In contrast to the modernity and wealth of Bodenwald, the region surrounding it is far more conservative, even "backwards", than usual for the rural regions of the Flannish Cities. While there are no longer any serfs, there are still a multitude of long-running farmers' families running their fields much like their ancestors before. This is not because they have any other choice - most of them genuinely like their way of life and take pride in it and resist any changes that are not immediately useful to them. They still manage to lose a large percentage of their younger sons to the "big cities", however.
One reason for this conservativeness is the large number of fey who live in these lands - some of them are relatively recent migrants from Avareen and the Siebenbund, but others have lived here for longer than the humans. The humans and the fey mostly stick to their own and respect each others' privacy - but any human who is ignorant of the old faerie tales that explain the proper behavior when encountering the fey can be at grave peril when entering the wrong parts of the local forests. Every year, a few ignorant city-dwellers do something they shouldn't when encountering the fey - and their fate is turned into yet another cautionary tale by the locals.
List of Bodenwald Protectorate Locations
Adventure Ideas
Designer's Notes & Resources
Inspired by the more rural parts of Bavaria.