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[✓] [World Lore] The Ashwood Tree


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The Ashwood Tree

Patch 4.0, Astria Edition

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Origins

     A peculiar sight by any man’s reckoning, the ashwood is a tree which, oftentimes, is seen with its branches ablaze and growing in the most inhospitable of climates- contrary to the very nature of what a tree ought to be in nigh every regard. Most commonly, of course, ashwood trees are associated with Norland and her people, who quite famously consider themselves the trees’ protectors, often to the point of great contention. Indeed, many a conflict has been had over these hardy trees, due both to their rarity and their importance to the Norlandic people. With its armor-like bark and defiant inferno of a canopy, the ashwood is viewed as an image of resilience, willpower and boldness. To these northfolk, it is held as a symbol of their people and their culture as a whole, and as such, they will go to great lengths to defend their ashwoods, and rarely- if at all- tolerate any sort of foreign tampering. To the uninitiated, the Norlandic preoccupation with their beloved symbol is often mistaken for religious reverence, however this is little more than that, a misinterpretation. The truth of the matter is, it is naught more than a tree- albeit one that is as stubborn and troublesome as its protectors.

 

The  Life & Body of the Ashwood

     The ashwood tree is most famous for its alien appearance; gnarled branches, covered in roiling flames during winter and vibrant red leaves for a brief period in summer. Though many might make the mistake of assuming that the wood itself is burning, it is in fact the sap that catches flame, the wood itself being almost entirely fireproof. The burning itself, too, is more than just some aesthetic choice on the part of the Creator; it is an essential part of its annual growth cycle. Through the spring and summer, the tree produces great reserves of sap to maintain its nutritional needs through the winter. A portion of this viscous, highly flammable sap then, at the end of summer, is secreted by the tree’s bark, covering the majority of the canopy before the last of the summer sun can cause it to ignite, just as the leaves begin to shed from the boughs. This annual firing, much like the process of firing ceramics, hardens the wood over the years of its lifespan, and thus is necessary for the tree to mature properly. It is to this process that the ashwood tree owes its famed hardness and durability, with an exterior that most mundane tools can never hope to break. However, even once mature the firing must still occur. This is because the heat of the flames reduces the viscosity of the sap within the tree itself, allowing it to flow more freely through the densely packed, narrow xylem in the tree’s interior, and so allows the tree to transport its nutrients more easily.

     With bark akin to iron and being near immovable, the ashwood in its prime is often found growing alone in clearings of its own making, a solitary plant-form at heart. Other vegetation, save for grasses and the occasional flower, are often unable to take root in the tree’s vicinity, due to its high uptake of nutrients from the soil around it, as well as its intrusive, gnarled, weblike system of roots. Fond of cooler, semi-arid environments, the ashwood is most often found in boreal and tundra regions near small bodies of water, where they might reap the benefits of seasonal flooding. Notably, it cannot grow in hot, arid environments, where it will light prematurely and dry out, nor can it grow in overly humid environments- rainforests, for example- where the passive moisture in the air will prevent it from lighting at all. Trees that grow around it, should they not end up burned away by the ashwood’s annual blaze, will grow stunted and eventually wither away due to lack of suitable nutrients in the surrounding environment. Smaller plants, however, such as shrubs, flowers and mosses experience less trouble, but will often be seen to be less healthy and less vibrant than they would outside the Ashwood tree’s periphery. 

 

Spoiler

Size and Space

     The average ashwood tree is not often a behemoth of a tree, though there are instances in which they can grow to be quite large. These trees, however, are the exception, not the rule. Generally speaking, there are four sizes in which an Ashwood tree will be seen, outside of the odd, anomalous outlier.

 

Ashwood Sapling

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     An ashwood sapling comes to be in the first years of growth and will be no more than 3-4 meters tall. During this stage the tree can be easily uprooted and moved with minimal effort.

 

Young Ashwood Tree

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     The young Ashwood tree is the first stage of its maturity, at 10 years of growth. At this stage, the tree will measure between 6 and 8 meters in height, and will develop its trademark strength and begin producing seeds.

