World of the Black Woods
Enlarged game icon for Elona Neirisylvia
Inspiration
NATURE. Animals. Plants. Wildlife. Cute critters. Forests. Bugs. Spiders. Fairies. Pollution. Corruption. These are the things that ought to stand out when one experiences the Black Woods. I've always been fascinated with many of the above things growing up.
The Black Woods is a way for me to explore various taboo topics and themes such as an evil creator god, homosexuality, transgenderism and transexuality, fetishes, and alternative aesthetics/fashions in a quasi-naturalistic setting. I say "quasi-naturalistic", because it is inspired chiefly from examples found in nature in real life--things that are the result of natural selection, but end up overlooked because they are too sensitive for some people to consider. For example, did you know that the female spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) has an enlarged, male-like phallus? I might not have a hyena-like species yet (mostly because I still try to keep my content "safe for young adults"), but examples like the female spotted hyena inspire me to think of the possibilities. Another example is that male fruit bats of some species (i.e. Dyacopterus spadiceus) nurse newborns like most female mammals do, which partially inspired the reverse-gender parentage roles of the pipistrelly (that, and male seahorses also inspired them). In the racial descriptions below you may find that I directly cite certain species as inspirations.
However, why is the setting so bleak and dark? Life is difficult, and in many ways, life is suffering. It may seem like an exaggeration in the Black Woods, but nature and cute critters aren't the only inspirations for the Black Woods. Humans are too, and I write this essay in a time where we continue to burn forests, throw our toxic waste into the environment, and burn black fuels that are said to help to make the Earth warmer than at any other time that I remember in my own life. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, humans have made an impact on nature, for better or worse (and I'm highly pessimistic on this topic). The Black Woods in many ways reflect a reality where the worst tendencies of human nature have continued unchecked. Maybe it is the world we deserve as a species; the world we ought to be living in. Regardless, even if humans are not a native species of the Black Woods, there are anthropomorphic qualities in many of its species. Even the goddess of the Black Woods, Ikamekomi, may have once been a human nature deity. You can say that most of the creatures of the Black Woods are the result of unnatural selection, as they have been created by a cruel creator goddess on random whims, according to no (or twisted) standards of how they ought to look and behave, even if walking around with 15 more legs than needed makes life harder for her creation. That said, the creatures of the Black Woods are often poorly adapted and suited to their environment.
Other inspirations that led to my idea of the Black Woods include Lobotomy Corporation, the SCP Foundation, Call of Cthulhu, Elona, Dungeons and Dragons (Pathfinder), and my previous fiction project Monsters VS Monster Girls.
The Setting
Places
The Black Woods
The Black Woods is a realm of tar-stained trees and other toxic habitats, perpetually covered in night. Few things can thrive here, and few visitors can survive here. It is not known exactly where the Black Woods are relative to other worlds; some believe it is another plane of existence connected to their world by a portal, while others believe it occupies a twisted mirror dimension to their own. Whatever is true, it is hard to see how the Black Woods is physically connected to the rest of the universe.
Within the Black Woods, life exists, but this life isn't like the life we're accustomed to. They are not formed over many generations by natural selection, but created on the frighteningly random whims of its goddess. While some life, such as the trees, may have originated from previously uncorrupted forms, most of the animals and the hazardous life had been created by the goddess herself. The goddess creates whatever she fancies at the moment, often starting from something cute and innocent, and making it darker and weirder over time by adding random malformations and seeing how her subjects suffer; or how they try to adapt with them. Once these living things lose her favor or interest, they would be luckier if the goddess simply forgot about them.
The Black Woods is a place rife with traps and hazards, and even the native creatures have not been able to adapt to them yet. While the air itself in most areas is mildly toxic, most have more to worry about from the terrible diseases and storms that strike without warning. Most creatures in the Black Woods, native or not, live very short, miserable life spans. It is no wonder, then, that most creatures have sought to escape from their dark prison.
Land of the Golden Disc
The "Land of the Golden Disc" in the lagomorph tongue, refers to the world outside of the Black Woods, and is often referred to instead by its local name. Generally, the Material World is contrasted with the Black Woods and is said to be closest to the world that we live in. In the Black Woods Wesnoth canon, it is the world that is home to the humans, elves, orcs, and other fantasy races of that setting. In the Black Woods Elona canon, it is the world that is home to the yerles, eleas, jueres, etc--the world known as Irva.
Scope
The Black Woods is a possibly infinite area that can be part of any setting at any time. Those few travelers still sane enough to tell their tales are the best sources of information on the Black Woods. Anybody who has been to the Black Woods and arrived at the civilized world, likely has their own story to tell about the Black Woods. While some themes are shared across many or all of the stories, each story provides a unique account of the Black Woods, offered from a different person's perspective. No two stories will be the same. Even the name that the goddess is called may not be the same. Due to lack of overland travel, travelers are likely to stumble into one of the many isolated sub-regions of the Black Woods, and these regions may or may not be capable of interacting with each other.
