Saldight Ominous Woods

Place

Place Name:

Saldight Ominous Woods

Biome:

Ominous Woods

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

Not everyone takes strolls in Saldight, but if you happen to be one of those few persons who do, watch out for the gigantic rifts in the ground. For seemingly no reason, the whole forest is full of sudden cliffs and ravines that are only slightly too wide to step over. They’re easily within jumping distance, but it does remain a little unnerving to suddenly find these hundred-foot drops opening up at your feet. There are formations in Saldight that are actually the reverse of the sudden rifts — namely, sudden cliffs. They’re not quite as frequent as the rifts, but they do exist.

And it’s not altogether uncommon to be walking through the forest and suddenly find a natural wall in front of you, that only stretches a stone’s throw in either direction and isn’t nearly as thick as you’d expect it to be. Sometimes these walls are so thin that one questions how they managed to form. Sometimes these questions so plague a traveller that he pushes against the wall, and unwittingly topples it over. Toppled variants of these walls are as common as the walls still standing. When you get closer to the mountains, though, these walls start to get thicker and thicker until they become fully-fledged cliffs.

The rifts also get bigger and bigger the closer you get to the mountains, so big that their bottoms become good, wide paths, if you can get down there and get back up again. When you get to the mountainous regions of Saldight is when the Mouths of the Mountain begin to appear. They don’t really seem like caves at first — it’s more like cliffs beginning to tower over you, their precipices becoming ever more perilous, their edges slowly creeping further and further. Sometimes they form full arches, by connecting to cliffs so tiny they look like pillars.

One often passes through such arches, as you approach the mountains. Since you’re so busy looking at your feet, watching for the next chasm, the first time you pass through the shadow of one of these arches will probably be the first time you look up. But you might not look up. You might be used to passing under the shadows of trees, and assume that this shadow proceeds from a similar source. There are, after all, still trees in this region of Saldight. You might begin to notice the trees growing thinner as you get closer to the greatest of the Mouths of the Mountain.

If you didn’t earlier, you might finally notice the arches that constantly appear, and grow thicker, and cast bigger shadows. You might wonder why it’s getting so dark in the middle of the day. No matter what you might notice before the Last Tree, you will notice the Last Tree. Standing on a rift’s edge, a rift so wide and deep that it cannot be crossed unless you came prepared, the Last Tree is set apart from all other trees by a good mile. It sits bathing in the noonday light streaming through the last gap in the roof above.

Beyond this point, there is only darkness, and the greatest of the Mouths of the Mountain. A cave so large that you probably don’t have enough supplies to explore it.

Plants

The Ominous Woods of Saldight contain multitudes of different kinds of trees. So many different kinds of trees. More than most other forests. Something in the soil of these Ominous Woods lets trees grow here just fine that would otherwise only grow in slightly warmer or slightly cooler climates. As for trees that require specific amounts of hydration? That’s all taken care of too — mostly by rivers and highlands but also by mountains blocking rain from getting to certain parts of the forest as frequently. Consequently, Saldlight could be divided into regions, based on the kinds of trees that grow there.

Or, more specifically, by the kinds of the conditions that trees have to grow in if they wish to grow there. These regions, however, would be laid out in a rather messy fashion if ever mapped, since there’s nothing preventing an island of hydration from forming in the midst of a dry waste. That all being said — there’s little else to say concerning the trees of Saldight. Go to the neighbouring areas, and see what trees they have to offer. Saldight has all those trees and more. Though there aren’t any trees in Saldight that grow exclusively in Saldight, they practically are exclusive to Saldight.

Since the other places in which they grow could be on the other side of the world. Saldight has some unique herbs, though! One herb that grows everywhere in the forest is a mossy sort of plant called kloosis. As advertised, it’s exclusive to Saldight, though doubtless back in the day there would be a huge rush to mass produce it. Its smell is unrivalled by any perfume, and all animals, even the fiercest ones, even the ones that live underwater, even the ones with a terrible sense of smell, will at least get distracted by the majestic scent of Kloosis.

Eating it generally proves to be a bad idea — not like those animals that already eat anything will care about what’s a good or a bad idea to eat. It’s the scent of kloosis that draws animals from all over the surrounding countryside into the depths of the Ominous Woods. And yet, despite the constant influx of animals, for some reason Saldight’s animal population remains low. And the kloosis remains, watching, waiting, giving off its alluring yet somewhat sinister scent. Another herb unique to Saldight, and much rarer than kloosis, is drakaban.

