Hieran Flora

Overview

Though a great deal of Hieran plant life is believed to be similar to that of ancient Terra, born of the seeds brought across the Void by Cygnus, a number of exceptionally strong native species, as well as a handful modified by House Cygnus themselves, continue to thrive within the forests and tundras of the Crucian homeworld. From trees to subterranean fungi, the Hiera of today owes a great deal to these unusual flora.

Trees

The Gildpine

An unusual species molded into existence by the scientists of House Cygnus, the Gildpine is often mistaken for a deciduous tree from afar due to its shape and the arch of its branches. On closer inspection, however, the tree’s sturdy boughs are covered in sharp, long needles with a reddish hue instead of leaves. The name is derived from the remarkable, golden sap produced by the Gildpine, a substance well known for its use in the drug Golden Flake, as well as an exceptionally addictive form of syrup.

The Ghostfrost

‘I stood there then transfixed, that ethereal combat, the aurora above against the ghostly boughs beneath, and I marveled.’ ~The Firekeeper

One of the few surviving natural Hieran species, the Ghostfrost is considered one of the most remarkable trees in the Sector. Seeded by Cygnus across any world that would take it after the Scream, but finding purchase most easily on Hiera, the Ghostfrost is a tree born to survive the cold and ice and swirling winds of Acheron Rho’s cooler worlds. Evolved to be bioluminescent, it is most well known by the average citizen for the signature blue aura of its leaves and trunk, considered by some to be ghostly. This luminance is remarkably close along the spectrum to Hiera’s star, Ellis, and botanists believe the tree provided, and perhaps still does, a much-needed source of light in the darker winters for some of Hiera’s other flora and fauna.

The tree is found rarely in most forests, an obvious sight at night amongst most others, save for the Ether Grove in one of Hiera’s southern forests, where the Ghostfrost’s are carefully grown and cultivated across several dozen acres of land in a unearthly blue expanse of shifting leaves and creaking boughs. This grove, one of Hiera’s oldest natural preserves, is said to have been discovered, protected, and cultivated by the Firekeeper himself when he was Emperox before the Scream. Many believe he would return to the Ether Grove to contemplate and meditate on the Empire’s wants and needs in a place of peace and natural beauty.

The Hieran Pine

While not remarkably unusual as some of Hiera’s flora can be, the Hieran Pine is certainly the most common. Covering large swathes of undeveloped land, the Hieran Pine is well adapted to survive the long, cold winters of even some of Hiera’s more extreme reaches, towering high above most other trees. Some claim the Hieran Pine is directly descended from samples brought from Terra on the Constellation Ships, but none have been able to find adequate proof of this tale.

The Voskwood

Famous for the use of its wood in barrels aging Hieran vosk whiskey, the voskwood tree was originally engineered by House Cygnus to grow in the climate and soil conditions of Hiera. The effort was originally considered a failure as the trees proved unable to spread beyond the spring provinces surrounding the equator, leaving the Hieran Pine the dominant tree species on the planet.

Much like their fore bearers, the European Oak, voskwoods are a slow growth tree with spirally arranged lobed leaves that are green during the spring and summer seasons, changing over to a golden yellow color in the fall. However, despite its great strength and resistance to rot, the sickly faded grey color of its wood has made it less popular as a source of lumber in woodworking.

It wasn't until much later that the unique chemistry that makes it possible for the voskwood tree to survive the harsh conditions of Hieran soil also made its wood ideal for aging whiskey. The enzymes and chemicals present in the wood were found to be superior to every other known variety of tree, both for removing impurities in the spirit used to make whiskey as well as for transforming it to bring out new depth of flavor. It is this unique quality that has made voskwood barrels prized by distilleries across the sector.

Today, the voskwood tree can only be found growing on Hiera in a handful of protected reserves across the spring provinces and in a number of smaller private groves where it is farmed for timber.

Flowers, Fungi, and other Plant Life

Crucian Vesperlight

Another natural remnant of pre-human Hiera, the Vesperlight grows best close to the forest floors of northern Hiera, under snow-filled clouds and knitted boughs. Naturally bioluminescent like the Ghostfrost, the Vesperlight is known for its suitably Crucian purple hue, a property that has led many noble families to cultivate it in their own gardens and homes as natural light sources during the dark nights and long, overcast winter months. The Vesperlight also produces a small, spherical fruit during the Spring and Summer that is particularly enjoyed when fermented into a mulled wine, colloquially known as Whisperwine.

Goldkranz Ivy

Goldkranz Ivy is a climbing flowering plant native to the Kaiserinwald Forest on Hiera. The plant has palmately lobed leaves with three lobes and uses small sticky disks attached to its branches to climb trees in a helical pattern. It has wheel-shaped violet and grey flowers that produce a faint sweet aroma when they open in the spring.

What makes Goldkranz unique is how it deals with the gold common in the soil of the Kaiserinwald. The plant stores the gold it draws in through its roots in specialized cells located in its leaves. In the fall as the leaves turn, the gold located in the leaves is revealed giving the vines the appearance of a looping golden laurel crown. Eventually as the leaves fall from the vine, they break down and the gold dust is returned to the forest floor.

Memento (Traitor's Memory)

A gift from House Cygnus to House Crux during the time of peace under the Masked Emperox, Memento, or more recently, ‘Traitor’s Memory,’ is a marvelously beautiful, pure white flower with unusual properties. Emitting subtle, metadimensional energies, Memento has a very mild telepathic quality that allows it to “listen,” to minds around it, picking up and storing small snippets of memory like food. The bits of memory are not taken from a mind, rather seemingly copied, and in fact most people will notice nothing different regardless of how much time they spend near Memento flowers.

What snippets are stored, their duration, and their content cannot be selected or guided. Once the Memento flower possesses them, however, those close to it may briefly experience these stored memories, whether they be snippets of song, a word, whole conversations, or a single image.

Many Memento flowers were burned, ripped out, or otherwise destroyed after Cygnus’ betrayal, becoming almost repulsive to behold for some Crux. However, the plant has spread into the wilds of Hiera since it was first given to House Crux, and some specimens still linger out amongst the trees of the forests or in closely guarded private gardens.