ituated in the north and west of the Empire, the Drakwald forest swathes huge tracts of land around Middenheim. Taking its name from the now-vanished province of Drakwald, it is a sparse forest, the land being particularly infertile. Little of the Drakwald has been cleared for cultivation, and few farmers would venture to do so even were its soils the most fertile in the region.

The darkest parts of the forest are known as the Drakwald Deeps, and are said to be haunted by some ancient evil predating the coming of Sigmar's people to the region some three thousand years ago. The nature of this evil is subject to much speculation. Some tales claim it is the unquiet spirits of the long-slain dragons that once preyed upon the Unberogen tribes when they first settled the area, awakening to snatch travellers from horseback on the forest roads. Certainly, many itinerant merchants tell of the bestial roars that echo from the Drakwald's dark depths, spooking mounts and shaking even the most experienced of travellers. Other stories tell of creatures that were born to human families, but were marked by Chaos and cast out into the cold night lest the witch hunters come and arrest the parents. Such creatures, mutated and twisted, are said to congregate in some numbers, drawn to their own kind in the ghost-haunted depths of the Drakwald. There they gather and plot, intent upon exacting revenge against those that rejected them.

Most terrible of all the features of the Drakwald Deeps are the so-called hag trees. These are impossibly ancient, perhaps older than the forests themselves. They have been made huge and gnarled by the passage of aeons. Beastmen warbands flock to such trees from far and wide, adorning them with grisly trophies and skeletal remains, and engaging in blasphemous, moonlit worship of foul gods. Perhaps worse still, some say that human cultists, too, are drawn from the villages and towns, to cavort with the children of Chaos beneath the twisted branches, offering up their own gifts to the ruinous powers. Those that witness these gatherings soon find themselves hanging next to the other trophies, so the hag trees are grim warnings to those who attempt to travel through this haunted place.

Regions of the Great Forest

For information on the locations within this region, see the Warroom when it open on June 25, 2007.

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