L O S T
[Source]
Name: Ashia/Ashia Tree
Designation: Non-Sentient
Homeworld: Aurum
Language: Not Applicable
Average height of adults: 40'-80'
Skin color: White Bark
Hair color: Red Leaves
Breathes: Type I: Mostly Carbon Dioxide
Strengths: The Ashia is a strong and sturdy tree, capable of growing in even the most frigid of surroundings. They do not need to be around others of their kind to survive, procreating with themselves naturally, which can lead to groves of Ashia Trees in the most 'random' of places around Aurum. While the trees themselves are not sentient they have at their core sentient life in the form of the Vieda who are said to watch over and protect the groves and individual trees. The leaves of the Ashia Tree are poisonous if ingested too regularly.
Weaknesses: Owing to the fact that the Ashia are simply trees, they are incapable of any form of sentience and their movement is limited to that of slow growth which can permit branches and roots to expand further in any specific direction as well as the blowing of any wind which snags its branches. The tree produces no fruit and barely ever blossoms. It can only 'reproduce' once every century, and will only ever drop a handful of seeds which limits its chances. The Ashia Tree holds within itself the antidote to its own poison, in the form of its blood red sap.
Distinctions: The Ashia is a tree which can grow considerably large in size. Its outer bark is a stark white, similar to that of an exposed bone, while its leaves and sap are a bloody red. It bears no fruits and very occasionally (once every century) will blossom white flowers in order to disperse its seeds to encourage reproduction.
Average Lifespan: 1,000+ Standard Years
Races: Not Applicable
Estimated Population: Found Only Upon Aurum: Estimated at 12,000
Diet: Sunlight, Water, Nitrates and Nutrients from the soil.
Communication: Not Applicable
Culture: Not Applicable
Technology Level: Not Applicable
General Behavior: Ashia are able to grow within any area of Aurum due to the lack of seed distribution and thus a necessity for seeds to gestate while they can despite the conditions. They cannot move, simply grow across their vast lifetime while rooted in place.
History: As far back as Aurum has been live with sentients the Ashia has always existed. Once they were so vast that homes could be carved out of the trunk without damaging the tree itself, providing sanctuary for the Hava. At first they grew away from the mountain ranges, which were dominated by the Tejdóru and their fiery reign over the volcanic lands, yet over time, as the Tejdóru began to scrap over land and expand their territory, the Ashia had to adapt to be capable of growing upon the frigid mountainsides and the rest of Aurum respectively.
With the expanding of the Tejdóru, especially under the might of Volos the Quaker, the Hava had lost much of their nutritional resources and instead began to take from the Ashia in the form of its leaves and, during that special time of the century, even their blossoms. Naturally the Ashia evolved overtime to combat the drastic loss of its infrequent seeds and thus the leaves slowly gained a poisonous taint. It was not an immediate effect, as the Ashia was not fighting for dominance on the food chain, but soon it became enough that the Hava left the Ashia's branches in search of something else to feed upon and somewhere else to house their people.
Around the height of Volos' life a primitive starship landed upon Aurum, bringing with it a settlement of humans. Like the Hava, they found that the Ashia provided amiable shelter and their leaves nutrients enough to sustain them. When they began to fall ill from over consumption of the leaves the humans found alternative ways to survive, namely through the discovery of the Moolkirook, yet they remained within the protection of the Ashia all the same, having no way to collect rock from the mountainside due to the then-terror inspiring Tejdóru. In return for shelter the humans overtime began to worship the Ashia, seeing its time of blossoming as sacred.
Each century, roughly once per generation or there abouts, the humans would aid in the distribution of the Ashia seeds; as their small society grew they learnt to protect the Ashia from the blazing fires of the Tejdóru and thus their symbiotic nature began. As time passed the pair evolved into such co-operation that it became difficult to tell the pair apart, so attached were the two species to one another and their survival.
This continued on for millennia, following the same rituals of protection, creation and shelter, and overtime the Ashia evolved to contain within itself the antidote to its own poison in order to sustain the humans, permitting them to once more consume its leaves and even the blossom as the humans were distributing their seeds for them. The antidote was found within the sap, which could be obtained through the most minute of incisions to the bark. Yet this had another effect on the humanoids who began to change in biology, appearance and DNA to adapt to life with the Ashia.
The two species' became one, forming from the humans a separate species known as the Vieda. These beings were literally apart of the tree, living within its core. When necessary the Vieda would break apart from the Ashia without damaging the tree, in order to protect both of their interests by fighting off any danger and distributing their seeds. Within the core of any new Ashia another Vieda was likewise created, although any Ashia who had never been touched by the contact of humans remained without this core. The Vieda were able to survive without taking leaf or blossom, simply by tapping into the sap when within the Ashia, but the antidote never left the sap all the same due to a lack of necessity.
With the substantial decrease in both size and number of Tejdóru the Vieda remained within the Ashia for prolonged lengths of time, breaking away only to disperse seeds and reattaching itself naturally once the task had been completed. Now, the majority of Ashia house within them a Vieda due to the higher likeliness of their seeds being properly distributed with a Vieda to protect them.
Notable Player-Characters: Not Applicable: Cannot be PC
Intent: To add to the lore of Aurum and provide a base of origin for the Vieda.
[The Vieda and Hava will also be submitted to the Factory as soon as possible!]
