Inking Erudus - Creating Vegetation - The Spineback Mountain region.
Creating Vegetation in a fantasy world
Today’s Inking Erudus, is different. I need to build the vegetation for the planet, so taking into consideration where the sis located, I tried to come up with plants. Below, I describe them.
Where is Erudus located and why would that affect plants life?
Erudus is located on the edge of the Milky Way by a lone sun. The nights are darker because the stars are further apart. It is colder here.
Because the planet is located so far from stars, other than its own, the environment is colder, and the surrounding light is bluer than on Earth. Radiation is harsher here and plants have to be tough to survive. The harsh wind and poor soils also affect how the plants evolves and grows.
Region - Spineback Mountain Region
Vegetation on the Spineback Mountains lives in hard conditions.
The terrain is windy, the slopes are harsh, and the blue-green color of the plants are so dark that they blend in with the rocks, and are often hard to see.
In order to survive the snow and wind, the plants are often covered in fuzzy materials or crystals. They also react to the magic in the wind, often creating leaves that whisper, and branches that hum and resonate with sound.
Sighing Sage
Sighing Sage is a shrub that lives in the lower regions of the Silverback Mountains. It is greenish-grey, and has long tongue-like leaves that murmur in the wind. When there are strong auroras, the leaves glow, and they murmur even louder. A thick coating of wax on the leaves helps it to withstand the wind and cold.
Masters of sound magic collect the leaves in the fall when they turn bright blue. Dried properly, the leaves can help to magnify sound waves, so that the magas can increase the energy of their magic.
The shrub also holds heat in its roots. Magical creatures have been known to rest by the plant when it is really cold.
Ice Scrub
A spiky shrub that grows from the crevices in rocks. This shrub is very important to the mountain people, because black fruit is produced year round. Many individuals, who got lost in the mountains when it was cold, survived by eating the fruit.The silver-black branches glitter with frost 90% of the year.
Jynx, and other shape shifters, love to rub their fur against the spikes. This removes knots from their fur and makes their skin silky soft. Other creatures avoid the spikes as they are too sharp for them to manipulate.
During storms, the branches resonate and play in the wind. It sounds like a hundred flutes singing. Masters in animal magic often use these branches to call animals to them.
Moontide Flowers
This plant grows lower on the mountain. It has cobalt blue flowers that grow on straight stems. Light bugs, cave birds, and tinga dogs, pollinate the flowers when they brush, shaking the pollen free, and sending it to the next plant..
During the evening, when the moon rises, the flowers softly glow and grow. It is not uncommon for the flower buds to grow twice their size in one night.
The pollen from the plants feeds many of the insects and small birds in the region. Without these plants, the whole ecosystem of the Spineback mountains would collapse.
Locals use the plant in their summer equinox celebration. During this celebration a woman will wear strands of them in her hair, and present a single perfect flower to the man she is romantically interested in. If the male accepts the flower, then the pair pursue a relationship..
Zazymane Grass
Grass that grows in mounds with large white tufts. When the tufts wave in the wind, they look like zazy cats running.
The plant is long living. It lives at least ten sols, remains alive under snow and ice, and produces seeds that are a major food source for magical animals on the mountain.
Hydra Grass
A grass that grows high up on ledges. They grow in thick stands around fissures and vents.
Dragons love to sleep near this grass, as the roots of the hydra, radiate warmth from the molten rock within, creating a warm region year round.
The dragons also eat the hydra leaves in the spring when they are tender. The minerals inside, act as a hallucinogenic, allowing the dragons to reach backward in time, beyond 10,000 sols.
The leaves of this plant are long and copper with black veins. The veins reach downwards to the plants roots where sometimes crystals form. These crystals are very rare and are used by the prophets to foresee the future. Legends say that great mages from the past, fought over crystals, because of their great power.
Glowytube Roots
A root vegetable that grows natively on the mountains. The plants are blue and glow when ready to eat. Locals mash, and roast these roots all year long, as the minerals in the plant are densely nutritious.
Skypods
A climbing vine that produces fruit that is sparkling purple. It is extremely bitter, but nutritious. Five berries can feed a grown adult for a day.
When the fruit turns black, it is often made into alcohol that is served at coming of age celebrations.
Mushies
A type of mushroom that grows only in caves. It absorbs nutrients from the mineral rich water.
The mushrooms are dried and mixed with Skypod alcohol to create a medicinal drink, that can be used like antibiotics in non-magical people.
If magical people are exposed to Mushie powder, or drink Skypod alcohol, they lose inhibitions and memory. This is usually short lived, but has caused political complications in the past.
Root Systems on the Spineback Mountain Range
The roots of all plants grown on the mountain, grow shallowly, in a wide net. Because the plants digest some of the minerals from the rocks they grow in, the plants are incredibly tough to dig out. This helps to stabilize loose rocks that threaten to fall down onto the villages below.
Other posts discussing the vegetation on Erudus.
Next Week
An introduction to the plants of the papas (prairie region) on Erudus.
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Good-bye for now. Have a lovely weekend everyone.
