Thornhaven

Thornhaven

Overview

Type: Forest Elf Canopy City
Region: The Glowing Groves
Population: ~3,500 (60% in canopy, 40% ground-level workers)
Government: Elder Council (Elf, Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Dragonborn)

Description

Thornhaven clings to survival in the twisted canopy of ancient forest giants along the clean river delta deep within The Glowing Groves. The settlement has built a dark prosperity through monopolizing remnant-resistant tree sap while maintaining brutal social stratification - only the “fit” earn protection in the canopy while the weak face exile to the contaminated forest floor.

Built into trees over 200 feet tall that have been twisted by centuries of magical contamination, Thornhaven represents one of the few successful large-scale communities in the Glowing Groves’ exclusion zone. The ancient trees display crystalline veins pulsing with remnant energy, their bark having developed unique filtering properties that produce the precious anti-contamination sap making survival possible in this wasteland.

The settlement’s architecture flows with the living trees, incorporating woven wood structures connected by rope and branch bridges that span the canopy at multiple levels. The higher elevations house the community’s elite in relative safety, while ground-level operations expose workers to dangerous contamination levels during sap harvesting and processing.

The clean river delta provides Thornhaven with its greatest strategic advantage - a source of pure water in a region where most water sources carry magical contamination. This resource, combined with the anti-remnant sap production, allows the settlement to maintain trade relationships with communities throughout The Glowing Groves and beyond.

DM Note: Thornhaven’s prosperity is built on systematic environmental apartheid disguised as meritocracy. The “trial system” is deliberately manipulated by Imperial agents and Council corruption to maintain social control while ensuring a steady supply of expendable workers for contamination exposure.

The Dark Reality: Monthly trials determine who receives life-saving contamination protection, but outcomes are secretly determined by political loyalty rather than merit. Imperial agents manipulate results to eliminate potential dissidents while maintaining a facade of fair selection.

Strategic Importance: The settlement’s clean water source is completely pure due to ancient Sundered Mountains purification technology - not just “cleaner” water. This makes Thornhaven invaluable for both contamination treatment and as a political leverage point for regional control.

Notable Features

The Sacred Groves

Ancient contamination-filtering trees that produce the anti-remnant sap essential for survival in the Western Coast. These massive trees, some reaching 200+ feet in height, have crystalline veins running through their bark that pulse with magical energy while simultaneously filtering remnant contamination from their surroundings.

The River Delta

Crystal-clear mountain water channels that provide Thornhaven with its most precious resource: uncontaminated water. The delta’s purity makes it invaluable for both daily survival and medical treatment of contamination exposure.

Hidden Truth: The water is completely pure due to pre-Cataclysm purification technology still functioning in the Sundered Mountains. This level of purity could provide contamination treatment for thousands of people, but the Council keeps this secret to maintain political leverage.

Elder’s Circle

Council chambers built into the crown of the Great Mother Tree, where the five-member Elder Council makes decisions affecting the entire settlement’s survival and prosperity.

Descent Platforms

Ceremonial areas where community members deemed “unfit” during monthly trials are lowered to ground level, officially for temporary work assignments but often becoming permanent exile.

True Purpose: Execution platforms disguised as work assignments. Most “descended” individuals face fatal contamination exposure within weeks, creating a systematic elimination process for political dissidents and unwanted community members.

Canopy Architecture

Sophisticated living-wood construction that integrates with the trees’ natural growth, creating multi-level residential and commercial spaces connected by rope and branch bridges spanning the canopy.

The Sap Works

Processing facilities built around active tap sites where contamination-resistant sap is extracted, refined, and prepared for local use and regional trade.

Worker Camps

Temporary ground-level shelters for harvesters and processors who handle the dangerous work of sap extraction and contamination exposure.

Reality: Permanent housing for community members deemed expendable, designed with minimal protection from contamination to ensure workers remain dependent on Council-controlled sap treatments.

The Exile Zones

Contaminated forest areas where cast-out individuals attempt survival, often supported by underground networks and resistance movements.

Important NPCs

  • Sylas Thornweaver - Elven Elder, forest traditionalist and sap production overseer
  • Marta Riverguard - Human Elder, trade coordinator and external relations manager
  • Thorek Ironbark - Dwarven Elder, defense systems and sap processing technology
  • Rosie Goodleaf - Halfling Elder, food procurement and settlement logistics
  • Vex Scaleheart - Dragonborn Elder, justice trials and population management
  • Agent Cassius - Imperial infiltrator posing as trade inspector, manipulates trials
  • Kira Exileheart - Resistance leader among ground workers and exiles
  • Dr. Elm Sapbane - Contamination researcher studying sap alternatives
  • Marcus Roottracker - Underground guide helping exile survival networks
  • Sister Willowmend - Healer providing secret medical aid to contamination victims

Shops & Services

The Canopy Markets

  • Sap Trader’s Post - Contamination protection gear and treatments (Council-controlled pricing)
  • River Provisions - Clean water sales and food imports from other The Glowing Groves settlements
  • Branch & Bark - Tools, ropes, and climbing equipment for canopy living
  • The Weaver’s Platform - Textiles and clothing adapted for forest life
  • Canopy Crafters - Specialized equipment for tree-based living and contamination protection

Ground Level Services

  • Worker’s Commissary - Basic supplies for harvesters and ground crew
  • The Healing Hollow - Medical treatment for contamination exposure and mutated wildlife injuries
  • Exile Support - Black market goods and information trading (hidden from Council oversight)
  • Rope & Pulley Works - Transportation equipment for vertical movement between levels

Council-Controlled Commerce:

  • All sap sales require Council approval and citizenship verification
  • Prices artificially inflated to maintain scarcity and political control
  • Ground workers charged premium rates despite earning subsistence wages
  • Imperial agents receive significant “trade discounts” on all goods

