Forest of Arden

Arden is one of the few places left where the Sidhe still rule, alongside realms in Iber and Saturnia; scattered Sidhe can be met almost anywhere, but lands they actually control are rare. It lies in east-central Alba, with the sea on its eastern side and Avalon wrapping around it to the west and south. The Faerie Folk once held all of Alba, Iber and Ys and roamed Mediterranea, Atlantis, Turan and even Gondwana, but the 'Other Folk', their name for all non-Sidhe, have taken nearly everything. Only in Iber are they still numerous, and only in Arden do they thrive.

They resent any intrusion by humans and similar races, some violently, nursing an old hatred for those who drove them out, and even outside the forest vengeful Sidhe may roam looking for chances to make trouble or win back land. Few outsiders dare go near. Arden has fended off everything from giants to goblins with clever traps and surprise attacks. Cooperation with Other Folk has happened now and then, but usually between individuals or small groups.

Its folk include boggarts, sprites, oak men, rabicans (faery steeds) and many kinds of nymphs; the hill oreads are especially dangerous to small adventuring parties that disturb the woods, and bands of druas, the Dark Elves, are said to roam here too. For ages an absolute ruler known only as the Faerie Queen, whose true name and even race are unknown, has reigned, legend says for a thousand generations of men. Her rule is bound by tradition, summed up in the idea that things should remain as they always were. All Arden's Sidhe accept her, some grudgingly, and they quarrel among themselves, chiefly between those who want quiet solitude and those who live to plague the Other Folk.