Frostweald
Frostweald | |
---|---|
Full name | The Frostweald |
Location information | |
Plane | Material Plane |
World | Exandria |
Continent | Tal'Dorei |
Region | Stormcrest Mountains |
Ecological information | |
Terrain | Forest |
Fauna | |
Historical information | |
Created | During the Icelost Years |
Affiliations | Shivergut tribe |
Notable locations | |
Points of interest |
|
The Frostweald is a forested region south of the Foramere Basin in Tal'Dorei, shrouded in an eternal winter.[3]
Description[edit | edit source]
The Frostweald is a pine forest that is constantly covered in snow and ice, regardless of the season, thanks to the curse of the Icelost Years. It is also the site of considerable planar activity, with a known entrance to the Feywild[4] and a former entrance to the Frostfell.[5]
The area contains a number of obelisks of the Knowing Mentor, created to show the passage to the Cavern of Axiom, a sacred place of the Mentor.
Inhabitants[edit | edit source]
The population of the Frostweald is acclimated to the harsh temperature and weather conditions. The forest has the largest and densest population of firbolgs Tal'Dorei. These firbolgs and the local fey have friendly but cautious relationship.[6] The Shivergut tribe (mostly consisted of orcs) dwells in the Frostweald who often helpful to travelers, though some sects of the tribe are isolationists and hostile to outsiders.[7]
Fey (mostly pixies or dryads), basilisks,[7] and Cold snap spirits are common to this region.[8]
Notable locations[edit | edit source]
- Cavern of Axiom, Kamaljiori's lair[9][2]
- Portals to the Feywild:[4] "Three mirror-like pools that form a pathway into three different Archfey's forests in the Feywild. The portals are guarded by a nymph named Arethusa.[7]
- Portal to the Frostfell, as of 836 PD sealed off.[5]
History[edit | edit source]
Icelost Years[edit | edit source]
The Frostweald, then simply a forested area, became the initial site of the Icelost Years when Errevon and his forces came through an existing portal to the Material Plane and began conquering the region, and eventually a large portion of central Tal'Dorei, with perpetual ice storms. It was several years before he was defeated, and the rift itself sealed by the Ashari. Skysunder, the white dragon scout of Errevon, was defeated and sealed beneath the Frostweald by the Arcana Pansophical,[10] imprisoned within a giant crystaline egg.[11][12][13] Because of this, the Frostweald remains in permanent magical winter. The Air Ashari of Zephrah have since watched the Frostweald for other elemental rifts.[14][15]
Jorlund Vohr's expedition[edit | edit source]
"Ye who seek my boundless wisdom,
Pass into the white trees' kingdom.
Return to the shrine Mentor's eyes,
And follow the light in the skies.
I am the Beast of the Heavens;
Thou shalt kneel before my presence,
Lest the wisdom thou seekest
Be lost to the cowardice of your weakest.
— Script on a silver tablet found by Jorlund Vohr[7]
Around 802 PD, Emonian archaeologist Jorlund Vohr explored the Frostweald and discovered a reserve of Ioun stones, along with a silver tablet. The tablet contains a scrip in Celestial language. He had the stones and tablet sent back to the Alabaster Lyceum ahead of him, but when he returned home he found that they had been stolen, save for a charcoal rubbing of the tablet that he made.[7][16]
Vox Machina Origins[edit | edit source]
Series II[edit | edit source]
In late 809 PD, Vox Machina traveled to the Frostweald to find a "heart of a nymph" in order to extract the phylactery implanted in Grog's chest by Drath Mephruhn. There they fought with basilisks and discovered a portal to the Feywild, from which the nymph Nahla emerged and took Grog to the Feywild. When he returned, he was given a stone, the heart of a nymph.[17]
Series III[edit | edit source]
During the Winter's Crest festival in Westruun that year, the crystal egg containing Skysunder was brought to the town square where the dragon was released. Vox Machina followed her through a portal o the Frostfell, where she was killed.[18] Eskil Ryndarien later theorized that her death would cause the Frostweald to thaw.[10] Despite this however, the Frostweald remained frozen.[19]
Campaign 1: Vox Machina[edit | edit source]
In 811 PD, cartographer Tyriok Gadsworth traveled through the Frostweald, charting it on his future map of Tal'Dorei. On his journey he and his escorts were petrified by a basilisk.[20]
Vox Machina returned to the Frostweald after the Chroma Conclave attack on Emon in order to find the androsphinx Kamaljiori's lair. On their way to the Frostweald, the party encountered Cornelius (leader of Chroma Crisis refugees) who urged them to deal with the Frostweald orc marauders, killing and kidnapping refugees, including the kidnapping of Cornelius's brother Cyrus.[21] Deeper in the Frostweald, Vox Machina found the stone statue of Tyriok and restored him to flesh.[9] Tyriok guided Vox Machina to the orcish camp, settled deeper in the Frostweald, where the party killed the orcs and rescued the refugees, whom they sent back to the refugee camp with Tyriok.[22]
Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn[edit | edit source]
In 836 PD, fey (mostly pixies and dryads) fled the Fey Realm seeking shelter in the Frostweald. They explain their escape referring to the "Great Shadow that has descended upon their lands".[7]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "A Name Is Earned" (1x49) at 1:06:07.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 74.
- ↑ "The Story of Vox Machina" (Mx04) at 2:59.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Story of Vox Machina" (Mx04) from 2:59 through 3:26.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 10.
- ↑ Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, Chapter 4: "Character Options", p. 157.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, Chapter 3: "Tal'Dorei Gazetteer", p. 111.
- ↑ Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, Chapter 6: "Allies and Adversaries of Tal'Dorei", p. 234.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "A Name Is Earned" (1x49) from 10:59 through 11:42.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Vox Machina Origins III #5.
- ↑ "Desperate Measures" (1x40) at 2:34:22.
- ↑ Vox Machina Origins III #3.
- ↑ Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, Chapter 1: "Welcome to Tal'Dorei", p. 20.
- ↑ Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, Chapter 2: "Allegiances of Tal'Dorei", p. 49.
- ↑ Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 30.
- ↑ Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, pp. 74–75.
- ↑ Vox Machina Origins II #4.
- ↑ Vox Machina Origins III #4.
- ↑ Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, Chapter 3: "Tal'Dorei Gazetteer", pp. 110–111. The Frostweald is still frozen in 836 PD, 27 years after Skysunder's death in 809 PD.
- ↑ "Into the Frostweald" (1x48) from 3:03:18 through 3:07:37.
- ↑ "Into the Frostweald" (1x48) from 34:24 through 42:58.
- ↑ "A Name Is Earned" (1x49) at 23:12.
Art:
- ↑ Official art of the Frostweald, by Olivia Samson from Vox Machina Origins II #4. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
- ↑ Official map of the Frostweald and surrounding areas, by Andy Law from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.