Bouncing around ideas for the ‘Yaalit Desert’, which is basically a cold desert in a giant crater full of lost technology.
The Verdant Monks rule a single green hill near the city of Tlingos. They left the monastery-city due to the increasing severity of the ruling monks and the dwindling resources.
They live and teach on one verdant hill, defended by the monks. The twin cities of Tlingos and Midaq often try to conquer the place – supposedly the food and water are plentiful there. This is untrue – the monastery is constantly on the verge of collapse, and the monks only maintain it with strict and extensively planned water rationing.
The head of their order is an ancient tree, one of the last in all of Yaalit. Like all trees, it is a repository of ancient wisdom. Unlike most trees, it was taught ancient martial arts from 4000 years ago, which is why it isn’t currently part of the rafters and doors of the Twin Cities.
Verdant Monks wear dull green robes and usually carry planks.
Plain green robe.
Bottle of pure water.
A staff made of holy wood.
A bag of seeds.
A bag of tea leaves (for drinking and divination).
A Plant Speech, Leaf-Eating-Beetle-Step
D Ghost Tree Valley
You can communicate with plants. Most Plants do not speak in terms of colour, light or distance, but instead in terms of water, temperature, time, seasons and weather. Only trees are capable of full conversation on a human level, and there are few trees left in Yaalit.
Following the example of the Leaf-Eating-Beetle, anything wooden will support your weight. Even the thinnest twig will hold you upright as if you weigh nothing.
You can turn a dead or lifeless piece of wood into a growing tree briefly. The size of the leafy branches which grow depends on the size of the source wood. Twigs make twigs, a roof rafter will grow a whole trunk. You cannot use this ability on living wood, or on wood created by this ability. Trees always grow straight up, when they can. Roots can crack stone.
You can instinctively ‘smell’ water up to a mile away. Clean and foul water smell different. Water based liquids, such as wine, beer, and poison, can only be smelled from nearby. You can tell if two liquids have been mixed – for example, water and poison.
By undertaking an hour ritual to enchant a hole in the ground, you can access the Ghost Tree Valley, an ‘echo’ of the ancient forest which once stood where Tlingos is now. Once the ritual is complete, you and your companions may crawl into the hole and appear in a cool, twilight forest, about a kilometre wide. The place is safe, and has plentiful food and water. The ancient masters of the Verdant Monks live here as spirits and will gladly offer advice. If you damage a spirit tree, or stay more than a week, you wake up in the hole you dug at the next sunrise.
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