Death Scrabble

"For, to their horror, the little shrubs with the crimson roots had moved overnight! Or scrabbled about, as it were, hence the second part of the name those now bear--death scrabble. Further examination revealed a species with root motility as its means of ambulation." --Emeril Cates
Death scrabble--a semi-intellifent shrub with impressive, if limited, mobility--would seek sources of blood and it was often spotted in graveyards in the days following a burial. But it could be found anywhere blood was to be found either on the surface or within reach of its many long, prehensile roots. The roots were protected by what appeared to be a smooth, crimson flesh but which was, upon closer inspection, an endless series of impossibly tiny scales which interlocked in such a way that the flexibility was nearly identical to that of a chameleon's tail. Atop the roots, stalks not unlike oversized rhubarb stalks. The foliage atop those stalks gives the plant its name, for they are a deathly gray-green and seem to be coated in tiny, black crystals.
The crystals can be extracted, but often at great cost in terms of suffering and of lost life. Those bound in slavery or subjected to abuses as prisoners of war could often be found combing the spiny leaves with calloused, shred-scarred hands and a deathly pallor to their skin.
Those in more advanced states of exposure had pustules appearing on their arms, hands, necks, and faces. Within a week of the first pustules, death would follow unless the individual was completely removed from exposure for a week or more, at which time a near-complete recovery was often possible, if slow--those reporting 75% or greater recovery reached that point in 3-4 weeks on average, and the process only slowed from there. But 90+% recovery rates were common, and complete recoveries not unheard of.
Those who sought these crystals knew exactly why--they were unconcerned about the crystals in their tiny, natural form and preferred them gathered and smashed like grapes in a vat. Why? The fluid, or juice, if you will, of the crystals is a combustible fuel source of such previously unheard-of power levels as to topple nations. Interestingly, plant life in areas of death scrabble is exceedingly abundant and healthy.
The scrabble feeds the nutrients of those it kills (once individual needs have been met) into a massive, interconnected root system one might call the World Wide Wood in today's parlance. Some of the world's rarest and most delicate trees, plants, and shrubs can be found flourishing in death scrabble territory. The death scrabble itself prefers the shade and its ashy appearance adds an odd, silver shimmer beneath overhangs and stands of trees in a surreal landscape of abundant fruit trees, bamboo, and perhaps the oddest detail of all--shockers. Shockers are little bug-like blasts of what one might be forgiven for calling it living electricity. They seem to appear only in areas abendant in both death scrabble and local flora and fauna, and will protect all plant life, prioritizing death scrabble.
Healthy fauna levels are also important to death scrabble as a food source, though the extent to which the scrabble itself considers this is a matter of some debate. Scrabble has some access to intelligence via a thread-like, complex nerve bundle that runs beneath the tiny, flexible, protective plate-like scales.
Those scales can also be farmed, though it is easier to do so once the plant has been stripped of crystals and leaves and easy access to the root sheath has been made possible. It is notoriously difficult to break int the sheath, and doing so releases a thick, oily crimson sap prized by sailors and pirates everywhere for its dependable viscosity and purity.
The scales can be used to make legendary armor, but an enormous number of the tiny scales are needed. Elves consider it evil to fashion armor from it, though some blame their refusal to give up the secrets of elven metallurgy to the profluence of demand for what is called "root armor" on the black market.


