Keneswood

The Keneswood (Erani: Oth Kenes) is a vast, dense, and largely undeveloped wooded region in the interior of Kenes, the northwestern region of Siris.

The Keneswood features a number of known landmarks, such as Mount [Storm Mountain] and the village of [Stormfall] at its base. However, meaningful cartography of the region is thought to be impossible.

Several villages border the Keneswood and sustain themselves on lumber, textile, and agricultural trade with the larger cities of Siris. Trade routes, known as the Wheelways, were instrumental in shipping enough raw material to build the magnificent structures of Caraasha, attracting merchants to build trade outposts in Kenes, and allowed for easier travel from the villages to the bustling cities of Siris. Now, the Wheelways leading into the Keneswood are abandoned since the (name to come later of big bad evil thing), but the paths leading out are still used for trade and travel.

One such attempt to map the entire region of the Keneswood was attempted by Darroch Lonn, an esteemed guild artisan turned explorer. He started his journey from the small Eastern lumber town of Iassen, and planned to cross through the expanse of the Keneswood to the western side of Siris to not only map the woods, but also plan for expanding his lumber enterprise to within the Keneswood. His expedition was only supposed to last for three months: he refused to hire a guide, claiming that in his many years of wilderness exploration, he had never gotten lost and "wasn't looking to start now." Five weeks after the start of his expedition, his backpack, map of the Kenesswood, and one shoe were found neatly bundled at the edge of the Iassen town gate. Upon inspection, his backpack was found to be in pristine condition: his ration tins were empty but appeared to have been cleaned, his extra clothes neatly folded and rolled, his flint and tinder unused, and the laces in his single shoe tied into a bow. A note in Lonn's handwriting was found curled up inside the unfinished map of the Kenesswood, reading:"'Here am I, enraptured by a verdant expanse beyond my imagination. By the Twelve! My words cannot do her beauty justice! Trees higher than any castle, endless, their branches dancing and weaving into the canopy above, raining soft leaves upon my brow. What life, here! The sweet moss, crawling between my toes- a blanket far softer than any I have ever felt. And when I look up to the stars, which bespeckle the blackened sky in their shimmering multitude, I hear lilting whispers carried on the fragrant winds. What adventure waits for me where the roots sink deep, where the boughs are knitted and the animals quiet in their dens. I hear her call and I flock to it.'"