Forested hills in the central part of Rakite, where the Ver Pes river cuts through rising terrain between the Ektolmni Grif and the plains proper. "Furis" means "hidden" in Rakiten—the woods here are dense enough to swallow sound and sight.
Character
Unlike the open hills of Ektolmni Grif, the Extolmni Furis are heavily wooded—oak, beech, and maple covering the slopes in a tangle of old growth. The terrain is less broken than the western hills, but the forest makes navigation difficult. Paths disappear. Landmarks vanish behind trees. Even experienced Rakiten hunters get turned around here.
The Ver Pes flows through a narrow valley that cuts the Furis in half. This gap is the only reliable route through the hills—the forest is too thick for cross-country travel. Tribes following the river between Tyror Miig and Tyror Weklis pass through the gap, but they don't linger.
The Hidden Groves
Scattered through the Extolmni Furis are clearings where the trees draw back, leaving circles of grass twenty to fifty feet across. The Rakiten call these furis-keth, "hidden stones," because each clearing contains a boulder or stone outcrop at its center.
The stones are unremarkable—grey granite, weathered and moss-covered, showing no signs of carving or deliberate placement. But the clearings around them are wrong. The grass grows too green. Mushrooms cluster at the forest edge. Animals avoid the spaces—no tracks, no droppings, no birdsong.
Rakiten tradition holds that the furis-keth mark places where something sleeps. What sleeps, no one says. The clearings are avoided, and children are warned not to touch the stones.
Hunting Grounds
Despite its strangeness, the Extolmni Furis provides excellent hunting. Deer are plentiful in the oak-mast season. Wild boar root through the forest floor. The rare forest buffalo—smaller and darker than their plains cousins—shelter here during harsh winters.
Hunting parties enter the Furis at dawn and leave before dusk. They follow the river valley, venturing into the deeper woods only when pursuing wounded game. They don't camp under the trees. They don't build fires. They take what they need and get out.
The Furis provides generously, and the Rakiten don't ask why. Some gifts are better not questioned.