Mizarin Nightlight

The Mizarin Nightlight, named after the light it emits from its round extensions during the night, is the most prominent type of flora in the remote jungles of the Mizarin Isles . For a long time it was assumed that the light was the most defining feature of the tree. During an airship raid of the Raitin, however, it soon became clear that the tree was more than just pretty lights at night.

Biology

Scientists have tried many times to get more information on the Mizarin Nightlights, but have only succeeded a few times in convincing the Nekorians to allow them to study these trees. The information is, therefore, incomplete and the most knowledgeable on the matter, the Mizarin Priesthood, don't share what they know. Nevertheless so far, a few aspects have been uncovered.

Reproduction

The Mizarin Nightlights are rather peculiar in the way they reproduce. Unlike most trees they don't use seeds but rather walking extensions of themselves to reproduce. Just like seeds these creatures fall down from the tree. While most plants' seeds remain on the ground, the Mizarin Nightlight's extensions, commonly known as Lightwalkers, walk around for a rather long time.
Researchers have seen these creatures do several jobs for the trees, such as removing pests, tending wounds and fighting potential woodcutters. Just like their larger kind, the Lightwalkers have the ability to transmit light. This can sometimes be observed in rather erratic flashes towards each other, which makes some scientists believe they use it as a kind of language. After a yet undetermined amount of time they pick a place to put root and start developing into a new Mizarin Nightlight.

So far I did not make much progress in deciphering the meaning of the Lightwalker's flashes. I have, however, noted that everytime I bring water the response is three 2 second flashes followed by one 4 second flash and a short 1 second flash. I assume that this means "Thank you", but there is not enough data to form a definitive conclusion.

— Salerem Kando, biologist

Once the conversion from a Lightwalker into a Mizarin Nightlight has started, the sprout's main light emitting globe develops into a larger extension. As soon as this extension is large enough, it starts emitting stronger light. In addition, it appears that the round extensions point towards the larger moon Naelik after fully developing. Once they have grown a few meters the trees stay in their smaller state for several decades.

Intelligence and communication

Another important aspect of the Mizarin Nightlight is its ability to move parts of its roots and treetrunk. The Mizarin Priesthood has found a way to communicate with the trees that allows them to alter the structure of the tree as they please. The structure of the treetrunk, which consists of many smaller intertwined trunks, helps to make this an easier process.
How this communication form works is still unknown to outsiders, but the fact that the trees respond to the priesthood hints at a certain level of intelligence. It is also possible that there is communication between different trees, although this has not been verified so far.
Priesthood communication

Both the Mizarin Nightlights and the Lightwalkers are actually fully sapient. The priesthood is able to talk with the trees telepathically and only by using a device that the priesthood refers to as the Holy Link. In actuality these devices were created before the The God War.
It is a piece of technology that looks like a metalic band with protrusions near the front. When placed on one's head the area around the temples lights up with a blue light.
Only by using this type of device is the priesthood able to issue commands to the Mizarin Nightlights. The trees follow these commands without issue and seem to be fully obedient towards Nekorians.

The other communication form, the flashes of the lightwalkers, has not been deciphered by outsiders so far. The average Nekorian does not seem to understand much of this language besides some basic sentences. The most knowledgeable on the matter, the Priesthood, has not told any outsider about the language either. One of their common answer to these queries is "If the lightwalker wanted to speak with you, you would understand its message".

Extra Information

Scientific Name

bevinar . sanaxn . misar (Bevinar Sanathin Misar)

Average Height

The trees vary in size of being only a few meters during their younger years to 80m for adult trees. Some exceptionally large specimens do occur. The Mizarin Mothertree for example is 250 m in height.

Lifespan

Unknown: the oldest specimen which fell down was 1900 years old but most likely older specimens exist. For living trees it is difficult to pinpoint the exact age.

Geographic Location

Mizarin Isles

Lightwalker

Light walker by kefkejaco with Midjourney

The seeds of the Mizarin Nightlight, the Lightwalkers, exist out of a series of vines and leaves interwined with each other. Among this mass of vines several light emitting globes can be found with one of the globes at the very top of the Lightwalker, which according to scientists functions as the head.
They are able to extend these vines to manipulate the environment around them and move. As a defense mechanism they use these vines to strangle their attackers. Sometimes they even emit bright flashes from their globes which blinds their targets for a short time. Survivors of their attacks have mentioned that they heard voices inside their head while being attack by a Lightwalker.
Lightwalker Stats

Removed for update

Nightlight Stats

Removed for update

Uses

Housing

One of the most important uses of the Mizarin Nightlights is the fact that its structure can be rearranged at will. As a Mizarin settlement expands one of the closest trees is chosen as the new house. A ceremony is performed by the Priesthood to bless the new house and thank the tree for its service to the community. If an exceptionally large building is needed two Mizarin Nightlights in close proximity can be used to create a new structure.

Settlements

A Mizarin settlement is much more vertical in comparison to other humanoid settlements. Due to the height of the average Mizarin Nightlight several houses can be created along the tree's entire length. The different levels of houses are linked via branches making the settlement an intricate web of connected trees.

Lighting

One of the other uses is, as its name suggests, lighting during the night. Typically the priesthood encourages Lightwalkers to take root inside settlements to provide ligthing.

