The Forsaken Bower Forest

Name: No name (referred to as the forest)

Age: ??? (Easily over 500)

Gender: ???

Race: magically enhanced seedling

Seasons: Dry season (Dec - May): tends to be extremely hot and arid, foliage turns to dark browns and blacks with few flowers emerging

Wet season (June - Nov): tends to be exceedingly damp and some of the forest floods, foliage tends towards deep greens, blues, and browns. During this season, the water roses bloom in abundance, giving the forest an underwater appearance in some areas.

Personality: Twisted, murderous, protective. This forest has been horribly scarred by past influences. What was once a curiousity and desire to know the world has twisted into a mistrust of all things beyond its borders and a seething jealousy of those who get to see it. The forest takes its job as protector of the Forsaken Bower very seriously. None pass through its paths without its approval. Or Mystic's intent intervention. The only creature it can be said to love is the Red Mage, who it sees as a mother figure.

Description: A dark, tangled ring of twisted trunks, roots, and bramble all intertwined with each other. It is a single entity that encircles the Warren. When threatened, it will lash out with cutting thorns, choking vines, and crushing branches. There are a few paths through its dense, dark interior. These paths are at constant risk of being swallowed up again, but staying to the hard-packed dirt is the only (almost) safe way to pass through.

There are things living in the forest as well. Creatures that have either been twisted by its influence, or else learned to survive alongside it. Only the foolhardy dare venture into its depths.

Biography:

The forest was created to protect the outside world from the secrets of the Forsaken Bower. It was meant to be wise and gracious, nurturing to those with good hearts and punishing to those with evil in their veins. It was meant to be raised and guided by the brightest minds the world had to offer.

The creator of the forest died before he could see to the well being of his creation. He died without the safe guards in place. The pure, malignant evil cached deep within the Bower seeped into the land like oil, soaking into all it touched. This included the roots of the forest.

For centuries, the forest knew no contact save that of the evil beneath the ground. It learned nothing of the world save chaos and malicious intent. It became twisted with desire for blood and lust for that which it could never have. Though it still knew its purpose, it learned that the only way to interact with the world was through death.

Centuries later, a young mage happened upon the Bower. She took the place of the mentor the forest had lost so long ago. Through careful study and the bonds of magic, she began to heal that cancerous influence.

Now, the forest still only knows how to protect through violence, but it's learning. Now it listens to the sounds of joy and life all around it, and it yearns for something new. The forest is alive. It is aware. And it is growing.

Bond

Name: Whelt

Age: whelp

Gender: female

Breed: Forest Guardian

Colour: Dry season/wet season

Size: 17' at the shoulder

Abilities: Animal Shapeshifting: The ability to shapeshift into a form identical to that of any animal species that is native to their forest.

Humanoid Shapeshifting: The ability to shapeshift into a humanoid form that still reflects their seasonal color-shifting to some degree.

Plant Growth & Healing: The ability to bolster and quicken the natural growth of their forest flora, as well as to heal any damage done to it much more rapidly than the flora could do on its own.

Personality: Angry, resentful, defensive

Origin: The Sanctum Dream

Chapter 1: The Guardian's Guardian

Chapter 2: Regrowth