Beriad Ostaurelian
Towers of Rainbow Forest Fortress
Map: R14-R15
Harbor and Market districts of Beriad Ostaurelian
Wild capitol of the Rainbow Barbarians and the site of the Council Grove of Clan Chieftains. The tropical hardwood forest to the North and West, combined with the three canopy jungle to the East and South, provide a bewildering number of tree species. Each clan has selected a mighty tree whose coloration suits their tribal identity, and with much ritual they have planted a ring of trees, controlling their growth so that they weave together to create the mother of all tree forts. The White Eagle Kagonesti Elves of Krynn, having been accepted into the Council of Clan Chieftains, have their own tree here, and keep a delegation with the Harnic Clans.
While the trunks of the ring of trees come together to wall in a space completely, rather than conventionally moating their fortress, they have worked with the forest to establish a bewildering variety of obstacles and hazards, both on the ground and in the surrounding trees. All passable areas are subject to enfilade fire, and capturable firing platforms are variously rigged for remote destruction; collapse, burning, nests of hornets or vipers suddenly gone berserk, and the like. Aerial access as well is limited to desired zones by nets, thorns, razor wire, and woven vinework. Their druids and rangers, as well as the attached clergy of Ilúvatar, work with befriending the most hazardous of the local species, incuding the hornets, vipers, crocodilians, great cats, bears, and birds of prey. The fortress also has significant artillery, particularly overlooking the river.
All this does mot make the jungle impassable, rather it limits passage to known routes subject to interdiction. Strangers on the trails are more or less as safe as the Barbarians want them to be. Wandering off the trail is often fatal, and leads only into obstacles and cul de sacs. Passage through the ghost trails and treetops is a learned skill; both in finding the way and avoiding the traps and hazards. Children learn the art of safe passage with their first steps, and expand their safe territory as they grow. Many young Clerics and Mages recruited through the Spellcaster Initiative are interned here for the Barbarians to rapidly toughen up. The casualty rate is remarkably low, and as they train they help the Barbarians to improve their mazes.
The pygmy native tribes are stocky straight haired folk four foot tall on average, and of shorter lifespan than most humans. Collectively known as the Drûgs, they are perhaps co-descendants to the Southern progenitors of the Drúedain. They are great stone and wood carvers, the best of them making life sized protective effigies. Many of these are scattered through the jungle, some of great age. When the Rainbow Barbarians arrived, they were so sparsely settled that the Rainbow Barbarians made significant effort to support, feed, and heal them, and as a result they have become staunch allies.
A wide variety of toxic frogs live in the area, pigmented in a startling panalopy of hues. The Drûgs have taught the Harnic Barbarians to extract and use these toxins, the making of their best antidotes, and a spectrum of other utilities of native flora and fauna.
Most of the time, most of the members of each clan are in the forest or jungle, further fortifying, foraging, boating on Rainbow Cove and the Prism River, or further afield entirely. All of the clans could shelter in Beriad Ostaurelian, however, or on RB#1, their island fortress in Rainbow Cove, 50 miles to the South. Generally at least some senior representatives of each clan are to be found at each location.
The clans harvest a wide variety of materials for export, do skilled leather and woodworking, and build fleets of their own wet hull vessels, often of catamaran or trimaran style. They trade extensively for metals, stone, manufactured goods, and gems with the Dwarves of Citadel City, as well as trading with the vast traffic passing through the inland waterway via the lock tanker there. They carve wood and stone excellently, for architecture, furniture, tools, fetish items, and even guardian statues in tradition with those of the pygmy folk, though these are seldom traded. They produce a powerfully distilled Rainbow Arrak from local coconut flower and cane.