Contrasting to the great hold of Cragholdt of the dwarves, the elves have several great communities that inhabit grand forests, Each of the main forests contain a main type of tree that naturally grow faster and stronger in the area the forest inhabits, and in each forest’s heart lies a Mother tree. A Mother tree is a huge specimen of the trees that live in the forest, and is known to be why these forests tend to have a uniform tree species, or in special cases several specieses. The reason and ability of these Mother Trees being able to control and create these forests have not been able to be discerned by those not of the elven high councils, the closest confidants of the Mother Trees.

Each Greatwood, the official term of a forest that sprouted due to a Mother Tree, are inhabited by many magical beasts that seem to evolve into the new environment rapidly, seemingly helped along by the forest’s magic. While a great place to gather and hunt for higher tier resources, the elves that inhabit these areas are fiercely territorial, and only allow nature-attuned or forest folk (although other elves that originate from the Greatwood are free to travel it’s paths) to gather, and have been known to even kill people who don’t follow this universal rule of the Greatwood.

One of the most known myths, especially on the southern part of the continent, is about the dark elves, or Daeben, that inhabit the barren wasteland south of the Dragon Nest mountains. It was written that before there was a wasteland, a vaste Greatwood of some of the largest trees in the world, in which some of the normal trees can reach heights of up to several hundred feet. The elves that lived there were rather friendly, and had good relations with the dwarves to their north, which every now and then they would send trading caravans to sell off stuff during times of peace. This Greatwood though, attracted the attention of one of the greatest dragons that lived up in the mountains, and with age starting to get to them, he wanted to gain the power of the Greatwood for himself, and went down and with his horde of dragons burnt down the entire Greatwood to ash, and took the power of the Mother Tree for himself. Ever since the Greatwood was burnt down, the elves that used to live their turned twisted, as the only survivors were those who were able to flee to the underground passages. Living underground, away from their Greatwood and living in the dark, turned these upstanding elves into blood thirsty killers that have become casters of dark arts and are willing to use any means. Soon, these Daeben started attacking the dwarves through the deep tunnels, and eventually became a sworn enemy of dwarves.

Anyways, for the most part, Elven Greatwoods are, like the dwarven settlements, closed off from most non-elves except for those who are like them, attuned to nature and the ways of the forest. Each Greatwood is controlled by a Mother Tree that has power of the forest, and grows as the forest expands. The animals that live in the forest are usually magical, as are the plants and sometimes people as well. Each Greatwood are for the most part, different from each other but there are several times where Greatwoods have chosen the same tree species.