When the sun burned white hot and the twilight slumber of man passed uninterrupted, the great arboreal forest of the Ardeg spanned the breadth of Lorem. The elves gloried in their wooded home, lofty canopies giving the forest a grand, airy feeling. The devotion of the elves to harmonious coexistence with the natural world gave rise to social and religious practices that pulled their wooded home ever closer to the coexistent plane of the Feywild and even pierced the veil of reality, creating regions of conjunctions with the outer planes of Arborea and The Beastlands.
When the human paladin, Dawin, engaged in his war of fire and blood against the elves in the Ardeg forests, the region of Aer'sa was put to torch. While the foliage burned, the barren trunks of the forest persisted. By divine writ, foul bargain, or magic might - none could say for certain. What the humans called the "matchstick forest" remained behind, while the rest of the arboreal forests were consumed until the elves, far to the west, made their last stand on the waters of the Nectaris and the Cirisium Rivers.
Over the long years that followed, the Aer'sa remained a haunted remnant of natural beauty. While few birds and woodland fauna remained, a reclusive circle of druids remained behind, The Circle of Fire and Ash. Almost a 1000 years ago, a group of adventure seeking cosmopolitan elves and their half-human offspring set about remaking the Aer'sa into a woodland once more. For centuries they struggled, employing the services of Rostram and its mages, bargaining with Yarman inventors, and beseeching Hendra for intervention. Their success was marginal.
During the Upheaval and the planar incursions that followed, the Aer'sa took its first breath in millennia. Earth, soil, bough, and bone remembered their legacy. Dormant connections with the Feywild and the outer planes pried open once more and with their opening flowed the vibrancy of life. Trees bloomed, waters burbled from parched, broken soil, and fauna flourished The progeny of the elven inhabitants took on fey traits, resulted in a sudden population of Eladrin elves. With these planar connections came beings of power - including the Sidhe.
The Sidhe include the Seelie and Unseelie Courts ruled by Titania and Mab, respectively, as well as the unaffiliated fey. Their presence on Lorem has resulted in a number of fey-aligned Warlocks and sorcerous bloodlines bred from liaisons with nobles of each court. Some of the Eladrin, closely aligned with the courts, have even bred offspring that are fully fey, having bridged their ancestral gap.
The Aer'sa now glows with not only life, but fey lights at dawn and dusk. The very trees watch those who pass under their canopy and all manner of sprites, pixies, and other minor fey suffuse the land. And the fey, ever careful bargainers, seek to expand the Aer'sa with the help of the Eladrin who share their dwellings and their agents who leave the forest, seeking to work towards the goals of the Sidhe.
The Sheen is a large body of water surrounded by forests. It houses a number of aquatic fey, including the nymphs, water sprikes, and selkies. Two rivers from the ancient Yarman Mountains, the Rill and the Rhyme, flow into the Sheen and the River Wisp cares its waters out to the Bay of Hedron.
Sylvannia'tien is an Eladrin settlement on the banks of the Sheen between the Rill and Rhyme. This city is worked into a natural canyon and the surrounding environs. Trade with Slyvannia'tien is somewhat limited outside the Aer'sa and few non-elves reside in the settlement, finding the complex societal norms anything but normal. A few forest gnomes maintain a Yarman embassy, as do elves from the Ardeg and the Llothspren.
Glimerion is an Eladrin settlement on the River Wisp, as the very edge of the Aer'sa. Wrapped around the trunk of a massive tree, the settlement is worked into bough and branch. Most trade to the outside world from the Aer'sa passes through Glimerion.
Wystiant was the largest settlement in the Aer'sa, prior to the uprising. Shortly after the uprising, it was abandoned. For what reason, it is unclear; however, despite 500 years of time passing, travelers of the forest note that the walls remain untouched by the passage of time and lights continue to fill vacant windows. Travelers who pass through its gates, find Wystiant unnerving and pass quickly through. Those who linger are seldom heard from again.
Hienthiel is a small village of Eladrin and druids located in the southern reaches of the Aer'sa. They are geographically close to the Londhill Lumbermills and actively work agains the Londhillian interests in the forest.
Between Aer'sa, Guar Cha Gap, the mountains of Quareg, the Haz'Darad, and the the eastern Expanse of Dawindar are the Unaffiliated Holds. Winds that blow perpetually from Martok are dry and the absence of substantial vegetation makes the region an arid grassland inviable for agriculture without magical aide. There are a few modest settlements in the area that travelers may find.
Londhill: A recent founded township made up of an Ilsien merchant guild, Flax Spun Gold and Hestrem farmers and a few wild spirts from the surrounding lands. They seek to establish both a trade post that would allow traders from Mar'tok to exchange precious gems; lumberworkers to harvest hardwoods from the edge of the Aer'sa and provide a viable hub of trade from Waymeet to the Bay of Hedron without passing through the bandit plagued Northern Confederacy of Nations. A
Haldir's: A fortified inn about a day's hard march from Londhill, Haldirs predates Londhill and serves as the defacto trading post in the area. The inn is managed by a multi-generational family whose patriarch, Haldir Torquebillows, gives the inn its name. The inn is quite large and sturdily built on a stout defensible hill.
Monastery of Many Steps: A threadbare enclave halfway up a Peak in the Quareg range, the monastery services somewhat devout sect of Sestran monks. In a land with few safe shelters, the monastery provides a hospitable, if spare, rest stop for travelers in a ill frequented corner of the Lorem.
Monolith of the Monodrone: Standing out in the on a hill in the center of Guar Cha Gap is a brass and limestone structure with a mushroom-shaped brass dome at the top of the structure. A wizard is rumored to inhabit the tower, but the few who have ventured to the structure have received an audience.
Fetid Fastness of Ranis: Located about a week's ride from Londhill, the Fastness, is an appears to be an old hill fort. Black smoke often rises into the sky, reeking of charred flesh. Ranite warrior-priests, dedicated to the eradication of the undead, routinely burn the bodies of the undead they encounter, using great pyres to ensure the job is complete. The Ranites patrol area, providing what passes for "law" in the Unaffiliated Regions.
The Sodden Bogs: located to the east of Aer'sa, the Sodden bogs make up a the southern extent of Hestrem territory. The bogs seem to be growing north of the River Wisp, pushing farmers off ancestral land. Few navigate the bog safely, but there are some rangers and guides who will offer assistance for a price.