**Death Eats Pie is an Alternate Reality collaboration.**
Death Forest
Type: Hazard
Location: Hellbound
Description:
Death Forest is the vast forested expanse that covers most of mainland Drobec and serves as one of the defining realities of life on the continent. Every mainland nation exists either within territory cleared from Death Forest or along borders shaped by its presence. While often referred to simply as a forest, Death Forest is distinguished from ordinary wilderness by its complete absence of natural ambient sound, its connection to creature incursions, and its association with anomalies that cannot be fully understood or controlled.
The forest was first recognized during the expansion of early Drakkesburg when explorers discovered that the dense wilderness surrounding their settlements was not ordinary woodland. Although the vegetation appeared healthy and vibrant, the forest was unnaturally silent. Later expansion revealed that many of the creatures threatening settlements originated from within its boundaries.
During the migrations that led to the formation of LaShayn, Sanskarth, Zynvalia, Vallastaar, Excessum, and Marstrom, large groups of settlers carved paths through Death Forest by systematically destroying trees and vegetation. These migrations were marked by frequent creature attacks and significant loss of life. Many modern cultures view their territories as land earned through survival rather than land simply claimed.
Today, Death Forest remains one of the least understood features of Drobec. People know what happens at its edges, but almost nothing is known about what lies beyond the treeline. Exploration is rare, and those who enter rarely return. For most citizens, Death Forest is not a destination or mystery to solve—it is a permanent fact of life that exists beyond the last safe clearing.
Characteristics:
Covers most of mainland Drobec.
Appears healthy and biologically thriving despite abnormal behavior.
Produces no natural ambient sound.
Serves as the primary origin point of many known creature incursions.
Contains numerous documented biological, spatial, psychological, and temporal anomalies.
Extremely low exploration rate.
Largely uncharted and unstudied beyond its borders.
Frequently associated with disappearances.
Contains unknown depths and unknown internal structure.
Appearance -
At a glance, Death Forest appears to be a healthy forest. Trees are dense, vegetation is abundant, and the landscape often looks untouched and vibrant. Visitors expecting visible corruption or decay are often surprised by how ordinary it appears.
Its most unsettling feature is not what can be seen but what cannot be heard.
The absence of wildlife sounds, insect activity, and environmental ambience immediately distinguishes it from every other natural environment in Drobec.
The Treeline -
The border of Death Forest serves as the primary point of interaction between civilization and the unknown.
People can stand outside the forest and observe it without necessarily seeing creatures or movement. However, entering the treeline dramatically increases the likelihood of attack. Many creatures remain unseen until a person has already crossed into the forest itself.
The treeline is therefore treated as a practical boundary between known and unknown territory.
Creature Incursions -
Death Forest is widely recognized as the origin point of many hostile creatures encountered throughout mainland Drobec.
Most known creature types do not appear capable of independent teleportation. Instead, they emerge through anomalies connected to Death Forest. These anomalies act as fixed anchor points that can be documented but rarely altered or removed.
Settlements near known anomaly sites often incorporate warning markers, local records, and avoidance routes into everyday life.
Cleared Territory -
Historically, land was made habitable by removing Death Forest vegetation.
Early settlers learned that destroying trees and vegetation transformed affected regions over time. Once enough of the forest had been removed, ordinary environmental behaviour began returning. Wildlife appeared, natural sounds returned, and the landscape gradually behaved like conventional wilderness.
Many modern nations continue to regard their territory as land reclaimed from Death Forest rather than land naturally separated from it.
Unknown Interior -
Very little is known about the interior of Death Forest.
There are no reliable maps of its depths, no confirmed accounts of major internal landmarks, and no verified descriptions of what exists beyond the regions closest to civilization.
Whether the forest contains distinct regions, settlements, geological formations, or entirely different environments remains unknown.
Individuals who attempt to disappear into Death Forest are almost never seen again.
Ambience:
The defining sound of Death Forest is silence.
Not reduced sound.
Not distant echoes.
Not occasional stillness.
Silence.
A healthy forest normally contains countless layers of ambient noise: insects, birds, small animals, moving vegetation, distant calls, and environmental activity. Death Forest possesses none of these.
Standing at its edge, a person hears only sounds originating from themselves, their companions, or the outside environment. The forest contributes nothing.
This absence was one of the earliest signs that convinced Drakkesburg's pioneers that the forest was fundamentally unnatural.
Historical accounts from the migration period often describe a memorable moment occurring after large areas were cleared: the return of sound. Birds, insects, and other forms of ordinary environmental noise gradually appeared as reclaimed land recovered from Death Forest influence.
For many cultures, the return of sound became one of the clearest signs that an area had truly become part of civilization.
As a result, silence remains one of the most universally recognized warnings in Drobec. Long before a creature is seen, an anomaly is discovered, or an attack occurs, people know they are approaching Death Forest when the world suddenly stops making noise.