History

The Borderlands have existed as they are since the birth of Terragloria. Not much changes on the savannah. Fires spread up every few decades that threaten the grasses, but these usually burn themselves out and within a few years the savannah is back to normal.

The only significant change that has taken place is the elven city of Eld that the Eldabon created almost five hundred years ago. The nomads of the borderlands have always had a taboo about going around the mysterious Oaken Vale, but soon after Eld was created the strange creatures of the vale begain raiding the nomads that camped too closely to the tree. Though afraid the nomads were also outraged, and the Plains War began.

Oaken Vale

The vast root system of the great oak is the natural habitat of the race known as the Entawynn Pupae. These creatures seem to have very few distinct features. They are made up of four segmented body areas, each encased in a very hard, brown exoskeleton known as chiton. They tend to meld with the roots of the tree for sustenance and they also sift the dirt near the roots through their system in order to obtain certain nutrients.

Most of the roots branching off of the main root-bud have a crude underground cavern that runs along side them. This being the case, several other subterranean creatures have set up residence in these caves. There are several entrances on the surface of the savannah surrounding Oakenvale to the caverns, but no official map exists that pinpoints these locations. There is a main entrance at the base of the oak which leads directly to the root-bud.

This door was carved out of the oak by the Eldabon elves who inhabit the limbs of the tree. They sealed this entrance with ancient elvish runes in order to keep intruders out. The edges of the door glow green at night due to the nature of the discarded chitinous husks inside the trunk.

The trunk of the great oak is riddled with perfectly round tube-like tunnels created by the Entawynn Larvae, a caterpillar-like creature about three feet in diameter and ten to twelve feet long. The base of the tunnel system is actually a huge carved-out cavern with piles of chitinous husks scattered about and holes exiting the cavern in all directions except down.

At a certain stage in the life of an Entawynn Pupae, it will completely meld with a root of the great oak and resurface from this woody material inside this cavern. Then, after a transformation that lasts only one day, the Pupae will shed its chitinous exoskeleton and begin its new life as a Larvae.

The tunnels of the Larvae generally intersect in various different ante-chambers throughout the trunk of the great tree. Some actually lead all the way up to the base of the limb structure and exit out of the trunk and onto the lower limbs. At a certain point in the life of a Larvae, it will make its way out of one of these exits and follow a low-hanging limb to its end point. There it will spin itself a cocoon-like cover suspended from the limb and enter into a one-year hibernation known to the Entawynn as the chrysal year. At the end of the year, the cocoon bursts open revealing a butterfly-like humanoid with fey-like features called the Entawynn Adult.

The bodies of these fey creatures are only about two to three feet tall and they sport a beautiful, multihued five-foot wingspan. Their skin color varies greatly as does the decorative designs found on the wings. The upper portions of the oak tree are infested with them although it seems they have very little in the way of intelligence.

Within the last five-hundred years, a group of forest elves from Dalyant known as the Eldabon moved into the branches of the tree. They built a ring around the tree which serves as the hub of their city; and many lofts, rope bridges, and small dwellings they call pods stretch across the unusual landscape. The elves are careful to exist peacefully with the Entawynn and the oak. All of the structures built by the elves are fashioned from natural materials such as the giant leaves for roofs, vines for the rope bridges, sap as an adhesive, and pieces of bark for walls. The elves also have a way of coaxing the tree to grow in specific ways for their benefit. This resourceful race even uses the chitinous husks to fashion armor and the wings of the dead adults to make gliders.

Shaba

Shaba is the closest thing that the Borderlands have to a city. It is really nothing more than a large mead hall. The hall is a large, long, wooden structure with benches, and tables. A hearth and platform sits at it's northern end where tribal bards proclaim the brave deeds of their tribe.

The nomadic tribes meet every 4th full moon to share information and to trade stories of their deeds while out on the savannah. It is a time of festivities, feats of strength and showing off of ageehan mounts and their abilities to ride them. At the end of 2 days many of the tribes begin to return to the savannah, and by the end of the week all of the tribes are back to their nomadic life style except one tribe. The tribe that stays has the duty of maintaining the hall and guarding it agains the beasts of the savannah and other men. The tribes take turns as the protectors of Shaba.

Beach of Giants

The beach of giants is a rocky, cavernous shoreline that most of the residents of Terragloria avoids. It is riddled with enormous caverns and hiding places for it's numerous residents. As the name suggests some of the residents are giants who live in some of the largest caverns like dragons, guarding their possessions, and either enslaving those who cross their path, or killing them outright. The nomads refuse to enter this region and think people are fools who do enter the beach of giants.

Plains War

The Eldabon elves, after settling into their tree village they call Eld, began making armor from the discarded chitin exoskeletons of the larval stage of the Entawynn. They also found that they could fashion the wings of the dead adults into a gliding-suit they could use to swoop to the ground and back up into the limbs of the great tree again.

They originally planned to trade with the neighboring humans of the Borderlands, the fey of Gilgalaria, and the elves of Dalyant; but that soon changed. After realizing that they could make air raids on the nomadic tribes of the Borderlands and steal everything that they needed, a few of the lesser-moraled Eldabon did just that.

They put on the green, glowing, chitinous armor, strapped on the colorful gliding-suits, coated their hands with sticky sap adhesive, and dove out of the tree toward their tent target. The first wave would drop nets on the unsuspecting nomads as well as cast a few sleeping spells. The second wave would grab the tents themselves, and the third wave grabbed everything they could that might be usable or tradable.

The tribes of the Borderlands mistakenly decided that it was the Entawynn themselves that were attacking them and began to plan retaliatory strikes toward them. The Eldabon elves, not understanding why the nomads would attack such a peaceful creature, took it upon themselves to protect the Entawynn. They magically barred the huge oaken door that they had carved into the base of the great tree with ancient elven runes. They also decided that, if the Borderlanders were going to try to kill off the Entawynn, they deserved to be raided. The entire race of Eldabon then began doing exactly what the original group of bandits did, feeling very justified in their actions.

These skirmishes between the tribes of the Borderlands and the Eldabon elves disguised as Entawynn continue to this day.

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