Pyk Lore - The Pykey Forest Disappearances

The superstitious, hardworking people of Pyk live in Eom. The province of Eom is home to a vast majority of forests, and has jungle, hills, and mountainous terrain. It is a place where people become easily lost and confused due to the terrain. The town of Pyk, formerly Pykey, is located in the bay area. The climate is crisp and cold with much of the land frequently clouded by fog.

Pyk is just 7 miles out from Pykey Forest, one of the largest woodland areas of Eom, which extends up into the province of Aisl. Since the time of its establishment (formerly known as Pykey village,) Pyk has been afflicted by “serial disappearances.”

Only in the past 80 years does Pyk have documentation of missing persons in and around Pykey Forest. The first documented report was from a well known fishing lord of Pyk, Lord Marquis Umis, whose twelve year old daughter, Samiere Umis, suddenly went missing after being seen playing with friends near the forest.

Lord Umis put in a complaint with the town’s sheriff and insisted that his daughter did not run away. After a ten day search for the “lost” girl, authorities received complaints about more missing children--the friends of the fishing lord’s daughter. All the kids were missing.

It was because of the fishing lord’s wealth and popularity that the incident was given a spotlight and situation was finally taken seriously.

“The missing children were a sign of intelligent abduction,” - Former Pyk Sheriff Lusef Juleece

For the first time ever, the public was officially aware of children having gone missing in the Pykey forest. Even though rescueres searched for the children, they were not found. After 30 days, the search for Samiere ended. No evidence was ever found as to the children’s whereabouts or what truly happened to them in the forest.

It didn’t take long for stories and the fear of the forest to spread. Children were told to beware. It was said that people, kids especially, were being taken by magical creatures who lived in the forest. Despite the rumors, a large portion of Pyk citizens did not believe in “faeries” but recognized that something was taking people.

But soon, new findings would emerge.

The first “evidence” of magical foul play was from young Cairyl Dupra. After he and his three friends went into the forest, another terrible tradgedy occured. Cairyl was the only one to return. A day after going into the forest, Cairyl came back looking, as some witness said, “roughed up and shaken to the core.” His two friends were gone, missing in the forest, or as Cairyl suggests, “taken.”

I saw it. I did. A pointy face and terrible eyes and teeth. It had wings…a tiny thing. It wanted our flesh and blood. - Cairyl Dupra

After this famous incident, the people of Pyk began to avoid the forest and speaking about it. It had become a forbidden and trecherous place.

Still, rumors circled and foolish travelers who did not heed the warnigns, disappeared. Soon, the Pyk residents had stopped mentioning the troubling forest faeries. The investigations never lasted long, but posters remained plastered all around Pyk, even till this day. They are a dark reminder that if one ventured too close, too deep into the forest, they’d be another face on the wall of the missing.

Please check out the short story “The Faery of Pykey” if you like this bit of lore. I will be updating and revising it but let me know what you think!