Blossom and deep forest

Verdant Deep

Blossom falling on a river the trees have swallowed, and a court that never comes down.

World lore and story plans. Some places, characters and events are still in development.

The landscape

A jungle of flowering giants on the southern shore: sakura canopy over old-forest trunks a hundred feet high, a river braided under roots, cliffs of dark stone with faces cut in them, rope bridges and platforms in the crowns. Wet, loud with birds, nothing straight.

On the horizon

The Temple of Faces: a cliff a quarter mile long with a hundred faces carved into it, each the height of a house, vines over every mouth. The first Dragonsworn, and one of them is Malachar, young.

Places in Verdant Deep

10 places

The Canopy Court

Settlement

A village of platforms and rope bridges two hundred feet up in the blossom crowns, lit by lanterns at night.

Speaker Ilthenar, Saelith Thornwake, the elven market, archery and tracking training, the Court's dark bargain

The Temple of Faces

Great landmark

The carved cliff and the temple cut behind it, entered through the mouth of the largest face.

Brother Tomas among the faces; the dungeon behind them

The Deep of Faces

Dungeon

Galleries behind the cliff where the first riders learned the sight, walls of eyes.

Spiders, Legion cultists, the Keeper of Faces; your face added to the cliff

2 dungeon levels · Boss: The Keeper of Faces

Blossom Fall

Wild country

The valley floor where the whole canopy sheds at dawn and the river runs pink for an hour.

Mother Web's hunting ground, the Blossom Fall event where everything hidden shows

The Root River

Wild country

The river braided under the trees, fordable at three places, alive with fish.

Fishing, giant spiders at the fords, the Legion's Purse buying elders at the lower ford

The Sunken Shrine

Shrine

A dragon shrine half under the river where the roots have lifted the stones.

Offerings under clear water, the first true-name rumour

Verdite Hollow

Mine

A cave under the cliff where the roots have gone green-gold.

Verdite in the wall, iron, thorn grubs

The Hanging Gardens

Landmark

Terraces of the old temple grown into the cliff face, reached by climbing roots and rope, a hundred feet of vertical garden.

Rare forage on every terrace, a harpy roost at the top, a view of the whole Deep

A rule of this place

Climbing: roots are handholds, and a wet root after rain gives way. Fall damage applies.

The Moon Pool

Landmark

A still pool under the canopy that shows no reflection by day.

By moonlight the water shows the true shape of anything held over it: an unidentified item, a cultist in Court robes, a face

A rule of this place

Identify without a scroll, one item a night, and a spy in the Court can be unmasked here, which decides the Speaker.

The Spider Wells

Cave

Sinkholes in the jungle floor webbed over, a cave maze beneath joined by silk bridges.

Giant spiders, silk to harvest for the tailor, Mother Web's brood

A rule of this place

Silk bridges bear your weight; cut a bridge behind you and what is chasing falls.

Encounters and events

Mother Web, the Blossom Mother, a spider the size of a cart
The Blossom Fall, dawn, everything hidden visible for a minute
The Legion's Purse, a captain in Court robes
Harpies nesting above the Court

Story and people

The story outline for Verdant Deep, including its characters, secrets and the dragon’s journey.

Read the story outlineContains story spoilers

Arrival

A forest of flowering giants, blossom falling on a river, a temple of faces cut into a cliff with vines over every mouth. Someone in the canopy, watching, with a bow. A spider the size of a cart passing under them without looking up.

The feel

Wet, green, loud with birds, the blossom of the sakura biome over old-forest trunks. Verticality: rope bridges, platforms, the canopy village. Nothing here is straight.

The story here

The Verdant Court, an elven people who kept the old dragon temples and have forgotten why, live in the canopy and do not come down. They know the dragon for what it is on sight and split over it: the Speaker wants to give it to the Legion and buy peace; the Huntress wants to raise it as a weapon. You have to win the Court without losing the dragon, and the temple under the faces holds the first of the dragon's lost gifts: the sight. The Legion is here too, quietly, buying the Court.

The cast

Speaker Ilthenar. The Court's voice, ancient, exquisite manners, a man who has kept his people alive by giving away everything else. Signature: he never says no; he says "that is one path." Secret: he has already promised the egg to Serle Vane. He can be turned by the temple's truth, or not, and the Court's fate in Act IV follows.
Saelith Thornwake. The Huntress, the bow in the canopy, brilliant, impatient, half your age and better than you at everything. Signature: she answers a question by shooting something. Secret: she is Ilthenar's daughter and has not spoken to him in ten years. She wants the dragon as a weapon and she is not wrong that it is one. Teaches archery and tracking. Returns as an ally in the Boneyard and the Throne if the Court is won; as an enemy on the Legion's side if it is sold.
Brother Tomas. A human monk of the dragon temples, the only one left, forty, lives among the faces and talks to them. Signature: he addresses the carved faces by name. Secret: the faces are the first Dragonsworn, and one of them is Malachar's, young, before. Tomas has the temple's key and gives it for a promise: bring the dragon back here when it is grown, so the faces can see.
Mother Web. The Blossom Mother, a Giant Spider the Court has fed for a century so it will not eat them. The Court's darkest bargain. Killing her frees the Court and ends the blossom for a season.

Underground and the boss

The Temple of Faces: a dungeon behind the cliff where the first riders learned the sight. Spiders, cultists of the Legion, and the Keeper of Faces, a Wraith that was the temple's last priest and tests you with the dragon's own eyes. Beating it grants the sight and puts a new face on the cliff: yours.

Out in the open

Mother Web in her canopy. The Blossom Fall, an event each dawn when the whole canopy sheds and, for a minute, everything hidden is visible. The Legion's Purse, a Bandit captain in Court robes buying elders.

The dragon here

Eats fish and fruit. Becomes a drake at the end of the realm, and the Court sees it happen, which decides the Speaker.

Continue through the worldThe Saltmarch and the Thousand Isles