The aforementioned sap is an amazing fertilizer, but hard to come by in such quantities, so it is often diluted and sprayed over crops, usually only at very large, successful farms that can afford the exceptional quality of crops, though some worry that the death scrabble's role makes the resultant crops dangerous. There is no proof of this as yet.
Death scrabble is absolutely sacred to some cultures and a scourge to others, so it has become a fairly common way to test people early in a relationship, often on a date. Whichever side you're on, bringing it up is a surefire way to find common ground (or a deep division) right away.
Opponents of death scrabble:
The opponents of the plant are those who want to see it eradicated..."the vile death vine [sic] should be laid to rest so our dead can rest," Emeril Cates once opined, the young explorer and son of the notorious iron tycoon, Esley Cates. Esley, the senior Cates, was bested in both wealth and popularity by his former wife and the current and reigning queen of the Chalderine line of taiga Red Locust elves, Her Majesty Queen Danuma Waterling of Chalderos.
The great queen of the northern taiga elves (contested by two other taiga elf houses whose combined power posed a manageable threat--though they rarely agreed to combine power for any reason) and the iron tycoon of the north were united in little beyond their love of their children and their hatred of death scrabble, though that didn't keep them together once the kids had reached adulthood.
"Sticking it out for the kids" was another hotly debated topic of the time. It was the choice the queen and the kiname made together. 'Kiname' (kih-NAH-may) is a common word for 'king in name only," or the powerless king a reigning queen marries who will not have his own line if not through the queen. The cool indifference or the acronym's meaning led to the profluence of its stand-alone use as an acronym which softened in meaning over time and often abbreviated to a more casual "kin."
Proponents of Death Scrabble:
It's natural itself and it feeds and heals the world around it. It is safe to live near so long as it is respected. Families with children are advised to seek homes in communities inland from any death scrabble-threatened areas. Reported deaths in communities that follow reasonable guidelines to respect nature and protect our children are below the average number of comparable deaths from falling off a ladder.
If the danger is taught and respected, the risk is minimized. There is no region one can live in without any risk, and trying to eliminate risk by destroying the local ecosystem is not the way to proceed. And this is no ordinary weed, though that much-maligned category of plants needs more attention as well.
This scrabble makes it possible to grow almost anything...rare medicinal plants and herbs, fragile and beautiful blooms, and unusual plantlife sometimes found nowhere else. Speaking of which, the 'living electricity' could have fantastic potential as a domesticatable power source.
Most of the draw, however, is not the power source...though it has allowed incredible advances thus far, as evidenced in the skygulls over Rilen and the metallic, drill-end subway worms of the so-called "border dwarves" of Northforge, the dwarven city and its suburbs neslted between The Sionan Swamp and the Andular Mountains. That draw is both real and practical. But the draw involves all the druids who favor treating it well, along with many priests whose aspects include life, death, or both.
It is the living wood in a very real way. Without it, many species beyond that species of scrabble will die, including many food sources and ecological support columns. Destroy it not only at your own peril but the peril of all species, as death scrabble can be found anywhere from the equator out to temperate zones with very little snow and short winters.

Additional Information and Other Factors:

Further complicating matters, "scrabble scramble" refers to a dream-like state brought on initially by eating raw leaves stripped of crystals (which would kill you to directly ingest). Crystal dust (left over from the fragile, crystalline casings surrounding the sap) on the leaves provides a fairly short, toxic high for three or four hours. The intoxifying effects have been likened to taking psychedelic mushrooms and drinking alcohol with the side effects of neither...though frequent use is also frequent exposure to a toxin, and long-term, daily use can be dangerous and deadly.
The leaf-eating is refered to as raw ingestion, or 'champing' on the street, and the isolated crystal use is referred to as "doing a line," though that can apply to some other substances as well. The crystal dust is sold on the street as Death's Bride and it is immensely popular. Most of the scrabble used to make Death's Bride is cultivated in an artificial environment. Purists will only use wild plants, but all handling of the plants releases a fine mist into the air as some crystals break. The mist will also intoxicate, and it can be a strong sedative with a quick onset.
A group of travelers bumbling into a death scrabble area are at risk, particularly as smarter predators hover just out of range of the plants, waiting for victims. Once in a great while, one of those predators will also fall victim, but rarely is this the case. As for wildlife, death scrabble has been around for longer than anyone can remember, and images of it appear in some of the oldest texts and manuscripts. It poses some risks and it provides great joy through the abundant fruit trees the grow near it and the relatively safe intoxication it offers that, nevertheless, can be abused.

To outsiders, it is, perhaps, a bit like snake-handling. It looks like magic, and dangerous magic at that, to mess with such a deadly plant and come out alive and with a treasure to sell. Cultivation is often kept to certain bloodlines.