#i'd been developing this one in snippets over the last few years; figured i should finally compile the damned thing together

[fringchound-a]

The Black Forest Zone V2.x

god this took longer than expected, helloooo three weeks of compiling

Since the original lore I wrote for it is both ancient and frankly lacking in any real diversity, I figured a rewrite and redevelopment was in order, capitalizing on a lot of things I’ve developed over the last ... however long it’s been since I originally made it. A lot of things will stay the same but be added on to, and a lot of things will be changed or added. All of it will have decent explanations attached. I’m debating on making an historical timeline for it, but that’ll be in another post, I think.

So let’s get started on the tour, shall we! Further details are below the cut, and I’m sure I’ll add to them over time, and a reminder I mixed the lores from all three pieces of media so it doesn’t conform to just one.

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The Black Forest is one of the six known Landings, also known as a Visitation Zone. Like many, it was mutated by the Landing and has become sentient on some level, encompassing all of the infamous Black Forest and some small swatches of land around it in the southwest of Germany. A few small towns have been swallowed by the sea of rapid-growing trees, but nearby cities are widely unaffected.

It is the proverbial ‘Elephant in the Room’ for the government, and they have spared no expense to keep its presence quiet. There is no news coverage about it and it has been taken out of all historical texts and maps published in the country show the area as fertile agricultural flatland instead. People heard talking about it are ‘investigated’, though they are known to disappear regardless of verdict of intent. In a futile attempt to put the Zone out of mind, a twelve-foot tall security wall made of concrete eight feet thick was erected around it, topped with rolls of razorwire and crowned with anti-climbing spikes. As expected, it does little to put the thing out of peoples’ minds, and as a result of its invitation to the illegal class known as stalkers, military presence is thick around the main or noticeable entrances and exits into and out of the Zone.

Due to its inherent personality of Quietly Active and Playful, the Black Forest has become nothing short of one of the more treacherous Zones. After mutation, it grew native trees almost overnight in massive sizes so tightly knit together that barely any sunlight can penetrate the canopy, casting it into an eternal green gloom unaffected by normal seasonal changes. It is a labyrinth of massive trunks and vast roots that change location and orientation at any given moment. A good Forest stalker can still navigate fairly decently, though extreme caution and vigilance is recommended, since there are other dangers the Forest hides than just shifting landscaping.

Originally known for being both the cradle of darker folklore [including the Grimm Brothers’ original tales] and notorious for being haunted, it is safe to say that being changed by the Landing has only made the haunting worse.

Locations of Note

The Fringes are the area around the Zone’s perimeter. They are a thin ribbon starting at the inside of the security wall to the barrier. A majority of them are flatland border-forest, sporting scrubby foliage, short bushes, and small clusters of average-sized trees. The fauna from the fringes is the most normal in the Forest, as fringeanimals are the least physically mutated of anything to come out of the Zone. The only human presence that has staked any claim to this land are bandits, and that is due to the lack of influence from the Forest itself. While stalkers use the fringes as a path between the civilized outer world and the primal inner world, it is the bandits that call the fringes ‘home’. There are no anomalies in this crucial outer ring of the Forest Zone.

The Barrier, also known as The Wooden Highways, is an eerie surreal place that encircles the inner Zone entirely after the fringes have ended. Noticeable against the flatland outer ring, this thin second ring around the Forest is composed almost entirely of truly gargantuan trees that no one remembers how they got there. Known affectionately by native stalkers as the Tree’s Cemetery, it’s surmised that this is where all trees in the Forest go to die, adding their own roots into the complex system that makes up the pathways between the fringes and the Forest Proper. No light from above can filter through, leaving the world in this thin ring in total blackness, and any artificial light is swallowed in the vastness of the space between tree trunks. The roots of these trees are large enough that a group of four or five can stand shoulder-to-shoulder across the widest portions, and high enough off the ground that the world below the roads is shrouded in mystery. This is also the last of the fringes, where the influence of the Forest begins to take hold. All that is known about the ground far below is that it is a breeding place for Fractures, and besides their occasional scurrying and mutterings, there is virtually no sound in the barrier. No other animal or mutant lives in this part of the Zone besides Fractures, and people only use it to pass back and forth. Only one anomaly has ever been encountered in the barrier and it is an imperative tool to use on the Wooden Highways; Flashbangs.

The Forest Proper is the vast tract of land within the encompassing circles around the perimeter. It too is an eerie place, eternally covered in low light due to the tight canopy up above, and where the influence of the Forest is in full effect. The trees in the Proper aren’t nearly as big as those in the barrier, but they are still overly large and alive, and have a habit of moving around at their own whim and wills. Due to the canopy, weather hardly ever penetrates in, the occasional raindrop or snowpile falling through to the forest floor when the cover above becomes too heavy or saturated to block it out. The only places the canopy opens to the sky above is over towns, hamlets, Castles, and the crags. Of the dozens of towns that used to pepper the Forest before the Landing, only three remain at the Zone’s good graces with the Forest backed up on and through them. Their original names have been lost to time, but they are known by the locals as Northtown, Central, and Southtown. Not very creative names, but descriptive and therefore easy to remember. They still exist mostly as trading and market hubs at the behest of the Zoners who live in small villages, or ‘hamlets’, across the span of the Proper. As there is little need for money, a bartering system is set up that is fairly easy to follow for those new to the economic workings of the Zone. The Forest Proper has a surprisingly diverse ecosystem for a Zone. It is home to a large variety of mutated animals and plants, both benign and hostile. Some can be found only in certain areas, while a fair few others migrate around the Zone and can be seen at nearly every corner. Several rivers and creeks run throughout the Proper, funneled through the security wall at various heavily-guarded drainage points. How water flows as it does to get from one side of the wall to the other is a wild mystery, given how the Barrier supposedly slopes down and encompasses the Zone in a bowl. Running water is attractive to many living in the Forest, and most hamlets will take up residence on a river or creek, provided there are no ruins there before. Anomalies here are widespread and plentiful, it’s advised to walk with caution.