Those doctors brave enough to venture into the forest to get some will be rewarded with an extremely potent burn medicine. Doesn’t matter what kind of burn — whether you got it from heat or from acid or even from frost or insect bites — Drakaban will soothe it. If it wasn’t so rare, Drakaban would be a must-have item for every adventurer’s pack. And then there’s ni’soli. It doesn’t have powers of allurement or healing like kloosis and drakaban, but it does taste nice when fried with fruits. It used to be unique to Saldight, but then people discovered that it grew well in gardens, so now it’s not unique to Saldight anymore.

Animals

The monsters that lurk in the depths of Saldight are officially known as rohs — who knows why — but they have an enormous array of nicknames. None of them are compliments, and even the ones that seem to be compliments are obviously sarcastic. “awylvokis” is one such name. It’s known for a fact that these monsters are very ugly, even though no one’s had that good of a look at them. Their silhouettes, which have been frequently spotted when the sun begins to set or rise, are enough. Hunched over, bulky, covered in uneven patches of fur, strong enough to tear a tree apart with their bare hands…

Their faces are the worst, though. They bear an ever so slight resemblance to the face of a man, a resemblance which is most pronounced in the nose and least pronounced in the jaw. The eyes have never been seen, but no doubt they’re either the wildest eyes you’ve ever seen or the most terrifyingly intelligent eyes you’ve ever seen. These are the monsters more frightening than kin'toni. kin'toni, at least, have some semblance of reason and civility. The awylvokis have no such semblance. Nor do they distinguish between the different kinds of things that have wandered into Saldight and back out again.

Whether it’s a kin’toni, a zu’aan, a steed, a pet, some kind of livestock animal, or even an inanimate and not very tasty wagon, the awylvokis will come and find that thing that they caught scent of in their forest, and drag it back into their forest, usually in pieces. What goes in the forest, belongs in the forest. Cursed is he who tries to resist this law. Other than the awylvokis, there are some less terrifying and more rational animals that live in Saldight. That’s not to say they’re friendly animals. On the contrary, they’re a fearsome challenge for any warrior.

But while they might not be as safe to hunt as they could be, they’re still less twisted than the awylvokis. One such animal is the sibor. These hulking animals have black scaly skin which is always riddled with hundreds if not thousands of scars. This is a testament to their constant readiness to battle — they have to be ever vigilant, if they live in Saldight. To survive a year is almost impossible. Sibors live off of mushrooms, insects, and small woodland creatures. If you encounter a hostile one, draw your weapon and prepare to fight, because there’s no way you’re going to frighten off a sibor.

Another battle-hardened animal that you can find in Saldight is the grist. These creatures are birds and don’t spend much of their time in the forest itself, preferring to make their nests in the mountains. Still, Saldight is where they find most of their food during the winter, when all other forests grow cold and lifeless. Food is hard to find in Saldight during the winter, to be sure, but the feat’s not quite as impossible as it is elsewhere.

Historical Timeline of Ages

Age Name	Dates	Controller
Stone Age	Before 1E 0	Unknown
Copper Age	1E 1–1E 2200	Unknown
Bronze Age	1E 2200–1E 4400	Unknown
Iron Age	2E 0–2E 700	Unknown
Ancient Age	2E 700–2E 2200	Unknown
Middle Age	3E 0–3E 2050	Unknown
Early Modern Age	3E 2050–3E 2600	Unknown
Industrial Age	3E 2600–3E 2700	Unknown
Machine Age	3E 2700–3E 2800	Unknown
Atomic Age	3E 2800–3E 2850	Unknown
Space Age	3E 2850–3E 2875	Unknown
Information Age	3E 2875–3E 2900	Unknown
Genetic Age	3E 2950–3E 3000	Unknown
Awakening Age	3E 3000–3E 3415	Unknown
Twilight Age	4E 0–4E 500	Roh Kin'toni Clan

Place

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Saldight Ominous Woods

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This article is written by Xerxes Worldweaver. Copyright 2026 Xerxes Worldweaver. All rights reserved.