hallowood
The verdant realm. From sapphire coasts to the mist-clad highwoods, Hallowood is a nation of endless green. Its landscapes shift from conifer peaks to silver marshes, where rivers braid through ferns and reeds. The Dinari people dwell beneath living canopies, their homes and temples woven from root and vine.
The Province of Hallowood belongs to the Dinari people. Hallowood is practically completely covered by either several large forest systems, or one enormous system called the Great Forest. Most of the forests are deciduous, with the type of tree changing depending on the geographic location within the province. For example, most of the trees in the Wolfang Woods are coniferous while the trees closer to the coast are palms and palmettos.
Hallowood is technically not a nation but does have a provincial council and elects an official leader who usually resides in Cerebelle, a great stone keep near the center of the Great Forest and close to Lake Chaerdin. It is surrounded by enormous trees almost as tall as the keep itself.
The Green Cradle
There are hardly any roads, major cities, castles, or towns in this province because of the Dinari people’s affinity for trees and their lore. The roads themselves are stone, very old, and are known to be frequently obscured by moss or leaves. There are many earthen paths throughout the province, many with stone markers to help indicate the unknowing traveler where best to go.
The Dinari’s lifestyle connection with the forests and the trees is very important. They strongly believe in magic and the connection humans have to nature. Many Dinari who live outside towns make their dwellings in the canopies of forests. The towns themselves are usually smaller and more tribe-like than that of other provinces. Life in any Hallowood town can seem to move very slowly and practically withdrawn to outsiders.
The whole Province can be divided into four ecological regions: the Bluehills, the Midlands, the Jade Basin, and the Viridescents.
Jade Basin
The beating heart of Hallowood’s wetland ecology. A mist-drenched region where marsh-gas lights float like will-o’-wisps and the line between land and water blurs with every season. Its subtropical humidity turns even simple travel into an ordeal.
Here you will find the cities of Lignhelm and Mistmire. By the coast you can find the Verdant Bay which leads into the Murky Marshes.
Midlands
The Midlands is home to the most populated area, housing the following:
Oakhaven
Mossvale
Ivyford
Overgleam Valley
Emerald Bridge
Lake Chaerdin
City of Cerebelle
The Midlands stretch like a great emerald ocean from foothills to coast, a vast swath of conifers, deciduous giants, and ancient groves. It is both the most traveled and the most unpredictable region. The Midlands house most of Hallowood’s settlements, including K’meriatl’s primary sanctuaries. Forest-keepers patrol winding trails, versed in reading tree-rings the way others read books.
Bluehills
The Bluehills region runs from the hardened frontier with Rommelen to the tranquil waters of Lake Chaerden. They are named for the blue haze that lingers over their slopes at dusk, a mixture of pine-pollen, mountain mist, and ancient enchantment.
Here you will find he slopes of the Ryggrad’n Mountains and the Wolfang Woods. Perilous in their own right with plenty of caves for trolls and other unseen dangers.
Viridescents
The Viridescents rise like a jade-and-snow spine dividing lush Hallowood from the sun-scoured deserts of Dolornjaa. Their staggering height (over 28,000 ft) creates a dramatic shift from the swampy Jade Basin (at mere single-digit elevations) to the thin-aired heavens of the peaks.
Many peaks are sacred to Hepist Palnai religion and to the Old Gods, believed to be the birthplace of fire, wind, and balance.
Pilgrims climb to shrines carved into the cliffs to seek visions or atonement.
The Viridescents serve as the province’s eastern rim, opposite the Ryggrad’n Mountains in the west. The two major mountain ranges create a bowl-like effect for the entire province, giving it plenty of rainfall, filling the rivers and keeping it lush.
The most popular town of Hallowood is Mossvale. Sitting just south of the gap of the Verdant Mountains and nestled in the Overgleam Valley, Mossvale thrives with a sense of charm and virtuosity. It is a beautiful hilly town with a great stone arch at the front. It is known for being a town of magic and enchantment.
Regardless of popularity, Mossvale pales in comparison to the capital of the province, the City of Cerebelle. Traveling on the northern ridges, you can see the great stone city jutting through the trees on a hill overlooking Lake Miroiter.
Royal house K’meriatl
Motto: “Purity in Memory and Wisdom”
Current Ruler: King Hovenier the Wise
Origins & Lineage
The K’meriatl trace their line back to the First Keepers of the Forest Archive, a druidic order that memorized vast histories before written language existed. Their ancestors were chosen by the wolves of the Jade Basin, who were said to bow to them as a sign of favor.
Symbolism of the Crest
Wolves: guardians of memory, loyalty, and sacred wilds
Lotus Flower: enlightenment, rebirth, clarity of purpose
Hanging Lantern: a sacred relic—its flame never extinguishes, symbolizing knowledge that outlives flesh
Celtic-knot roots: interwoven ancestry, the binding of memory and land
Cultural Role & Reputation
House K’meriatl is known for:
strict stewardship of nature
oral history spanning millennia
perpetual neutrality in foreign matters
Hovenier the Wise
Hovenier is considered one of the most contemplative rulers in modern history. He is slow to act but unwavering once a path is chosen. He believes all crises, political or magical, arise from forgetting ancient lessons.
He is famous for:
mediating disputes between forest villages without ever raising a hand
carrying the Lantern of K’meriatl on solitary walks through sacred groves
possessing near-perfect recall of ancestral records