The Inner Circle is a thin ring around the Landing Point, where the Central Anomaly formed, somewhere in the western foothills. The trees here are very close together, leaving very few to no gaps between them. It is dark and ‘blue’ in this portion of the Forest, and very quiet. No animals, mutated or not, live here, and all native stalkers tend to avoid it like the plague, if they can. The only people known to frequent this area are the Cult of the Cage, a group of fanatics that have devised a strategy to move without consequence through it. Predator Trees spawn and grow here and while small packs are known to roam the Proper, it is here where their population is highest in number. No anomaly spawns in the Circle, likely due to the proximity to the Central Anomaly, though Shades and Ghosts have been known to spawn just outside its borders.

The Central Anomaly, also known as The Tree Cage, is the place in the Forest where the Landing happened. The trees around the space all lean to one side and bow out at the center, just far enough apart to show a hint of the space between them as a lure to any brave and capable enough to navigate the Inner Circle without incident. However, on entering, the ring of trees closes with all the speed of a flytrap and stays closed for a time before opening back up. Stalkers plenty have disappeared in the Cage and as a result, no one knows what exactly it hides and protects. Rumors are plenty, but the fact is that no one actually knows and it’s very likely that no one will ever know.

The Crags is the adoring name for the mountain range around which the Forest sits. The names of it and its peaks are forgotten with the Zoners, and very few outside the Zone remember them much at all due to media blackout and historical censorship, knowing they exist purely because they tower over much of the landscape and the security wall. Central backs up against them on the western slope, and a few hamlets here and there dot the base on all sides. Trees cease to grow in abundance up the sides, dotting the mountainsides with stubborn copses of uninfluenced trees and brush. Considering the rich diversity of the Proper creeping around the crags, there is a distinct lack of it on them. The only wildlife present are Satyrs and small clusters of songbirds and ravens, and the only anomaly that has been picked up are Vortexes. Castles are frequent along the full range of the crags, though only along the lower slopes and bases, rarely above the halfway point.

Castles

Castles are a very strange phenomena in the Forest. There are ruins scattered across the Zone in various states of decay or preservation, depending on whether or not they had been found and taken care of by historians and archaeologists.

When the Landing happened, Castles became their very own thing. If it had a solid foundation still in place, it gained its own level of sentience and started to act of its own accord and whims. In a sense, they became miniature Zones, functioning within the bigger Forest. Whether or not this was a will of the Forest itself or something that happened spontaneously without influence is still undetermined.

Acting as independent Zones, Castles have their own unique personalities and rules from one to the other, none of which are controlled by the Forest in any way. All influence of the Forest disappears at the borders of a Castle’s defined foundation, whether it be the edge of a yard surrounding them or the walls of the main structure themselves. All animals and anomalies don’t intrude on them either. Even the pathways to a Castle are controlled by them, and if the road and paths are cut off, it’s best to leave it be. A complete path or road leading up to a Castle is the only way to tell if they are friendly. As Castles are their own entities, they also make up their own tests and traps, as any good Zone will do.

A Castle’s Voice is very distinct from the rest of the Forest, and Guides have said it’s really more of a dialect of the Forest’s own Voice. They sound like settling wood and stone at such immense volume that it sounds like it comes from everywhere, with the occasional mutter of both being moved. The latter is likely due to the fact that Castles are constantly building themselves up [or rebuilding, as might well be the case], and the shuffle of stone and wood is their innate ability to move materials by sheer force of will into place. The process is slow-going, but they have all the time in the world to do so.

Castles are tricky creatures, as they do not like to be intruded upon, even if friendly. They all have a condition for those looking to take shelter on or in them, and unfortunately for most, it’s only the Guides who can properly understand what that condition is at any given time. Since they have the ability to hear what the Forest is saying, Castles are hardly different to them. While Guides can technically interact with any friendly Castle, they each have one specifically linked to them that they can talk to and access without having to jump through too many traps or tricks.

There is one ruin, however, that no one is sure of, not even the Guides. An ominous black stone foundation on a rocky spire on the east slope of the crags, it looks like talons gripping the mountain, earning it the name The Dragon. It has cut its bridge off, and deeper diving into the history of the area shows no record of it anywhere, leading Guides to believe the Forest constructed it on its own. One thing they know for certain is that it is very subtly moving, spire and all, up the mountain.

