The Gnarlwood may be a terrible locale, rippling with carnivorous plants and filled with warbands jostling for control of the treasures that lie within, but it is still a place of nature. It bursts with life, and the Sylvaneth are bound to protect all such forests of the Mortal Realms.
But not even they always come out on top. The Twistweald are a group of Sylvaneth wracked with pain and driven half-mad by arcane fungal parasites that gnaw away at their very souls, yet they still feel a duty to protect this place. From their pain sprouts new power, though it would spell ruin for the Sylvaneth were this cursed copse ever to infect the heart of Ghyran itself.
The Twistweald congregations are led by Swarmsages, who wish to stop outsiders from digging too deeply into the wreckage of Talaxis – and to prevent his tainted flock from trying to return to Alarielle. They battle through the searing pain, commanding the spiteswarms that make nests in their knotted branches to eat away at the mycelial infection within the bodies of their band.
When their spiteswarms Devour Infection, the cleansing effect temporarily empowers a fighter with unnatural strength, though these magical insects cannot help but harm the host as they chew out the fungal tendrils.
Some Sylvaneth infested by the Twistroot have found a grim appreciation for the changes in their biology. The Swarmsage and Twistroot Spite-revenant both make use of the eruptions of flexible appendages from their arboreal forms, catching enemies in a Thorned Grasp and choking the life out of them.
Those Sylvaneth that manage to retain their sound minds become Twistroot Wardens, powerful sentinels who will sacrifice their own lives to protect their Swarmsage and thus the continued existence of the weald, no matter how tortured by infection they are. They have the choice of fighting with a Spitespear, Guardian Blow, or Guardian Halberd, entering a trancelike state to battle through the pain that riddles them.
Even when their foes hack away at their flesh, the Twistweald remain deadly. Each wound bleeds Twistroot spores which quickly find their way into the assailant’s body, Mycelial Ravaging eating away at organs and nervous systems as it tries to find purchase in its new host.
This parasitic entity is infused with energies that allow it to take root within even the ethereal Nighthaunt and osseous Teratic Cohorts, ensuring that no foe, no matter their corporeal state, is safe from these woodland raiders.
The Twistweald arrive in the Gnarlwood as part of Warcry: Briar and Bone, which is available for pre-order on Saturday.