ne of the largest stretches of unbroken forest in the region, the Reik's Marches comprise the southern portion of Middenland, sweeping down to the River Reik and the Grand Principality of Reikland. The forest here grows dense and tall, and only narrow paths cross it, for no major roads have been cut through the interior. To the east the forest peters out, giving way to the mist-shrouded Midden Moors and Midden Marshes, whose silvered waters are said to be haunted by the ghosts of long-dead defenders of the Empire.

The primary reason the Reik's Marches have not been cultivated or settled to any great degree lies in the area's proximity to the Empire's capital of Altdorf. Many nobles serving at the Emperor's Court maintain holdings in the woodlands. From palatial lodges aristocratic hunting parties range far and wide across the forests in pursuit of the great stags that reside deep within. A thousand decrees and edicts maintain the area as the strict preserve of the idle rich, the commoners limited to the few lands allotted them.

Though this constant attention from the rich keeps the area relatively free of dangerous creatures, the fact that the common men and women of the Empire are barred from travel throughout vast swathes of the Reik's Marches has given rise to all manner of rumours and vicious gossip. Many hold that it is not only hunting that the nobles engage in at their forest lodges, and some whisper of corruption given free reign far from prying eyes. Some say that a large number of the nobles are engaged in various forms of proscribed cult activity deep within the woods, and that there is an increasing weight of evidence to support it, though when asked to verify such material, the wagging tongues grow still.

The truth of the matter is that some deep forest clearings have been used as cult meeting places. Few, however, have witnessed the ceremonies enacted around burning pyres under the sickly light of Morrslieb and survived. The identities of the worshippers remain carefully hidden, even from each other, behind ornate masks or beneath velvet hoods lest the court of Altdorf be rocked to its very foundation with controversy.

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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