Salorisa
Modern Usage Note
For modern usage, see Saloryss on the Elanthian Flora Guide.
Salorisa
Salorisa shrubs are indigenous to the Wehnimer's Landing region. They are described as having reddish bark with twisted branches, and golden foliage in the form of small round leaves resembling gold coins. There are pink cascades of flowers which gave a "honeylike fragrance", being used for potpourri after being dried out, with the shrub "creeping" out by growing horizontally.
This is the contemporary (currently official) flora lore for salorisa in GemStone IV. The word is an unchanged I.C.E. Age term, whose archaic properties are described below.
Behind the Scenes
Salorisa was one of the few I.C.E. Age words that was never changed. They were originally toxic flowers, releasing poisonous pollen that killed large animals. The burial mound in The Graveyard is covered with them, implicitly making the whole area hostile to life in the spring. The flowers were still pink, but the leaves were blue. The blue leaves may have been intended to represent water, since the burial mound resembles an over-turned war ship. The flowers would instead symbolize blood in the water, since Bandur made a point of putting bellacorn ivory in the burial chamber.
The use of hazardous plants and fungi in areas associated with the Etrevions is consistent but mostly implicit in the archaic Shadow World history. Another subtle example involving the burial mound are the gorcrows, which the ghoul masters would be using as familiars. The idea is that they are directing the ghouls to assault intruders, who should be sleeping in the muck of the bog.
See Also
- "Elanthian Flora Guide" (original play.net version)
- Dreamvine
- Delphinuris
- Dirge-vaon
- Bladderwrack
- Saloryss (updated Elanthian Flora Guide)