Quirks

The First Rule: Greed Is Punished. Before being changed by the Landing, the Forest was at risk of deforestation. The residual emotion at the time of the Landing was distress and upset, and much of that taints the way the personality developed. She is a plentiful Zone, for better or for worse, but the reminder of being taken from with little return remains. As such, the act of Greed is punished by her, in different varying ways. Usually, the offender ends up dead on the spot, or hopelessly and purposely lost to die of exposure. Even Zoners are not exempted from this rule, and hamlets and towns that have broken it by action are simply swallowed into the deep greenery without so much of a word. Stalkers are held even further in account, as they are only allowed to carry five artifacts at a time in a trip, no more. Language while outside hamlets and towns in the Proper are slotted in with actions as well, and that is where it gets touchy. Asking permission to take something one Needs will resort in her providing for the asker, so long as Thanks is given for it. But even saying that one Wants something without appropriate trade, or simply taking things without asking, will result in punishment.

Second Rule: No Fire. As expected of anything made predominantly of wood, fire in the Barrier and Proper is strictly forbidden. Ignoring this rule doesn’t necessarily bring punishment directly to the breaker, but the resulting flailing of nearby Patrol Trees to put even the smallest flame out can end in them being unintentionally beaten to death. The only exception to this rule is in hamlets and towns under strict supervision, and of course in the influence of Castles. Campfires in the higher reaches of the crags have also resulted in no action.

Third Rule: No Real Names. The Forest’s Playful nature really shines here. Being the origin of many dark and frightening folkloric tales, it takes after the better known stories that giving your real given name to something otherworldly gives it power over you, and most of all, gives it power to hurt you. Tagnames and call-signs used in the Forest are partially due to the military being known to hunt down families of captured stalkers and mostly due to the Forest’s use of real names. The only people immune to this rule are Zoners, but they also understand the Zone on levels better than most other people traversing it and know how to avoid the events triggered by the use of birth names. While no immediate punishment comes from using real names in the influence of the Forest, consequences can come later, either from long-term exposure in the Zone or the closer to the Inner Circle one goes.

Fourth Rule: Stay Silent. Silence is key to survival. Many things in the Forest are attracted to sound, such as Predator Trees, Ritters, and Shades. Towns and hamlets are exempt of this rule and it is safe to be loud while in them. However, it is not in the vast Zone between them. The Forest has been known to waive such rules in the event of asking for necessities that require loud sounds like hunting, but stalkers from other Zones have noted that compared to the constant noise of human life in their native Zones, the Forest is eerily devoid of manmade sound. Natural ambiance is commonplace, however, and sounds like songbirds and animals and the occasional creak of trees in the wind give it some life. The Forest does not directly take any retribution for being loud, mind, but silence has its merits, like sneaking passed sleeping Predator Trees or hearing when blind Ritters come tapping along.

Fifth Rule: No Electronics. Less of a rule written by the Forest itself and more of a rule spoken between stalkers, electronics include any device that draws power continuously, usually from a battery. The radiation that made the Zone does strange and horrible things with electronics and it is not uncommon to find the unfortunate many who don’t heed the warnings twisted in the landscape with their precious devices growing out of them.

Sixth Rule: The Water Ritual. Water is drinkable in the Forest, but only those bodies used in hamlets and towns are safe from this rule. Water in uninhabited space can be dangerous, another rule written in the spirit of faerie tales. Stalkers and Zoners alike pat the surface of still bodies of water and watch the reaction to it. If the ripples act like they are supposed to and the reflection of people, animals, and landscape acts normally, the water is safe to drink or disturb. If it reacts in any way other than naturally [ie Ripples from the opposite shore from the patting, reflections look skewed or move around without reason], it is unsafe. The rule applies even to water that was deemed safe in a prior visit, as the nature of Zone water changes regularly. Not patting the water to see if it’s safe results in everything from being poisoned to being sucked into the water and disappearing. Flowing water, like rivers and creeks, can be deciphered merely watching them, staring at ripples around stones or fallen branches to determine if it’s safe to interact with.

Seventh Rule: No Straight Lines. This seems to be a rule with most Zones, as even foreign stalkers talk about it. No one is quite sure why Visitation Zones are against people walking in straight lines to their destinations. All that is agreed on is that doing so has dire consequences, between people disappearing entirely before reaching their goal or being struck with sudden fatal ailments on the way there. The Forest is known to mimic peoples’ voices to warn arrogant stalkers trying to break this rule before striking them down. It is best to take a roundabout way to get to a destination. Even if you can still see where you are trying to go from different angles, a meandering path to a new arrival point is better than a straight line.

The Voice: All Zones have a Voice, a sound used to show their presence to those in and out of it. The sound of a Voice is said to be enveloping, drowning out everything else around it when it talks. All people and creatures in a Zone can hear the sound of its Voice, and regulars and natives to a Zone can even hear it when away from it. The Forest’s Voice is the sound of creaking groaning wood. Only Zoners and Guides can actually hear the words it’s trying to use, however.

Weather Patterns: Most, if not all, Zones have volatile weather, one of very few things that are actually consistent. Whether it’s the energy of a Zone or the way the land or reality itself warps while in their space, something as simple as a cloudy day can swirl into torrential rains, and a drizzle can turn into cyclones. The Forest has a habit of taking rain and turning it into violent hail and thunderstorms that sweep across most of the western half, very rarely the eastern. The east tends to get blizzards with ice and wind, however, while the west merely gets large amounts of snow.

