Atan Irith/Flora
Atan Irith/Flora is an Official GemStone IV Document, and it is protected from editing.
Flora of Atan Irith: A Guide to Some of the Continent's Unique Flora
Healing Plants
Atan Irith has its own set of unique healing herbs; erithi typically brew these into teas, while the Inyexat more commonly will carry freshly foraged goods. As a side note, tea is pronounced the same in Erithi, Inyexat, and Gnomish, despite its different spellings (te for Erithi, ti for Inyexat and Gnomish). Because of this, it's almost as common for them to use the Common spelling as it is their own.
The Celestial Sedges: The continent of Atan Irith has several unique sedges, but none are more coveted by erithi and Inyexat alike than the trio of sedges known as The Celestial Sedges. Inyexat call them by their names in Common or Erithi when speaking around outsiders, as the Inyexi equivalent is considered sacred. In addition to their restorative properties listed below, each sedge has many other purposes, especially with the Inyexat's Children of the Starlit Wilds and the erithi of the Surath Dai.
Healing properties: A tisane made from all three sedges can heal missing limbs.
Sun sedge (also, sunsedge or ayra'saj): A vibrant yellow-green grass, sun sedge grows in cool wetlands, sporting vibrant yellow-hearted, orange blossoms that open only when the sun is highest in the sky. On shadowed days, sun sedge blossoms stay tightly closed.
Healing properties: Minor organ injuries
Moon sedge (also moonsedge or dalsu'saj): Normally appearing in a dull, greyish green hue, the moon sedge is a low alpine grass that grows in clumps in the far north of Atan Irith. Its flowers are similarly arranged in a small, clustered inflorescence. Most remarkable about the moon sedge are the qualities about it that give the grass its name. Its flowers are extremely delicate and susceptible to being singed by brighter lights and as a result only bloom at night. When they do emerge, they range in shade from the pale white of Liabo to the silver-grey of Lornon. Rarer specimens are Tilaok's burnt orange hue or even the bloody red of Lornon during its annual darkening event, which is said only to grow in areas influenced by fell magic or to mark unhallowed graves. Similarly remarkable, the leaves of the moon sedge also alter under shroud of night, the dull grey-green illuminating by moonlight with a distinct silver-hued nimbus.
Healing properties: Major organ injuries
A Special Note on Moon Sedge: A moon sedge variant is believed to grow in a few select locations in the far reaches of northern Elanith near Icemule Trace. This variant does not have the characteristic healing properties; indeed, it mostly is found in its vermilion hue, and rumors indicate it can be brewed into a poison.
Star sedge (also starsedge or xia'saj): Star sedge blossoms at twilight and has a natural iridescence on the bright green sepals cupping the pink-white blossoms. The healing properties are what draw the Inyexat – it brings back that which is needed to read the stars, their eyes. It grows only in the Undermere, but it grows in abundance. Out of all the celestial sedges, it is the one most sacred to the Inyexat. Cultivation is difficult but not impossible, and with Inyexat permission, some erithi towns do cultivate their own xia'saj.
Healing properties: Missing eyes
E'naso: The e'naso is a flowering herb whose ground roots provide healing to major nerve damage. Its clustering flowers are tiny and lopsided, with a bit of a lackluster scent by itself. However, when dried and crushed with the e'naso leaves, the fragrance becomes sweet with pleasing peppery and herbal notes. E'naso flowers typically range from ghost white to fuchsia, with a rare jacinthe version that grows naturally in the southeastern parts of Atan Irith.
The term itself is Inyexi, but both erithi and Inyexat use it.
Healing properties: Major nerve damage
Ghostvine: A leafy vine that grows around the base of ghostwood trees. Its berries are used in Inyexat ghostwines and dreamwines, while the leaves and vine have mild restorative properties. Despite its name, ghostvine is a vibrant green with crimson berries and small, bright blue flowers.
Healing properties: Minor nerve scarring
Ginlai: Part of the root family known as ginseng, ginlai is cultivated by the erithi for its flavor profile and healing abilities. Ginlai root, in fresh and powdered form, is a common component in erithi cooking, and the silver-veined, bright green ginlai leaves and cheerful yellow flowers add a colorful splash to soups and salads. Wild ginlai may be harvested in moderation, but erithi and Inyexat alike prefer to grow their own as the demand would quickly outweigh the wild supply.
