THE
BLACK
BIRCH
TREE |
The Black
Birch is a rather dark tree, with bark that tends to be a deep black and adorned
with white horizontal lines that appear like scars. The leaves are also a dark
green or dark grayish-green and are larger than other birches. The tree is
typically extremely sturdy and the wood is hard and close-grained.
Appearance. The Black
Birch is known for its dark appearance. It has a dark black bark that isn’t as
thin or as paper-like as the bark of most birch trees. The tree is adorned with
small whitish scars that run in short horizontal lines over its trunk and its
slender branches. Its twigs are small and have a delicate look to them. The
shape of the tree is a tall globe above a long, slimb trunk, with a rounded top
that gives it a full appearance. These trees can reach anywhere from 18 to 24
peds high. The leaves of these dark birches are a little larger than most birch
leaves by a few nailsbreadths. These leaves are a dark green to dark
grayish-green color. The soft 'cones' of the Black Birch are about half as big
as the leaves. They’re usually a dark brown or dark reddish-brown. The cones
grow upward from the joints between the branch and the leaf-stem.
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Territory.
The Black Birch can be found from the Shaded Forest all the way to
the Quallian.
It lives primarily in the Hovel Frond Forest, where some believe the tree
originated among the Diorye’oleal
Dark Elves. It can also be found in the
Bolder, though it has never been found
inside the Thaelon.
Additionally Black Birches have
been spotted as well in the
Goltherlon Forest, the
Paelelon and the
Almatrar.
Usages.
The Black Birch is used for bow making, though
bows of Black Birch require a strong arm to
string and thus aren’t as popular as most other bow
trees. They are, however, able to carry an arrow rather far. The Black Birch is
also used for making arrow shafts because arrows made with this wood tend to be
more durable and last longer than most other woods, rarely splitting or
fracturing. The Black Birch is also popularly used for making furniture because
of the wood’s hard and close-grained properties.
Reproduction.
See main Birch entry.
Myth/Lore.
The well-known myth of the Black Birch dates back to
the fall of Fá’áv’cál’âr and the infamous
Avásh’aelía, known to
humans as the
Bone Queen. It is said after the Final
Wars, Avásh’aelía and Sohlim, her
brother who by then was known as Saban the Second, migrated to Southern
Sarvonia, but on the way, while in the Hovel Frond Forest, their emotions
erupted in a furious disagreement that to this day is unknown and lies only in
theory and imagination. It is believed by most that Saban was disturbed by his
sister's bloodthirsty nature and wished her to be
exiled, fearing that one day she would try to usurp away his power.
He left her in the Hovel Frond Forest, and it is believed that, as she wandered
there in all her sadness and anger, Black Birches grew in her footsteps, as
black and as scarred as her soul. Though, as legend goes, she has since returned
to the haunted marshes in which Fá’áv’cál’âr
resides, the trees still grow in astonishing numbers in and around the Hovel
Frond Forest...
Information provided by
Rayne Avalotus
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