Erth-Spine is a Wood Elf civilization of considerable size, built atop the ancient stump of the felled Archtree Worldspine. The Order of the Scarf and Sword has attempted occupation on multiple occasions. They have never succeeded. Erth-Spine does not welcome outsiders, and makes no effort to hide this.
Below the canopy town, threading through the Erth beneath the stump, is Moonbough — a sprawling underground civilization housed within Worldspine's opalized rootworks, home to the majority of the Moon Elf population. The two settlements are inseparable: one above, open to the sky; one below, sealed against it. Together they constitute a single people, divided by circumstance and reunited by choice, sharing a secret entrance that the Wood Elves guard with their lives.
The Wood Elves and the Moon Elves share a common origin: both descend from the Tree Elves, who once lived in and alongside the great Archtrees. When Worldspine fell, the Tree Elf population was divided. Those above the felling survived and, over the Long Night, became the Wood Elves — shaped by the open canopy and the hunt. Those trapped within the roots had a different fate.
The roots of the felled Archtree did not rot, did not dry, and did not merely fossilize. Over the course of the Long Night, they opalized. The rootworks transformed slowly into an iridescent labyrinth of stone, and within it the trapped Tree Elves were changed by their surroundings — becoming, in time, the Moon Elves: the Shimmer. It is within these walls that half the Tree Elf population underwent that transformation, and the majority of their descendants remain there still.
Long after the Long Night ended, the two peoples re-established contact. The hidden lift between canopy and rootworks is a testament to that reunion — and to how carefully both peoples intend to protect it.
- ✦The Stump of Worldspine — The immense, ancient remains of the felled Archtree upon which Erth-Spine is built. Its scale is difficult to comprehend at ground level; entire districts occupy what were once branches.
- ✦The Canopy Town — A labyrinthine settlement of treehouses, suspended walkways, hammock-districts, and zipline networks woven through the upper reaches of the surrounding jungle. Designed to be invisible from below and uninviting to strangers from any angle.
- ✦The Hidden Lift — The sole known passage between Erth-Spine above and Moonbough below. Its location is one of the most closely guarded secrets in both settlements, maintained jointly by the Wood Elves and the Shimmer.
- ✦Moonbough — The opalized rootwork civilization beneath Worldspine's stump, home to the Moon Elves. ⇓ See full entry below
The roots of Worldspine did not decay after the Archtree fell. During the Long Night they opalized — transformed from organic matter into a labyrinthine underground commune of iridescent stone. The walls flash a kaleidoscope of soft pastel hues in the blue-green glow of lanterns fueled by bioluminescent fungi, tended by the people who have made this place their world.
Moonbough is built within the hollowed opal chambers of those roots — a civilization that has never known sunlight, and which has organized itself entirely around the absence of it. The air is cool and carries the faint organic sweetness of the fungi that light every passage. There are no windows. There is no sky. What there is instead is space — intricate, iridescent, and very deliberately hidden.
The only known entrance is a secret held by the Wood Elves of Erth-Spine above. No one else is told. No one else is meant to find it.
- ✦The Opalized Rootworks — The body of Moonbough itself: miles of iridescent tunnels and chambers formed from the transformed roots of Worldspine. The walls shift color with the angle of lantern-light, never quite the same twice.
- ✦The Fungi Gardens — Cultivated plots of bioluminescent fungi distributed throughout the rootworks. They are Moonbough's primary light source and their maintenance is a sacred responsibility.
- ✦The Crystal Chambers — Dwelling spaces hollowed into the opal and lined with crystal, their surfaces multiplying the soft fungi-glow into something approaching starlight. Both private residences and communal halls take this form.
- ✦The Hidden Lift — The sole passage connecting Moonbough to Erth-Spine above, maintained jointly with the Wood Elves. It is not found. It is shown — and only to those who have earned it.