Sudden Forest

Introduction

The Sudden Forest is a region of dense woodland to the south of the Dragonscar Alps. Attempts to map the Forest have been attempted periodically throughout the history of Linea, though no team has returned. These failed attempts have given the Forest an almost mythic reputation as the most dangerous place in Linea. The only certainty regarding the region is that it is the origin point for the dinosaurs that roam the landscape.

There is hidden or undocumented knowledge to be found

History
The earliest documented observations of the Forest come from the Pathfinders guild based in modern day Melem and from folklore given by native dwellers of Linea to the first colonists from the old world during the War of Liberation. The Pathfinders notes contain basic information on the type of foliage in the area, which appeared to consist of different species to the rest of the observed continent, as well as early findings on dinosaurs.

The native folklore speaks of the Forest as if it were a living creature, growing from a seed and encapsulating the region like an organism. Growing at such a rate that it would cover the landscape in a human lifetime. These stories have been largely considered myths and legends as a forest of the estimated size of the Sudden Forest would have taken many thousands of years to propagate.

Name translation
While some Lineans take the name “Sudden Forest” as evidence to support the folklore surrounding the region’s fast expansion as fact, many scholars agree that the word “Sudden“ is a mistranslation or calque from the language of the native Linean dwellers. The language of the Qey Empire most closely resembles that ancient language and the widely accepted true translation is the “Unseen Forest“, which speaks to the inhospitable nature of the region. Despite this, the name Sudden Forest remains the common name for the area.

Dinosaurs
While many things are still unknown about the Sudden Forest, what is widely understood are the dinosaurs that roam from the treeline. The dinosaur horde has been known and well documented for centuries, with the earliest findings given by the Pathfinders guild in the earliest years of the Albasran Landings. When the city of Korth was founded in the earliest years of the Albasran Monarchy, they were given the task of raising a city as quickly as possible to stem the tide of dinosaurs that roamed from the south, as they had been causing untold damage to the fledgling nation and its smaller settlements. For decades, the city of Korth defended the southern border at great cost to the region as further expansion south was treacherous. In the year 50 AL, however, Korthians began taming and trapping the beasts rather than merely hunting them. This allowed them to expand further south, using the same beasts that hunted them as weapons to use against new dinosaurs that entered the region. With every trapped dinosaur, came another commodity to capitalise on. By the year 60 AL, they had become renowned across the continent as dinosaur merchants. This, coupled with growing distrust with the Albasran Monarchy and the successful rebellion of Melem, Korth decided to seize their own fate.

Dinosaurs are now used across Linea as beasts of burden, and war. As food and leather, and even as pets. While dinosaurs are used less and less frequently further to the north, certainly in Korth, Dinosaurs are more prevalent than horses.

Exploration
In the two centuries since the Albasran Landings, there have been well over a dozen major expeditions to map and explore the Sudden Forest. The earliest explorations merely scouted the outskirts of the forest, allowing scholars to estimate that the Forest is a similar size to that of the Portisian Republic. Later expeditions ventured further into the forest, reporting that the entire forest is impossibly dense which regrew impossibly quickly. Many adventurers reported becoming disoriented and lost very quickly and many expeditions lost members to the bush or to dinosaurs.

As expeditions ventured further into the Forest, none returned. Missions to recue those who were lost, were also lost. To this day, people have not managed to travel even a day into the forest before being lost forever.