Twilight Ramblings 10 - Flora of Anyaral

[Carcharoth]

Following a request from Scalifano I thought I'd ramble on a bit about some of the plant life of Anyaral. As normal with ramblings, this isn't terribly coherent or structured, so feel free to ask questions about any of it!

The flora of Anyaral varies greatly across the continent, so this is a very brief snapshot!

In the prairies of the Casani territories the mighty Egorak are scattered across the landscape, great beasts feeding on the sharp little leaves, or sheltering from the sweltering sun under the broad canopy. Individual trees can live for hundreds of years and many Casani traditions and beliefs have grown around these trees.



North of the Casani territories where they border on the Argoran wastes very little plant life grows and the landscape is dominated by towering garkrid mounds. The hardy kerrik manages to survive even in these inhospitable lands, their gnarled shapes sheltering vicious biting garkrid that in turn protect the kerrik from all but the most persistent of herbivores. Fubarnii of the region will brave the heat and the garkrid bites to collect a sweat tasting nectar that is secreted by the plants that can be used as a seasoning, or even brewed into a potent drink.



The Gerilon trees are found primarily along the western coastlines, but their unique seed distribution system does mean they have been found across the empire. The gerilon trees have thin, flexible trunks and branches. Their ‘leaves’ form as spherical orbs which contain gas. Many engineers theorise that these gas filled balloons serve a dual purpose. Firstly, they assist with generating energy and nutrients for the plant, and the gases can be harvested for a variety of purposes. Secondly, when the trees are fertilised towards the end of the summer, the gasses within the leaf balloons change substantially and the connections to the plant wither. The balloons turn reddish and eventually disconnect from the tree, the lighter than air gasses lift them high into the air with a small cargo of seeds. Some balloons only travel a short distance, while others will travel thousands of miles if strong winds catch them.



The Bren trees are slow growing but hardy trees that are found across the empire. They have distinctive bulbous trunks and broad branches. Devanu often use the bren as nest trees while in more civilised regions young Fubarnii will climb them and build tree houses.



Across anyaral there are thousands of species of mushroom-type plants. These bear more than a passing resemblance to our mushrooms, but the underlying biology is often very different. The Frugin are noxious smelling organisms. Most of the fleshy bodies are underground, but they grow bulbous protuberances on the surface. These round growths contain millions of spores, which they release if disturbed. The gas surrounding the spores is particularly unpleasant and while not always fatal it will generally provoke the poor individual to release all manner of bodily fluids, which provides the spores with plenty of nutrients to start their growth. The flesh of the frugin is highly nutritious, and the job of frugin farmer is quite valued within towns, even if it is hard to get rid of the smell.



Other species of mushroom-type plants called egrun grow to a huge size, their large bodies growing very hard over the years and prove to be a useful building material. In some parts of the empire the egrun are carefully grown within a framework to give large robust dwellings. While this slow process is not common practice, this style of architecture has been fairly fashionable and inspired the rounded construction of buildings across the empire. Younger egrun are harvested for the tough fibres that grow through them.

The jeribo tree is a gnarly rounded tree that grows large seed pods on long branches that grow out from the main body. These seed pods are padded with fluffy, fibrous material that protects the seed within. Jeribo  tree is commonly found in the woods around Larigal. Jeribo fabric is exported across the empire as it is hardwearing and takes dyes well (although it is often a little itchy).

[Brandlin]

Ooh I like the variety here...

Egorak certainly look the desert plain / savannah type similar to earth's.
likewise Bren are odd enough to not look earth-like but similar enough to know they are trees to our human eyes.

couple them together and you get something a little like an African boaobab tree like this:


The Candelabra tree looks fun too:


The weirdest of your trees seems to be the Gerilon tree and I immediately started to try and figure out how to model one ...

You don't seem to mention what sort of trees might be present in the temeprate region - perhaps where the furbarnii empire meets the delgon lands?

[Carcharoth]

There are so many interesting trees on Earth that you can probably steal the design for many of them wholesale and nobody would be any the wiser. The egorak is originally inspired by vague memories of some rather cool imagery of Dragon trees I saw at some point.

The Gerilon tree was based upon some scenery built by Grubman that he shared on the FoD. I think he might have given some building suggestions as well.

Temperate regions would have their fair share of bren, including a shorter, slightly hardier variety. There is a species of plant with long straight branches that look very similar in colouration to our silver birches, but I'm not sure of the broader details yet.

[GregX999]

The Frugin are noxious smelling organisms. Most of the fleshy bodies are underground, but they grow bulbous protuberances on the surface. These round growths contain millions of spores, which they release if disturbed. The gas surrounding the spores is particularly unpleasant and while not always fatal it will generally provoke the poor individual to release all manner of bodily fluids, which provides the spores with plenty of nutrients to start their growth. The flesh of the frugin is highly nutritious, and the job of frugin farmer is quite valued within towns, even if it is hard to get rid of the smell.

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I just found it. And it made me wonder. What would the in-game effect be of getting too close to a cluster of Frugin? And would the effect get larger/stronger if you disturb them?

[Carcharoth]

Always feel free to resurrect old ramblings threads - you won't get any complaints!

