Wandering trees

This is the journal of Javiden of Incaras, Knight of the Griffin Rider order of Incaras and registered Hunter of the Hunter's guild. These are my notes of the mystery region which the inhabitants call Hakat.

Across the Hakat one finds the Wandering Trees. They are fat round boles with trailing runners and roots and many branches. There are two varieties. The Rolling Trees and the Floating Trees. They are called Wandering Trees because they drift and move across the land, stopping and taking root temporarily only where there is water. They are small, typically only 15 to 20 ft tall and half that wide in the bole of the tree.

Rolling Wandering trees have large wide leaves that catch the winds. The runners and roots stick out of the trunk in all directions, as do the leaves. A well watered Rolling Wandering Tree has a trunk filled with water. As the water drops, the hollow mesh of the interior fills with gas and the tree rises, pulling out or casting off roots and runners. It then drifts in the wind, rolling and tumbling until roots or runners find water. These then quickly drill into the soil or worm between cracks in rocks to anchor the tree.

The Floating Wandering Tree has developed a magical trait of levitation. It remains upright with clusters of small, circular leaves, levitating just a few feet above the surface of the ground. Water negates the levitational property in a watered Floating Tree. When the roots or runners that drag behind the tree encounter water they quickly twist around any anchors and pull the plant down to the ground where more roots and runners can soak up moisture. The fresh sap of this tree conveys the levitational property when dried and the Hakatskaziu harvest it and use it on the skids of their Kaavsch: The sandship as well as for small toys, moving heavy items, and skimming boards that they stand upon and push with a set of legs. The sap is destroyed by boiling.

Wandering Tree sketches. Floating (left) and Rolling (right)

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

The trees  spread by both seed and breaking off runners.  The seed are surrounded by sweet-sour flesh, and this is inside a nut. The flesh has a smokey flavor with a touch of onion in the Rolling Wandering tree. The Floating tree has a taste of custard and produces a light, bubbling sensation when eaten.  In either case, the nut matures and falls where the trees have taken root.  Heat and sun bake them on the tree or on the ground and they crack when wetted.  The Sandswimmers which are like lizard-fish eat them and spread the seeds.  Others take root where they fall.

Growth Rate & Stages

The Trees sprout in water, soaking up several times their volume and rapidly growing. Wandering trees may grow an inch a day or faster. When the water is gone, they assume the wandering life they are known for.

Biological Cycle

Wandering trees can live for hundreds of years according to Hakatskaziu scholars. The settlements keep cultivated Floating trees for the sap and fruits. In both the Rolling and Floating, the bole can be hollowed out as a barrel, though sap within the small spaces of the wood causes Floating Tree barrels to be very light weight and prone to loss if not well full or tied down.