Violilly

"I swear, every idiot from up North starts bragging at some point about how their homeland has some sacred bloomin' tree. They think they're sooo special. Well I've seen 'em all. Not even a month before they start wilting into shit-brown waste-on-the-ground. OUR homeland's trees bloom half the year round, and don't look like SHIT the rest of the time! Yet another win for Sothyrion, the greatest nation in the world." —Pamera Rushwell, beekeeper

Travellers of Haven's lands have often noted this peculiar piece of flora. Endemic to Pathiel and outlying islands in the Austral Sea, the Violilly is a large species of flowering tree. Its white wood hardens with age, and the nectar of its annual flowers is a source of many local goods and industries. Folklore has given the trees associations with youth, romance, and safety.

Characteristics

Appearance

The violilly is a long-lived species of tree, though logging and sap harvesting keep most of its trees below the age of 100. Its size, besides the ones that have grown too old and thick to cut down, is usually on par with a mature oak. The wood of the violilly is a creamy white color, spotted with some dark ash growths similar to some species of birch. Its branches and trunk grow straight for the early stages of its life, but begin to twist and gnarl with age. Older violilly trees have an almost labyrinthine canopy, stretching their branches into stronger braids rather than outward. Their trunks twist counterclockwise as they grow, at a rate of about 1 turn every 6 years. This keeps them stable as they grow taller.

The violilly's leaves in the off-season are gold, shifting to a warmer persimmon color during the winter to conserve as much energy as possible. They do not drop in the winter, like most deciduous trees' do. In the spring and summer, when the flowers bloom, the leaves become tinted a deeper lime color, absorbing more energy while sunlight is abundant. Its flowers have five long petals and are a luminous lavender in color. There is some variation between them, with some being a deeper violet and some being nearly white. Some trees that grow older have variation in color between individual branches as well.

Seasonal Cycle

From Maiden Spring, the violilly begins to turn its leaves deeper in color, slipping out of the yellow spectrum of hues into the limes. Buds develop on the ends of its branches during this time. Later into the month, its flowers begin to bloom across the entire tree. While some flowering trees become entirely overrun with flowers, the violilly maintains a balance of flowers and leaves for its 5-month flowering period. This lasts well into Silver Ash, when the flowers' petals begin to fall from the tree and the fruit begin to be developed.

The fruits ripen and fall within the last 4 months of the year. This winter period is when they are harvested as well. During the colder months, the leaves are more orange. As the warmth of spring returns, they return to the normal gold hue the trees are known for.

Cultural Relevance

Goods Produced

Many goods in Pathiel are made at least in part with materials sourced from the Violilly. The trees form a backbone for several of the industries in the Austral Sea, as well as making up a significant part of their shared identity.

Mead

Nectar from the violilly flowers is sweet and nutrient-rich, and supports a large regional population of bees. Apiary culture is well-developed in places that have a lot of violilly trees, and much of that honey is funneled into a brewing industry. Juices and sap from the tree, as well as more of the flowers' nectar, are mixed in for the fermentation process. Violet Mead, as it is known, is a saccharine drink and one of the staples of taverns and inns across the Austral Sea. It allegedly has healing properties and a mild aphrodisiac effect, though travelers from the other continents protest that this is a fabrication made by drunks and scammers. Violet mead is usually served cold and mixed with regional spices and fruits.

The honey itself is usually stored for later use, as making the mead as soon as the honey is available would yield it in the least popular part of the year for its sale. Pathiel's honey is noticeably different in flavor to that of other continents, as the violilly's nectar makes a large portion of its ingredients. Some beekeepers have enclosed properties with only the violilly trees available to their bees, making a particularly concentrated sweetness. The honey is usually fermented starting in the early summer, so it will be ready and aged by the time the trees begin to bloom again.

Wood

The wood of the violilly tree is soft and pliable at first, growing sturdier and denser with age. At about age 90, a tree begins to twist. Lumber yards that collect the wood usually aim to grow them to just before they start to do this, as twisted wood breaks apart easier and is harder to work with. The variable density and weight of violilly wood is one of its greatest assets and logistic challenges. Difficult to quality-control in bulk, homes made of consistent violilly wood are considered a marker of high class in many nations across the Austral Sea.

