Vini Tresolm
”Central to the continent, lush and fertile, wild and foreboding, Vini Tresolm is a beautiful as it is dangerous. Within its borders, one can find the most beautiful jungle falls, the whitest dunes of sand and the most expansive grasslands on the continent. But one must be careful in the Tresolm; while beauty is omnipresent, many of the natives, a great deal of the wildlife and even a surprising number of species of flora – can and likely will kill.” ~ Jothan Blackkard, Gazetteer.

Geography
The lush land of Vini Tresolm is literally the center of the continent; lying east of the Emaru river that marks the boundary to the West. To the north lie Chordin and Genmide and to the south are the principalities of Novrom. The Sea of Thespis separates t from Taunuan and Minde Forme in the east.

Fed by the lazily meandering Green Sister River, much of the land is given over to dense rainforest and jungle. Along the northern edge of the nation, the sheltering effect of the Matta Syne mountains creates the arid Tavis Draid Desert. A second desert, the Seldon Waste lies between the Matta Syne and the Jedda Syne.

History
Elven legend says that Hessa was so overjoyed when she created the elves, her light shone particularly bright across the entire continent, giving nourishment to the infant forests. In the river valley of the Green Sister and the Emaru, the trees grew to prodigious size and here, Hessa gave the elves their own homeland.

Whether this is true or not, the Tresolm has been the homeland of elves (and kept that name) since Saint’s Landing. Even when the continent was united, the jungle region the elves called home remained almost entirely autonomous. Only at the height of draconic control was the Tresolm ever ruled by any other than elves – even the hailene were repelled in their attempts to conquer the forest land.

In the bolls of the famed magnagoth trees, the elves carved out entire villages, called Elfholmes. When the elves suffered a schism over worship of Hessa and Sylph, the so called races of the green and the more radical worshipers of Hessa formed a separate nation called the Green Expanse from the extremely lush northwestern region. They remained even when the Hessan worshipers left for the isle of Nyce.

Following the collapse of the Vishnari Empire, the tresolmi elves declared themselves a nation and were largely unopposed because no one else had the knowledge of the forest, or the diplomatic relations of the greater beasts the elves had.

When the Ashing of the Green occurred, the elves of the Tresolm saw it as the final warning for them to cut ties with the other races of the world – particularly the humans, half-elves, and the so called ‘race traitors’; elves who had adopted human ways, that made of the Church in Calderia. As such, they all but completely cut off communications with the rest of demi-humanity.

Today, only a few elven communities on the outskirts of the Tresolmi jungle will have any dealings with humans or half-elves or anyone raised among either group. While the elves of the Tresolm are not openly hostile to outsiders, humans and half elves are not protected by Tresolmi law as other creatures are.

Culture
The elves of the Tresolm live lives of plenty and almost complete isolation from the outside world. Sylphian clerics and druids ensure that food is plentiful and Wild Speaker bards ensure that the elves and the greater beasts – the wild masters of the Tresolmi spirit beasts – are on good terms for the most part. They even co-exist in relative harmony with the Sylvan nagas, lasconti, and inari communities that share their jungle domain.

Isolation, however has led to stagnation. Tresolmi technology, magic and medicine are almost identical to what they were in the years before the Ashing of the Green. Similarly, education is rarely more than happenstance if not outright trial and error among Tresolmi elves. Even with their long lives, the average adult Tresolmi elf knows less than the average ten year old school child from Chordin or Rizen.

As a result, Tresolmi wizards, rogues and even combatants and fighters are rare. The only truly specialized vocations in the Tresolm are those of the clergy and the Wild Speakers. The elves don’t seem to notice that anything is amiss and are quick to dismiss the value of education and advancement as ‘human superstition’.

Industry
Vini Tresolm as a whole does not trade with any nations or entities. This task is left to the individual communities and most do not see the need for trade. Most business is carried out by groups living on the edge of the forest who negotiate logging contracts, act as guides and gather exotic fruits, nuts and other plants from their forest home. Trapping is almost universally frowned upon and only the occasional lasconti guide will even entertain the idea.

Government
The Tresolm is ruled in name by a hereditary king or queen; the first born child of the previous ruler. The current ruler is Queen Lyzen hi’ Memeshan (Female elf aristocrat 4/ranger 3). Though Lyzen is named monarch, she has little control over Vini Tresolm as a whole. Mostly, she rules the capitol, Elfholm Mastes, commands its sizable army, and the Wild Speakers.

True power in Vini Tresolm belongs to the lords of the individual Elfholmes. They govern their respective territories, make the laws, and for the most part enforce them. By paying tribute to Queen Lyzen, they also gain the services of the Wild Speakers and the protection of the army should the Wild Speakers fail to quell local spirit beast attacks.

Non-elven communities are largely autonomous, though they can petition for assistance from the army. Most never use this option, preferring to use their own methods of survival rather than be in debt to the crown.

