Cordae Tree
The Cordae Tree is a needled, narrow-crowned species standing between three and twelve metres, its resinous bark rising in silence on broken slopes, rocky passes, and the misted folds of Elshore's great mountain ranges. It gathers in enduring groves where roots can bite deep into thin mountain soils and needles drink the cool air, rare near river basins or dense swamps. Travellers speak of stumbling upon Cordae groves where no path leads, as though the trees themselves wander during the long turning of seasons.
Key traits
- Sharp, glossy needles are coated in resin that protects against cold snaps, sunburn, and pests, ensuring vitality even in lean high-altitude years.
- Thick, armoured cones guard seeds until storms break their casings, scattering them across high meadows.
- The tree drinks not only rain but the mist itself; needles condense airborne moisture into rivulets that feed the roots in otherwise barren places.
- Needles steeped into Cordae tea yield a pale, bitter brew revered among highland healers for dulling weariness and, taken strong, drawing the mind into dream-heavy sleep.
- Seeds ground and baked into Cordae bread offer a coarse, dark, nourishing sustenance often kept as the last reserve of those crossing the Spine of the World Place The Spine of the World The continent-long mountain crown that splits Tarkdaara down its centre, a chain of stone and ice where the peaks tear at the clouds and the valleys drown in mist. when winter arrives early.