Making up much of the southern borderlands of Dorniala and the Igorian Uplands and Downlands, the Pan-Feric region is chiefly known for its impenetrable jungles, Ironwood forests, and towering Girasol fields. Most of the Pan-Feric region remains unexplored, but the small fraction that has been scouted and mapped has provided a wealth of natural resources and unique goods, such as the much beloved tiko root.

Jackenpost Lufton was the first to explore the Pan-Feric jungles in 465 AP, and is credited with discovering the Girasol and Ironwood trees, both having a significant impact on modern day medicine, alchemy, and science. Yet, none of these disciplines have been able to explain the unique magnetic nature of the Ironwood trees. The trees are made of nearly equal parts of wood and iron and are polarized in such a manner that they create a spiraling magnetic from inside out. The field of any given forest will always be aligned in this manner, though the direction of the spiral may vary between clockwise and counterclockwise. Additionally, if any tree in the forest dies or is removed, the other trees will automatically adjust their fields to keep the field stable and consistent within the forest. As one might imagine, this makes navigation in, or above, the forests quite unpredicable since compasses always tend to point away from the center of the forest. Grayson Dawes, exploring the area on the Humorless soon found himself and his crew sailing away from the forest before realizing the true nature of these fields. Even after learning, determining one's location within the forest is nigh impossible unless standing at its center where the compass will seem to point in all directions at once.

The Ironwood have become an invaluable resource for the both the Gnoxic Gnomes and the Gelts as a living, renewable source of iron. While the Gelts claim the quality of the iron is inferior to the iron mined from their underground mines, the Gnomes believe the iron to be more reliable and consistent in quality and therefore actually prefer the Ironwood ore. Certainly it is not as pure as ground ore, but its renewable nature means never running out of ore. And, unfortunately, all attempts at growing the large trees outside of the Pan-Feric region have failed. Many problems arise in “mining” the iron from the wood as well. The first is the local wildlife. Many large cats prowl the forests, including the ferocious mouse-eared lion. Of more importance is the lack of roads into the region. The Jugular Way goes deep within, but within the forest, even its mighty length becomes a nearly impassable game trail at points. The Bronze Behemoths provide one solution, since they are self-reliant and resistant to most of the dangers of the jungle. As such, much of the logging of the Ironwood is accomplished by these machines, specially equipped to both cut and transport the precious commodity out of the forest. Whether they work for themselves or some other organization is unknown.

With all the wealth already made from its nearest borders, many have fought farther into the Pan-Feric interior to find even greater oddities and riches. Many of these expeditions are never seen again. Many others return with stories of horrors yet unknown to most parts of the world, including villages of Lorcha, molerats the size of Tachyderms, and Fairies that feast on human blood. All of these claims should be taken with a grain of salt, however, since it is well documented that the fumes from the Girasol fields are particularly strong in these parts.

Citations

• Fairies of Ainslough
• Bronze Behemoth
• Dorniala
• Gelts
• Girasol
• Gnoxic Gnomes
• Ironwood
• Jackenpost Lufton
• Jugular Way
• Lorcha
• Maligned Molerats of Murandy
• Tachyderms
• Tiko Root
• Category Places

Lexicon GHI