Antonica · EverQuest (original release)
Surefall Glade
A waterfall-fed dale of giant jaggedpine trees north of Qeynos, home of the west coast’s rangers and druids and of the bears they guard, reached by a single narrow tunnel through the hills.
A haven of jaggedpine
Surefall Glade is the haven of the rangers and druids of Antonica’s western coast. It sits in a beautiful dale fed by a great waterfall and filled with the rare, huge jaggedpine trees, which the druids maintain. The EQ Atlas calls it one of the wonders of Norrath, peaceful and well kept as a whole.
Its guilds are the Jaggedpine Treefolk and the Protectors of the Pine, and its people are humans and half-elves. There are no religious or artisan facilities. The only powerful rangers and druids on the whole west coast are found here, so every young ranger and druid of the region eventually comes to the Glade for instruction. Allakhazam dates its history to the reign of Antonius Bayle III.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Surefall Glade · Allakhazam: Surefall Glade (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Surefall Glade
Finding the Glade
The way in is a narrow tunnel through the impassable hills that mark the northern edge of the Qeynos Hills. Travel due north from Qeynos and you reach it. Qeynos posts guards at the tunnel mouth, and the rangers and druids extend their patrols into the hills beyond.
Later, Surefall’s other neighbour became the Jaggedpine Forest, added in 2002; in the original game the Glade had only the one road, back to the hills.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Surefall Glade · Allakhazam: Surefall Glade (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Surefall Glade
Bears, poachers and Mammoth
The tunnels behind the waterfall are home to a community of bears that enjoy the same protection as the trees. Among them, occasionally, is Mammoth, a massive bear many think a legend. He is real, and in constant danger: poaching is a serious problem in the Glade and around it, and Mammoth is the prize every poacher wants.
The rangers and druids are on constant patrol for poachers, and one druid can regularly be seen making rounds through the tunnels looking for them. The same attitude spills into the Hills, where the rangers punish anyone they catch fighting a wolf or bear.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Surefall Glade · Project 1999 Wiki: Surefall Glade
The war with the gnolls
The Glade’s worst enemies are the gnolls of Blackburrow. The grassy hills north of Qeynos are the main battleground between the humans and half-elves and the gnolls, and the Glade’s patrols join the Qeynos guard there, though the guide admits they have not stemmed the tide.
The hills have also seen undead, raised by powerful necromancers who appear from time to time. Those have been fought off at great cost, and the war goes on. The druids’ god is Tunare and the gnolls’ story is in Blackburrow and the Sabertooths.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Surefall Glade · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Qeynos Hills
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Surefall Glade · Allakhazam: Surefall Glade (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Surefall Glade