Healing properties: Major limb scars
Jade Touch-Me-Not: Found in the temperate valleys across Atan Irith, the jade touch-me-not shrinks away from touch, its blossoms closing up and retracting at the merest brush of a finger. Its jade green leaves turn to pale silver when shadows fall upon them or at night, and this nyctinastic movement is believed by the Inyexat to be influenced by the stars. Thus, touch-me-nots (or inye'qotl, star-supplicant) are heavily studied and used in numerous alchemical compounds, magic potions, and even healing concoctions.
Healing properties: Reduction of diseases and poisons.
Kelpie's Mane Algae: With a name taken from human mythology, kelpie's mane algae is a bit of an Atan Irith oddity. According to scholars, several hundred years ago, Inyexat on a saq'gnovit (traveling ritual to Elanith) with a primary purpose of checking on their forest gnome brethren surreptitiously wound up befriending a group of humans from North Hendor. These new friends shared the stories of mythical horse-creatures from the waters, and the traveling Inyexat liked it so much that upon their return, they worked "kelpie" into several different things. Most of those may have been lost by the wayside, but one lake in the northeastern mountain ranges became known as Kelpie Lake, and the local Inyexat outposts called the algae found upon the rocks there "kelpie's mane algae" with such overwhelming majority, the local name for it was eventually lost.
Healing properties: Minor nerve damage
Lintilia: A type of linden tree, lintilia is common amidst the deciduous forests of Atan Irith. It has red blossoms that smell of honey and roses with lush, bright green, heart-shaped leaves. Tiny aphids are drawn to the lintilia, and it is believed their presence enhances the tree's healing properties. In addition, lintilia wood boasts a natural dark red-brown hue coveted by many woodworkers.
Healing Properties: The blossoms can heal minor organ scarring, while the bark works best on major organ scars.
Lunho: Known also as sea grapes, lunho is an edible seaweed harvested in the Agate Sea. The Atan Irith species of sea grapes has jade green "grapes" clustered along a crimson stem. Abundant and filled with nutrients, lunho often finds itself featured in the food of coastal erithi, and when harvested at the right time, lunho has restorative properties.
Healing properties: Minor blood loss
Meremallow: Growing wild in the Undermere, meremallow has a deep taproot with flexible stems branching freely from a centralized base with distinctive kidney-shaped leaves. It is a low-growing plant that spreads freely when allowed. Its five-petaled flowers come in the expected mallow hues of white to pale pink and lilac, as well as a more rare silvery yellow blossom with a burnt orange heart. All parts of the meremallow are edible; Inyexat often use the leaves and flowers in salads. It also has several potential healing applications.
Healing properties: Major limb wounds
Star-comfrey: A comfrey shrub, star-comfrey grows more in the moist areas near and around swamps and other wetlands. Flowers are star-shaped with a deep silvery blue hue, and the dark green leaves and stalks are thick and furry. Star-comfrey is poisonous in large quantities, especially if the root is included. In small doses and administered properly, all components of star-comfrey have healing properties.
Healing properties: Major head wounds for the flowers/leaves, major head scars for the root
Starspire: A stalk flower similar to snapdragons, starspires grow throughout the meadows of Atan Irith and come in a variety of colors, with an ivory, star-shaped heart where the petals meet. Their stalks and roots are potent restoratives, especially when made into a tea.
Healing properties: Major nerve scarring
Surath peony (laisura): The Surath peony or laisura was discovered by a prominent member of the Surath dai and is a favorite flower for many Surath. The laisura root has healing properties, but the primary attraction of the laisura is its beauty. The flower has distinctive, frill-edged petals with blossoms ranging from ivory to blood-red. A particularly coveted hybrid of laisura features ruffled crimson petals swirled with pale pink and white.
Healing properties: Minor limb scars
Vethajira comfrey: (also known simply as "vethajira") Growing only in the lowlands of the Vethajira mountains surrounding Tynathi-Re, vethajira shrubs have thick, furred stems with silver-green leaves and clusters of pale red flowers. Vethajira comfrey has several medicinal uses and is beloved by the nathaita, a mountain bumblebee.
Healing properties: Minor head wounds for the flowers/leaves, minor head scars for the root
Vixoql: Virulent green with unsightly yellow spotting, the vixoql is a type of toadstool found in swampy areas throughout Atan Irith. Despite its rather poisonous-looking properties, the toadstool tastes quite delicious and has mild medicinal uses.