 

Adolescent Ashwood Tree

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     At the adolescent stage of its life reached after 15 years of growth, many ashwood trees reach their maximum size, unless given special care and fertilizer- or if it is growing in a particularly hospitable environment or with the help of magical means. They will still grow after this point, of course, just very slowly. Adolescent ashwood trees measure anywhere from 12 to 15 meters in height.

 

Elder Ashwood Tree

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     After 30 years of life as a healthy tree, the ashwood tree enters what is known as its elder period. At this point, provided it has the space and nutrients to do so, it will continue to grow until it eventually reaches its limit and either starves itself due to its size or finds equilibrium with its surroundings. The largest ashwoods of this sort have been seen to reach anywhere from 30 to 40 meters, with trunks measuring up to 7 meters in diameter.

 

The Seed of the Ashwood

     The ashwood’s seed is an odd little thing. About the size of a cantaloupe and incredibly dense, it weighs anywhere from 26 to 30 pounds (11.8 - 13.6 kilograms). Similar in anatomy to a walnut, the fruit forms as a heavy core of a seed surrounded by a thick, fleshy husk and a hard, woody carapace of a shell holding it all in. When mature, this large fruit then falls from the branches above. Naturally, of course, this comes at great risk to anything below, as a thirty-pound ball falling from several feet in the air is a potential danger to anything it might hit- people and other soft targets especially. Fortunately, however, these falling menaces are rare, with any one tree only producing a single seed every four years or so. When the seed begins to form, it appears as a bud in the early spring, and rapidly swells to a baseball-sized, hardened ball by the end of its first summer. From that point, it slowly grows over the course of the coming seasons. Often, caretakers of the trees will spend a great deal of time observing the growing seed to ensure that its development occurs without incident.

     The seed can be collected easily enough by simply waiting for its fall at the beginning of the first spring after the seed finishes developing. The seed, then, will be incredibly hot to the touch, and must be handled with care, lest the collector end up with blistered hands. Once cooled, however, the seed can be utilized in a few ways. It can be planted, of course, in a suitable environment, but it is also perfectly capable of being harvested for eating, though doing so would be a less than pleasant experience. The flesh surrounding the seed is incredibly bitter, and the meat of the seed itself carries a sharp, spicy, flavor with only the slightest sweet undertone. If abandoned or neglected, however, the seed will simply wither away over the course of the following weeks.

 

Ashwood Components

     As with any tree, the ashwood has a number of parts to it which can be harvested and utilized in many ways, ranging from medical use to the production of alcohol to dye-making. Of all the components of the tree, the most useful, as listed below, are the leaves, the sap, and of course the wood itself.

 

Ashwood Leaves


Description:

   The leaves of the ashwood tree, budding in summer and falling away at the beginning of autumn, are palmate in shape and take on an array of vibrant crimsons in hue when alive, however they lose much of their vibrance upon drying out.

 

Harvesting:

   The leaves can be easily plucked from the tree, or picked up from the ground once they fall, assuming they do not burn away when the tree ignites.

 

Applications:

   Apart from making good kindling, the leaves may be ground into a fine powder and made into a dark, blood-red dye, often used by Keepers of the Red Faith to color their garments and other fabrics.

 

Redlines:

  • It’s a leaf that can be used to make dye. That’s about it. If you can find a way to abuse a leaf, more power to you.
  • Does not require ST signage.

 

Ashwood Sap


Description:

   A viscous, amber-colored sap which is dreadfully sweet on the tongue. Highly flammable, the sap will ignite simply from a high temperature, let alone open flame.

 

Harvesting:

   The sap is remarkably simple to harvest, requiring one to simply scrape it from the tree’s branches before it ignites, or place buckets beneath the tree’s canopy to collect it as it falls. Due to the durability of the tree’s bark, it cannot be tapped by conventional means.

