Sea of Trees



The Haltina Sea of Trees (ハルツィナ) is the main location of most of the Demi-Humans in Tortus.

Layout
The Sea of Trees is located on the far east of Tortus' northern continent. It is a large forest that is surrounded by an impenitrable fog barrier that only Beastmen can properly navigate around. Thanks to this feature the Sea of Trees has been nicknamed "The Forest of the Forgotten"

Inside the Sea of Trees is Verbergen, the country of many Beastmen.

Aside from Verbergen, the Sea of Trees also houses may smaller Beastmen settlements.

Although the Sea of Tree's fog protects Beastmen from being attacked by other races, it is home to a multitude of dangerous Monsters.

Although Beastmen are the only once capable of properly navigating though the forest's fog, the Sea of Trees also houses a special mineral called Verdren Crystals that are capable of warding off the fog surrounding the Sea of Trees by emitting a faint blue light, as well as warding off weak Monsters through that same method. These crystals were used by Verbergen as a means of creating a safe path for Beastmen that were coming and going.

In the centre of the Sea of Trees is the "Grand Tree Uralt" (ウーア・アルト) that acts as branch for the World Tree of True World Astral, as well as containing the Labyrinth of Lyutillis Haltina. Its girth is at least 50 m in diameter.

History
When Ehit was planning to rule of or Tortus, the guardian avatar of the Grand Tree, Uralt, fought against Ehit alongside the Hero she summoned, but both of them were defeated. After her death, she transfered her soul into the Holy Sword Artifact that shared her name.

Throughout much of Tortus' history, The Sea of Trees, known back then as the Pale Forest (の), remained a safe haven for most Beastmen. They had even established a nation called the Hatina Republic, who's ruler was chosen by the Grand Tree, and also acted at the forest's guardian that was able to magical control bot the forest and the fog that surrounded it. It was built around the Grand Tree, with it serving as the royal palace.

The religion that worshipped Ehit, the Holy Church, had made many attempts to conquer the forest, but had failed each time, thus making one of the few locations that was untouched by its influence. They did, however, come close one time when then used a kidnapped Beastman named Shushu Corthea that they brainwashed into following them and guide them to the Beastmen nation. However, this to ended in the church's defeat when the Beastman managed to repel them and Shushu.

When the church discovered that a Beastmen within the forest was in possession of one of the seven Ancient Magics (who would later turn out to be Lyutillis Haltina, they declared war against the Haltina Republic with the intention of capturing them and brainwash them into serving Ehit. In the end the church's forces was defeated by both the Republic and the anti-church organization, the Liberators, but the battle had left the Grand Tree in a state of everlasting decrepitude as a means of preventing Ehit's servant from controlling its power.

After the Liberator's bid to defeat Ehit failed, Lyutillis had established a Labyrinth within the Grand Tree as a means to offer aid to anyone who planned to resume her comrade's mission in the future.

Thousands of years later, when the Demons had acquired Ancient Magic that allowed them to control Monsters, they attacked the Beastman nation of the current era, Verbergen, in order to locate and conquer Lyutillis' Labyrinth. Ultimately, the Demons were defeated thanks to the Haulia Tribe of Rabbitmen, but the attack had severely damaged Verbergen, and caused massive casualties for the Beastmen. To make matters worse, they were invaded soon after by the Hoelscher Empire, who burned down much of the forest in order to locate and capture as many Beastmen as possible. The damaged portions of the forest would be restored soon after by Kaori Shirasaki as she cast her Restoration Magic over it.

Trivia

 * In the Anime, the Verdren Crystals are replaced by a glowing flowers that comes in a variety of colors.