It is important to note that the Black Woods is not a stand-alone setting, but may be incorporated into the settings of other worlds. It is appropriate for most settings where it can be an optional supplement to the existing setting, and may exist unnoticed, with minimal impacts upon the existing setting's base lore or story/plot. This is why I have integrated the Black Woods into my Battle for Wesnoth and Elona mods; I find these two free games to be very appropriate settings for my ideas.
Want to use the Black Woods as part of your own setting, or develop your own stand-alone interpretation of the Black Woods? Feel free to use any of the ideas I have on this site, although I would highly appreciate it if you credit this site or my Twitter account for the base idea! Thank you! <3
Races and Species
Lagomorph
The lagomorphs are one of the most populous races of the Black Woods. They are a race of six-armed humanoids with rabbit ears and a thick mane of "wool" between their chests and their necks. Resembling human females, there are not known to be any 'male' or 'male-like' members of the species. Instead, similar to the the New Mexico whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis neomexicanus), they reproduce through parthenogenesis, resulting in offspring genetically related to only one parent. Their bodies are highly adaptable at an early age and they are quite capable of using magic. Similar to rabbits, they mature quickly enough to reproduce, which has benefited their own survival in the Black Woods.
As one of the first races that Ikamekomi created, they've had a long history of living in the Black Woods. While lagomorphs are capable of living on most terrain above-ground, their favorite habitat is underneath forests, which is not only relatively safe, but yields the greatest amount of plant roots and mycelium for them to eat. Lagomorphs use magic to construct simple mud structures above-ground, and create complex 'burrows' underground, to create 'warrens' for them to live in. The word 'warren' also refers to the smallest unit of social organization in the lagomorph. In their native Black Woods, most warrens do not become big enough to support many lagomorphs. A large warren is called a 'society', and these societies become more common outside the Black Woods where their reproductive rate is not checked by a high death rate.
Lagomorphs have a complex relationship with the goddess that created them, and outside the Black Woods this relationship is almost non-existent. Outside the Black Woods, where enough generations have passed to make the lagomorphs forget the dangers they had to adapt to, they have also largely forgotten about their goddess, and preserve her only in folktales and mythology. A scant few, however, are dedicated to reviving the memory of the goddess in the face of the lagomorphs' newfound animist heathenry. Most of these lagomorphs that remember her were born as "white lagomorphs", and were specially touched or 'chosen' by Ikamekomi's divine influence, which is able to persist even outside the Black Woods. Ikamekomi herself has made countless attempts to destroy or curse her original creation, which have since emerged from her abusive control. She now attempts to try and "reconcile" herself with the lagomorphs, but she frequently 'punishes' local groups of lagomorphs in the Black Woods for opposing her will.
A "realistic" lagomorph, drawn for Battle for Wesnoth
Elona sprite of an arthroponid in its pupal stage
Wesnoth sprite of the larval "maggot" stage
Arthroponid
The arthroponid is one of the most recent races to be created by Ikamekomi and represents an active example of how Ikamekomi tries fixing problems her previous races had. They are said to be a faithful race of cleric-like humanoids that stand on eight spider-like legs, but with under-formed upper limbs. Their fuzzy torsos conceal the anatomy of their actual body, although rare sightings of the winged "metamorph arthroponid" support the idea that they have narrow stick-like torsos. They are capable of draining liquids with their butterfly-like proboscis.
The arthroponid is a magically-capable humanoid race created specifically as servants or emissaries of Ikamekomi. Because of this, they do not appear to have wills of their own. They are very intelligent and are subservient to their masters, but they will only obey their masters as long as they remain faithful to Ikamekomi. Powerful arthroponids become leaders or advisors in faithful societies.
As a race tied to the essence of the Black Woods itself, they are weakened outside of the Black Woods, but some individuals may still be capable of manifesting their full power.
Wagomorph
The wagomorphs are eight-limbed humanoids that stand on two legs. They have six sharp "scythe-claws" which they use to cut foliage and pin their small insect prey down. Thick fur covers their entire body from head-to-toe, and it is difficult to tell the males apart from the females except through shaving. They are one of the more successful races of the Black Woods due to their high reproductive rate, but they are restricted to one mating season per year. They are attracted to and sensitive towards sources of light; their mating season, which occurs during the short "light" season of the Black Woods where the ground is illuminated enough for wagomorphs to easily see each other, allows wagomorphs to consolidate their numbers and raise their quickly-developing young before complete darkness once again sets in.
