Tagus Enchanted Forest – click any image for full size
I walk away from the world I know,
To a forest were each thing can change
And where the floor is carpeted in seasonal splendour.
It is here I feel magic,
In the enchanted forest.
So reads the description for Tagus Enchanted Forest, a homestead region held and designed by Lady Amalthea (meganwhitlock). As the stanza suggests, this is intended to by a mystical, enchanted place; one given over to woodland in which assorted locations can be found, which lend themselves to a variety of fantasy themes – a hint of elves here, those of a magician or alchemist there; a touch of Game of Thrones along the wall of a crypt or the suggestion of witchcraft possibly lurking in the mists …
It is a wild, free place – a rugged island rising tall from the surrounding waters, crowned by tall trees between whose trunks paths and trail wind and loop, sufficient enough to guide travellers around the various locations to be found here, but with ample twists and turns to possibly confound one’s sense of direction.
From the landing point, lantern-marked steps offer a way up inland or down to the waterside, where further islands, long and thin and equally as rugged, can be seen. These can be reached via rowing boat offered at a small pier – although only one offers a similar boat for getting back!
It is on the largest of these outer island that the Game of Thrones reference can be found: a wall of faces of the dead waiting to be worn, sitting at the back of a cliff-top crypt. A short distance from this crypt, and situated upon the highest plateau of the island is a small chapel, its organ being played by a ghostly, skeletal figure…
The remaining islands are marked by high waterfalls, one the home of an alchemist, the other featuring the ruins of a tower in which an ancient elven throne resides. Across the main island, to its north-west, another low tower is to be found atop a ridge, the seat of someone fascinated with the movement of the stars and the planets – an astrologer or magician, perhaps….
Finding your way around all of the trails and paths on the island can be an adventure in itself. Some are obvious, others perhaps less so as you climb and descend stone steps – just watch for the lanterns hanging from their ivy-draped poles. Along the way are numerous points of rest: camp fires to sit around, tents to sit within, places to dance, places to rest alongside still waters… All of this given a further air of mystery by the selected windlight.
There are one or two rough points one might journey into: the physics alongside the chapel’s only working entrance can at times knock the unwary sideways, and there are some landscaping elements floating above their peers. However, these do not prevent Tagus Enchanted Forest from being photogenic – and there is a Flickr group for those who wish to add their pictures.
A mysterious, place, Tagus Enchanted Forest perhaps awaits those willing to weave a tale of those who might reside in its towers and buildings.
SLurl Details
- Tagus Enchanted Forest (Tagus, rated: Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 