Ghyll:Pziqq trees
DRAFT
What could be more beautiful than a grove of pziqq trees? -- Crambethous the Poet
The Subtle Tree Fight was a phase of the Conflict That Is Not Happening between the Endlessly Rising Staircase Movement and the Carsokians that ran from -97 to -94 EC and centered on the exploitation rights of pziqq trees in the
Pziqq trees were the greatest victims of the Subtle Tree Fight. The mining and countermining that took place disturbed the soils and killed many of the trees in the region.
Uses of the Pziqq tree
- The bark of the pziqq tree is one of the key components in the distillation of the Aurophylaxis narcotic. Careful harvesting of the bark can be done without killing the tree, but, unfortunately, too often, the alchemists simply strip a tree of large swathes of the bark, which fatally wound the specimen.
- Though it is not a good choice, some Fielding huts are built with pziqq wood.
- Prospectors study pziqq trees in order to determine the locations of useful mineral lodes in the ground beneath. While the specific methods used by these prospectors are closely guarded secrets, most of them involve burning leaves or small branches
Varieties of Pziqq trees
- Basic Pziqq
- Pziqq/Zhur hybrid - also known as the zhipee bush; produces stable, shippable fruit, unlike the true Zhur Fruit.
- Mountain Pziqq - variety found in Sarfelogian Mountains and other positive attitude regions.
- Scrub Pziqq - a smaller, surly, more gnarled-appearing type, similar to the Mountain Pziqq found in the Jorvyll mountains.
- Pziqq Wormwood - "some of the best wormwood originates from the Pziqq trees on Kluvat Peak in the south-western edge of Jorvyll."
- Pziqq Ghoulwood - pziqq is moderately susceptible to ghoulwood conversion. It is much more amenable to becoming ghoulwood than resistant trees such as Hungfold, but is not as susceptible as other types, such as sphoxolis.
Notable Pziqq facts
- "Po Mountain would be "just another" rock were it not for its "famous" inhabitant, one Sarfl, an ex-Brother (of the Lantern) who lives in a hut built from the wood of long dead Pziqq trees."
- Many pieces of furniture that are supposed to be made of tablankel wood are actually made of pziqq wood. Tablankel green hues are very difficult to match precisely. The bluish hues native to pziqq are likely to show through over time, and the trained eye will also readily note the different grain structure between the two.
Dibbeth upon this. --Brother Arfrus 21:15, 3 Sep 2005 (EDT)
NOTES:
Zhur Fruit (Orig. phantom) - There is one known variant, a hybrid between the shrubs and Pziqq trees, that grows about half as tall and has blue fruit. The fruits are not quite as flavorful, but ship exceptionally well.
Aurophylaxis- Aurophylaxis, the substance in this case, is a highly potent narcotic formulated from a mixture of spelgof, the bark of a Pziqq, and just a dash of deathbug venom.
jorvyll - while Pziqq trees and mountain meadows are found in the Sarfelogians
Fielding hut - Pziqq trees are sometimes used, though their bark is very rough and makes it hard to work with
Conflict That Is Not Happening - From -97 to -94 EC a cadet branch of the Carsokians fought a lengthy war of mines and countermines with the Endlessly Rising Staircase Movement over the droit d'exploitation of the Pziqq trees that grow in the upper slopes of the Sarfelogian Mountains. As often happens during the more violent phases of the Conflict, the ending was inconclusive, as Pziqq trees have deep taproots and can no longer grow in the disturbed soil. The ecology of the area is expected to recover by approximately +100 EC.
Sarfelogian Mountains - The mountains are rich with Pziqq trees which generally mark the sites of rich mineral deposits.
Wormwood - Some of the best wormwood originates from the Pziqq trees on Kluvat Peak in the south-western edge of Jorvyll. Of course, this is due mainly to the superior quality of yesticale worms which like to nest in ghoulwood made from Pziqq tree armoires native to that area.
Po Mountain would be "just another" rock were it not for its "famous" inhabitant, one Sarfl, an ex-Brother (of the Lantern) who lives in a hut built from the wood of long dead Pziqq trees.
Endlessly Rising Staircase Movement - The Endlessly Rising Staircase Movement first rose to the public eye in -97 EC when they succeded in garnering the droit d'expoloitation of the Pziqq trees in the Sarfelogian Mountains by doing battle with the Carsokians. This droit is currently quite useless to the Movement, however, as the battle-tactics of both sides were far more effective in destroying the Pziqq tree ecosystem than the enemy. In fact, the Movement's "victory" was rather an inconclusive one, as the Carsokians seem to have given up in disgust over the lack of trees for which to fight. Rumor has it that the battle will re-engage in approximately 100 EC when the ecosystem recovers.
