User blog:Glflegolas/Biome of the Week -- Issue 18 -- April 4, 2017

Since the last issue of Biome of the Week led to the creation of a brand new faction (the Northmen) on a server, I'm fairly confident that there must be a fair number of people who follow these posts fairly closely, despite the fact that I get only a handful of comments on most of my posts. As per usual, I will be featuring the biomes that are less well-known, and this week, that biome shall be Drúwaith Iaur. Perhaps this post will inspire some players to start a Drúedain faction on some server? Who knows!

Where is it?
The land of Drúwaith Iaur, which is also known as the Old Púkel Land, is a densely forested moderately-large sized region located near the western edge of the White Mountains. To its north lies Enedwaith, to its south Andrast, and on its western flank The Sea. Originally its forests stretched from Beleriand all the way to the Gardens of the Entwives, but those have long since been cut down. Unlike much of the region surrounding Gondor, it was never occupied by those of Numenor, and was inhabited by the Drúedain, a race of more primitive men. The races of Elves, Dwarves, or Orcs never set foot here. Who knows what secrets this forest holds?

What do you like about this biome?
As is common when writing these posts, I hadn't ever visited this place before writing this post. However, I liked the place as soon as I first set foot in it. First of all, it's forested hills, and as many of you who've been following my series know, forested hills are my favourite type of biome (think back to the Trollshaws issue). Secondly, being forested, there are lots of trees to cut down for wood, and finally, I enjoy the contrast between the light green of the larch and beech leaves, the darker green of the pine and fir, and the even darker green of the grass and oak. Or whatever colour they are... I don't really know.

Any advice for travelers?
This region should be relatively easy to visit or set up a base in, despite the fact that's a fair distance from The Shire. No NPC's of any faction spawn here, there are plenty of animals to hunt for food, and bandits are rare. On top of that, you shouldn't have a problem acquiring large amounts of wood. All in all this region is a great place to check out, whether to live there or to just visit, so go and saddle your horse today!