Zombies: Visitation zombies are a very strange breed. Closer to the classic zombie of legend, they are merely the recently dead within the influence of the Zone who, for whatever reason, come back to life with a single task in mind. Usually, the task is the last thing on their thoughts before death, and they will make their way to a location fresh in their memory while muttering this last bit of agenda. Once there, they will decay as normal before finally dying for good. Fresh zombies tend to have some semblance of language and motor function. After about a week, it all begins to degrade until they can’t speak and their reaction time slows. The military detail around the Forest has a tendency to leave zombies stumbling through the cordons well enough alone after realizing they’re zombies. It’s probably the only thing even they don’t have the will to stop.

Change: There is very little actually consistent in any Zone. Everything is subject to change, even when it seems unchangeable. In the Forest, all inhabitants -be they stalkers or Zoners- have learned that if it looks different, it probably is different. Even things like anomalies, normally regular fixtures, can change purposes without noticeably changing appearances. It’s good to keep such things in mind while traversing the Forest, and all travelers carry rocks with them in place of the usual bolts found in other Zones; since there are no gravity-based anomalies that require weight recorded, rocks are used to test the environment for changes, as well as being easy to replenish without leaving an environmental mark.

People/Factions

Zoners are the people who live in the Zone who were original to it before the Landing. They are a quaint folk who are born into the Zone and mutated by it, and have adopted a pagan lifestyle several centuries old in order to adapt to the lack of modern amenities. They worship the Zone as nothing less than a god, and it seems to work in their favor, as the Zone provides them everything they need from space to materials to workable crops at a fair trade from them. After stubbornly refusing to evacuate after the Landing, the Forest covets them so long as they maintain The First Rule. They share a special bond to their Zone and are the only ones trusted to defend it. In the rare cases of military and government involvement in the Forest, it is Zoners who are first to stand firm against them and push them back out. Although they have unsettling wide smiles and their eyes tend to glow in the dark, Zoners are very friendly toward stalkers, provided they don’t bring ill intent with them and understand the balance of The First Rule. They are a reminder that even people born from the fabric of the Forest are not exempted of the rules, assuming the ruins of arrogant hamlets and swallowed towns fail to instill the same warning.

Stalkers are a fairly universal breed from Zone to Zone. Designated as ‘daredevils’, the ones that go into the Black Forest live up to the moniker. The Forest swallows more and more of them every year, but the allure of such a dangerous temperamental Zone brings more than twice that amount to the door. Native stalkers tend to be more likely to help greenhorns to the Forest out, and veteran stalkers of other Zones pick up on the quirks of the Forest fairly easy enough to survive. It’s not uncommon to see new faces filtering in and out of the Forest, though. As a whole, stalkers are a pretty decent helpful bunch, and the majority of the clan are beloved by Zoners for their ability to bring necessary supplies they can’t ask the Forest for to them. The ones who aren’t decent live in the fringes as bandits.

Guides are a particularly special handful of stalkers who have garnered the Forest’s favor through sacrifice. Sacrifice of everything from time to sanity to their own bodies, Guides are capable of understanding their Zone on a more intimate level than the standard stalker. They are imperative to others’ ability to navigate the twisting ever-changing Forest, as they can feel changes and hear anomalies and the messages beneath the Forest’s Voice. They are also the only individuals capable of speaking to and opening Castles safely, something not even the native Zoners can do. There are two different stages to becoming a Guide. Threshold Guides have given enough to hear the Voice’s message as well as the thrumming pressure of anomalies. Fledged Guides, or simply just Guides, are properly ordained by the Forest into its embrace, usually given a gift/mutations to better serve their Zone. As expected, Guides are not very common. For the sheer volume of the Forest, there are only nine ordained Guides and one Threshold to date.

Bandits are a fixture in almost every Zone nowadays and are generally the same, greedy little opportunists who like to reap the rewards of others. The bandits of the Black Forest have gotten smart about it, bypassing The First Rule of Forest life by staying on the fringes. Since the central influence of the Forest doesn’t reach into the fringes as much, bandits regularly exploit the lack of punishment. To any proficient stalker of the area, they are fairly easy to avoid. Despite their disregard of the coveted First Rule, bandits in the Forest maintain a sense of loyalty and duty to their gangs and above that, the Zone. As the Forest doesn’t fully influence or control the fringes, it’s up to them to keep an eye out for noticeable damage and especially fire. They have been known to stomp out all ties in order to band together with stalkers in the vicinity and work to put out any fires that start. Afterwards, they return to their expected deviancy, but it is surprising to realize even they can be human sometimes.

The Cult of the Cage are a group of fanatics that aren’t seen much outside the Inner Circle. They worship whatever the Tree Cage protects, though it’s unclear if even they know what it is. It probably wouldn’t change their minds or beliefs even if they knew. The exact reasons for their worship are unclear, but it is obviously not out of greed or arrogance, as the Forest would have killed them off if that were the case. They’re known for being undetectable to all but the Forest itself, silent and quick. They don’t carry firearms, but do carry crossbows they’ve managed to silence. Unsurprisingly, they have found a toxin to use on their bolts that, if untreated, can be deadly. While their ballistics are used on the outer edges of the Inner Circle into the Proper, they are also trained in close-range combat for any fighting that might break out in the Inner Circle itself. While they are fanatical, the Cult is not in any way conscripted into protecting the Tree Cage. Individuals can still think on their own away from their brethren and outside shared rituals and prayers, share little in common with each other otherwise. A few of their numbers have been spotted recently wandering the Forest Proper, and given their uncharacteristic politeness, are assumed to be missionaries to their religious cause. The Cult is held in suspicious regards but so long as a member doesn’t start a fight, those who wander from the Inner Circle are generally left alone.

