In 7020, the Tan Sugi Monastery was founded by a Sangpotshi monk named Zhi Hui. Built around an ancient sugi tree said to have mystic properties, the Tan Sugi Monastery was incredibly remote, nestled in a wooded valley within an unsettled reach of Specterwood. Willowshore was originally founded to support those who built the monastery, and the long trail that connected the town to the monastery became known as the Pilgrim's Path. Once construction of the monastery ended, Willowshore's focus shifted to an increasingly self-sufficient lifestyle that only periodically needed to support the monks.
Zhi Hui passed away in 7054, and as the monks of the monastery began to drift away, Willowshore itself shifted focus to the lumber industry. By 7060, the monastery had been abandoned, but when a group of woodcutters attempted to harvest the ancient sugi trees that grew there in 7062, tragedy struck. The woodcutters returned to Willowshore with broken weapons and unliving bodies that evening, and while these undead woodcutters were defeated by morning, dozens of townsfolk had perished during the struggle. The event is remembered today as the “Night of Broken Blades,” and few visitors have made the journey to the ruined monastery in the 46 years since. The place is regarded now as cursed, haunted, or worse.
As the years wore on, Shenmen officially enlisted Willowshore to become part of Lung Wa's lumber harvesting ambitions. Things started out well, with the construction of infrastructure including bridges and a dam. However, the lumber bosses who ran the harvesting operation soon became loathed for their exploitation of Willowshore's ascetic past. Worse, they began to present the settlement (now properly called a town) as a “getaway” for Lung Wa aristocrats to hunt for sport and indulge in food and drinks forcefully seized in the empire's name. When Lung Wa collapsed in 7106, Willowshore's lumber lords took their wealth, abandoned their estates, and fled. Most of the soldiers stationed in town returned to Shenmen's capital or deserted their posts, leaving behind those who had put down local roots. Willowshore's remoteness saved it from rampant banditry and external political conflicts that had begun to plague Shenmen, but now the time has come for Willowshore to face the new world.