Vycoria   {vie-CORE-ree-ah}

plant of the planet Oraea

 

There is a tree with roots that creep, and which boasts a fascinating seed-spreading ritual: the trees travel, roots stretching until they settle over the bubbling springs and brooks of the planet’s lower hill slopes. Over a seven day period the roots open, slowly, to reveal a string of seeds - numbers widely variable - which dangle down and soak in the gently active waters until, one by one, they fall away to be washed away.

At this time the trees are quite the sight: their roots latticed over streams bouncing down the moss-motleyed mountainsides; the branches thin, stretching, expansive; precious leaves peeking out here and there, dappling the forest floor. Certain forms of life live for the temporary ecosystem created in these times when the migrating trees bring their gentle patterned shadow, and the lower light invites all sorts to emerge and tell their stories in their own ways as they live for these few days.

 

To make tisane with this ingredient properly: after the first 3-5 seeds have fallen, gather the remainder from the root and crush into fine powder until immediately before serving. For a far more potent effect: gather your other tea ingredients, crush the seeds immediately, mix all together in a permeable bag and leave them to soak just above one such bubbling spring for seven times seven days. Harvest more seeds. When serving, introduce the freshly-ground powder of the second seed harvest to the steeping of the second cup, and watch your world go woody.

When foraging on Earth, substitute cardamom.

Velendren   {veh-LEHN-drehn}

plant of the planet Oraea

Short bush-trees that grow around - and out of - the slopes and cliffs of Vasrev Velendren. Few forests on Oraea are named for a specific tree, but somehow that is how this forest-region's name came to be. 

The more wet the year, the more miniature belldrop flowers appear. These flowers hold droplets of water, glistening in the dawn and through the day as they slowly absorb the moisure; liquid that enters the plant in this manner - through the flower petals rather than the roots - reaches and enhances the oil that waits between bark and trunk, an oil which is the true brewing treasure. 

Eventually this oil will be coaxed out with an Oraean technology that uses frequency and sound rather than any cutting of any tree. The oil is dried, broken or cut into tiny pieces, and can then join any recipe. Notably, this resin will hold its flavor longer than many another ingredient. The ground around the trees is flecked and stained with the light spatterings of these oils, which shift color over time with extended and varying exposures to oxygen and light. 

It was in order to coax out this oil without harming the tree that frequency-based technologies - now so ubiquitous across Oraea - were first invented and finessed, in a legendary synergy of invention known as The Semevven Connection. 

It has been observed that the oil’s condition can tell the interested a curiously great deal about the overall health of the biosphere in which it grows, not to mention the immediate area - though some harvesters begin to suggest that a disconnect now grows between the inner tree oils and Oraea as a whole.

 

When foraging on Earth, substitute lavender.