Healing properties: Minor limb wounds
Flowers
Lotus, Spear's Point: Spear's point lotuses come in a wide variety of colors. Their defining feature is how each petal comes to a sharp, spear-like point.
Lotus, Teapot: Teapot lotuses have chubby, rounded petals and silver-veined green leaves. They are known for a fragrance that blends the scent of fresh tea with sharp lotus florals.
Lotus, Xan'ayra: The xan'ayra is a rare saltwater lotus. See also Erithi Fashion.
Lunar Lilies: Lunar lilies are a night-blooming lily, with different color flowers being more prevalent during different phases of the moon. While a diaphanous ivory is the most common, lunar lilies come in a number of jewel tones and attract glimaerflies.
Mereviolet: A type of violet found in the Undermere, mereviolets have a stronger than normal violet fragrance, making them a sought-after ingredient in scent-making endeavors. Mereviolet honey is also coveted, as bees frequenting mereviolets produce a delicately floral honey. Mereviolet distilled with orcbane berries and dreamgrass creates athsyla, a powerful and fragrant liqueur.
Moonspike: A gold-flecked, ivory dragonstalk variant, moonspike has jagged burgundy-spotted, dark green leaves and grows along the southern coast of Atan Irith. A dusk-blooming flower, it flourishes when Liabo is waxing. The flower has a slightly herbaceous scent with underpinnings of fresh loam.
Mountain Lotus: Found at high elevations, the mountain lotus (also called the snow lotus by the Yachan) is not really a lotus but a flowering bush whose blossoms closely resemble an aquatic lotus. Left to their own devices, the bushes grow into small trees. The wood of a naturally deceased tree is reclaimed by the people living near it and fashioned into small trinkets and jewelry. It’s considered good luck to have an item made from this wood. See also Erithi Fashion.
Scholar's-folly: Mis-classified as a type of thornless rose by an erithi scholar long ago, scholar's-folly is actually in the begonia family. Its blossoms are rose-like and come in a wide variety of colors, with a lavender-grey bloom being most popular.
Taqitzka: Taqitzka is a type of mountain paintbrush flower available in reds, yellows, and whites, and more rarely, a bright turquoise. A favorite flower of many Inyexat.
Veilmist roses: Veilmist roses are a vining rose originating in the Veilmist, a valley in northwestern Atan Irith known for its near-perpetual mist and fog. A hardy rose variant, the predominant characteristics of veilmist roses are the lavender petals touched with hints of silver.
Winterdrop: The aptly named winterdrop blooms near the onset of winter and thrives in colder climates, especially along the alpine areas of Atan Irith. Similar to the more common, white-petaled snowdrop, winterdrops range in hue from pure white to dark red, the latter providing the Inyexat nickname of "bloodspot" for the red variants.
Yinmai: Also known as Nathala chrysanthemums, yinmai are unusually large chrysanthemums with a strong, citrusy fragrance. Yinmai come in several shades, but most have some yellow or orange tones to them. The most common (and popular) color of yinmai is a vibrant tangerine. Found growing wild along the western shores of Atan Irith, the yinmai is often dried and used in shiri teas. See also Erithi Funeral.
Fungi, Lichen, and Moss
Aplixta: Aplixta is a type of bracken fungi found on decomposing ghostwood. It can be distilled into a strong liquor of the same name. Aplixta, the drink, has an herbaceous, slightly bitter taste, similar to gin but with earthier tones. Inyexat aficionados claim to be able to tell where the fungi itself was grown by the taste of a well-crafted aplixta.
Ghostlight mushrooms: Found in caves and near ghostwoods, these bioluminescent mushrooms are used in rituals by the Children of the Starlit Wilds. Finding them in a faerie ring is considered extremely portentous. They are ghost white in color with crimson gills. At night, the mushroom's rounded cap curls upwards, and the crimson gills glow beneath the night sky.
Nightmare lichen: Growing in abundance on rocky crags, nightmare lichen is brewed into tinctures by the Children of the Starlit Wild for its hallucinogenic properties when doing dream reading.
Star-seeking toadstools: The star-seeking toadstool is another bioluminescent fungi that grows only within the protected valley of the Inyexat. Like ghostlight mushrooms, it is used in several of their rituals. No bigger than a forest gnome's pinky, the star-seeking toadstools come in a variety of luminous hues, with the rarest being a glowing blue the color of twilight. Under the right alchemical processes, a special dye can be made in this color, known as akutet.
