The Twelveswood, guarded by the Wood Wailers and Twin Adders, is a broad and bounteous land. Encompassing wooded forests, open swampland, broken hillsides, and great lakes, the region is as beautiful as it is deadly. The Elder Seedseer oversees the Elementals and their will; woe betide any adventurer that falls foul of it... for nothing good can come of it.Central Shroud holds one more minor anomaly that few people have seen, at least, those I asked. Tucked in the very western side of the area, there is a small tunnel that leads deeper into the rock beneath the hillside. A strange amber formation known as Amberscale Rock. It remained untouched between the Calamity and the present day, but there is something I remember most curious about it... and the first time I truly came to fear the Elementals as a force.
Left: Amberscale Rock, a giant formation of amber in the shape of a dragon. Right: Untouched by the calamity, the same as it has ever been... and yet, why? What purpose does it serve?There was a young lad, Morys was his name, I believe. A Hearer of Stillglade Fane, my mother had tended to his wounds when he first arrived wearing little but the clothes on his back. He could not remember where he came from, and became a conjurer that could hear the whispers of the Elementals better than most. I remember passing his patrols as a child, and he always had an heir of... I don't know, a sort of despair around him. I could feel it, as if he himself was unsure of why he was here and what his purpose was. Mother told me of the story later, of his disappearance, and it chilled me to my very core! It turns out that Morys had been trying to leave the Twelveswood, and the Elementals had pulled him back each time. He was trapped, but found himself drawn to the amber statue, which seemed to form the shape of a dragon.
I was drawn to the parallels between this and the Ishgardian heretical folktale, "The Boy and the Dragon Gay", a bond between boy and dragon so deep that it transcended all logic and reason- and how it seemed that the boy and Morys could have been one in the same. Alas, it was never to be, and the Elementals deemed that Morys leaving the Twelveswoods was not a thing that could come to pass, and so took him away from this place, but to where? Mother assumed, as did the conjurers, he was to be taken into the aether... so every time I find myself passing the statue now as an adult, it reminds me of just how strong and wilful the Elementals can be.
Curiously, just south of Amberscale Rock, there was a small cavern off the map that I had... now it is likely buried beneath the foundations of Haukke Manor, but I found it most interesting! Was it perhaps a secret hide-out? We may never know.
Above: As you can see, the cavern is not drawn on this map, and yet... what secrets did it hide?The fur and lumber lines to the north and south respectively saw disruption during the Calamity and have scarcely began to recover. The lumber trade has been the quicker of the two to pick up, what with wood being a very stable material for building with in the temperate regions of the Twelveswood and southern Coerthas- this was the major contributor to the thinning of the woodland in the Shroud. Five years prior, during the Calamity, you could not see Gridania from the Central Shroud, but now standing by the Jadeite Flood you can clearly see the Carline Canopy and its accompanying airship dock and waterwheel.
Above: Through the Jadeite Thick below you can see Gridania above due to the thinning of the trees in the Twelveswood.The North Shroud is home to the Twelveswood's population of Ixal. They live nestled in-between Gridania proper and the settlement of Fallgourd Float, a new construction since the Calamity on the idyllic Fallgourd Lake. However, the Ixal that live in the area that used to be the encampment have since formed quite good relations with the locals- they are not intent on summoning their primal Garuda but instead wish to build an airship to visit their ancestral homelands in the sky, when they once had feathers to soar it. The more aggressive Ixal have moved even further north still, to the area known as the Ixali Logging Grounds. It is important to note that these Ixal seem to move independently of those from Coerthas in the Natalan region.
Left: The old Ixal Encampment. A wide open space decorated with Ixal banners- one can only assume this was where they practiced their fighting skills against each other. Right: The Ehcatl Nine reside here now, building their Airship to soar to the heavens.A lot of this area has changed since my childhood picking medicinal herbs here, and even with a map I frequently get lost here. The main camp I used to stop in with Mother was named Camp Emerald Moss, and much like Camp Crimson Bark, it was named for the interesting trees that encircled it. The green moss on the trees was unlike anything I had ever seen- and the main aetheryte in this camp was likely moved north-west to the new settlement of Fallgourd Float.
Left: Fallgourd Lake, prior to the construction of the settlement. Right: And today, you can see the construction of the settlement is complete, and it now holds all the things an adventurer passing through might need on their way further north into the lands of Coerthas.Camp Emerald Moss had crafting facilities as well as merchants and the like, and it was connected to three aetherial gates: Treespeak, Alder Springs, and Lasthold. It also had a shard directly into the Mun-Tuy Cellars but with that being moved, it is no longer functional as the link had been broken.
Above: A wealth of supplies in the middle of -admittedly- nowhere. Always great to stock up before a long trip out... as getting lost in the Twelveswood was a very real possibility!When it came to settlements in the area, the most vulnerable was Hyrstmill, nestled between Gridania proper and the Ixal Encampment. It was home to a few guildhuts, and a small handful of residents most of whom had already moved to Gridania by this point prior to the Calamity. It was well-guarded however, with large gates staffed by Wood Wailers. Now, the gates have been upgraded, and the settlement has seen somewhat of a resurgence in recent years, with a forge at the far end that has been rumoured to deal in rare and exotic weaponry. A must-see for any adventurer worth their salt!
Far Left: The gates of Hyrstmill prior to the fall of Dalamud, sturdy and strong. Left: Within its walls, you can see a few huts and residents. It did have a sense of being nestled away in the corner, but despite its apparent safety, many residents had chosen to leave for Gridania. Right: The gates now, as you can see, are far more fortified! Far Right: Within, the huts have gotten larger, and there are still crafting facilities to be used, as well as the weapons forge.The ancient ruins of Gelmorra are mostly underground, and yet there are a few that we can see and know of- Issom-Har springs to mind, but within the northern reaches of the Shroud, you can see the ruins known only as the 'Gelmorran Ruins' which sadly did receive substantial damage during the Calamity. A ring surrounds what we can only assume is a network of tunnels below... how curious!
Left: The Gelmorran Ruins, surrounded by strange little rocks that resemble the amber from Amberscale Rock. Right: And how it looks now, with the damage from the Calamity.Ah... I have run out of parchment. Blast... Fear not, I will get to the South and Eastern Shroud! Please stay patient, readers, I will not cease in my task to record this history!
Always in your light, Hydaelyn,-N'yami Sennah, Archivist
