Kirrin Moorne

History

"The Kirrin Moorne divides South Umbardom from Northgaelia", says the game's blurb for the region. Most people just call it the Moorne. Captain Frederick Heggcorn at the Moorne Fort complains that the wolves are "even attacking our caravans that pass through the Moorne", and puts the stakes simply: "The people of Kal Crossing rely on the Moorne, and the people of Northgaelia rely on Umbardom."

A shrinking forest

The Moorne used to be far larger. Shining Leaves the Elder, leader of the Spot Caps, says it "used to be so vast- stretching the entire continent, this was our home", and that after "years of subjugation under the Simaros, and just as many alongside those that did not protect the Moorne, our home is shrinking". The Grand Master Warden remembers giants called the Forrassis, "Guardians of the Moorne that hide from sight and live in harmony with nature." "Years ago the last of the Forrassis were driven further North by strife while we encroached on their territories. Eventually they abandoned this region." Emelio Ratton at the fort says the giants "hunted and kept them in check", meaning the wolves. The quest log for Securing The Region sums it up: "the Forrassis giants are long gone, the wolves are starving and aggressive, the Thrunk are running short of resources, and the weakened guards are too stretched to keep occultists from creeping in from the graveyard."

The Spot Caps are "a community of mushroom-like Spot Caps" who "quietly tend the forest and hide from outsiders"; the game also calls them "an elusive tribe of eyeless mushroom folk". See The Bloat and the quests that follow it.

Who lives here

• The Moorne guards, at the fort and the Moorne checkpoint. Captain Heggcorn says they are "down a lot of men and underfunded", and when he promises to "burn the wax from both sides of the stick", he adds "We only have so much wax."
• The Thrunk, behind their camp wall. They speak their own way: "Zafra Vivkha" is their farewell, and a human is a "Hurzga". Nejnik Panz of Loonz misses the raids, which happen "so much less often now": "We like ztealing from da Hurzga, we steal, they try to take backz, itz good time."
• The Grand Master Warden, an old man who, asked his name, says "I don't have one." He lives, as Captain Heggcorn puts it, "Northwest of the Moorne Head, in a small cabin", and says "for the longest time I've watched over the Moorne here".
• Occultists, "creeping in from the graveyard" in the quest log's words (see Securing The Region).

Sterling Gaither has bought the deed to "an old mineshaft just East of here", from his wagon at the fort; its bottom is the Abyss.

The Estate, where your story starts, is close to it: on the night of the attack Lord Facturr plans to lead everyone "through the estate's rear exit and into the Moorne." Theodore Badon's first advice after you wake is that you "won't survive in the Moorne without getting better equipped."

What the locals say

I'm not sure what to do next with this whole wolf issue- every plan so far has been a total failure.

Captain Frederick Heggcorn

Keep your wax dry out there, friend.

Captain Frederick Heggcorn

Vell if you didn't destroy da moorne and take all da good ztuffz den ve vouldn't be here right now, vould ve?

Vivnik Volf Pelt, arguing with the captain in Securing The Region

We can always use more wood and nails! A good wall keeps the danger out!

The Fortress Engineer, during The Mending Wall event

The troop is going to kill me if I tell them they'll be eating bread, cheese and apples again...

The Chef, before the An Army Marches on its Stomach event

Forget it! I'm getting out of here with what I have left. I hate this stupid forest.

The Very Angry Woman, if the Thrunk Repossession event fails