Defense

A more recently discovered feature of the Mizarin Nightlight is its ability to attack by using its roots. It is possible that the priesthood had known this for a long time and only decided to reveal it when several dozens of Raitin airships attempted to raid the main Nekorian settlement.
During their raid the Raitin airships were struck by many large roots which were able to reach them even at their relatively high position. After this incident most agree that being anywhere near Mizarin Nightlights if you are an enemy of the Nekorians is a guaranteed death sentence.

by kefkejaco with Midjourney

Our own armies have had a bad time fighting against anything the Raitin have used against us. I have seen Raitin airships capture or kill dragons. But these Mizarin Nightlights have managed to destroy them in a matter of seconds. Maybe we need to re-evaluate what the strongest life form of the planet is.

— Ironem Valis, Pavan ambassador to Nekorians

Lightwalkers

Even though the root defense system has only been used quite recently for the first time, the trees have defended themselves several times before. Their most common defence method is using their seeds, the Lightwalkers, to deter or, if necessary, kill attackers. So far no Nekorians have been attacked by the Lightwalkers but this could also be attributed to the fact that they have never attempted to cut down a Mizarin Nightlight.
There are historical records of other humanoids attempting to settle in the Mizarin Isles. As they were incapable of changing the structure of the trees they often attempted to cut them down for wood. Every time this has incentivized Lightwalkers to swarm the new settlement in great numbers. In the end no new attempts of settling the Isles were made and the Nekorians were left alone.
The only group that still regularly attacked the Isles were the Raitin. Until recently they raided settlements to capture the helpless Nekorians. By using their airships they were able to leave quickly before any Lightwalkers could attack. Why the Lightwalkers attempted to attack the Raitin even though they did not harm the trees is currently unknown

Religion and Culture

Nekorian society in the Mizarin Isles is very intertwined with the Mizarin Nightlights. The trees provide the Nekorians with housing, light and defense making them the most important influence on their culture. None of these uses, however, would have been possible without the Mizarin Priesthood who are able to freely communicate with the trees. Since no other Nekorians or outsiders know about the way this is achieved, the priesthood has been able to define most religious and cultural aspects of the Mizarin society.

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Religion

The Mizarin Priesthood is devoted to the trees and has introduced several religious practices and beliefs related to them. The main deity of the Mizarin Nekorians is actually a Mizarin Nightlight itself. This tree is known as the Mothertree and is thought to be the source of all other Nightlight trees.
According to Mizarin belief this tree is not located on Niorath itself, but on the largest moon Naelik. The priesthood teaches that the reason that the Mizarin Nightlights light up during the night is to communicate with the Mothertree on the moon. The main temple of the Mizarin faith, located under an exceptionally large Mizarin Nightlight, is a sacred place in direct communication with the Mothertree according to the priesthood.
Due to the priesthood's importance the line between religious practice and law has become blurred. One of the punishable offences for example is the harming of a Mizarin Nightlight. Cutting one down is even punishable by death. This punishment hasn't been applied in recent history but it was used during the time that other humanoids attempted to settle in the Mizarin Isles.
Another requirement for a Mizarin citizen is to reguraly water the trees, which translates into the ritual to pour some water on any Mizarin Nightlight one passes during their travels.

Mizarin participating in branch swinging by Kefkejaco with Heroforge

Mizarin Priest by Kefkejaco with Heroforge

Culture

One of the more important festivities in the Mizarin Isles is the annual Skyviewing. In this event the Nekorians organise several competitions, with a climbing competition as the most important one. The one who can reach the top of the canopy first gets honoured at the celebration at the end of the day. Other competitions include jumping between branches to complete a preset parcour and carrying a heavy jug of water to a temple tree.
When the competitions end all Nekorians gather above the canopy to watch the nightsky as the Nightlight trees start to emit light themselves. They then typically form a circle around one of the light emmiting extensions of a Nightlight tree and start a traditional dance. Luckily the canopy leaves of the Nightlight trees are quite large and sturdy enough to withstand several dozens of dancing Nekorians.
Another important aspect of the Mizarin culture regarding the Nightlight trees is the bond with the Lightwalkers. Even though only the priesthood understands their language, they are well loved in the community. At least one building in a settlement is assigned to the Lightwalkers. Nekorians often bring water to these buildings as offerings and to encourage them to stay.

Origin

Where the Mizarin Nightlights originate from is still a mystery to researchers. So far no closely related plants have been discovered and no other plants in Niorath share the same properties. Moreover, the only location they have been found so far is the Mizarin Isles between Pavanor and Oneraga.
Hidden Origin

Unknown to all inhabitants of Niorath, the Mizarin Nightlights were actually bioengineered by the ancient ancestors of the Nekorians even long before arriving on Niorath. They were originally rather small plants capable of communicating with each other and could be found on the original home planet of the Nekorians. Scientists discovered that this communication was in fact instantaneous and used this plant as a basis to create the Mizarin Nightlight trees. These trees were then altered to be able to receive and send messages. How far the signal could reach was determined by the size of the tree. When they arrived on Niorath, they planted the trees again for this same purpose and placed the largest tree on a moon base where it would act as an intermediate node.
Most of this is unknown to the current Nekorian population and even to the Mizarin Priesthood. But the priesthood did actually discover a gateway to the moon base where they encountered the large intermediate node which they started calling the Mothertree. The process to open the gateway is still kept secret by the priesthood to this very day.
The other aspects of the Mizarin Nightlight, such as the light emission and movable parts were added later on by the Nekorian ancestors. During the The God War the roots of the trees were actively used to fend off approaching hostile armies.

Mizarin Region

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