Violilly wood is a light cream color, easily stainable to any color one can find. Its fibers are woven into one another and are somewhat more resistant to splintering. The pulp gained from it makes for poor-quality paper because of this, and so violilly-sourced paper is a rare (and honestly needless) find.

Saturolle Fruit

The saturolle is the fruit that buds from violilly trees, usually harvested in mid-winter. It is similar in color to a plum, but with a thick smooth skin like a pomegranate. The flavor depends on its ripeness, usually a low-acidity and potent sweetness. Less ripe fruits become more tart and even acidic in flavor, which some people prefer. The inside of the fruit is dense with small seeds, which are edible but not nutritious. The fuchsia-violet flesh around the seeds makes up about 60-70% of the fruit's volume. Peeling and de-seeding a saturolle is a slightly tedious task, and some people opt to not bother.

Saturolles are often pressed into juices or made into preserved jams. Frozen desserts featuring them are quite popular in mainland Sothyrion and some of the hotter regions of greater Pathiel as well. By far the most well-known use of the lavender saturolle juice, however, is as an ingredient in violet mead. Its sugars and acids help the process of fermentation, but the juice and occasionally syrup added after the alcohol is complete give the mead its signature flavor.

Sugar

Sap from the violilly tree can be processed into decently pure sugars, almost as good as raw cane sugar. Tapping into the younger trees, whose wood is not too strong to pierce, is common practice even in some lumber yards. Some of this sugar is made into syrups, often mixed with other flavors to be served with many regional foods.

Raw violilly sugar is found across much of southern Bariquel, owing to its high value as an exported good.

Social Importance

Violillies are not just a source of the many goods Pathiel has to offer. They are important culturally as well, serving as important icons for many societies across the Austral Sea.

Honeybloom Festival

On the 24th day of Maiden Spring, a festival is held across all of the Austral Sea celebrating the blooming of the violilly trees. It's unknown which culture started this tradition, but it has spread across the entire region and been a unifying event since at least the 400s YM. The festival is one evocative of spring, and celebrates youth, romance, and regrowth. Sweets made from various violilly byproducts are made and given between close friends, family, and lovers as a symbol of bonds. The festival technically lasts through the end of the month, but it tends to die down quickly in intensity after the opening day.

Bee imagery and mead are two of the most important aspects of the Honeybloom festival. It's almost mandatory for anybody considered mature by their people's standards to partake in drinking for the first few nights of the event. Drinking competitions are quite common, and some people boast a badge of inebriation throughout the entire month. The spiritual roots of these practice have to do with the results of hard work, consuming a long-term piece of one's own labor to reinvigorate them. For those coming of age, the first drink of violet mead is an important rite symbolizing joining the labor force of the community. Bees, the progenitors of the honey used in violet mead, fittingly serve as symbols of community effort.

Romance is another theme heavily present throughout the festival. Partially facilitated by the alcohol, proposals and marriages happen often around this time. Certain high-quality sweets are specifically symbols of romantic or sexual desire, and something of a language of these gifts is present amongst the festival. Open-air theaters have a suite of romantic and comedic plays they perform during this time, often combined with brightly-colored and ornate costumes. The atmosphere is almost inescapable, though some turn to the rather encouraged practice of seasonal alcoholism to cope.

Folklore

The sight of a mature violilly tree is something most travelers regard as an awe-inspiring first experience. The permanent residents of the Austral Sea, having had much more time around these gargantuan trees, have made numerous tales involving or directly about them. Often, themes of young lovers caught between their loyalties show up. Some stories have people meeting around the trees to signal some future marriage, or even have them plant a new violilly as a symbol of lasting legacy.

The myths about the creation of violilly trees are many and varied. Most older cities have their own version of the tale, giving their founder credit for planting the first one (usually said to be a particularly large one in their city). Spirits and deals involving a deceased lover are also common among these. Reconstructing the original version of the creation myth is nigh-impossible, but derivative stories have become more concrete and more popular pieces of local lore over the centuries.