Fauna and Flora

Fauna

Fringeanimals are among the least physically mutated animals in the Forest. They are typically domesticated dogs and feral cats who were born in the fringes, though there are reports of local fauna like foxes and rabbits that also slot into this category. While they are born in the fringes, they are not trapped on the fringes; seeing fringeanimals in the Forest Proper is not uncommon at all, and they make their homes in hamlets and towns, where they are regularly spoiled and treated like one might a common pet. They don’t seem to mind this, at all. Fringeanimals are best known for their friendliness to non-hostile peoples, willing to jump in to defend trapped people or lead them to a safe spot. They are also known for being incredibly intelligent to the point of sapience, and it’s not uncommon to hear them responding in a conversation, capable of picking up on and learning multiple languages at once. While they don’t speak human languages, they still use their own vocalizations and body language to interact. They are also born with a deep-rooted connection to the Forest and can tell when things change or shift, making them invaluable companions to those in and out of the Forest. It’s a common practice for stalkers and Zoners to leave an area if a fingeanimal is trying to warn them away from it.

Livestock has been widely unchanged physically. Only found in hamlets and towns, the familiar shapes of native cow breeds, chickens, pigs, sheep, and the occasional goat are a welcome reprieve from the weirdness of the majority of the Forest’s wildlife. Zoners use them for everything from food to farmwork, and while a few of the animals may accidentally mutate physically in a generation, the only constant mutation they seem to have is the ability to over-produce milk, eggs, and wool. It only works in this way, and slaughtering an animal for food does not yield more meat.

Songbirds don’t look like they have any physical mutations on first glance, small and fluttery as their brethren outside the Zone are. They live primarily in the crags, having moved back into the area after the initial violent changes at the start of the Zone settled, and they are never seen in the Forest Proper. However, they can still be heard down in the Proper, and that is because they have an innate ability to warp and amplify their own soundwaves to be heard for miles. Like all songbirds, they are skittish around larger animals and can be seen fluttering around their mountainous home when disturbed.

Ravens are another bird that moved back into the Zone after fleeing it during the first changes. They have mutated just slightly, gaining another set of eyes and serrated beaks with a disturbingly human-like cackle as a call. Their main population is in the crags, but they have been seen further into the foothills on all sides. They are also non-hostile to people and animals, known for hanging around and begging food from humans when not snuffling around on their own, not unlike standard corvids outside of their Zone.

Owls are perhaps the only documented bird that lives in the Forest Proper as well as in the crags. They don’t look much different than their normal counterparts from the ground, since they live in the branches high above the shifting forest floor, but distance tricks perception. Owls are immense in size, standing at ten feet tall with wingspans that can grow to fifty or more feet. Their mutation gives them the sheer size to capture cherubs, their main prey, and carry them off to be eaten. Despite their gigantism, they seem to be smart enough to dislike the idea of eating or the taste of humans and will generally avoid and observe them from their lofty homes. Even if they are non-hostile, humans and fringeanimals will try to stay well out of their way and hunting parties will abandon cherub herds if owls are present.

Cherubs used to be deer. In some ways, they still maintain the original mannerisms as skittish herbivores that travel in herds. They’ve grown to stand close to nine feet tall at their shoulders, colored various shades of white and off-white with massive iridescent eyes. Their build has changed drastically, with prominent rib structure leading into naturally caved stomachs, long spindly legs, and long slender necks topped with thin pointed heads. Their antlers have changed orientation and make-up, from bone to a weird mushroom-like tuber. It grows along their backbone in shoots and across their shoulders in intricate coral-like fans, the tips displaying multiple colors that fade to white or cream near the base. Every part of a cherub is edible, save for the bones within the body itself, and one cherub can feed a group of six for the better part of a week or two. They are one of two of the only animals the Forest grants permission to hunt, and the only animal it sends to be hunted when a request for Needing food is made, as long as only what is needed is taken and no more. Their name derives from the fact that cherubs are the only known animal in the Forest that is immune to Silver Thread, which can grow across their fans and glitter in light, giving the illusion of wings. Hunters typically avoid those with it growing on them, since Silver Thread can kill anything else in short amounts of time.

Fractals were foxes once. So named for their ability to change outlines and shape in swirling clouds of multi-colored matter, they also pose no threat to humans. They have a tendency to float in the general direction of anomalies and artifacts, occasionally resuming their original forms as small foxes. They don’t seem to have any corporeal form, which lets them float through objects, animals, and people. When they do so, it’s said that they ‘feel like what white static sounds like’.

Bounders live in trees. Their disproportionately large hindquarters are the only things left from their previous rabbit forms, and the actual animal is only about knee-height on an average human at their biggest. Their front legs sport claws on their toes with protowings along the undersides of their arms, and their tails are long with tufts of feathers at the tip. Although they’re relatively harmless herbivores, bounders have been known to cause deep gouges in anything that provokes them. Despite their defense, they are a favorite snack of many of the Forest’s inhabitants.