 

Applications:

   Much like honey, the sap of the ashwood tree is noted for its ability to prevent infection in wounds, thanks to mild antibacterial properties. Additionally, (again like honey) it can be used to brew a drink known as ashwood spirits, a favorite in Norlandic taverns. One could also, if they wanted, use it to make a simple firestarter or use it to fuel a torch or lantern.

 

Redlines:

  • Ashwood sap cannot be weaponized in the form of molotov cocktails, or what have you. No fire tree napalm, please.
  • Ashwood sap cannot be passively extracted via the use of a tap.
  • Does not require ST signage.

 

Ash Wood


Description:

   A dense, dark grey, hardwood. When stripped of its bark, the wood is little different than any other after being left to dry out. However, if harvested while fresh and alive, the wood will be as hard and durable as the tree itself, albeit less so if taken from a younger tree.

 

Harvesting:

   To collect a fallen branch from an ashwood tree is a simple thing. It is not often that these venerable trees lose a branch, but like any other tree they will. To obtain living ashwood, however, is a more troublesome task. One will either need to find a way to break or saw a living branch from the canopy of one of the fiery trees… or uproot a young sapling entirely.

 

Applications:

  The dead wood of an ashwood tree, like any other wood, can be shaped normally, albeit with a bit more difficulty due to its increased density. Living Ash Wood, however, requires a more complicated process to refine and shape (detailed under Ashwood Crafting).

 

Redlines:

  • Fallen branches may be collected freely and will be considered dead wood. This wood may be worked by conventional means, and will behave as normal wood, except for being an ashy grey in color. 
  • Ash Wood cannot be used to grow new ashwood trees from cuttings or what have you. The only way to grow a new ashwood tree is from a seed.
  • Living Ash Wood is as hard and fire-resistant as the tree itself and cannot be cut with mundane tools.
  • Additionally, Living Ash Wood will expire and die 1 OOC week after collection, becoming dead Ash Wood thereafter.
  • Ash Wood cannot be used to construct fireproof structures or vehicles.
  • Ash Wood, living or dead, does not require ST signage.

 

Ashwood Crafting

     To fashion any item with living Ash Wood is a tricky feat indeed, requiring practice and no small amount of patience. Not only is it a process with many steps, but it also requires one to possess a basic knowledge of woodworking, as well as a number of ashwood-specific techniques. First, of course, one must acquire the wood to work to begin with. Ideally, this is accomplished by cutting branches from saplings- or, of course, using the young tree in its entirety. Then, to begin the crafting process, the worker must first begin by painstakingly chipping away the bark with a chisel, and then softening the wood by soaking the stripped length of wood overnight in a vat of diluted wood alcohol. And once softened, the more complicated work begins.

 

Shaping

     The first step, as with any woodworking project, is of course to cut and bend the wood to shape. Of course, even in its softened state, the wood is still quite the beast to move, and so it can take a number of narrative hours and repeated softening in order to completely achieve the desired shape. Care should be taken as well to include more material than is desired, as the crafting process will result in minor shrinkage. In the case of compound items- that is, items which require the joining of multiple pieces of Ash Wood, such as a shield- the varying components must be secured to one another with a combination of iron nails and a special resin made with two parts pitch, one part powdered bone gelatin and one part ashwood sap- though cautious craftsmen will sometimes use a coat of their glue of choice as well, just to be sure. This resin, then, is dried over a low, distant flame to cure it.

 

Filling

     When the piece has been cut and crafted to shape, the worker must then begin the process known as filling. First, a shallow vat wide enough to hold the item must be filled with the aforementioned resin, in volume enough to completely submerge the item. Then, slowly and very carefully, the mixture must be slowly heated to a low simmer, and the shaped item laid within. This vat, then, must be left to steep for an hour, with the occasional small splash of water mixed in periodically to prevent the resin from hardening or catching fire. What results, then, is the Ash Wood, once a pale grey, now turned a dark black, as it is coated in and its many pores filled with the resin.

