The Crystal Forest
Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:34 am
About
The Crystal Forest; one of Karnor's most sought after date locations & a farm of sugar crystals. A romantic trip through the pathways carved by the locals reminds one of the true beauties of the world. Between the crystals themselves, fauna, and flora, the travelers, visitors, and collectors alike all find something wondrous about this forest.
Crystals of varying sizes and types grow in clusters around the landscape. Most are simply large, beautifully grown sugar crystals inlaid with aether that speeds their growth and gives them an aetheric glow- though how such aether mingled with the growing crystals is kept secret by The Bulwark.
The Crystal Forest is also where much of the exotic sugars of the free cities are mined from, though due to the neutral nature of the Settlements they do not directly trade nor make deals with any governments or cities. Instead, they invite individual travelers to mine what they need. After all, without their mining the forest would become overgrown and set off the balance of the ecosystem contained there. Their closeness to Kalzasi and Shemask means travelers and chefs often venture out in search of new strains of sugar. Due to the aetheric properties of the crystals, rain nor snow melt these sugar clusters, and instead harden and compact them. The larger, more clear a crystal is the more dense it's sugar and the more potent it's flavor.
It is recommended that any sugar one mines from the crystal forests is thoroughly washed- after all who knows who might have licked it?
The Bulwark
Protectors of the forest, guides to the lost, and keepers of secrets, the Bulwark is a group of about fifty people from the Crystal Settlements. Their main job is to protect the crystals from those who may be too greedy, and steer any wishing harm upon their forests away with illusion magic or force if necessary.
Second to the protection of their people and the crystals, is the keeping of secrets. The large amount of free flowing aether around the ecosystem means every so often something new and strange comes to light, and while some things are harmless and perhaps beneficial- not all are so. Trees have moved seemingly on their own. Pathways shifted. Even the plants seem to change in shape and type every few years. But more than that are the deepest secrets of the forest. Should they come to light, the Bulwark believe it may put not just their own forest but the world at large at risk.
The Crystal Settlements
The locals of the forest. Compromised mostly of Siltori and Fae'ethalan, they are a simple people who have an unyielding faith in each of the Greater Gods- twelve settlements are scattered throughout the forests each with a small family dedicated to praying to their families chosen god and upholding the balance of the forest. With the gods as their guides, they seek to impart wisdom and the knowledge of their forests to all who come.
Generally friendly, they welcome outsiders with open arms and different sweet delicacies to partake in. Though, they are a vegetarian people, and prefer not to eat the fauna that preside around them and instead share their meatless dishes with new friends from other cities.
Fauna & Flora
The Crystal Forest is one of magic and sweetness, that is for sure. But there is so much more to this place than just it's crystals. The Mid-Day sun sprinkles through the treetops and casts it's light upon the far reaching vines of this forest. Sometimes it's hard to tell where one vine ends and another begins, but most seem to grow in patterns that lead travellers through the pathways defined by the locals. Whether it be some strange cognitive power of the plants or simply the vines desires to avoid direct sunlight, their rough tendrils stray from the ground and are rarely seen touching the earth itself. Countless wildflowers that grow at the base of trees or in bright, tall bushes are sure to enchant visitors to pick and prune their petals and present them to loved ones. After all, where else would you find a bioluminescent rosebush?
Aside from the smaller fauna and flora, there are two main culprits to the Forests fame. The Pebbys, and the Sugar-puff Trees.
Pebbys
Much like bees, the Pebbys are pixie-like creatures who pick pollen from the high sugarcane flowers atop the trees and grow sugar crystals for their own consumption and breeding. Different species of Pebbys produce different flavors of sugar, and with the help of freely flowing aether are mass producing the sugar crystals of the forest. The more crystals, the more pebbys. The more pebbys, the more crystals.
They are a docile creature, and tend to make the largest crystals their homes. The male of the species will fly high up into trees, picking small lumps of sugar and beginning to grow them over time into large crystals of varying shapes and designs. The larger and more creative the crystal, the more of a chance a male pebby has at attracting a mate. Often female pebbys will watch multiple males build the crystals and in the end, chooses the one that fits her desires. Once chosen, they will both begin eating through to the center of the crystal to produce offspring. It only takes a month to produce offspring, of which there are usually four to five at a time. After a span of two months, the adolescent Pebby will have grown to 'adulthood' and leave the nest to create it's own crystal and family. Pebbys generally only live for up to twelve months, and once they do their bodies decompose into the sugar they sustained themselves on throughout their lives and fill in the gaps inside the crystal originally made by them. For this reason, it is considered unethical to mine any crystals with nests still open.
Sugar-Puff Trees
Much like sugar-cane stalks, these trees product sugarcane. But then again, they're not truly trees. Instead they are some of the worlds largest flowers and classified as trees only due to their size and trunk. However, unlike their smaller cousins, these trees reach nearly fifty feet tall or higher. Their branches start high up acting as canopies that intertwine with one another and only let small sprinklings of sun into their depths. This creates a humid, sweet ecosystem below that smells of sugars and herbs as the plants and fauna below suck in the sugar in the air. Pollen is taken from the flowers atop it's branches and brought down to create the sugar crystals below. Make no mistake though, just because it's flowers are sweet does not mean it's trunk is.
The Caves
Not much is known about the caves, only that the unlucky few who have ventured into them have never returned, and the entrance is constantly changing location. Some believe treasure to lie beyond its depths, while others believe it to be a portal to the after life. Whatever it is, should someone come across it they are advised to always stray far from it. No matter what they may hear coming from inside...
Quick-Sugar Marsh
Much like the Sugar-Puff trees, the ground of the forests have been littered with puffballs of sugar. Wafting through the wind, they spread their seeds across a beautiful clearing in the forest. However, unlike the crystals, these sugar flowers are susceptible to the rain. Upon rain storms, thousands of sugarpuff flowers will melt into deep pools of melted sugar. Heavy, sticky, but sweet, these quick-sand like swamps are created only in the heaviest of rain storms and trap everything from butterfly to brute. For this reason it's recommended not to travel during or directly after a rainstorm. However, in the drier months of Searing headed towards Ash, the flowers bloom from their own melted corpses and once more produce beautifully blooming sugar puff-ball flowers that are often munched on by child and fauna alike.