Diomedes

The Diomedes, from Rory Helsker III, St.B.'s map of Avo, 4072 VR.

The Diomedes, or just Diomedes, is a forest situated in the central portion of the country of Akhentour, on the island continent of Dorian. It is the ancestral home of the wood elves of Akhentour. In antiquity, it stretched from Lake Fatu in the north all the way to the southern Fangs, but over the millennia much of it has been deforested to be used as wood for homes and other structures.

In the center of Diomedes is the city of Diomed, the home of the wood elves, which itself is a hollowed out trunk of an enormous tree which grew there long ago. The trunk existed prior to any being's awakening, and thus has no official explanation, though the wood elves tell stories of a the goddess of war, Sonat, cutting the tree down to make a handle for her greataxe, Earthcleaver.

Etymology & Pronunciation

Diomedes (dye-OH-med-ees) is Sylvish for "Our Green Home," from the Sylvan word dyomadaes, which means "our home of lush green trees." Diomed means "green home" while the -es suffix refers to a plural self in Sylvish; in ancient times the elves did not have the proper noun in Sylvish to refer to themselves as they do in Elvish (wyr). Thus, -es simply refers to "us," i.e., the wood elves. (At this point in prehistory the wood elves likely did not even know they had other elven cousins.)

History

The Diomedes has existed since long before prehistory, likely seeded by the ancient titan progenitors. The forest was once incredibly dense and difficult to navigate; accounts from Storybearers from the early Bronze Age describe it as a "triple day" journey--as in, for every day of travel takes three times as long in the forest.

Even by the Bronze Age, however, the forest was undergoing heavy deforestation, and over the millennia the size and density of Diomedes would grow and shrink several times. For most of the Bronze Age the forest shrank to nearly half of its original size before the first Circle of the Land druid groves were founded. The druids used their primal magics to increase the growth rate of the trees, pushing back against the deforestation, and during the Age of Magic the forest grew to a little larger than its current size, as construction and industry shifted from wood to stone and metal.

After the Catastrophe, the forest began shrinking again, but had held steady for most of the age thanks to the help of the druids.

During the Alrennean War, the southern portion of the Diomedes was destroyed by massive blights caused by the undead hordes in and around Garrod. That part of the forest is now called the Deadwood, though it has also begun regrowing since the eradication of the undead by 4090 VR. The Pax Ultima has decreed that if the forest returns, it will be renamed Heroes Forest in honor of all those who died there defending against Alrenn.

Notable Places & People

Diomed

The capital of the wood elves.

Nythhodel

A small town in the northeast, home to Aalari Unalla.