Nightwoods

The Nightwoods, also known as the Darkwoods[1], Waiflands[2], and Waif Country[3], was a cold, harsh, black forest that was blanketed in an eternal cloud cover and, as a result, untouched by sunlight. It was the region of the Deepwoods located west of the Thorn Forests, which isolated it from the rest of the Edgeworld, and Riverrise was found within it. The Nightwoods was the home of waifs, the rare black- and red-dwarves, and nameless ones. Most creatures in the Nightwoods had the ability to read minds.

History

The Time of Enlightenment

During the Time of Enlightenment, representatives of the Thousand Tribes travelled through the Nightwoods to meet Kobold the Wise at Riverrise, where he informed them of the imminent arrival of the Mother Storm.

In the First and Second Ages of Flight

In the early First Age, when Earth-Scholarship was popular in Sanctaphrax, a route through the Nightwoods to Riverrise was known. The Earth Scholars used this route to bring chine to Sanctaphrax from Riverrise. This knowledge of this route was lost, like most of Earth-Scholarship, after the Great Purges of Sanctaphrax, and the last of the Earth-Scholars' chine was used by Quint in The Curse of the Gloamglozer.

After the Great Purges, the Nightwoods were cut off from the rest of the Edgeworld. Travel between the Deepwoods and Nightwoods was possible but extremely difficult and members of species of one region being present in the other was relatively rare. No settlements were known to exist in the Nightwoods during this time period.

In the Third Age of Flight

In the Third Age of Flight the situation of the Nightwoods changed. A settlement, one of the great cities of the Edge, was established at Riverrise. Numerous waifs migrated to live there, and after the construction of the Waif Trail many gabtrolls migrated as well. The Waif Trail, leading from Riverrise to Thorn Harbour on the border of the Deepwoods and Thorn Forests, was established with the help of Red-Dwarves and their Nameless One slaves. The Waif Trail enabled relatively easy travel between the Deepwoods and the Nightwoods.

Role in the Edge Chronicles

In the Twig Trilogy

During Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, Twig, Cowlquape, Woodfish, and Goom travelled through the Nightwoods to reach Riverrise and rescue Maugin.[3]

In The Immortals

In The Immortals, Nate travelled through the Nightwoods via the Waif Trail so that he could reach Riverrise and save Eudoxia, who had a leadwood bullet lodged behind her ear from the Battle of the Midwood Marshes. He was guided by Felderforth.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Weird New Worlds, Chapter 4: The Pit House
  2. 1 2 The Immortals, Chapter 65
  3. 1 2 Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, Chapter 17: The Deepwoods' Dark Heart
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