In Inyexi, akutet is used to describe a specific sort of twilight blue with a luminous glow, and it is also used to describe the glowing dye made from the akutet star-seeking toadstool.
Vexmoss: An unusual green-tinged, violet moss, vexmoss grows in springy clumps beneath apovta trees and is cultivated as a ground covering used decoratively in gardens.
Trees
Apovta: Also known as the tai'lon hemlock, as it is found predominantly in the Tai'lon mountains, apovta is a tall, graceful evergreen with soft green needles backed with silver-blue.
Ekata (also ekata yew): While yew is common across most of Elanthia, yew trees growing near the eastern coast of Atan Irith grow slightly taller than average, and their wood is a distinct purplish shade known as vekalu. No advantage between common Elanthian yews and ekata yew woods exists. The primary difference other than wood color is in toxicity. While all yews can be toxic, taxine derived from the ekata is more potent than other yew varieties, even casual touching of yew berries and needles can result in imminent cardiac difficulties if not total arrest.
Ghostwood: Scattered throughout Atan Irith, ghostwood trees tend to grow in small groves amidst other, more verdant, trees, but larger forests exist around Inye'vexl. Ghostwoods are deciduous trees reminiscent of birches with chalk-white bark and singular, spear-shaped leaves with lobed edges. The leaves are a green so pale as to be almost white, especially from a distance, and the trees' flowers are of a white to match the bark.
While the bark and flowers are popular ingredients in certain tisanes, the leaves are to be avoided at all costs.
Rhyming poems exist in Common, Erithi, and Inyexi and are taught to all children on Atan Irith. The Common translation is below:
Bark as white as birch,
Flower pale as death,
Leaves with hints of green, take away your breath.
Play in its shadows,
Smell all its flowers,
Touch not the leaves, or death comes in hours.''
Jadewood: Jadewood is a type of modwir found In the mountains of Atan Irith and named for the color of its wood. The heartwood of a jadewood modwir is a dark jade green with a silvery cast to its grain. See also Glassworking.
Nightwillow: A type of miniature weeping willow, the nightwillow often lines the banks of lakes and streams in southern Atan Irith. Its near-black bark and iridescent blue-black catkins give the nightwillow its name.
Other
Dreamgrass: A grass found around Inye'vexl, dreamgrass has mild, soporific effects and is used in numerous concoctions by the Inyexat. When distilled properly with mereviolet blossoms and orcbane berries, it creates a powerful liqueur known as athsyla. Dreamgrass is popular in gardens for its velvety soft, silver-violet color and its lime-touched scent. It is common to plant it around ivybriar bushes, as the two fragrances blend nicely together.
Ivybriar: A briary shrub, ivybriar gets its name from its leaves' resemblance to that of the ivy. Tiny white flowers dot the ivybriar, and its petrichor-like scent is popular in perfumes.
Orcbane: Found throughout Atan Irith, the orcbane bush's berries are an ingredient (along with the mereviolet and dreamgrass) used in brewing a potent Inyexat liqueur. Eaten by themselves, these purple berries stain the mouth and give one breath so bad it is said that one could "kill an orc by breathing on it." Orcbane plants have thick, spiky green leaves similar to a holly, with tiny, clustering yellow flowers that turn into the coveted bright purple berries.
Trollberry: The trollberry bush is an evergreen plant growing at high altitudes in the northern most mountains. The stunted trolls of northern Atan Irith coat their weapons with the juices of the plant's bright red berries, adding a mild poison. Inyexat alchemists further distill trollberries into a much stronger poison and often use it on arrows when hunting to quickly down their prey.
Valevine: When in its natural habitat of northeastern Atan Irith, the parasitic valevine is kept easily under control by the numerous herds of tiny red deer who like to nibble on it. However, when allowed outside the confines of these areas, valevine can take over an entire valley or vale (hence its name), coating the natural vegetation with its parasitic vegetative coils and deceptively alluring silver flowers. Inyexat and erithi work together to stop the spread of valevine, finding other natural predators and means of control in order to cultivate the attractive vining plant without destroying other ecosystems.
OOC Notes
- Created by GM Xynwen, 2022
- Credit to GM Gyres for inspiration on e'naso as a term
- Credit to Shan on Discord for the description of moonsedge. I may have tweaked it some, but it is almost verbatim an idea she threw at me in a Discord channel while I was discussing it.
- This will be a "living" document with updates made when new documentation on flora is released