WM: Locations of Immoren – The Thornwood
Hey, y’all, Voices here. I thought we’d take a brief look at one of the key regions of the Iron Kingdoms, setting of Warmachine and Hordes. So come and journey with me to the forbidding forest known as the Thornwood.
If one takes a look at the map of Western Immoren since the foundation of the Iron Kingdoms, one will see that the borders of Cygnar extend north to an east-west line roughly analogous to the northwestern corner of Llael and northeastern corner of Ord. This region, though for most of history considered a part of Cygnar, is more of a buffer region between the mightiest of the Iron Kingdoms and Khador; and it’s not because it’s this little thumb of land several tens of thousands of miles square… it’s because this region, this little square of land north of the Dragon’s Tongue river… it’s the Thornwood. In this region is the darkest, most ill-charted expanse of forest in the Iron Kingdoms, and the legends surrounding it match and exceed the known history of the region.
In ages past, it was this region that was the seat of the ancient kingdom of Morrdh, a dark country that reputedly worshiped the Devourer until they were conquered by the Orgoth. It’s also here that the barbaric Tharn lived– and still lives. Here, blackclads reputedly competed with the trollkin tribes for control, a legend proven all too true in the past few years. That it only becomes more civilized as massive armies march through it is part of the tragedy.
Despite its fairly centralized location, the Thornwood has always remained one of the hinterlands of Immoren. The reasons for this are fairly simple to understand.
Firstly, it’s difficult to get to: surrounded to the east and west by mountain chains that mark the border of Ord and Llael, and with the wide, deep, and fast Dragon’s Tongue to the south, simply getting to the Thornwood was, until recently, a heroic feat unto itself.
Second, it’s the first battlefield in a war between Cygnar and Khador. This occurred during the Colossal War and the several wars that have been fought since. One of those wars was even named for the massive forest. Being a largely-untamed area hemmed in on all four sides by modern countries — two of which are actively belligerent — the Thornwood has always made as good a battleground as it has a buffer region. Cygnar until recently maintained a massive military fortress at Northguard along the Thornwood’s northern border; but for two years prior to Northguard’s fall, the forest played host to a six way game of cat-and-mouse, of which only two participants were Cygnar and Khador.
Third, it’s not a conveniently-usable trade route. Trade from Cygnar north can, and usually does, pass either through Ord or Llael, both of which have traditionally been open markets to the south and carried on some trade with the north. Further, for a lot of the finely-produced mechanikal items Cygnar purchases, river travel along the Black River better facilitated trade with the chief producers of these items, the Rhulfolk and the Llaelese Order of the Golden Crucible.
Fourth, it’s not tame, and thus not safe. The trollkin kriels of the Thornwood have always had a tense relationship with Cygnar, and several wars have been fought between the trolls and Cygnar over the right of the kriels to the settlements that had traditionally been theirs. As the seat of the old kingdom of Morrdh, the Thornwood has also played haven to many bandit and barbarian tribes. Morrdh itself was a bandit kingdom, and the Tharn were only worse because they ravaged as well as stole. As if trolls and bandits weren’t enough, because of how wild it is, the primeval forest–and that’s exactly what it is — has drawn the servants of the Circle Orbouros (which most civilized folk call Blackclads) like moths to flames. One of the chief strongholds of the Circle is the Thornwood, and such creatures as warpwolves are known to be encountered beneath its canopy.
And lastly, it’s haunted. There’s no two ways about this, for centuries the Thornwood has been reputed to play home to the ghosts of barbarian tribes long gone, with the Tharn only the most dangerous of them. But when Cryx discovered the Temple Garrodh in the Thornwood and attempted to siphon the souls from its cairns to power Asphyxious’ rise, those rumors suddenly took on a new and terrifying aspect… the Thornwood was indeed haunted, and now everyone had proof. That the Garrodh battle was only the culmination of a bitterly-fought campaign between Cygnar, Khador, Cryx, and the Protectorate that saw tens of thousands of soldiers die brings more ghosts to the trees, and the ousting of the Thornwood kriels by the civilized countries and the Blackclads adds more and more casualties.
Well, okay, that’s pretty much it for the Thornwood. It’s a great location, full of stories and terrors to give even Stephen King a lifetime of novels; but since that doesn’t really concern us as Warmachine and Hordes players, let’s just remember that the Thornwood is where the arrogant go to be humbled by their enemies and nature.
I hope that I haven’t offended anyone by the use of photographs from the American Civil War; they were used because they were most appropriate. This is Voices, signing off.
