Trellsen is a long-established farming village in the rolling hills of Pallasia, near the feet of a small mountain range, its roots going back generations. It lives by its livestock, above all its hardy goats bred strong for the rugged country, and by the dairy trade built on them; its Brackenwheel Cheese is a delicacy prized in the towns nearby. Hearty and self-sufficient, with sturdy homes and well-kept roads, it is a close-knit place where nearly everyone knows everyone and gossip travels fast but kindly. Its people hold the wilderness god Syltharion dear, tending his sanctuary and the sacred well and standing-stone at the village edge.

The village is led by Elda Corwick, a respected elder who has served as leader and mediator for decades, and kept in order by a rota of local volunteers who patrol the roads and know every neighbor by name. Not wealthy but comfortable, its folk are industrious and quick to lend a hand. To the south lies the Brackenhollow wood, long held to be cursed, and the overgrown path into it that the villagers avoid.