 

Firing

     The Ash Wood, once coated and filled with the resin can then be placed in a kiln to be fired, much like pottery, albeit more violent. Upon being raised to the sufficient temperature, the item will burst into flames, much like the ashwood tree itself, as the excess resin burns away and what remains is rapidly cured, and the wood itself hardened once more. Then, once the flames die down, the piece must remain in the kiln overnight to complete its cure. The resulting item, then, will be found to be wrought of something similar, yet new; what once was Ash Wood will then be replaced by a dark, black counterpart which is as heavy and as hard as wrought iron- Black Ashwood.

 

Black Ashwood


Description:

   An odd, blackened wood that is as hard and as heavy and iron and fixed in whatever shape it’s fashioned into. It looks like and has the texture of a dense hardwood but has the cool surface and heft of a piece of wrought iron.

 

Properties:

   Black Ashwood, unlike the similar arboreal material Ironwood, cannot be honed to a cutting edge, or forged into a new shape. At most it can be shaped into a dull edge, or a sharpened, spear-like point- though this point will be jagged and harsh. This, of course, makes it a better material for shields, handles or pointed, thrusting weapons than it would for, say, an axe or a sword. Most notable, of course, is its durability, hardness, and fire resistance.

 

Redlines:

  • Black Ashwood has the same weight as an equivalent volume of iron. This cannot be reduced or mitigated.
  • Dead Ash Wood cannot be used to create Black Ashwood.
  • Black Ashwood cannot be crafted into swords or knives, at least not with honed blades capable of cutting. It is much better suited to making bludgeons, staves, and shields. However, it is possible to pair it with pieces fashioned from other materials (i.e., a guard/handle made from Black Ashwood, and a steel blade and so on).
  • While it is possible to cut the ends of a rod into a point in the shaping stage, after hardening, the point will be rendered imperfect, jagged, and crooked.
  • While Black Ashwood will not suffer damage from fire, it will heat up rapidly, specifically over the course of two emotes of continued exposure to flame or similar heat sources. This means, for example, that a shield fashioned from black ashwood would only be able to shield the user from two emotes worth of fire spells (or similar) in a row before becoming too hot to be held safely.
  • For the sake of balance, the above cannot be mitigated with the use of athin or similar heat-proofing items.
  • Further, Black Ashwood can still be destroyed by extreme temperatures (1800-2000° F). However, rather than catching alight or melting, it will crumble into what is more or less very expensive charcoal.
  • Black Ashwood shares its living counterpart's vulnerability to magical flame. After three emotes of sustained contact with such flames, it will begin to weaken and become fragile, easily cracked with blunt force akin to a terracotta flowerpot in durability.
  • Black Ashwood cannot be used to construct fireproof structures or vehicles.
  • Black Ashwood does not require ST signage.

 

General Redlines

Anatomy:

  • An ashwood tree takes 10 OOC weeks to mature. At this point, it will reach its full strength, and will begin producing seeds.
  • Once rooted in the ground, the ashwood tree is very difficult to move, requiring several narrative days to uproot. 
  • Further, cutting down a mature, living tree by conventional means is a near-impossible feat with mundane iron tools. It is, however, vulnerable to blunt force, which can crack and flake away the bark, and dent the wood.
  • An ashwood tree is simply highly resistant to flame, not immune to burning. It can still be burned by extreme means (i.e throwing it into magma).
  • Though it will not burn, the wood will still get incredibly hot, and being quite dense will dissipate that heat slowly. Branches collected during the burning season will be hot enough to cause immediate second-degree burns if collected carelessly right after they drop from the canopy.
  • Though resistant to mundane fire, magically conjured flame can still do harm to the tree.
  • Should the tree be prevented from undergoing its annual burning or be planted in an unsuitable environment without proper care, it will become sickly after the first year. If prevented for a second year, the tree will die. This extends to environmental factors, as well. Should it be planted in an overly hot environment with little to no rain (i.e a desert) or in an environment where there is near constant rain (i.e a rainforest), this cycle will be interrupted. Ashwood best survives in a region where there is balance in humidity and nutrients in the soil for it to grow in, but will still allow its leaves to dry out and burn when that part of its cycle comes.
  • After dying, the wood will lose its strength after 1 OOC week of decay, at which point it will be vulnerable to being felled by conventional means.
  • Being a tree, it must be planted in… Well, tree-friendly places with sunlight and soil, unless kept alive by some other means.
  • For balance reasons, ashwood can only be used as a substitute for metal plates for constructs and similar beings. (i.e no ashwood treants or what have you). Further, Ashwood cannot conduct resonance.
  • All ashwood trees must be cultivated via legitimate roleplay. These trees or their swells no longer require an ST Signature.
  • All ashwood trees from the sapling stage up should have a mechanical, in-world representation, if at all possible, and size, generally, should reflect the age and health of the tree. For the sake of space and build convenience, a tree needn’t be made much larger than its adolescent stage, however. What is important is that one does not have, for example, a sapling the size of an elder, or vice versa.
  • All interactions with the tree must be done in #RP or above.
  • As with any plant, an Ashwood tree can be interacted with normally by Druids, Shamans and the like.