Black Market Operations:

  • Exile networks smuggle diluted sap to other The Glowing Groves settlements
  • Corrupt guards sell protection gear to failed trial participants
  • Information brokers trade intelligence about trial manipulation and Imperial activity
  • Underground medical treatments for contamination poisoning using bootleg sap
  • Resistance communications network coordinating with other regional communities

Quests & Hooks

  • The Descending Taps - Sap production crisis forces dangerous low-level harvesting; investigate why upper wells are failing
  • Trial Corruption - Uncover manipulation of fitness trials determining who lives in canopy safety
  • River Secrets - Protect the pure water source from discovery or contamination by outside forces
  • Exile Underground - Help falsely exiled citizens survive or organize resistance against the Council system
  • The Sap Wars - Navigate regional conflicts as other settlements attempt to access contamination protection
  • Harvester Rescue - Retrieve workers trapped at dangerous tap sites during mutated wildlife attacks
  • Water Diplomacy - Negotiate with other The Glowing Groves communities demanding clean water access
  • Imperial Infiltration - Expose or work with Imperial agents gradually taking control of local government
  • Contamination Crisis - Address spreading contamination threatening the Sacred Groves
  • Community Liberation - Support resistance movements working to democratize contamination protection

Additional DM Hooks:

  • Perfect Water Conspiracy - Investigate the true source of completely pure water and its potential regional impact
  • Sap Monopoly Breaking - Help other communities develop alternative contamination protection
  • Imperial Annexation - Prevent or facilitate Imperial direct control of water and sap resources
  • Environmental Restoration - Use pre-Cataclysm technology to reduce regional contamination
  • Worker Revolution - Support or suppress organized resistance against environmental apartheid
  • Medical Experimentation - Expose Council experiments on exile populations
  • Alternative Technology - Discover pre-Cataclysm contamination resistance methods in nearby ruins
  • Regional Alliance - Coordinate mutual aid networks across The Glowing Groves settlements

Secrets & Mysteries

  • The true potency and production capacity of anti-remnant sap are closely guarded Council secrets
  • River water purity levels are not publicly disclosed to maintain political advantage
  • Trial outcomes may not be as merit-based as officially claimed
  • Some exiled citizens survive longer than expected in contaminated zones
  • Wildlife attacks on sap harvesters have increased as operations move to more dangerous tree levels
  • Trade relationships with other settlements may involve undisclosed political arrangements

Major Secrets:

  • Perfect Water Source - River is completely pure due to ancient Sundered Mountains purification technology, not natural filtration
  • Trial Manipulation Network - Imperial agents and corrupt Council members secretly determine trial outcomes to eliminate dissidents
  • Sap Production Crisis - Upper tree wells failing due to over-harvesting and Imperial extraction techniques, threatening long-term survival
  • Exile Resistance Movement - Cast-out citizens organizing armed rebellion with support from other The Glowing Groves settlements
  • Ancient Tree Sentience - The Great Mother Tree and grove ancients may be semi-conscious and respond to community treatment
  • Imperial Annexation Plan - The Amunrai Imperium preparing to seize direct control of sap production and water sources
  • Alternative Protection Technology - Pre-Cataclysm contamination resistance methods hidden in nearby ruins
  • Medical Experimentation - Council secretly testing sap alternatives on exile populations without consent
  • Underground River Network - Hidden water channels providing alternative clean sources and escape routes
  • Contamination Acceleration - Some Council members deliberately spreading contamination to increase sap dependency
  • Regional Water Politics - Pure water source could supply contamination treatment for entire The Glowing Groves
  • Imperial Material Extraction - Empire harvesting contaminated materials using Thornhaven workers as expendable labor

Regional Integration

Thornhaven serves as a crucial hub for trade and communication throughout The Glowing Groves, providing contamination protection resources to scattered settlements while maintaining strategic control over clean water access. The settlement’s elevated position and sap monopoly make it a natural focal point for regional politics and survival coordination.

Regional Role: Thornhaven demonstrates how environmental scarcity creates opportunities for both community cooperation and systematic exploitation. The settlement serves as a microcosm of The Glowing Groves survival strategies: mutual aid versus social Darwinism, community resilience versus individual protection, and environmental justice versus profitable contamination management.

Imperial Strategy: The Imperium uses Thornhaven as a model for controlled environmental apartheid, testing social control methods that could be applied across contaminated regions. The settlement’s success in maintaining productivity through systematic worker expendability provides a template for Imperial expansion into environmental disaster zones.

Campaign Themes: Thornhaven forces players to confront whether community survival justifies systematic sacrifice of vulnerable members, how environmental protection should be distributed when resources are scarce, and whether gradual reform or revolutionary change can address institutional environmental injustice.

Party History

Notes

Campaign Integration: Thornhaven represents the campaign’s core question about environmental justice: when survival resources are genuinely scarce, how should communities decide who gets protection and who faces contamination exposure? The settlement provides both positive examples of environmental cooperation and negative examples of environmental apartheid, forcing players to develop their own positions on distributive environmental justice.

Player Moral Choices: The settlement offers opportunities for players to support, reform, or overthrow the current system while confronting the reality that resource scarcity makes some form of rationing inevitable. Players must decide whether they support meritocratic selection, egalitarian distribution, or revolutionary restructuring of contamination protection access.

Environmental Symbolism: The descending sap taps represent accelerating environmental degradation despite technological solutions, while the trial system mirrors how environmental crises disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. The settlement’s vertical stratification literally embodies environmental apartheid - the wealthy live above contamination while workers suffer exposure.

Thornhaven embodies The Glowing Groves’ central challenge: building sustainable communities in the face of environmental catastrophe while deciding how to distribute the costs of survival among community members.