Fields of Woe

Overview

The Fields of Woe are an expansive Shadowland in the Northeastern Threshold, on the border between Halta and Linowa

History

The exact history of the Fields of Woe is shrouded in mystery. It is known that a great battle was fought there some five hundred years ago, between the forces of Halta and those of Linowa as they emerged recovered from the chaos of the Contagion and Balorina Crusade into an intense hatred for one another. The exact numbers of combatants, their armaments and dispositions, even the precise year of the engagement are unknown. What can be generally discerned is that sometime between RY276 and RY279, escalating war between the two nations culminated in a final battle seeing each deploy the bulk of their magical and military might against the other.

Amongst the Linowan, tales of the battle tell of a conflict primarily between armies girded in potent weapons: Dragonblooded heroes striking down Haltan beastman-shamans, great blasts from each side’s First Age artillery shredding columns of troops and trees alike. The attackers were Haltans, hoping to enslave and murder Linowan villagers living near the border, poisoning wells and setting indiscriminate fires which combined into devastating infernos that swept woods and townships and soldiers alike. The original white-clad Gunzosha soldiers of the Band of the Shattered Blade, Linowa’s elite royal guard, feature prominently in most Linowan tales of the battle, which tell of their heroic last stand against bestial Haltans, holding back the horde against all odds while children were evacuated away from the flames. The poisoning and fire-wrought devastation doomed the whole area into becoming a Shadowland.

Amongst the Haltans, the tales are somewhat different: the favoured stories features some variation of human and ata-beast, who through unity outsmart and destroy a large attacking Linowan unit, or some tree spirit/minor god, offended at Linowan chopping down of their conifers or attempting genocide against the righteous Haltan people, manifesting to mete punishments upon the invaders. The most epic tales of the battle tell that Golden-Eyed Jorst himself took to the field to lead his armies in a sneak attack, eyes lit by infernal golden light as he spread demonic acids through the forests to slay Haltan civilians. But Caltia the Eternal saw his crimes and manifested, challenging him to personal combat and defeating both him and his armies. Jorst fled before the final blow could be struck, but was so terrified that never again would he ever be seen upon a battlefield, unlike the righteous Caltia. Still, Jorst’s demonic taint stained the land and caused the whole area to become a Shadowland.

Regardless of the truth, both nations lost nearly a whole generation of young people to the battle, along with the vast bulk of the First Age weaponry they had inherited or scavenged from the Shogunate.

Geography

The Shadowland known as the Fields of Woe covers a large area between the Silver and Blackwater Rivers as they come together in Lake Sanazala . Linowan territory flanks it to the west, on the western bank of the Silver, and to the east along the eastern bank of the Blackwater up to the coniferous treeline, where it is replaced by Halta. Neither the Linowan nor Haltans exert territorial claims over the Fields or the triangle of low coniferous woods between Silver and Blackwater, the area filled with dangers such as roving Icewalker raiders, Vatal cannibals, and the Fair Folk of Yseult's Domain. It is a dangerous land, even without the ghostly creatures that move through it.

Despite its position in the verdant forest area of the Northeast, right on the edge between deciduous and coniferous woods, there are neither true deciduous trees nor true conifers. Rather, closest to the center of the Fields one can find a few clusters of Black Ash trees, and elsewhere twisted, stunted trees of brittle, bleached-grey wood seem to persist despite never sprouting any leaves.

The ground in much of the Fields is swampy and wet, full of sinkholes and other dangers. Occasionally some brave creature or explorer will happen upon some half-buried weapon left from centuries past, and the multicoloured explosion that results will light up the night sky.

At the very center of the shadowland, a wide circular expanse of sickly white grass sits entirely devoid of trees. Some tales tell that ghostly soldiers and skeletal corpses rise from the ground at night amidst the fields, continuing to fight their eternal war even in death. In reality, many of these are mere phantasms, without true spirit or substance, but towards the center true ghosts continue to fight their struggle in a true war without end.

Economy

The Fields of Woe are a very dangerous landscape, and no known settlements exist within it. Yet, there are two treasures which draw some to brave the dangers.

The first is the Scavenger Economy: scavenger lords will sometimes venture into the Fields in search of artifacts left over from the battle that birthed the Shadowland. Most veteran scavengers consider the area to have already been picked clean, but the more desperate will take the high risks in hope of unlikely reward. The greatest potential treasure thought to remain in the Fields are the suits of Gunzosha armour worn by the elite royal guard of the Linowan during the battle, which have never been recovered.

The second is the presence of rare herbs, particularly plants used in the production of the drug Bright Morning. While they are found in other Shadowlands, the Fields of Woe provide them in quantity, and Linowan warbands brave the edges of the Fields to collect them for sale to both the Realm and The Guild.