Seed:

  • One seed can be collected from a single ashwood tree every OOC month (30 days).
  • Harvesting the seed prematurely will both reset the above cooldown and render the seed inert.
  • The exception to the above is in the case that it is collected by Druidic or other, applicable non-mundane means.
  • If unplanted, the seed will expire after 1 OOC week, unless preserved by magical means.

Components:

  • All components must be collected via roleplay.
  • Items made from dead ashwood do not require any special oversight or signage.

Crafting:

  • The process of crafting with Living Ash Wood, and subsequently the creation of Black Ashwood, are considered uncommon knowledge and require learning through roleplay with someone familiar with the art.

 

Purpose

     The goal of this rewrite was to clean up the existing write, as well as to include aspects of the lore which were intended to be written with Nick’s lore, but which never materialized. In particular, an effort was made to touch up the actual biology of the tree to make it make a bit more sense (as much as can be done for a fantastical fire tree), as far as botanical matters go, as well as to do away with some of the more odd, gatekeep-y and superfluous aspects of the previous lore while still maintaining it as the Norlandic cultural staple it is. Additionally, the Ashwood seed itself has been rewritten to make it a touch less nonsensical (specifically in regard to its weight, size and carry requirements). Actual lore for the sap and leaves, and a means for crafting with Ash Wood have been added- all elements which the previous version of the lore was eventually meant to include. Overall, the goal was to produce a more complete and simplified piece of lore, coupled with the original, intended features.

 

Old Lore:

 

Credits:

Astria, Writing

DAENGIE, Proofreading & Idea Slave

Vi, Proofreading & Feedback

Bugman, Proofreading & Feedback

A Handful of Others, Suggestions, Feedback & Support

 

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Powerful.

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Not how I would have done everything, but I am super happy you made this re-write! It really makes me happy that people are passionate enough about my dumb tree to keep fighting and writing lore about it. A massive +1 From me! super excited to be seeing Ashwood items floating around again as well, so I really hope this goes through! Massive Props Astria!

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Looks even better now it's finished. Super impressed. Absolutely gorgeous writing and formatting. +1

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I like this more in-depth and explained lore a lot. A solid update that was needed. +1

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didnt read im only +1ing for finally having ashwood crafting

just wish the taste of swells to kha' being a delicacy was kept in the lore, kinda withdraws some of the lore's flavor

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+1 We needed a proper rewrite

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On 10/13/2021 at 7:12 AM, AstriaS said:

Description:

   An odd, blackened wood that is as hard and as heavy and iron and fixed in whatever shape it’s fashioned into. It looks like and has the texture of a dense hardwood but has the cool surface and heft of a piece of wrought iron.

 

I think you mean "as hard and as heavy AS iron"

Nicely formatted, and so much better than the old lore. Well done.

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This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.

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