Mandalorian Legend
G R U L Y R
C E B A T R
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a tree species that adds to Mandalorian lore.
- Image Credit: x
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- Name: Grulyr Cebatr Tree
- Origins: Kestri
- Other Locations: Unknown
- Classification: Tree
- Average Growth Cycle: Like most trees, the Grulyr Cebatr grows from seeds shed from a parent organism. Once a seed has found purchase in suitable soil, the tree progresses from infancy to maturity over the course of roughly a decade. During this infancy stage, the Grulyr Cebatr tree subsists off of nutrients stored both in the large seed pod that it sprouted fro, and the ground around it, creating a vast root network while it develops. Maturity can be recognized by the first blooming of an organism, where the tree begins producing its distinctive red foliage. Once this occurs, the tree begins relying on the process of photosynthesis to create nutrients for itself, as the substance in its seed pod is nearly spent by then. It is unknown how long a Grulyr Cebatr, undisturbed, can live for, and there are specimens on record that have lived for millennia. Given proper nourishment, a tree will continuously and slowly grow its entire lifespan. Malnourished trees can still surive for extremely long periods of time, but their growth is often stunted unless properly nourished back to full health.
- Viability: The Grulyr Cebatr is an extremely hardy organism, able to survive and even thrive in extreme conditions; hot and cold climates, wet and arid climates, all of these are extremes that the tree can weather. Hardier conditions can hamper its growth and development but rarely are enough to fully kill the organism, and there are even examples of organisms that hibernated extreme temperatures only to emerge still alive and thriving. Due to its origin of evolution on the frozen world of Kestri it is more comfortable in colder climates.
- Description: Named the Frost Jewel in Mando'a by the Mandalorians who discovered it, the Grulyr Cebatr tree is a unique species known only to be found in Kestri. It is identifiable by its chalk-white bark, blood-red foliage and extremely long lifespan. It is not known how old an individual can live to, as there are some individual organisms that are multiple millennia old and still thriving.
Due to its unique appearance, the Grulyr Cebatr tree has become an important part of Mandalorian culture, at least for those who live on Kestri. In sites of remembrance or respect, the Grulyr Cebatr stands tall where Mandalorians can contemplate on its beauty, long-life and survivability, a direct parallels to the Mandalorian Clans. Although it is unconfirmed through any field study, it is speculated that Grulyr Cebatr prefer to root in soil with high content of beskar ore, and under many trees deposits can be found. This may be the reason that the tree can only be found on Kestri, as the frozen world is one of the few places in the galaxy to have beskar deposits.
Grulyr Cebatr are rare trees to come upon; it is estimated that naturally only a handful saplings ever grow to maturity in a given century, and being found only on Kestri they could easily risk extinction if they were to be cut down. Unlike common timber trees, there are no vast forests of Grulyr Cebatr, and most specimens can be found alone or in small ring-groves of several sister trees. However, its timber is quite valuable; the wood of the Grulyr Cebatr is quite resistant to energy and kinetic damage, much alike the great Wroshyr trees of Kashyyyk. Because of its rarity, beauty, difficulty in obtaining and crafting, and resistant properties the wood of the Grulyr Cebatr tree is highly valuable.
- Average Height: 12 meters
- Average Length: 28 meters
- Color:
- Chalk-White Bark
- Crimson-Red Foliage
- Nutritional Value: None
- Toxicity: As the tree has no nutritional value to the average humanoid, digestion of its material can have anywhere from no side effects to severe indigestion.
- Other Effects: N/A
- Distinctions: Grulyr Cebatr trees can be distinguished by their unique coloring of bark and foliage, extremely long lifespans, and the soil in which they take root, for they seem to instinctively prefer and thrive in soil with a high beskar ore content.
- Ironwood: The wood of the Grulyr Cebatr tree has high damage resistant properties, making it extremely valuable. In addition, the tree prefers soil with high beskar ore content, meaning can be used to scout for previously-unfound deposits of beskar and vice versa.
- Longevity: The Grulyr Cebatr is an extremely hardy tree that can survive for thousands of years in brutal conditions. It is not known how long an individual can live if given the proper care, and it is possible that they could live naturally forever.
- Nutritional Value: The Grulyr Cebatr possesses no nutritional value to the average humanoid digestive system.
- Small Population: There are only a very small number of Gruly Cebatr trees spread across the small range of a single planet, making the tree vulnerable to extinction should large numbers be cut down.
Called the Frost Jewel in Mando'a, the origins of the Grulyr Cebatr are unknown. Clan Kyron records that Kestri was a barren world barely fit for habitiation before the extensive terraforming it underwent as a process of the Clan's settlement on the world, but whether the Grulyr Cebatr was brought over from a now-extinct species elsewhere in the galaxy, or a product of artificial intelligence-assisted bio-engineering is a question lost to time. All that is knonw of the Grulyr Cebatr's origins is that Clan Kyron highly revered the tree, planting saplings in ornate gardens and using its wood to craft elegant artifacts. From this behavior it can be assumed that the Clan cultivated individuals of the species for wood production, and that the Grulyr Cebatr's longevity, if bio-engineered, may have been an unsought-for product of its artificial origins.
After the fall of Clan Kyron to the Praetorite Vong, the tree's population became wild without its Mandalorian masters to tame and cultivate it. It spread far across the planet, seeming to almost unnaturally seek soil with beskar deposits. It remain untampered by the Yuuzhan Vong, most of which existed in hibernation or underground tunnels far away from the beautiful frost jewels of Kestri. They would be rediscovered by Mandalorians when forces of the Mandalorian Enclave retook the planet, finding a single old tree in the depths of what would become the Nua'na Memorial.
Now the Grulyr Cebatr is a highly-sought after specimen, both for its natural beauty and for the use of its wood in various crafting. The tree is somewhat protected by the Enclave, albeit informally, and to cut down one unceremoniously is considered to be of great offense to Mandalorians on Kestri. Perhaps in future generations the Grulyr Cebatr's hardiness, beauty and longevity will be a symbol for Mandalorians to see a reflection of themselves in.