Organizations and People
Kalueth’nor, the Great Green Sage (Wyrm Green Dragon)
Within the burnt and hollow stump of the magnagoth that once housed the Elfholm Tesser, the ancient green dragon, Kalueth’nor holds her court. Though she is technically a guest of Vini Tresolm, she is very much a queen many times over. Not only is she the recognized lord of the small town that has grown up around her lair, but she is also the ruler of the Green Dragon Nation, Tacyn’nor.

Hatched during the height of the Vishnari Empire, Kalueth is possessed of an impressively long memory for one of her kind and a wisdom to apply all that she remembers. Her great wisdom has earned her the title of ‘Great Green Sage’ among the people of the Tresolm, who travel from miles around, through hostile terrain to seek her advise.

For her part, Kalueth receives those who come to her with truly important questions with good humor and a friendly demeanor. She will help those whose questions she deems worthy, gently turn away those who ask frivolous things, and set those who ask for advise for malevolent means down the path to their ultimate destruction.

Little is known among non-Tresolmi about Kalueth except for historical notes about her heroic deeds in battle during the Hailene War and her charitable deeds during the Age of Tragedies. Most assume she has either withdrawn from the world or is dead, which is just the way the Tresolmi like things, as they see the Great Green Sage as a private national treasure.

Wild Speakers
Wild speaking is a bardic tradition that focuses more on oration than the methods of song or music. They are trained in diplomacy and in the bardic magics that deal with nature rather than illusion. By and large the Wild Speakers are credited for the survival of the relatively under defended Tresolmi populace; plying their negotiation skills with the powerful monster that inhabit the Tresolm.

The Wild Speakers officially report directly to the Crown, but many whisper that they are the true power within Vini Tresolm. The current royal liaison to the Queen is Tash Windburden (Male elf Bard 13), who is also the official envoy between the Crown and Kauleth’nor.

The Wild Speakers are based out of Elfholm Mastes, with agents all across the nation to respond to any crisis as quickly as possible.

Major Settlements
Elfholm Mastes (City 20,000)
Mastes is the capitol of Vini Tresolm. Like all Elfholmes built prior to the Hailene War, Mastes is built on the boughs and within the trunk of colossal broadleaf tree referred to as a magnagoth. This particular magnagoth is located on the shore of the Green Sister River, on the cusp of Valuna Falls. The spray of the waterfall keeps the city humid and cool at all times.

The palace of Queen Lyzen is located here, actually built into a smaller tree which has been coaxed into growing in the fertile ecosystem that exists in the crown of the magnagoth.

Tesser-holm (Town 1,500)
Long ago, Elfholm Tesser was a thriving city of fifty thousand. Then the Hailene War came and the entire great tree was put to the torch and fireball spell of vengeful hailene who could not penetrate further into the jungle and thus simply bombarded the few cities they found from the air.

Now, Tesser-holm replaces Tesser; a small town built just outside the blackened stump that was once a city-tree. The locals here owe their allegiance to Kalueth’nor, the green dragon who now dwells in the stump. Every year, thousands come to the town to ask the dragon’s advice and the town was founded to take advantage of pilgrims who needed food, drink, lodging and other provisions while visiting the remote site.

Locations of Note
Durkarr (Ruined City)
In 4342, the Historical Society of Kinos uncovered one of the great archeological finds of the age in the Tavis Draid desert. Stone plaques name the city of granite and obsidian Durkarr, which, in the language of the fire element creatures of Ola means ‘Pearl of the Lake’.

The city is mostly buried in sand, even after 86 years of on again, off again excavation. This is due in part to the shifting sands, but the chaotic layout of the city is just as much to blame. Entire sections of buildings seem to have been excised from the whole and the remainder forced together in a strange fusion that created no heat to harm the stone. Only interrupted striation patterns and clearly impossible floor plans hint at this phenomena. Occasionally an artifact is found in which two or more objects seem to have been forced into the same space at the same time – a feat impossible with even the most powerful teleportation and transmutation magics.

Whatever caused the bizarre environment within Durkarr seems to still have an effect on the area. Workers disappear often, sometimes falling through solid floors and walls, sometimes dissolving into the ether. None yet have a viable explanation for any of these phenomena.

Encounters
The Tresolm, more than anywhere on the mainland, teams with a variety of plant and animal life. Any type of plant or fey can be encountered here, as can most animals and dire animals. Spirit beasts are extremely common, though less overtly hostile thanks to their contact with the Wild Speakers.

Sylvan nagas and lasconti often hunt in the forest and some of the more sheltered communities of these can’t tell much difference between a human (or other humanoid) and the apes they sometimes hunt for rites of strength.

The biggest threat in the Tresolmi jungle comes from the treacherous terrain itself. The ground is often wet and slick, with seemingly smooth ground suddenly dropping into natural deadfalls, or undergrowth obscuring sleeping beasts that tend to attack first is startled.