Satyrs were goats at one point and to some extent, still sort of are. Although their warped squished faces have grown eerily humanoid and their bodies are disturbingly primate-like, they share no genetic background with either. Their eyes are large and have the square pupils that denote them as goats, along with the telltale horns curving back on their heads around the base of their leaf-shaped ears. As expected, they like to headbutt things, provoked or not. Their bodies look remarkably like long-limbed primates of some sort, their arms and legs ending in four-toed feet and hands. They stand at the height of an average human and can walk hunched but upright on their legs, or on all fours without any trouble. They can scale cliffs, unstable rockfaces, and trees without much thought or issue. Which is good, since they live primarily in the crags and bound and swing across the more treacherous terrain higher up to reach their primary food sources. Satyrs are neutral animals, though at times their goaty nature makes it feel like they’re vindictive or doing things solely for their own entertainment. This is not the case, even though stalkers and Zoners have both returned with welts from being headbutt by them.

Fractures are one of two human mutants in the Forest. The lesser of the evils, the first populations of them were turned from Zoners who angered the Forest in its earlier years. Their villages and towns were swallowed and remain as crumbling ruins in the depths of the Zone, and the people were transformed into Fractures. Since then, Fracture nests are fairly common and they are the only living thing to inhabit the Barrier. Fractures walk primarily on all fours, with an elongated curved spine and excruciatingly long limbs. One arm is twice as long as the other, the fingers tipped with large hooked claws. Fractures are relatively skittish and if they see anything from far off that might be a threat to them, they will turn tail and gallop back toward their nests. They will attack if something is too close to them and they will retaliate if attacked first, usually pulling more and more of their brethren hiding in the woodwork around them to help. While they are not much of a threat by themselves, as they are a common nuisance of a mutant, they can easily overwhelm an adversary with numbers. They still retain the ability to speak, but have since lost the ability to intelligently converse. As such, they parrot phrases and words said around them and will repeat them regularly.

Fracture Eaters mutated from German horses that are native to the Black Forest region. As their name suggests, they are the only known predator of Fractures and their presence works to keep the population down. Fracture Eaters are about the size of a small horse and retain much of the original posture and build. From far away, they even look like a horse. Up close, it’s easy to notice the long snakelike tails behind them, as well as the clawed finger-like paws that replaced their hooves. Their mouths open unnaturally wide to the jaw joint, displaying rows upon rows of sharp triangular teeth that point backwards toward their throat, and their eyes have moved more toward the front of their skulls. They even issue a strange roaring noise when the hunt begins. Despite looking like a nightmare and being actively carnivorous, Fracture Eaters are very social animals with packs of their families around them and prefer the comfort of non-hostile parties. They still retain a fondness for human contact and it isn’t uncommon to be nudged by one or several until pets are given, making purring and nickering noises when paid mind. They are still able to be ridden and trainable, and several hamlets host games showing off their prowess with the creatures. Fracture Eaters generally stick to the forested areas around hamlets and towns, keeping a firm eye on the landscaping for their next meal.

Ritters are easily the most terrifying mutant in the Forest to date, as well as being the second human mutant, named after one of the more frightening folktales of the Forest’s dark past. Like Fractures, Ritters are changed after their hamlet is swallowed by the Forest as punishment for breaking The First Rule. Unlike Fractures, Ritters are rare to encounter, but they leave a lasting impression of the Forest’s anger. Ritters tower over all but owls and cherubs, standing upright at eight feet tall. They carry themselves on four spindly legs ending in three long fingers each; one for balance on the inside, two on the outside for gripping and navigation. An elongated skeletal humanoid torso is attached by its hips at the center of its legs. The head is large and sits on a swiveling long neck. There appears to be no face at first glance, a thick flap of skin covering where its eyes should be like a helmet, and hunting and feeding are the only times it opens its mouth, splitting its head from ear to ear and filled with needle teeth. Their arms are long and lanky with long delicate fingers tipped with curved claws, which they use to feel their way around. It’s the only way to tell when one is nearby, as they make a distinct rapid tapping noise against trees and rocks. They are pale in color, sickly green-grey fading to pallor. Their ‘helms’ and the tips of their extremities are a darker grey speckled with dark pine green. Being completely blind, Ritters are easy to avoid by standing perfectly still and waiting for them to pass if expected. As they only travel alone or in groups of two or three maximum, it’s easy to keep track of them. However, noise attracts them and the louder a noise is, the easier it is for them to zero in on the source. When hunting, they let off a shriek and become unexpectedly nightmarishly agile, capable of moving around the terrain with the ease of a spider. It’s harder to escape them head-on, but hiding and keeping perfectly still can cause them to pause and try to relocate their prey. If they can’t pick up its trail again, they cease the chase and continue on their way. Ritters do not wander far from the place they lived as humans. Stalkers and Zoners avoid the ruins of towns and hamlets for this reason. There are still outliers, though, so any proper Forest stalker knows to listen for tapping, no matter where they are.

Flora

Patrol Trees are massive trees that move around in the Forest Proper on their root systems. They don’t appear to have any real aim in how they move, meandering in packs. They aren’t inherently malicious, simply moving around as they will. They pay no mind to what’s in front of them, under them, or behind them, and unintentionally smash their way through animals and people on their way. Hamlets and towns are specifically guarded by the Zone, so that any migrating trees are ushered around habitation on their way through. Patrol Trees also act as guardians for human settlements, anchored around them to cover them when inclement weather comes, as well as beating their massive branches on out-of-control fires. They are also the ones who extinguish fires in the Forest itself in much the same way, pummeling them with little regard to who or what is sitting around it.

