Tsvuntu Flower

Properties

Material Characteristics

This flower a tall plant that can grow as tall as ones waist. There are six long orchid like petals, which are colored like a fire with orange close to the stem and fire red tips. In the middle of the plant is the yellow pistil which looks like a set of short fuzzy beads arranged in a circle. Beneath that is a purple stem with purple thorns and pinkish purple leaves. The leaves arrange themselves like the aloe plant around the flower. There is usually only one flower per plant.

Physical & Chemical Properties

The blossoms of this plant are warm to the touch and can easily burn a person if they are not careful. The thorns have a poison on them which when makes contact with the skin feels like someone injected fire underneath the skin. Sometimes called the fire plant or the lava flower, the plant must be picked carefully and handled carefully.
When the flower petals are boiled the resulting liquid can be used as a mana potion for mages. If not boiled properly or if a thorn falls into the liquid, drinking it feels like drinking liquid fire and one can die from the sheer pain. However, if one does survive an improperly boiled mana potion will still restore the mana supply of a mage. 
Boiling the leaves of this plant creates a warm tea that smells like a wood fire and tastes like sweet berry tea. There is little danger in making and drinking this tea as the leaves are perfectly safe. The tea has a warming effect on the body and is used as a medicinal cure for hypothermia.

Geology & Geography

The flower is found only on volcanic soils and thus is only found in one area of the world - near Tsozh Tsvutsidz. It flowers twice a year and is regularly harvested for its effects but the people of the Empire of Isyo.

Origin & Source

This flower is believed to have been forged by the magical energies absorbed in the volcanic soil by the light of the sun, moon and stars. It is believed that the volcanic soil is especially good at absorbing sunlight and moonlight, but when its too full of magic, it pushes out these flower to rid itself of excess mana. The produces no seeds and must be obtained from the wild. When the flower dies, the mana in the plant floats into the air and becomes ambient magic.

History & Usage

History

The plant was discovered by the Mother of the Modern Hwisto Clan, Shtan Hwisto. As one of the major clans even back then, Shtan and her clan kept the plant a secret to just their clan and their mages. About two hundred years ago, the then leader of the Hwisto Clan, allowed her clan to sell the potion and tea in its final form to outsiders. This is what started the myth of mana potions being vampiric magic. The Hwisto Clan controls the entire volcanic area and has complete control over the harvesting of the plant, but in more recent times (in the last two decades), they have revealed the origins of their mana potions and the Whakyu tea to allow more research into the plant and hopefully find other, less scarce sources for the mana potions.

Discovery

It was first discovered in pre-history and while no one actually knows who, it is attributed to the Great Heroine, Shtan, who was a bat shapeshifter and a vampire and is where modern legends about the vampires come from. This plant is heavily associated with the vampires and it was believed for a long time that the tea and mana potions of the plant was made by vampiric magic and not the natural properties of the plant.

Everyday use

This plant is commonly used as a mana potion and for a warming tea.
Additionally the stems of the plant can be used to make fibers which can be twisted into rope or fabric. The stems can also be turned into paper. These byproducts accept mana easily making them very good materials in Empyreal Engineering.

Cultural Significance and Usage

This plant is the clan symbol for the Hwisto Clan and culturally is very significant to them. They have specialized rituals for harvesting the plant and strict rules regarding its usage and amount they can gather. The Whakyu Tea is made from leaves that can be harvested year round and is used for coming of age rituals for the clan.

Refinement

The plant - both the blossoms and the leaves - must be boiled to get their effect. They are both concentrated into teas - the mana potion and the Whakyu tea.
For the fibers, the plant undergoes a process called water double retting: multiple stalks are bound together and submerged in stagnant or slow moving water, such as ponds, bogs, or slow moving streams, weighted down by rocks, so bacteria and moisture can get inside the stalks and decay the innards. They are submerged for 8 to 14 days, depending on water temperature and mineral composition of the water. Then the stalks are removed before they can be fully retted, dried for several months and then submerged again. This produces stronger fibers. The retted stalks, now called straw, are dried once again in the open air and then stored for a short time to cure. Finally, the woody parts are broken usually by hand or with rollers, and then the broken wooden parts are

Manufacturing & Products

The mana Potion and the Whakyu Tea. Paper, fabric, and rope.

Byproducts & Sideproducts

Byproducts of this plant are the blossom leaves themselves which must be removed from the water before it can be drunk. These leaves, now mana less, are returned to the volcanic ashes to decompose and become nutrients for the next set of plants.
The thorns and roots are also byproducts and the thorns have been refined by the clan into poisons over the centuries since its discovery and are still used by living members of the Hwisto Clan, as methods of defense. The poison is coated on needle like weapons which can be thrown or jabbed, as well as hidden away easily. The poison is a 50-50 whether it will kill someone, but it will definitely incapacitate someone long enough to run away. In a world where hunters sometimes exist, the Hwisto Cla is very serious about the defense of its members. This property of the plant is not well-known outside the clan.

Hazards

The biggest hazard is the thorns and the blossoms themselves, but both can be minimized by wearing gloves during the refinement process. The steam of boiling the blossoms can be hazardous as well, producing a burning sensation if it gets into your eyes, but that too can be minimized thorough the brilliant usage of googles.

Type

Organic

Odor

Smells like the smoke of a wood fire

Color

Orange-ish red blossoms with a purple stem and yellow pistal. The thorns of the plant are also purple and the leaves are more of a pinkish purple.