explore and find another forest to give life to in the manner that the soulwood is, embarking on a generation long voyage to find a suitable home and another generation to begin the process of granting sentience. This immense slowness means the ents are a reclusive people, knowing that direct confrontation will end in doom. This had led to a general separation from the outside world.

Military:

The ents lack any kind of military, rather relying on diplomacy and gifts such as the many wooden crafts they can create to convince outsiders to stay away. However each ent possess great strength, being a living tree and when put in a situation between life and death they will crash around bringing devastation to the troops around them. The primary of these instances is where their high prophet organized a group of warriors who assaulted some wolf-kin attempting to use the trees in their land for fuel. Alongside this they commonly dispute with the people of the tavern woods over their usage of trees, however these instances are sporadic and they are typically placid beings.

'''People:'''

The Fairy Lands are home to a wide range of fey creatures, though the ents, gepids, hags, and fairy elves dominate their respective sections of the forest. Other inhabitants include harpies, red caps, goblins, ogres, satyrs, dryads, lepre-khans, as well as a wide range of other fey that defy easy classification.

Nantic humans can also be found in the area. Scattered hamlets, taverns, and trade outposts can be found in the so-called Tavern Woods, while fanatical worshippers of Grumm known as the wolf-kin roam the deeper parts of forests.

'''Religion:'''

Each race of fey seems to have its own set of gods they worship, who are generally more powerful versions of themselves. Many dark fey also worship demons, particularly Deadicorn, Grumm, and Wyrna.

Humans usually follow certain gods within the Nantic pantheon, particularly; Gaelhalla (courtship, beauty), Wyrn (hunters, foresters), Gayin (commerce), and Liik (protection against the undead and other evils). Bands of fanatics of Grumm known as the Wolf-Kin have long troubled the region.

'''Magic:'''

Fey races all have their own forms of innate magic, though the specific abilities and strength of said abilities vary greatly by individual. Some fey like hags and harpies also learn the magic traditions of human races like demon binding and alchemy.

The humans in the area with magical potential have few opportunities to develop it unless they are luckily enough to live near some magically skilled hermit. However, the hags of Fluffwood sometimes take on human students, for a price...

'''History:'''

The fey are believed to be among the first intelligent beings to arrive on this world, entering via portals from one of several "fairy worlds", alternate dimensions where magic is common and everything is a bit brighter and stranger. Communities formed anywhere where the barriers between worlds is thin, but over the centuries, most of the communities were swept away by more organized races like the Ogrillons, Sartyrians, and various human empires.

The Fairy Lands are one of those few areas where the barriers between worlds is so thin that portals are everywhere, and eradicating the fey is impossible. Instead, the Nantic Empire, Alkorians, etc., grudgingly left the area alone.

During the time of the Nantic Empire, a heavily guarded road was cut through the Fairy Lands with brute force to connect the central and eastern sections of the Nantic Empire, however, with the collapse of the Nantic Empire, the road was largely abandoned, and its many forts, inns, and other rest stops left to rot. Only the western portions of the road were partially maintained, and are now the so-called "Tavern Woods", where hunters and frontiersmen live in isolated homesteads, and sometimes earn a bit of income trading rare alchemic materials.

'''Economy:'''

The inhabitants of the Fairy Lands are very self sufficient. The only trading that occurs is generally done in the Tavern Woods.

'''Military:'''

There are no standing armies in the Fairy Lands, but the inhabitants are more than capable of looking out for themselves.
Skirmishes are not uncommon. The inhabitants of Fluffwood raid their neighbors relentlessly, looking for fresh meat for their twisted games and experiments. The Wolf-Kin are also very belligerent to anyone who crosses their path. Skirmishes sometimes break out between the ents and the inhabitants of the Tavern Woods over logging, and the gepids sometimes drive out pirates trying to establish lairs on their coasts.

'''Miscellaneous:'''

It is known that the fey of Fluffwood enchant the normally harmless fungi of the forests to horribly disfigure their captured victims, but on rare occasions this ends up backfiring.

You see, the fungus is transfigured to pierce the skin of people in horrifically painful manners, and puncture its victims vital organs such as the heart, kidneys and brain. But the fungus can sometimes assimilate these organs instead.
This would still kill the person, but leaves the body intact and slowly connects its nerve system with the fungus. As this transformation reaches its completion, much of the altered body regains motor functions under the fungus control.

To the fey these bodies look like nothing but zombies, shambling corpses barley capable of standing up right. But this couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, this is a facade. Since the brain tends to be intact most fungi end up becoming sapient and gain the memories of their former victims:
Their hopes, their dreams, the friends and enemies they made during their magnificent adventures and so much more. But they especially gain the memories of their victim's horrifying death, and the fey carelessly laughing as if the innocent life they just ended was just some children's toy. Nowadays the fungal men work in secrecy to sabotage the fey's attempts at kidnapping and raiding innocent people.