#duskwoods lore

[handsome-rising]

This is my new handsome boy Vine. He practices divination in Imperius’ court in the Duskwoods. 

It’s a pretty bloody affair where a stag is dropped from a tree into the brambles beneath. The stag slowly falls, getting ripped apart and leaving it’s trail of blood. After it’s Vine that walks into the brambles to read what it is that the Duskwood has to say

The marks on his face are all scars.

[handsome-rising]

This is Nahar and she is Rhane’s wife.

While Baine is Rhane’s lover. She is a hedge witch and runs around making charms for people while her husband is out and about making deals as a merchant. They are both in a very open and very loving relationship. They adore each other but understand that being apart from each other so much and exclusive just isn’t realistic for them.

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Huntsmen

Being a permanent Hunter in the Duskwoods is a highly sought after position. Though for kids hitting puberty it’s like enforced military service. They must serve for a year and though plenty hate it there’s always a few that try to excel so they can be chosen by Imperius. Being a huntsmen (as these youngsters are known as) helps them learn the moods of the Duskwoods as well as valuable survival skills. It also teaches them discipline (something everyone benefits from when living in such an isolated and harsh environment). It also imprints on them how important it is to show the Woods the respect it needs.

It’s extremely harsh training. People can get seriously injured or even die and in rare cases they simply head into the trees and don’t come back. They go willingly so just a token effort is made to find them. This happens after they’ve faced the Bleeding Brambles...the very same ones that caught Imperius and nearly bled him dry. The recruits are given a day and a night if they survive, they’re time as a huntsmen is at an end. They they are free to go back to their families and take up their lives again or they can stay on and go through even more rigorous training to become a full Hunter.

 Those that disappear into the trees when they’re released from the Brambles are called the Fey. The Hunters can make little sense of what they say, only that they must go. So they are let go.

[handsome-rising]

What if in the last instance just before Imperius killed his first and eldest child she cursed his sword.

So now his sword speaks to him with her voice...it says foul and mocking things to him. He’s pretty much learned to tune it out but it’s always there, just out of ear shot...like a thorn at his side, something poisoned and a constant reminder of what he’s done. 

However he can’t get rid of the sword because of reasons?? I dunno what they are yet... open to suggestions?

[handsome-rising]

Ascha is a bead maker and jeweler. 

She’s got a knack for seeing forms inside pieces of wood and bringing them out to life. Be it a flower or animals, she sees what others wouldn’t in a piece of wood. She takes into account the colouring, the grain and by the time she is done they are as beautiful as precious stones. No two pieces are the same so every work she makes is unique. She works with soft metals as well, such as gold but she’s mostly sought out for her bead work. 

They are true works of art and are highly sought after. It keeps her busy and most of all happy. She went from being a courtesan to a fallen prince (she misses him a great deal, they had an understanding that suited them both and he was very honourable) but there’s little to complain about. She went from courtesan to artisan One  with a sought after name. She could not be more proud of her self. 

She’s settled in the Duskwoods and she shines under it’s dark canopy. The woods it provides are like nothing anyone will find outside it and trading caravans vie for her creations. 

Art by @apel-rising

[handsome-rising]

Visit Original Link

The Duskwoods theme.

[handsome-rising]

I M P E R I U S . L O R D . O F . T H E . D U S K W O O D S

The Duskwoods is almost like a living entity.

When Imperius decided to settle within it he almost gave it his life, he was caught in the brambles and he practically bled half to death. The woods took his lifeblood and soaked it up taking into it’s soil his most intimate desires and fears, and everything he ever did was laid bare but whatever it is it saw, the Duskwoods approved for it let him go after holding on to him for three days. He was sick and weak but it provided for him food and shelter and after that it parted like a lover before him. It willingly giving up it’s own secrets, showing to him an ancient abandoned empire, with homes and palaces built and shaped out of the trees themselves. 

The woods are treated with respect and in return it provides all they could want. Clean water, food, shelter and all it asks for in return is blood and life. So first blood no matter how it is spilled or from who will always be in it’s honour and the corpse of any enemies or wanderers that could not find help in time are all left for the woods to absorb. So all major festivities and meetings start with a Hunt.

Imperius and his Hunters as well as the subjects have learned to read it’s moods pretty well. They know when to stay out of certain areas, they know to stay inside when there’s fog and they know that the giant white stags that sometimes peek at them from deep in the trees are off limits.

It’s also good to know that those who wander into the woods go only as far as the it lets them. They could force their way through but they’d find it like no woods they’ve ever experienced. Swamps will seem to sprout suddenly beneath their feet where just a moment ago was dry land. Thick underbrush that seem to shift so it gets in the way, noxious fogs, wild and dangerous animals as well as pixies. Imperius chose his new kingdom well. 

The Duskwoods will be his first line of defense in case of war and if rumours are true he has every reason to worry. He does not want to face Solomon fairly.