Shalanwode

The Shalanwode is a crossroads in the Shadowend, a thickly forested highland travelled regularly by orcs, goblins, giants, elves, and other creatures of the Shadowend and Utgard.  The Wiernaug tribesmen have their oldest settlements here, tiny hidden hamlets which have never fallen under the rule of any outside law or king.

Elves, goblins, and giants are also frequently found here, as the elves travel from the Winding Halls and points east to Shalaen and the Reachlands, and the goblins journey from the mountains of Sarn to the High Hills and Utgard.  Monstrous and dire animals of all kinds may be found in the Shalanwode and its environs, including dire wolves, boar, and elk, owlbears, and harrow hounds.

The Shalanwode was never cleared, and few dungeons or ruins of interest are known.  The natural inhabitants of the area discouraged many people from seeking refuge here, but a few powerful factions established strongholds before falling with the rest of the Woodmarches.  A splinter cult dedicated to Nevias, Ragavar, Urjin, and Kajalla founded several fortified temples in the Shalanwode before being eradicated four centuries ago; the most powerful of these temples is known as the Vanishing Dungeon, as it shifts to the Prime Material from a sealed demi-plane at widely spaced intervals.  Other dungeons include the Tower Ain, an ancient elven watchtower currently held by a faerilven archmage, and the Measureless Maze, a vast dungeon complex excavated beneath the Shalanwode by a powerful lich centuries ago.