Predator Trees are also massive trees that move around the Zone using their root systems. Their intent is more sinister than the Patrol Trees, however, and their ability to hide among other trees makes them extremely dangerous to anyone and anything that lives or peruses the Forest. Predator Trees are considerably more aware of their surroundings and the potential meals in them. They will stop and change course abruptly to go after anything they deem edible, which doesn’t leave out a lot. When caught, they either pull their victims under them using their roots, or simply smash themselves down on top of them until they’ve eaten. They are attracted to loud noises and are ferocious in their pursuits. Unless beaten away by Patrol Trees in charge of guarding settlements, they have no issue entering inhabited spaces for a meal. They are viciously territorial and act in a way like a rogue guardian force of the Forest itself. They have been known to jump straight up and take out low-flying aircraft, prompting an air traffic ban over the Forest for safety. There is very little someone can do when being chased down by a Predator Tree besides run away, though knowing where you are in relation to deterrents is helpful. Using Patrol Trees is a common tactic, since they are nonplussed at being shoved and attacked and will retaliate, as well as climbing up slag piles around the crags, where the roots of the heavy monsters can’t get a good grip. Hiding in Castle courtyards helps too, provided the Castle is friendly and is told what is happening; most Castles will issue a sign they understand and unless the building is intruded on, will give asylum to those escaping the wildlife. Predator Trees originate from the Inner Circle, where they protect the Tree Cage and whatever it holds. It is there the highest number of them can be found, which makes any trek to push to the center extremely difficult, between the trees and the Cult of the Cage. It isn’t uncommon to see a Predator or two wandering the rest of the Forest, looking for an easier meal.

Whipsnaps look like the tree roots that make up much of the Forest’s floor, save for a slightly different pattern that distinguishes them as different. It’s such a subtle shift that makes this act of camouflage dangerous for greenhorns and even seasoned stalkers who don’t pay attention. Whipsnaps do not activate until disturbed, laying nestled into the weave of tree roots. They are easy to avoid if you see them, but if they’re stepped on or nudged, they react by wrapping tightly around whatever’s close and dragging them away. Once thought to be the roots of Predator Trees, it’s now known via plenty of survivors and observations of them that they attach to a bulb partially buried under the roots and ground surface. Proficient Forest stalkers and Zoners will purposely activate a root to drag them to the bulb, which surfaces to feed, in order to stab it, which will kill its network in the area. Given that whipsnaps are fairly common, it’s a losing battle but one necessary for survival.

Moss Pools are exactly as they sound, bottomless pools of moss. They’re fairly large in size and very easy to spot, since not only does the inviting vibrant green of the moss stand out against its surroundings, but tree roots will also grow around it like the sides of a pool. People not paying attention to where they’re going run the risk of falling into one, but they don’t grab or lure or really do anything other than simply exist. Sadly, no one knows where they go or even if they end up anywhere, as no one has been pulled out of one or found after falling into one.

Sleepers are unusual simply on the basis they obviously evolved from kudzu, a non-native plant in Germany, much less the Black Forest. Though the leaves are a bit larger, it looks at first glances exactly like kudzu and even appears to act like it, taking over anything in range at a fairly alarming rate. While the Forest is already actively pruning it on its own and has it relegated to ruins, it has been mutated to be a different threat to anything that breathes. Sleepers smell like mild mint, and has been attributed to the smell of wintergreen more than anything. The stronger the smell, the more damage it does, since the smell comes with a cloud of unseen spores that, when inhaled, releases a sleeping toxin after about five or ten minutes that hits suddenly and heavily and unless removed from the area, permanently. Once the victim is out, sleeper clusters in the area move to cover and consume it in order to fuel its slow assault against the Forest. They’re easy to avoid, either by sight or by smell, and easier to pass through since they don’t have the speed to take down moving entities so long as a filtering mask or respirator are in place.

Corn was an hilarious accident, as well as a good lesson in asking the Forest for something not native to the land. Although it was grown with appropriate tribute, the warped nature of the Zone caused it to gain a quasi-sentience and ability to mobilize itself, wherein it disappeared into the depths of the Forest Proper. While some hamlets and Northtown have growing corn in their farms, these are from seeds brought from outside and given blessing rather than the Forest making them as it normally does crops. Corn is startling to come across, to say the least, rustling around and running aimlessly, but overall, it’s harmless and still edible. Catching and harvesting ripe ears does not seem to hurt the stalks themselves, and they regrow their fruits fairly quickly, making them the perfect gift for any starving stalker in the Proper. 

