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Eedrasil’s Rest

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Updated
BySuraia Silverbell

Formerly Eedrasil, the Lifetree Isle

Eedrasil’s Rest is a scarred, forbidden island on the far western edge of the Xaverion archipelago. Once home to the world-tree Eedrasil, it is now a crescent of land wrapped around a hollowed, half-flooded basin where the Lifetree once stood. Though the original tree was destroyed during the Age of Darkness, saplings and strange forest growth have since sprung from its shattered roots, and many still whisper that this island is the closest one can come to the living heart of Eonil.

Names & Reputation

  • Old Name: Eedrasil – used in older texts for both the island and the Lifetree itself.

  • Current Name: Eedrasil’s Rest – the name most common since the fall of the tree.

  • Common Epithets:

    • The Lifeless Crescent

    • The Heart of Eonil (among the devout)

    • The Forbidden Isle

Among the peoples of the Xaverion Islands, Eedrasil’s Rest is spoken of with a mix of reverence and dread. It is officially off-limits, and those who go there without permission are seen as either fools, blasphemers, or both.

Geography

Where Eedrasil once dominated the entire island, the land today is broken and reshaped:

  • Crescent Shape:
    The cataclysm that destroyed the Lifetree shattered the island and half-flooded it, leaving only a crescent-moon-shaped remnant of land curving around a central basin.

  • Forest of Saplings:
    From the torn remains of Eedrasil’s roots and bark, a dense forest has grown. The trees here are said to be the “sproutlings” of the Lifetree—pale-barked, deep-rooted, and strangely resilient. From a distance they look like an ordinary forest. Up close, travellers speak of trunks veined with faint, silvery patterns and leaves that never seem to fully wither.

  • Climate & Seas:
    The waters around Eedrasil’s Rest are treacherous. Sudden fog banks roll in from the west, and old sailors insist that currents twist strangely near the island’s shores, dragging ships toward unseen reefs. Since the Night of the Flare, mists over the western sea are viewed as a bad omen.

  • Settlements:
    No harbours or permanent settlements are known. At least, none are admitted to in public records; every official chart marks the island as forbidden and uninhabited.

History – From Lifetree to Ruin

For most of recorded history, the island was known simply as Eedrasil, for the Lifetree that rose from its heart and overshadowed nearly all of the land. A great Waygate stood at its roots, allowing pilgrims, scholars, and Waykeepers to travel there from across Eonil.

During the Fourth Era – Age of Darkness, Ghor’s corruption spread across the world. When the battle finally reached Eedrasil itself, the Lifetree became a focal point of that struggle. Armies tried to defend it, and waygates were used to send reinforcements—until those same gates were turned against them and had to be destroyed.

In 53 BFE, witnesses across the islands saw a blinding flare streak across the sky, followed by tides and floods that ravaged the western coasts. When dawn came, the sea was smothered in fog—and Eedrasil was gone. In its place lay a shattered, half-drowned island, the Lifetree reduced to broken roots and fallen wood. The survivors named the remnant Eedrasil’s Rest.

Beyond it, the lands once lying further west vanished entirely. From the new crescent shore, one could see only the fog hanging over the sea. Thus the western lands became the Lost Continent, and Eedrasil’s Rest their last visible echo.

Beliefs & Superstitions

To this day, most inhabitants of the Xaverion Islands regard Eedrasil’s Rest as:

  • The Heart of Eonil:
    Many believe that whatever remains of Eonil’s “heart” on the islands lies here, buried in the roots of the shattered Lifetree. Disturbing the island is seen as risking the wrath—or sorrow—of the fallen goddess.

  • Sanctuary of Mythic Creatures:
    Rumours persist that the ancient creatures of Eonil—those thought to have retreated to the Lost Continent—still linger on Eedrasil’s Rest. Few are willing to test the truth of this, and tales abound of hunters and treasure-seekers who went ashore and never returned.

  • Cursed for the Greedy:
    Stories told in coastal taverns speak of “ill-intentioned” sailors, cultists, and would-be plunderers who sought relics of the Lifetree or the old Waygate. They say the island swallows such people—by beasts, by forest, or by the sea itself. The lesson is always the same: those who seek to profit from Eonil’s wounds vanish.

Because of this, the island is officially forbidden. Priests of Eonil and local authorities alike discourage any attempt to land there, citing both superstition and the simple danger of the waters.

The Waygate & the Lost Routes

Ancient records confirm that a major Waygate once stood at the base of Eedrasil, connecting the Lifetree to other key sites across Eonil. After the fall, nothing of this gate is openly acknowledged to remain.

However, legends insist that:

  • A hidden or broken Waygate still lies somewhere within the sapling forest.

  • This gate once connected directly to the western continent—the same land now known only as the Lost Continent.

Some fringe scholars and smugglers whisper that, if the gate could be restored, it might open a path back to those vanished lands. No reliable account exists of anyone succeeding, and certainly none of anyone returning to speak of it.

Present Day

By 22 AFE (present time), Eedrasil’s Rest remains:

  • Unclaimed in practice, forbidden in law. No kingdom in the Xaverion archipelago maintains public settlements there, yet all agree that landing is prohibited.

  • A place of quiet pilgrimage—at a distance. Some ships sail close enough to glimpse the crescent and its strange forest from afar, offering prayers to Eonil or laying wreaths upon the waves, but few dare anchor.

  • A source of rumours about the Ee’dornil. Many believe that if any of Eonil’s first guardians still walk the world openly, they do so here, tending the saplings where the Lifetree fell. Sightings of tall, green-eyed figures at the forest’s edge are reported from time to time, but no official contact has ever been confirmed.

For most folk, Eedrasil’s Rest is not a destination, but a distant silhouette on the horizon: a reminder of the Age of Darkness, of the Lost Continent, and of a wound in the world that has never fully healed.

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