WHISPERING

HOLLOW:
Cultural Level: Iron Age (3). Ruins in Forlorn reflect a Medieval (7) culture.
Landscape: Full Ecology (Temperate Forests, Hills, and Plains). Forlorn (for-LORN) is a
blasted highland domain, a forsaken land from which humanity has long been driven. Nestled
just south of the Balinok Mountains, Forlorn is a land of thickly forested uplands with sparse
heather and mosses clinging to the exposed rocky hillsides.
The woods are dark, twisted places full of grasping branches and ominous shadows. In some
areas, the forest has been actively destroyed by the land's goblyn inhabitants, reduced to a
wasteland of broken stumps and sucking mud. The Maw of Arawn, rising from the center of
Forlorn, is a jagged peak that perpetually belches noxious vapors. The only notable body of
water is the Lake of Red Tears, whose deep, dark waters appear crimson when the sun reflects
off the nearby red granite cliffs.
Major Settlements: None.
The Folk: Population — unknown; 1,900 goblyns. Languages — unknown. Religions —
unknown.
Forlorn is not a settled land. The primary inhabitants are goblyns, horrid humanoid creatures
that value little but strength and slaughter.
Although generally lawless, the goblyns do pursue some organized goals, particularly the
systematic destruction of the land's forests. They otherwise occupy themselves with petty power
struggles, distracted only by the occasional captive outsider, whom they gleefully torture and
devour. Rumors persist of a tiny contingent of humans remaining in Forlorn, descendents of an
ancient order of druids.
If such humans exists, then they have concealed their presence quite well, perhaps out of fear of
the goblyn clans.
The Law: No formal government. There exists a loose clan system among Forlorn's goblyns.
Each clan has a distinctive tartan pattern, which the goblyns display on tattered kilts and
standards.
An outsider would be hard pressed to tell one clan apart from the others, however. The strongest
goblyn in a clan dominates its weaker kin until toppled by a challenger. Clans battle among
themselves for resources, prestige,
and pure sport. The goblyns' Haven
tenacious destruction of Forlorn's Population: Up to about 500
forests leads some outsiders to Government: None – yet, a handful of important people
speculate that the goblins serve a function as a ‘village council’, with the duty of guiding
hidden master. Rumors abound that and counseling locals, adjudicating disputes and collect
creatures far more terrifying than the production quotas.
goblyns haunt the crumbling castle Defense: The village relies on a citizen militia.
above the Lake of Red Tears. Commerce: Basic supplies are readily available, possibly
Trade and Diplomacy: Resources from an inn or a trading post. Other goods are available
(not exploited) — timber, iron, clay, from traveling merchants.
salt. Coinage — none. Organizations: A village might contain one or two
Forlorn is an untamed land, a dark temples or shrines, but few or no other organizations.
and mysterious corner of the Core to
its neighbors. The goblyns have no
interest in communication or trade
with the surrounding realms. Indeed,
lumberjacks and miners have made occasional forays into Forlorn in search of its unclaimed
resources; none have ever returned.
Characters: None
Wars, a