Fastwood Tree
Fastwood trees are a common sight in Middle America and beyond, valued for their quick growth. Tall and thin with short, leafy branches, they can be found both in the wild and under cultivation, and are used as an easy source of wood.
Fastwood trees are not natural, they were created by Old World genetic engineering similar to how uplift species like lupens and torens were made. Scholars believe they were first intended as a means of carbon capture to combat global heating and the other ill effects of the Old World's prolific carbon dioxide emissions. By planting fastwood forests in regions safe from wildfires, or by growing their trees and keeping the wood intact, atmospheric carbon dioxide could be sequestered into a handy, useful solid.
However, this was obviously not enough to save the Old World; it would have taken more than genetically-engineered trees to get it off its unsustainable path. Most scholars believe the trees were later refined by the Knowledge Foundation, which saw them as a potential fuel source for the age after easy oil and distributed them around the world as part of its project to ensure some form of advanced civilization and scientific knowledge would survive the Old World's fall. It is in this role they commonly serve in the modern day, being harvested for their wood which can be burned directly or worked into other forms of fuel such as charcoal or wood gas. The wood is also a building material, but can carry connotations of poverty when left visible in construction since it is cheaply obtained.
Stable, more wealthy nations such as Canada have many large plantations of fastwood trees to provide fuel and other materials for their societies. These are sometimes worked by conscript laborers such as those in the Fuel Corps, sent out to keep up the harvest year-round. Logs are then often shipped by rail or water to settlements where they are processed. Without fastwood, Middle American civilization would be even more energy-poor with less resources to devote to things beyond mere survival.
Fastwood trees are not natural, they were created by Old World genetic engineering similar to how uplift species like lupens and torens were made. Scholars believe they were first intended as a means of carbon capture to combat global heating and the other ill effects of the Old World's prolific carbon dioxide emissions. By planting fastwood forests in regions safe from wildfires, or by growing their trees and keeping the wood intact, atmospheric carbon dioxide could be sequestered into a handy, useful solid.
However, this was obviously not enough to save the Old World; it would have taken more than genetically-engineered trees to get it off its unsustainable path. Most scholars believe the trees were later refined by the Knowledge Foundation, which saw them as a potential fuel source for the age after easy oil and distributed them around the world as part of its project to ensure some form of advanced civilization and scientific knowledge would survive the Old World's fall. It is in this role they commonly serve in the modern day, being harvested for their wood which can be burned directly or worked into other forms of fuel such as charcoal or wood gas. The wood is also a building material, but can carry connotations of poverty when left visible in construction since it is cheaply obtained.
Stable, more wealthy nations such as Canada have many large plantations of fastwood trees to provide fuel and other materials for their societies. These are sometimes worked by conscript laborers such as those in the Fuel Corps, sent out to keep up the harvest year-round. Logs are then often shipped by rail or water to settlements where they are processed. Without fastwood, Middle American civilization would be even more energy-poor with less resources to devote to things beyond mere survival.
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