Once highly intelligent and sapient creatures with a civilization of their own, their creator Ikamekomi cursed them as punishment for attempting to blaspheme her and her creation, robbing the once dreadful wagomorphs of their intelligence and sapience. They were originally created as a tool to destroy the lagomorphs she had created which were becoming too successful. Pre-curse wagomorphs built their societies in the pursuit of the destruction and consumption of existence, especially the existence of Ikamekomi's own creation. They were among the first to use magic to destroy vast tracts of forest land, and they are believed to be behind the plague that spread amongst the pipistrellies and turned them into zombies. When the successful efforts of the wagomorphs began to go out of control, Ikamekomi created the scholarly sleipnirians to control their numbers. To this day wagomorphs continue to be opposed and slaughtered en masse by the sleipnirians, which they now fear innately.
After their curse, the wagomorphs have become docile and peaceful creatures preying almost exclusively on small insects using ambush tactics. Their attraction to light has been exploited to provide an easy source of livestock and labor animals for the more intelligent civilizations that still exist in the Black Woods, although they are sometimes seen as a pest where they are not invited. They are often adopted as pets by the lagomorphs, and are highly trainable.
Wagomorph concept
Normally docile, wagomorphs can become highly aggressive. Their sharp claws can cut humanoids into four pieces as shown above, giving them the name "four-slicers".
Drideria
Driderias are 'drider'-like spider humanoids that stand on six walking hands, and have an additional four upper hands. They form complex caste-based hives underground led by a powerful queen and nobility. They are highly xenophobic and consider the black bees their main adversaries.
Elona sprite of a
drideria commoner
A drideria queen. Driderias have large, round ears. Higher-caste driderias wear ornate earrings as shown above.
Black bees in the most common standard uniform, indicating different ranks.
Black Bee
Black bees are humanoids with a bee-like abdomen jutting from their tailbone, along with bee-like wings and antennae. They form hive societies dedicated to the reproduction of their species: by transforming members of other races into black bees through their diseased stingers. They the sworn enemies of the driderias.
Black bee lagomorph, wagomorph, and drideria. Black bee hives freely integrate all transformed members of any race.
Normal lacrimata, and a variant lacrimata
Pipistrelly drawn on Flipnote Studio
Frogiroggi sprites for Elona. Frogiroggis gain more mutations with age.
Sleipnirian plebeian drawn on Flipnote Studio
Hollomus Elona sprite
Gilded elf mossmage. Esathra society
has gender-based roles
Lacrimata
Lacrimatas are cats with six legs and five eyes--two of which are closed at all times. They are noted for the tear-like fluid that appears to run from their closed eyes. These magical creatures are capable of charming other creatures into taking care of them through their unnerving gaze. However, lacrimatas hate other lacrimatas (and ordinary cats, which are said not to exist in the Black Woods). Breeding between a male lacrimata and a female lacrimata is difficult.
Pipistrelly
Pipistrellies are bizarrely-shaped bat-like creatures characterized by their pelvic spider legs covered by a fleshy membrane, which houses a long tongue-like organ. They are mostly solitary creatures ever since the "white pipistrelly plague" started spreading among their people.
Frogiroggi
The frogiroggis are humanoids with frog-like features on their bodies. Their soft bodies are particularly vulnerable to bizarre malformations.
Sleipnirian
Sleipnirians are nomadic centauroids standing on eight horse legs. Once a scholarly race attuned to magic, they have lost their gift for casting spells. Now, they hunt the creatures of the Black Woods, especially their ancient enemy the wagomorphs, with bows; if they're able to hold a bow, that is, since most have only one arm.
Hollomus
The hollomus are fearsome creatures spreading a deadly infection with their bite, which shapes the flesh of deceased creatures into more hungering hollomusses. These mouse-like humanoid creatures have one main head, and a bunch of other heads throughout their body, all less developed and sometimes hosting a pair of hands of their own. All these heads share the same voracious appetite for flesh.
Esathra
The esathra are a humanoid race whose skin is covered in gold or silver and whose bodies exhibit the beauty and perfection of sculpted figures. Often called "gilded elves" by outsiders, this substance on their skin is not actually a metal, but a symbiotic fungus capable of altering their bodies. Little is known about this race, as they are uncommon and distrustful of outsiders.
Orceia
Orceias are predatory aquatic creatures whose form mutates to resemble the creatures that they feed on. They are initially unintelligent and solitary, and their favorite prey to feed upon are the frogiroggis. Orceias grow in size, intelligence, and danger level the more that they feed.
Mantteddy
Mantteddies are humanoids embodying the appearance of both praying mantises and bears. They are known to be enemies of black bees due to their immunity to the blight and their cravings for black honey. The mothers are fiercely protective of their young, and fiercely predatory towards their mates.
Mantteddy concept
Driginni
The driginni are a war-like race of draconic humanoids with the upper body of a horned, scale-plated humanoid and the lower body of a long, Eastern-style dragon. They are tribal cannibals whose mothers eat their weakest young. Selfish and poorly-tempered, driginni society is organized on displays of dominance, strength, and brute force. Thankfully, they reproduce too slowly to be much of a threat to the civilizations of the Black Woods, and their power is broadly checked by their rivals, the sleipnirians.