Mother Tree

The Mother Tree of Chimera is an ancient redwood sequoia tree, despite its genus, instead of short branches hugging closer to the tree trunk, this tree, in particular, grows protruding branches to form large canopies of its leaves over the ground. This may be due to the fact that the majority of the canopy the tree has created grows under the dome of a dome glass greenhouse. The center peak of the glass dome is open allowing the tree trunk to peak through over the roof of the dome. The upper half of the sequoia cedar grows naturally over the dome on the outside, while the lower half grows under the glass dome, spreading out more like a large canopy. Thus, the tree integrates itself fully into the glass dome. Additionally, due to the natural rainforest weather climate Chimera is located in, the opening of the glass dome, pours rainwater downwards naturally during the rainy seasons, allowing for a synthetic waterfall to occur (somewhat resembling the rain vortex at the Jewel Changi Airport, aside from the large tree growing inside of it, and more slowing drizzling of the water due to the shape of the dome). The Mother Tree serves as a central atrium for Chimera Inc. and the subsequently formed Chimera Nation, with the majority of the nation's living space within the dome, and extending deeper into the ground below it. Thus, the majority of the nation, in particular the central capital city (where the bulk of Chimera Inc. is hosted), Cerberus, also dwells near the roots of the Chimera Mother Tree underground. Moreover, a distinctive feature of the Chimera Mother Tree is the odd shapes some of its roots undertake. The older roots are the more they tend to resemble distorted human bodies, as if the roots had grown rapidly over buried bodies and contorted to mould over their faces and bodies. While the majority of the Chimera population believes the tree to be a generic ancient cedar tree, having lived distal relations to the deeper roots, there is a hidden occult within the Nation that believes the Mother Tree harbors a more sinister story. The eerie urban legend indicates that the Tree has been genetically engineered as a carnivorous tree and the humanoid root-like figures are actual mummies of bodies devoured by the tree (sucking out the nutrients). Other versions of the urban legend suggest that the bodies are bog bodies drowned when the marshland surrounding the Mother Tree flooded suddenly one year due to an extreme hurricane, the bodies are bog bodies (of those that succumbed to the disaster, and again the roots grown around the bodies eventually integrated them into it). Moreover, the legend specifies that the souls of the bodies in the roots are all still trapped within the Mother Tree, the life potential of those people is what gives the Mother Tree the strength and ability to grow giant. Additionally, the first soul the tree devoured was a pregnant young woman sacrificed by a satanic cult to bring about a demonic apocalypse (the demon may have been described to be Molech, or she may have been a woman bearing the child of Molech). Nevertheless, rarely people venture and live closer to the deeper roots of the Mother Tree. This has also allowed Dr. Augusta Calliope to build her secret genetic laboratory within the deeper roots of the Tree. In truth, the woman wasn't sacrificed, instead, she became the tree (her flesh turning into wood and rendering herself infertile). A previous iteration of Dr. Calliope made a pact with a supernatural force where she bargained her soul for the power of immortality. However, a clause in her pact was to use her immortality to instill goodness into the world (i.e. curing various diseases, dissolving climate change, etc.). This also means that the pact gave Calliope higher intellectual abilities for accomplishing such tasks. Due to the corrupt nature of Calliope, she decided to break this pack by using her intelligence to selfishly investigate methods to turn herself back to normal and regain her fertility. Because of this, the force that granted her immortality cursed her to be forever bound to the tree (Calliope's wooden body will start to rot and decay if she wanders away from the vicinity of the tree for too long). At the main root branch from the tree trunk, Calliope also builds a secret shallow well of water that nourishes the tree and also subsequently nourishes her (bathing in it, temporarily makes her wooden body appear more flesh-like and human, thus allowing her to still live amongst people).

Purpose / Function

On the surface, provides protection over the Chimera Nation (shielding various weather anomalies, extreme sunlight, hurricanes, etc.) The roots of which are associated with Dr. Calliope, mostly provide her with a source of power to maintain her youth and humanity.

Type

Tree

Parent Location

Chimera

Owner

Dr. Augusta Calliope

Owning Organization

Chimera Inc.

Contested By