Shanshi Tree (Shaan-she)

.The Shanshi is a tree species native to the harsh lands of The Yevelian Ringpeaks. The plant is hearty and gnarled, with thick grey, pockmarked bark and thin branches with scraggly leaves. Natively it's found growing in sheltered nooks along the mountainside, however, the Tunvavvaki cultivate it underground in their Ubrashana for wood and other natural products.

CULTIVATION

Farming

In the wild Shanshi trees are rare and die quickly, but those grown in Ubrashana's by the Tunvavvaki are farmed densely in large underground chambers, growing together in a tangled, thorny mass. Each Ubrashana has one of these massive groves from which they source many materials they use to sustain the community. These groves fill huge chambers—supposedly carved thousands of years ago by the Tunvavvaki's ancestors—where the Grovetenders live and religiously maintain and harvest materials from the grove. The complex is expansive and closed off from the rest of the Ubrashana, each area being a small ecosystem unto itself from which the Grovetender harvest the materials to sustain daily life in the Ubrashana.

Extracted Resources

1. Lumber: The most basic and arguably important material sourced from the Shanshi Trees is its wood, from which the Tunvavvaki make near all tools and structures. The details of how the Grovetenders harvest lumber in large enough quantities to sustain an Ubrashana are unknown to all save the Grovetenders themselves, as they cart it out regularly. Most of the harvested wood is gnarled and grey, having to be whittled or heavily carved before use, then lacquered and dried for longevity.
2. Bark-milled Paper: The Tunvavvaki use a thick, brown-grey paper made from ground twigs and leaves from the Shanshi. They distill these fibers in large vats heated from the hot springs of the Ubrashana. From there, the fibers can be dried into large, tan-colored sheets, which they write on and use as decoration.

RELIGION

The Lunnnutaka

In Tunvavvaki culture, the Shanshi Trees are the physical reincarnations of their ancient ancestors The Lunnutaka, transformed into plants thousands of years ago and kept alive by the care of their descendants. They ascribe mystical properties and consciousness to the trees, believing them to peer into and judge the souls of those who tended them. Becoming a Grovetender is a holy duty undertaken by the most devout.

"...The Shanshi are our ancestors given new form...They linger on and bring their blessing upon we their descendants. It is our duty to repay them for their ancient labors and the hardships they undertook. We do this by caring for their gnarled forms in this current age...Few undertake this sacred task but we that do serve it for all our lives and devote our body and spirt to the cause." _{-Neseke Tesena, Grovetender of Ubrashana-Kesako; Quoted from an 1807 interview with a Yevelian ambassador}

Geographic Distribution

• The Yevelian Ringpeaks

Related Ethnicities

• Tunvavvaki

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