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".
Jacob Billings
Ooh. This looks like a fun article, I can't wait to take a look. Be forewarned that I tend to give an abundance of comments but that's not a reflection of the quality of your article, just that I have a tendency to be overly nitpicky. "This tree is called the Mizarin Nightlight, named after the light it emits from several of it's round extensions during the night."
The grammar here is a bit wonky. Firstly, while you do give an implicit definition for "this," it would be better to combine this sentence with the opening sentence similar to the regard of "Names after the light that it emits during the night, Mizarin Nightlight is the most prominent type of flora in the remote jungles of the Mizarin Isles." It conjoins the ideas and creates a larger focus on the Mizarin Nightmare. Also, it's should its since the tree possesses the extensions. "raid of the Raitin however it soon"
"The info is therefore incomplete"
You should put commas around however and therefore I kind of stopped picking at the grammar around this point. I really like all of the sentience surrounding the species. Culture is also one of the most engaging aspects of any worldbuilding so the relation of the nightlight to the religion of the isle. The density of the text is a bit much. If you could use more quotes, just here and there, it would really help to split things up. If not finding or drawing smaller images relating to whatever the subject is would help. It's not overly distracting, but more information and more separation are always great ways to increase the reader engagement. Anyway, really good article here. Best of luck with the competition.
Hey that is some great feedback! I agree with you restructering of the sentences there, will take that into account! :) I will try to see if I can add some more quotes or images here and there, especially in the larger text parts. Best of luck to you too ! :)