I've never thought through any 'official' rules, but if you wanted to house rule some to give an interesting impact on the battlefield I would suggest the following:

Mark an area of Frugin plants by means of a template (which can actually be a few inches across). Models can move cautiously through the template safely. However, if anybody moves at full rate or takes a combat action while within the template then a cloud may be released. For movement roll a dice after each 2" of movement. For combat roll one dice for the attacking model and all supporting models that are within the cloud once all models have declared but before the combat is fought. On a 5+ a 2" gas cloud is released over the offending model with immediate effect as below. Note that a single combat with different sides supporting could result in several cloud releases. A moving model may be able to move out of the cloud that it caused, but if it fails its tough check (see below) then it immediately stops its movement.

The frugin would release gas clouds similar to that of the gushrak venting but considerably more noxious. I would suggest a tough check for any models within the cloud when it is released, or that enter it at a later time. If failed then they lose have all their stats halved (round down) and cannot regain stamina until they have left the cloud. If they pass then they still have -1 to Combat and support and cannot regain stamina while in the cloud.

The additional growth for the frugin would take a lot longer than in game effects, but the additional nutrients seeping into the soil might prompt additional cloud release from dormant nodes near the core plants. If any models have failed a tough check while in the cloud then during the next end phase cast 3 stones and place a 3" template for each success. Positioning of these should be randomised, but there isn't a standard approach to scatter for Twilight yet... Choose a random direction and place each template so that its edge is D6" from the centre of the original cloud.

Let kme know what you think!

[GregX999]

Always feel free to resurrect old ramblings threads - you won't get any complaints!

--snip--

Let me know what you think!

Sounds pretty nasty. I do have a couple suggestions to "maybe" make the rules a bit more streamlined (easier to follow while gaming).

If you say that the Frugin can sense the "panic" of their neighbors, then perhaps the rules can be based on "bases" of frugin rather than having to deal with so many 2" and 3" templates. The size of the template would just have to be decided upon... 3" diameter? 4" diameter? A CD? Or anywhere from 3"-6" in diameter.

1. If model moves within a frugin base, or ends its move in contact with a frugin base, or if there are models in contact with a frugin base during a combat, the base may release a cloud of spores.
1a. A model which starts its move inside a frugin base must roll a die. A roll of 4, 5 or 6 causes the base to spore. If the model moves cautiously, then a roll of 6 causes the base to spore. A model may always choose to cause the base to spore (he just kicks a frugin).
1b. A model which ends its move in contact with a frugin base can cause the base to spore if he wants.
1c. Any figures in combat inside, or touching, a frugin base will cause the base to spore on a 4, 5 or 6.

2. When a base spores, all the frugin on the base release a cloud of spores. Any figure inside or touching the base is affected by the cloud. Any figure within 1" of the base, or in combat with any figure in or touching the base, is affected on a roll of 4, 5 or 6.
2a. The affects take place immediately, right when the base spores.
2b. The spore cloud remains for the rest of the turn. Any model moving to within an inch of the base is affected on a 4, 5 or 6, and any figure moving into the template is automatically affected.
2c. At the end of the turn, roll a die for each base that currently has a cloud. On a roll of 5 or 6 the cloud stays for the next turn (perhaps the frugin keep pumping out spores - this way you don't have to worry about the clouds drifting).

3. The affects of the cloud would be as you already wrote. Take tough check - stop movement and all stats halved on failure, -1 to combat and support if passed. And can't regain stamina in either case.

A model could potentially be stuck in a cloud for an entire game - very nasty indeed!

Of course, a Gushrak would be immune. I'd love to see a frugin farmer model! (Perhaps I'll need to break out some green-stuff and have a go.)

I could also imagine a "frugin bomb" or "frugin grenades". Perhaps the farmer could be carrying frugin grenades.

[HannahFKW]

I modified the Games Workshop tree's a bit by sculpting some mushrooms on them (first lot of sculpting so not too brilliant) and I stuck a load of clump foliage on them too, and they see to do the job and seem to fit in

Han.

[GregX999]

That tree is brilliant! I've got those GW on my radar as well... I was thinking of using clump foliage on them, but know I know I will. And I think I just may steal your fugi idea as well. 

I really want to try to make some garkind trees/mounds too!

[Carcharoth]

Love the look of the tree 

I would be interested to hear if anybody tries out either variant of the Frugin rules (or something different)!

[GregX999]

Every time I read "frugin", my mind thinks "frickin'". (Or "frackin'" for your Battlestar fans!)

"Roll the frugin dice!"
"I did. I rolled another frugin 1!"
"Dude, your knight is so frugin screwed!"

 

[Megatron0]

How big do trees get?
Currently my clans capital is based around the bottom of one :/ so before i get any deeper into writing this I just want to make sure these things even exist in this world.
Im talking massive trees like there are buildings on it big.

[Carcharoth]

Big trees, but probably not 100s of meters across the base. Unless you can convince me otherwise  I do like the idea of treehouses etc, so could be convinced.
The forests have large trees of giant redwood scales. Maybe a bit bigger.

[Megatron0]

Well I'll but my Fubarnii clan on here big tree n all and ill just let you have a look at it

[HannahFKW]

That tree is brilliant! I've got those GW on my radar as well... I was thinking of using clump foliage on them, but know I know I will. And I think I just may steal your fugi idea as well. 

I really want to try to make some garkind trees/mounds too!

Awesome, glad to hear you like the little mushrooms
I've still got two more to paint up, but because they've turned out alright I might buy another box or two of them
Maybe even sculpt a few mushroom variants

Han.

[Lost Egg]

Lovely sketches and cool fluff for the world. Are there any sketches for the last two, particularly the egrun?

HN