Anomalies

Flashbangs are the most common and generally useful anomaly in the Forest. They are easy to spot by the faintly glowing orb bobbing in mid-air. They occasionally drift around, but it’s slow and easy to predict some of their paths. They’re fairly easy to trigger, everything from tossing rocks at them to clapping works. Once activated, it’s best to stand a decent distance from them, as they ignite with an intense heat that burns the immediate blast area around them, making a loud bang and growing considerably brighter. Their bright white light is ideal for seeing in dark places and makes them necessary especially in the Barrier, where normal light can’t penetrate, and the bang is loud enough to activate any other flashbangs in the area. They stay lit for about fifteen minutes before dimming to nothing and recharging for five minutes. Only when the glowing sphere returns can they be reactivated.  Flashbangs are the most common anomaly in the Zone known to change, as well, and has a pretty obvious tell on whether or not it’s a flashbang or simply looks like one at a glance. The glow on a standard flashbang has a hint of pale blue to it, while mutated flashbangs are a different shade of blue or a different color or lack a color altogether. The effects differ from mutation to mutation, and the only way to tell what it’s actually doing is to throw a rock at it and activate it from a safe distance.

Quicksands are not so easy to spot. Perfectly circular pools of what looks like bare soil is the tell, and they’re known for sucking in limbs that interact with them with such ferocity, it would take nothing short of amputation on the spot to be free of one. The pressure created on the inside of the tube that makes up a quicksand anomaly can suffocate a victim and potentially crush them. Quicksands are useful in their own way, and all long-term inhabitants of the Zone will use them for trash cans or garbage disposals. Since they’re activated by touch, all it takes is a rock in the middle to set one off and once it’s done sucking the rock down into its sandy depths, the ground solidifies while it recharges for ten minutes.

Vortexes are the resident teleporters. They are distinguishable by the distinctly warped spiral in reality and also one of the rarer anomalies. The outcome is randomized and no two end locations are the same place twice, popping users out either in the Forest or even out of it. While not harmful to stalkers trying to use them to get around easier, they can cause nausea and dizziness for a short time to greenhorn users. They take fifteen minutes to recharge.

Faerie Doors/Circles are a rather infamous Forest exclusive, another throwback to its deep folkloric history. Like in stories, faerie doors and circles teleport the unwitting victim walking through or into them to an alternate parallel existence where they are the only ones inhabiting the space, trapped in endless forest with no other civilization. They are seemingly-unnatural arches made with branches [Doors] or circles of mushrooms, flowers, or misplaced saplings on the ground [Circles] that appear randomly in front of a traveler. Throwing rocks at them does not activate them, as only a human body going through them can, and the disappear when someone walks through them. If not engaged, they disappear and reappear in a different place. They are easy to avoid, simply moving carefully around them and continuing on. Most deaths caused by doors and circles are less the phenomena themselves and more of a different Forest hazard trying to avoid them.

Silver Thread, or Platinum Thread in some regions, is a caustic nearly-invisible fiber that grows in strange places. The dim light catching its fine existence causes it to glint like pale precious metals, thus earning it its name. Despite its delicate appearance, silver thread is deadly to the touch. It has been known to penetrate clothing and safety suits somehow and causes sudden organ failure as well as rapid-growth cancer cells. It’s hard to avoid and due to the inability to handle it, causes stalkers and Zoners to take wide detours. Only cherubs are immune to it, growing it across their spines and fans.

Burnt Fuzz seems to be a fixture in any Zone, clinging to metal and wood alike and slowly eating away at them. Except in this case, when it feeds both Patrol and Predator Trees, what devour it gladly and with extreme prejudice; while it’s a commonly-shared phenomena, the Trees’ diet have made it much more manageable in the Forest. As with all variations of burnt fuzz, it burns to the touch and drapes over anything it can find.

Ghosts, Orbs, or Will’o’Wisps are so-named because of Zoner belief that the balls of floating light are the dead souls of those who were lost to the trees. They have no actual sentience, meandering aimlessly through the Forest Proper and are easy to avoid if spotted first. When interacted with, they envelop their victim in a sense of warmth and comfort, playing good memories or writing pleasant stories to keep them in a stupor until they die of exposure. It’s easy to pull a victim out of one’s influence, and they will regain their senses fairly quickly, depending on how long they were hypnotized. There are rare cases where a rescued victim will seek out and return to the world crafted for them.

Shades are another delve into the Forest’s favorite faerie stories and as such, shades are the most terrifying ‘anomaly’ encountered to date, being almost entirely independent of the Forest outside creation. They only inhabit the fringes and interior of the Inner Circle and are one of many things in the Forest attracted to sound. The rule concerning using call-signs only and disregarding real names were based almost entirely on shades’ existence, as they are a product of the Forest attempting to wheedle names out in order to get into peoples’ heads. Encountering a shade is encountering a figure from the victim’s life, good or bad, demanding their real name. It’s strongly advised to never give in, no matter what sort of tactics it resorts to in order to get what it wants until it gives up and goes away for the time being. There is no other way to activate a shade outside attracting it to you, and there is no cool-down period for this particular anomaly.

Artifacts

Artifacts in a Visitation Zone are essentially refuse left by the visiting aliens after the Landing. All of their uses are as of yet unknown to humans, but they are the reason Visitation Stalkers exist as a whole; collectors pay good money for whole artifacts and the temptation is great. Artifacts in the Forest hardly differ from those Visitation Zones’ hauls anywhere else in the world, save for one. They call it the Screw, on account that it looks like the pointed threaded tip of a construction screw. Sometimes, the grooves between the threads gives off a faint glow, but other than a glorified nightlight, its actual uses are as much a mystery as all the other artifacts pulled out of Visitation Zones. It fetches a fairly high price among scientific communities, but since it’s a common artifact to the region, local collectors won’t pay much for it. It’s better to peddle it to foreign ones.