Border Forest

The Border Forest was a large forest that connected four different regions of Faerûn: the Dalelands to the south, Anauroch to the west, the Tortured Land to the north, and the Moonsea to the east.

Geography
The Border Forest was a mixture of pines, oaks, and other deciduous trees. The forest undergrowth was relatively thick, making travel difficult.

History
The Border Forest was once known as Rystall Wood by the sylvan elves that lived there for many centuries after the Crown Wars. However, little evidence remains of their civilization as they built few permanent structures. It was later known as the Eastern Forest by the of Empire of Netheril before it got its modern name.

Rystall Wood was cut off from the rest of Arcorar during the Twelve Nights of Fire in, which were started by a falling meteor. Rystall Wood became a separate forest and elven realm after the Twelve Nights of Fire cleared away the mountain and hill trees that had attached it to Arcorar. Although an independent forest after the event, its coronal still convened often with the leaders of the Elven Court.

In, Coronal Mhaenal of Rystall Wood was slain by monsters that were summoned into his bedchambers, ending the reign of the sixth Rysar in Rystall Wood.

Drow later made use of dark magic to burn and clear the area surrounding the Twisted Tower in, in an event known as the Spiderfires. This further expanded the gap between Rystall Wood and Cormanthyr. This marked the beginning of a conflict of more than two thousand years known as the Shadow War between the drow and the elves of Rystall Wood.

The fortified Netherese logging camp of Coniferia entered into open war with the trolls of the forest in, after enduring centuries of attacks from them. The Trollflame Wars lasted nearly three hundred years and culminated in a siege of the camp by the giant-kin and the slaughter of around 12,000 trolls.

Orcs from the forest began repeatedly attacking Seventon in the, and in the , they razed the city of Janick. Finally, in, the orcs were finally routed by the Netherese and they fled back to their woodland lairs.

In the, the primordial Maram of the Great Spear carved a great swath of destruction across the heart of the forest, as it sought to reach the Monument of the Ancients after fleeing the aftermath of the Seven Sigils War.

Coniferia was overrun when trolls attacked again in the. Four years later, in the, with the aid of the Elven Court, the Shadow War ended with defeat for the drow and the Twisted Tower being rededicated as a temple to Eilistraee. In only a little more than a hundred years, however, orc hordes would ravage the area, and by the twelfth and final Rysar had fallen, leaving behind only the city of Yrlaancel, which would later become Myth Ondath.

In the late 1350s DR, a variety of unusual monsters were sighted around the Dragon Reach and were tracked back to the Border Forest, where they'd seemingly emerged. Meanwhile, across Faerûn, similar monsters appeared on the Sword Coast North and apparently originated in the Lurkwood. Among these were flying troll-like things; winged undead capable of flight; smoky clouds with multiple retractable arms ending in clam-like jaws and which hunted silently; intelligent two-headed snakes with tentacles and magical powers—all previously unknown both to local hunters and forest-dwellers and to wider Faerûn. Too big and too numerous to all be supported by forest food sources, and emerging at a steady rate, the monsters were theorized to have been spawned by unidentified magical sources within their respective forests.

Inhabitants
A very large population of wolves inhabited the forest. Early humans in the area based some of their societal norms after the behavior of this community.

As the influence of the elves in the forest dwindled, other creatures replaced them, most notably large populations of orcs and trolls.

By 1372 DR the Border Forest was inhabited mostly by fey. Due to heavy logging activities in the past, mostly from Snowmantle, the fey in this area tended to be more violent and hostile than in other parts of Faerûn.

Eldreth Veluuthra
Two Eldreth Veluuthra cells were known to be active in the forest around 1374 DR. One cell focused on raiding the Daggerdale border while the other concentrated on ambushing Zhentarim agents. The Eldreth Veluuthra in this area were supported by fey.

Notable Locations
At the southern edges of the Border Forest lay the ruins of the Flaming Tower, once built by fire giants and destroyed by the Knights of Myth Drannor. The ruins came to be inhabited by a powerful beholder, served by a force of goblins.

Not far from the northern edge of the forest, where the White Peaks extended eastward from the great desert of Anauroch, between the Tortured Land and the Ride, and toward Ilinvur, lay the blasted rubble that was all that remained of Myth Ondath.

Buried somewhere in the forest was the fallen Netherese enclave of Spiel. Its remains were not documented as being discovered.

The Bone Dance was a bare hilltop in the southern part of the forest. It was strewn with jagged boulders and appeared to be haunted by ghosts in the form of bizarre monstrous skeletons.