Understory

Understory noun 1: an underlying layer of vegetation specifically : the vegetative layer and especially the trees and shrubs between the forest canopy and the ground cover 2: the plants that form the understory ---

I picked up Nature Guide to the Northern Forest, and it inspired me to start working on a woodland fantasy RPG setting based on the forests of northern New England.

I have no clue yet what I'd use for a system. I don't know what I'd focus the game play around. Maybe exploration, maybe social situations. Maybe I'll have some sort of dietary mechanic that emphasizes conflict over resource management, who knows.

I'd want it to be very much based on this specific region. I want to put an emphasis on the ecology of the setting. There's a certain equilibrium that's maintained by a complex cycle of growth and change. I like the idea that everything is interacting with everything. The level of anthropomorphism is “Largely Normal Animals”, comparable to Bambi, Charlotte’s Web, Watership Down, etc.

I want moose to be very significant to this setting. I think they're underrepresented in fantasy, and I'd like them to get the respect they deserve. For a moment, I started to worry that by making moose so widely respected among the forest, I was accidentally vilifying coyotes for feeding on them. Then I thought about it, and decided predation is natural. The coyotes honor the rules of forest, and the moose respect the coyotes' right to feed.

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The timeline of Understory has four major eras:

Arcadia Glacia. A mythical prehistory of ice, ruled by Caribou.

The Old Forest. The early history of the setting, dense with ancient growth. The rise of the moose. Wolves were around in the Old Forest.

The Great Clearing, when the canopy was stripped away, exposing a bare sky to empty plains of tasteless grass. Many species were lost to the devastation. Scarwalls, squat lines of piled stone from the Great Clearing, still stretch across the land, even as the Forest reclaims it.

The current era. This began with a transitionary period called the Time of the White Pines, in which the land was reclaimed by the Forest. Beavers and some other species previously lost from the Great Clearing make their returns to the Forest, but others never do. Some new species, including the coyote, are also introduced.

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Animals

Beaver

Impatient and irritable. Homebodies.

Black bear

Playful and lazy. Males come of age in fights for territory.

Coyote

Relative newcomers to the Forest. Replaced the role of the wolves that were lost during the Great Clearing. Deep-seated hostility towards lynx.

Deer

Snow Hare

Lynx

Mysterious nocturnal stalker. Their population is scarce, but steadily consistent, even throughout the Great Clearing. Feeds mostly on snow hares.

Moose

Keepers of The Way. Patriarchal, but matrelineal.

Porcupine

Red Squirrel

The Forest Guard. Fiercely territorial, clans are protective of animals within the clan’s domain.

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