The Lanzerwald
- This article is about the geographical region. For the former state (1709–1715), see Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald. For the current state (1715–), see Realm of the Sovereign Lanzerwald.
The Lanzerwald (Istvanistani and Cibolan-Saxon), or Lanserwoud in Cibolan-Diets, is a forest located in the south eastern part of Cibola, located to the north and the west of Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen. There is some discussion about the origin of the name, but it is often said that the forest is named after the ancient Alexandrian city Lancôme, whose ruins are in the forest, close to the present-day city of Lanser. Another popular explanation is that the wood from the forest was used for making lances of high quality, but very little historic evidence supports this theory. The forest was first protected by the Republic of Sankt Ludwigshafen. Part of the forest lay on the territory of the Republic of Sankt Ludwigshafen, but most of it lay in the Green. Currently the location of the forest is more or less equivalent with the territory of the Realm of the Sovereign Lanzerwald. The forest is part of the broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregion of eastern Cibola. Like its predecessors, the Republic of Sankt Ludwigshafen and the Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald, the cities that belong to the Realm of the Sovereign Lanzerwald assume stewardship over the part of the forest that lies on their territory and only allow limited logging that avoids soil degradation, tree monocultures and wide open roads that would allow an armoured attack on the cities of the realm. The protection of the forests is one of the key tasks of the Dragonderkorps, like the Dragonerkorps Ludwigshafen before it, and it regularly patrols the forest.
Ruins
Two major ruins lie in the north of the Lanzerwald. On the coast lies the former city of Erazmhafen, which was inhabited by Alriggian colonist during the Alriggian period of Sankt Ludwigshafen's history. Roughly a hundred kilometres west of Erazmhafen lies the ancient Alexandrian city Lancôme. Both sites are maintained by the Republic of Sankt Ludwigshafen as archaeological heritage and protected against plunderers.
Tribal concerns
Given the size of the Lanzerwald, it is rather difficult for the Dragonerkorps Ludwigshafen to find all the locations of uncivilised tribes that might have moved into the Lanzerwald. It is highly inadvisable to wander outside of the walls and palisades of the cities and villages of Ludwigshafen. Among the tribes living in the Lanzerwald are human-sacrificing Siseranists, who fled persecution after the Ludwigshafener Civil War, and feral remnants of the lost civilisations of Southern Cibola, most importantly Monovian civilisation. The Sack of Hamstadt, Operation Enduring Fellowship, the Ludwiggian-Monovian War, the Second Ludwiggian-Monovian War and the Uprising of Bisera are all conflicts that are associated with tribal groups lurking in the Lanzerwald that have attacked Zandarijn, Sankt Ludwigshafen and the Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald.
