Long ago, druids of the Wood learned how to speak with trees and use magic to shape them into shelters in which they could make their homes. This process was considered deeply respectful, as a tree could not be forced to take any shape it didn’t agree to. So it was that specialist druids, known as shapers, became mediators between the will of the people and the will of the forest. Birdfolk shapers spoke to the tallest and most ancient tree in the Wood—Alderheart. The shapers obtained permission for birdfolk to build a home within Alderheart’s branches. Later, the great tree again gave permission to shape its trunk into homes for an increasing population. This burgeoning city took the name of the tree who so generously provided a home for the people of the Wood, and Alderheart became Humblewood’s capital. Known throughout the region as the “Great Tree City,” Alderheart, is a vibrant place and a cultural center, home to thousands of residents, some regional and some from the farthest corners of Everden.

Heart of the Wood

Alderheart is home to every race of birdfolk and humblefolk. The thriving community attracts people from faraway lands, like traveling merchants, explorers, and foreign dignitaries. Citizens of the Humblewood who don’t live in the city routinely journey there to trade goods, stock up on supplies, engage in artistic endeavors, or simply to catch up on the latest news and gossip. Effectively everyone in Humblewood is connected to Alderheart.

Virtually anything can be found in Alderheart, if you know where to look. The majority of the city’s inhabitants are well-meaning, decent folk, but like any city there are dark alleys and back rooms. Crime here is usually kept in check by the Perch Guard, but while the city guards are vaunted as being among the best in the Wood, illicit activities continue under the cover of darkness.

Wide and Tall

As Alderheart is massive, it is often difficult for visitors to tell they are in a tree at all. The Great Tree City is divided into three main levels where people live, work, and go about their lives: the canopy, the trunk, and the roots.

The canopy contains Alderheart’s most iconic structures, including the chambers of the Birdfolk Council, the headquarters of the Perch Guard, and the largest market in the Wood. This market boasts boutiques where patrons can find high-quality weapons, armor, and adventuring gear, the latest fashions, finest foods, and goods brought in from all across Everden. Outside the main market, smaller shops peddle wares off the beaten path. Some contain enchanted goods at a bargain, though any Alderheart socialite will recommend sticking to the more respectable shops.

City gates, located at strategic points around the canopy, are the only sanctioned ways to enter the city, and are monitored by Perch Guard watchposts. These gates are connected to lower levels of the tree and the forest floor by large winding stairways that allow travel by foot. Vast infrastructures for transportation are common in the canopy. “Branchroads”, specially-shaped wooden pathways, are the arteries of trade in Alderheart. Along with rope bridges, these roads allow couriers to move goods from place to place using hand carts. Pulleys connected to raisable platforms are used to lift freight from the forest floor. In the outermost branches, where such infrastructure cannot be supported, gliding platforms provide birdfolk, at least, with a means of crossing otherwise impassable gaps. Without the ability to glide, navigating this part of the capital becomes increasingly dangerous.

Buildings in the canopy are made from a variety of materials, including stone, wood, and brick. Most are stationed atop reinforced platforms to keep them stable. The more impressive homes are located in the Boughs District, just above the market. Those on the outer branches tend to be made of wood and have a more modest feel to them.

The largest section of the metropolis, the trunk, which acts as an intermediary zone between the prosperous canopy and the less affluent roots. Many humblefolk make their homes here, where there is stable floor beneath them.

The trunk can be one of the most confusing and disorienting areas of Alderheart for new travelers. Pathways split and diverge, sometimes tapering off into nothing. Systems of specially-designed cold lanterns serve as signposts along the main paths. These lanterns use either captured fireflies or motes of magic to provide light, depending on the neighborhood. In either case, lamplighters are tasked with making sure they stay lit during the day to provide a day/night cycle.

In the trunk, another market thrives. Here, stalls of all kinds cluster around central support pillars shaped from Alderheart’s wood. They showcase unique wares and niche humblefolk-style foods and cultural goods not found in canopy markets. There are also curiosity shops and sellers of regional wares, such as crystals harvested from the backs of young basilisks. Additionally, the trunk market is home to inns, taverns, and public houses. This is the best place in Alderheart to find serviceable goods and adventuring gear for those looking to save coin. Near the market is a druidic grove of moss and fungi supported by the Tenders, who help care for the tree and train new recruits to their order.

Beyond the many shops and goods on offer in the trunk market, the central support pillars contain tenement style housing for the most cosmopolitan trunk dwellers. More affluent homes can also be found here, shaped out of the trunk, for Alderheart’s traditionally minded humblefolk nobility, as well as birdfolk aristocrats whose homes have been here since Alderheart was first shaped.

Down past the trunk market, pathways widen and wind, illuminated by knotholes in the tree that allow sunlight to filter inside. Although some homes in these bright hollows are built near the bark, where windows can be shaped out of the wood, most homes are shaped inside the dim pathways. A select few obtain permission to shape homes on the outside surface of the trunk. These special homes are connected to interior pathways via carefully fenced roads, and are considered a luxury that many cannot afford.

The farther down the trunk one travels, the more shabby and ill-kept the residences and infrastructure become. There are no officially authorized ways to leave or enter the tree by way of lower parts of the trunk, and Perch Guard are constantly on the lookout for smugglers.

Beneath the lowest parts of the trunk, a series of tunnels have been carved into the roots of Alderheart. At first, the roots were not considered to be official parts of the city, and their development was largely overlooked by city officials in the canopy, until word arrived of the illicit activities taking place there. Many were convinced that the tunneling would simply go away if druids were to heal the tree, but Alderheart itself took pity on those living here, and decided to allow the tunnels to exist rather than force people from their homes. The root tunnels have since been strengthened by druidic shaping, lit to be on par with the inside of the trunk, and a garrison of the Perch Guard was stationed nearby. Even with these improvements, the roots remain the poorest area in Alderheart: the slums of the Great Tree City. Here, the air is always dank and humid, and wild fungi grow rampant. The buildings are mostly cobbled together from scavenged materials, and some have been converted into community gathering places. These hubs help connect communities in the roots with helpful aid from the trunk district, and allow the people here to organize and plan neighborhood events. Life in the roots isn’t easy, but people are trying their best to keep their communities strong, as they petition the canopy for better living conditions. There are few shops here, and they typically traffic in smuggled and stolen goods. Crime is ever-present; many who dwell in the roots see it as necessary to survive.