One of the many mysteries surrounding the Erkenheld Forest are the tales of magickal paths tracing their way through it. Little is known about the forest except that mundayne beings cannot find or use them, and that the Rebel Forces have been using them as a base of operations since the Red Grain period. According to rare first-hand reports and the maps drawn up by tortured elves supplied to General Randle, the paths take the form of a sort of organically grown hedge maze by those using them, but are labyrinthine and hard to navigate. Beyond these few bare facts, little can be reliably substantiated.
Based purely on conjecture and speculation, some particularly brave (or perhaps stupid) magicologists have attempted to gain greater clarity into the manifestation and functioning of the paths. Many scholars have posited that the Sprite Queen created the paths, but there has been, as yet, no direct substantiation of this beyond a couple of ambiguous remarks she made in an interview with Dr. Phinneas Flumpert. It is suspected that the tricky, somewhat malevolent forest sprites native to the region use them to run away quickly from their victims.
Other scholars have suggested that the exclusivity of the paths may account for many of the stranger Fethilian legends. It is well-known that some humans (particularly those with red hair) may display some limited magickal capacity, and it is highly likely that such individuals may inadvertantly stumble into the paths from time to time. The strange disappernces of forresters and soldiers could be the result of slightly magickal lads (fairly common in the Fethil due to the frequency of interbredding between humans and red elves) becoming lost in the notoriously confusing paths. Similarly, some claim, that the well-known Shrine in the Forest may reside within such paths - this would explain why descriptions of it are so consistent across time and region, but also why expeditions to find it tend to turn up empty-handed.
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