Bestiary

5 entries found.

Hirin
level0
Hirin, or root cactus, is a crop plant that can be cultivated in the Drylands (unlike Maugey it does not thrive on the Twilight slopes). The above ground part of the Hirin just resembles twisted and thorny stems of a dusty grey, without leaves. The plant is grown for the large ridged tubers in which the Hirin stores water. As well as the milky sweet liquid in their cores the roots can be pounded and ground into a starchy meal which can be used as a substitute to Maize flour.
Hunut
level0
The Hunut is a Drylands tree with a high tolerance for drought. Like the Zerom Tree isolated Hunut can be found growing in the Razor Grass plains. A Hunut stands 2 to 4 times the height of an adult Keldian, the narrow trunk topped by a flourish of short branches each of which end in a cluster of spiky leaves. Although the Hunut provides no fruit, the flower buds and seeds can both be eaten, and the bark can be stripped and used for weaving. The wood of the Hunut is dry and fibrous, no use for building and providing no relief for a thirsty traveller.
Kail Tree
level0
Kail Trees are large black and purple trees, their long curling branches forming thickets that hide their faintly glowing lilac fruits. The meat of these fruits is one of the main sources of food in the wilderness of the Twilight lands, outside the fields of the City States, and crews of slaves are often sent out to gather them despite the danger of wild creatures in the woods.
Maugey
level0
Maugey Cactus is a hardy plant native to the Drylands. The cactus has a thick barrel shaped core, surrounded by layers of fleshy pointed leaves, armed with long sharp spines. Maugey can be found scattered amongst the Razor grass wherever the rocky ground gives some space. Every year they throw up tall spikes covered in small bright flowers, and then produce sweet red fruit with a hard waxy rind.

Maugey Cacti are cultivated in many Drylands settlements, and almost every part of the plant has a use. The pulp can be squeezed and drained to collect a milky sweet sap that is used to flavour food, or to turn into a white alcoholic drink called Pulque. Distilled, the same sap produces Mezcal. After draining, the pulp can be pounded flat and teased out into fibres to weave into cloth, while the thorns can be used as needles. The heart of the plant can be hollowed out to allow the sap to collect in the space, or many hearts can be uprooted and processed to make the drug Menik (although this requires the destruction of numerous full-grown plants). Maugey fruit is also edible, once the rind is peeled off.
Night Flowers
level0

This is a generic term for the large and phosphorescent flowers of the Twilight lands. While many of these plants are poisonous someone with the appropriate survival skills can recognize those that have sweet sap (Heal D6 lost through hunger) and which can be cut to give fresh water. There are as many local varieties (and names) for these flowers as there are Twilight villages, and many can be cultivated as food crops. Gardens of nodding blooms are a common site around little village huts.

Some common varieties include:

  • Anzuluma - Wine can be made from the cut vines
  • Burru - Produces sour blue berries
  • Girin - White and Pink edible flowers
  • Hashur - Fist-sized sweet orange fruits
  • Munzur - All parts very bitter, yellow flowers can be eaten
  • Nisag - Flowers can be pressed into wine
  • Nug - Bitter fruits, roots can be boiled (raw are poison)
  • Nuruma - Poison berries, edible shoots
  • Sahharu - Small flowers, peppery garden spices
  • Shennur - Heavy seed pods produce nectar, or be made into paste
  • Silum - Edible, sharp, red flowers
  • Sur - Green shoots and flowers, new stems are edible
  • Té - Yellow flowers dry to orange pods that can be used as spice
  • Tudsum - Mildy poisoned, seed heads swell to bulbs usable as a spice
  • Umah - Grows in the mud, flower pods edible
  • Zulum - Plant stings when touched, green flowers can be eaten

See also Kail Tree