About this universe
Three days ago, Sage Hollowthorn’s younger brother vanished into the depths of Thornwood, chasing a rumor. Armed with only her forager’s wits and a desperate hope, Sage must brave the forest’s shifting paths to save him, before the Thornwood decides to keep them both.
Tone
Tense and atmospheric, threaded with wonder and creeping unease.
Themes
family bonds, courage in the face of the unknown, the cost of knowledge, respect for nature
Protagonist
Sage Hollowthorn
Sage moves with careful intent, her eyes always searching. She’s wiry and sun-browned, with a tangle of dark hair tucked under a battered hood. Mud stains her sturdy boots and patchwork cloak, but her posture is upright, driven by determination and the fierce love she holds for her brother.
Goal: To find her younger brother and bring him home safely, and to uncover the truth behind his sudden disappearance into the Thornwood.
How it begins
Sage grips her woven satchel close and ducks under a low-hanging branch, boots sinking into the moist leaf litter. Ahead, what was once a familiar deer path now bends sharply left, splitting around a fallen trunk slick with moss. The usual birdsong has gone quiet; only the wind and the faintest hiss of distant leaves remain. She pauses, heart hammering, and fingers the small oak-leaf talisman at her neck, the last gift from her brother before he vanished. Her breath clouds in the cool morning air as she kneels to inspect a faint scuff in the soil, a footprint, smaller than her own, pointing deeper into the green gloom. Sage stands quickly, pulse rising. The forest leans in, branches brushing her shoulders, as if to whisper secrets she cannot yet hear. She presses forward, voice low but steady, calling his name into the hush.
About this world
Thornwood is a labyrinthine enchanted forest where the landscape shifts with every step, its ancient trees whispering secrets and warnings. Legends speak of a tree library at the heart, promising a single truth to those determined enough to reach it. The forest is both protector and predator, welcoming few, ensnaring many.
Thornwood sprawls across the land like a living maze, its borders never entirely fixed. Towering trees, oaks, elms, silver-barked birches, knit a dense, mist-shrouded canopy above winding, mutable paths. The forest floor is soft with moss and littered with strange fungi, while roots rise and twist, tripping the careless. Nature here is both beautiful and perilous: flowers glow at dusk, streams sing in odd tones, but both can lead travelers astray.
Communities cling to the forest’s edge, their lives dictated by the moods of the Thornwood. Foragers, gatherers, and wardens venture only so far, wary of vanishing trails and the forest’s curiosity about outsiders. At the center of Thornwood is the legendary Library Tree, gnarled and massive, whose chambers hold records of all who have passed. It is said that the tree will answer one true question for any who make it to its hollow heart. Few return to verify this tale, and those who do are changed: marked by knowledge, or haunted by their journey.
Power in Thornwood belongs to those who can read its moods, the hedgewitches, the boundary wardens, and the rare
“pathspeakers.”
Factions squabble for influence: some wish to tame the forest, others seek to protect or even worship it. Old rivalries flare between those rooted at the edge and the deep-forest dwellers. Survival depends on humility, cleverness, and luck, for the forest tests every soul who enters its depths.
