Survey of the Flora of the Upper Euhymer

Excerpt of the Tree of Iron’s Initial Survey of the Flora of the Upper Euhymer in the districts controlled by the Kannylte Raindrinker YK 1232 Archival Text 18th iteration[1]


[1] Having myself been a Scribe of the Maker Church I am assured of the thoroughgoing accuracy of the archivist’s recreations of aged texts.  This document, however, is the primary survey of the Upper Euyhmer & it predates the creation of the Scribal college of the church by a pair of centuries – thus it may demonstrate the affects common to what we colloquially call early canon. Naturally, as a volume of the Tree of Iron’s catalogue the entirety of the document runs into many thousands of pages of amendments, corrections and a few illustrations.  I have selected this particular passage (and spared the reader some longwinded discussion of dusk-latitude-resilient cereal crops) because it is the earliest attested instance of the Coalchain plant, which I yet regard with deep suspicion.  How would it prevent itself from burning itself?  How is it able to provide heat to itself – what is the origin of its energy?  Why is it that it survives only in the Dusk Mark of Raindrinker or in the Utter Dark?  The legendary vine is a point of deep consternation to not only myself but many of the Weiish scholarly set who have long heard legends of the thing but are incapable of ever seeing it ourselves.  Nevertheless – no lesser authority than the Tree of Iron attests its existence and so I have included its earliest description (which is hardly changed in a dozen centuries) because its appearance in some of the texts to follow may seem jarring or even spurious.  Consider this the authentic source.

Canon Invocation

From the river Euhymer the Twenty & Second region receives its name of Raindrinker for legend of the venerated saint of the ancient race of the Euye the Horse Tamer Ulthan who was said to never drink from the river or its tributaries while in exile.  The river, by its bounteous channel, conveys the gifts of all the forests. The towns are few though through the south the river is navigable.  Among the towns is Thimblewick that was not founded by the race of the Euye but by the Kliali pioneers.  Far to the south the River Euyhmer has for its source the utter dark glaciers as well as the descending pools that the novel race of Trulks call Mother Ice.  Such realms are the four divisions of the Kannylte which are – the Stormmarch which is the frontier of Stormhorse & Nightcandle Kannyltes; Underneedle which is the realm of dense forest where dwell the unreformed Euye foresters; Icemother which is all the descent of the waters from the glaciers of the utter dark; Finally the Duskmarch which is the extreme southern frontier of all the Empire. 

Referents of the four realms is the basis of a survey of the flora of the 22nd Kannylte.  Listed are the number of varieties catalogued / useful varieties

Stemmed Plants

  • Flowering Stemmed Plants of Stormmarch 12/9
  • Flowering Stemmed Plants of Underneedle 19/10
  • Flowering Stemmed Plants of Icemother 13/12
  • Flowering Stemmed Plants of Duskmarch 9/2

Grasses

  • Tuberous grasses of Stormmarch 3/2
  • Tuberous grasses of Underneedle 3/2
  • Tuberous grasses of Icemother3/2
  • Tuberous grasses of Duskmarch 3/2

Trees

  • Needle Leafed trees of Stormmarch 12/ 7
  • Needle Leafed trees of Underneedle 36 / 25
  • Needle Leafed trees of Icemother 18 / 8
  • Needle Leafed trees of Duskmarch 6 / 5
  • Splay Leafed trees of Stormmarch 12 / 9
  • Splay Leafed trees of Underneedle 6 / 2
  • Splay Leafed trees of Icemother 4 / 1
  • Splay Leafed trees of Duskmarch 2 / 1

Vines

  • Fruiting vines of Stormmarch 2 / 2
  • Fruiting vines of Underneedle 1 / 0
  • Fruiting vines of Icemother 2 / 2
  • Fruiting vine of Duskmarch 0 / 0
  • Parasitic vines of Stormmarch 3 /0
  • Parasitic vines of Underneedle 4 / 1
  • Parasitic vines of Icemother2 /0
  • Parasitic vines of Duskmarch 9 /0

Water Plants

  • Reeds of Stormmarch 6 / 2
  • Reeds of Underneedle 1 / 1
  • Reeds of Icemother 6 / 3
  • Reeds of Duskmarch 0 /0
  • Aquatic Grasses of Stormmarch 0 / 0
  • Aquatic Grasses of Underneedle 0 /0
  • Aquatic Grasses of Icemother 2 / 1
  • Aquatic Grasses of Duskmarch

Unclassifiable Varieties

Cauldron Flowers of Duskmarch – Such were the result of an evil soil or noxious minerals found beneath the soil.  They are betwixt one and three cubits in width, flower upon the ground for no stem can hold the flowerhead aloft, it weighing so much as hog.  Its character is vile but it is thought to siphon from the earth all corruption for wherever such flower blooms for one year and is then taken away that soil is made fecund.  The largest flower seen in the Empire it is unlovely with black & red stained petals that appear to be made of flesh instead of fruit.  Its fragrance is potent and likened to the scent of cloves doused in rancid boiling fat which odor is attractive to the meanest of forest creatures that it in turn affects by its venom.  Trulkish guides describe a multitude of varieties common in the utterdark.

Glass Vine of Underneedle – Which vine is nemesis to all the woodwise folk of the ancient race of Euymer.  Called by this name for the quality of its needles which are invisible in the impenetrable twilight of the deep woodlands.  Such thorns as it is able to launch with vigor into creatures that merely stroke against its surface.  Thorns inflicted upon the bare skin will not be freed but must be worked out by the blood of the unlucky victim which is the means by which the vine perpetuates itself – it has in place of common seeds or flowers the scabs & mortal anguish of those it afflicts.  In legends it is said that the Culture Heroes of the Euyhmer woodland tribes, called Smahra would wield lengths of the vine as terrible armaments and were themselves immune to the scathing touch which is said to be painful to madness for all others.  Know it by its pale green flesh which is faintly luminous in starlight.

Amberfruit Tree of Underneedle  – Prized and for time out of mind a secret of the deep forest tribes before they were taught to read the famous forest amber of the Euyewood was used in place of silver coins.  Methods of manufacture of the amber slivers used by the barbarous antecedents of present Euye revealed the secret knowledge of the galvanic energy which force the woodsfolk wielded as a scourge to frighten away their adversaries.  The tree is a squat variety of needle leaf – short but quite wide.   Its amber bulbs sprout upon its branches and are like unto the fruits of other useful trees.  The ripening of this fruit into useable form requires many years of cultivation & the hardiness of the tree & its tolerance of darkness is why and how of its longtime concealment.

Coalchain vine of Duskmarch – Notorious by its virtue in defense and agriculture the famous coalchain appears draped over the streams that feed to the River Euyhmer.  Said to only grow in darkness the vines fruit in a novel fashion where its budding flowers gutter a permanent flame so that whilst the vine is in bloom its leaves are sunned and heated by its own persistent flame.  The truth of its existence was doubted for time out of memory but once domesticated the coalchain was bred for greater luminosity so that now whole plantations of the Duskmark are lit, not by the sun but by wreaths of living coalchain.

The principal uses and exports of flora indigenous to the realms of Raindrinker Kannylte and prospects of colonial farming within same…