Glimmerberry

Summary

A curious mana-rich plant found in Veltrona's arid and desert regions. While sometimes confused for a kind of tree, the glimmerberry's main body is a tall, and reasonably thick dark-green trunk. It usually grows in a jagged and winding manner, unnecessarily more horizontal and diagonal than vertical. Tiny, needle-like silver hairs adorn it, sharp enough to pierce the soft mouths of any animals that may try to eat its bulk.   From this upper body do smaller, hair-free branches extend out. Upon them grow the titular glimmerberries. These berry bundles can be up to dozens of individual berries, each of them with a mirror-like flesh that refracts light inward. The berry's 'core' soaks up the heat, mana, and light, stimulating a reaction that fills its outer layer with water, while packing its core with rich, tart nutrients. It is from this dazzling show that it is hence named. A fairly mature glimmerberry growth can have dozens of these bundles, making even one a great find.   It carefully cultivates fresh water through a complex photosynthesis process, making the impossible happen right before peoples eyes. Those in Sa-kemet often call it Poleva's Gift, others the oasis tree, and many more endearing names. Its eye-catching berries can be seen for miles around, and the plentiful water and food it provides has saved more than one wayward soul. Small animals flock to it, and tiny eco-systems can crop up around groves of glimmerberries, even small lakes forming from how much water they can cast off.   Alas, the glimmerberry is an extremely tempermental plant and it is notoriously impossible to cultivate. Whether overseen by divine powers or not, efforts to culture it have consistently failed over the centuries. Those that succeed usually produce smaller and less fruitful growths, and their berries are too few to be a reliable market. So it is many nomads and small settlers choose to live nearby a natural growth area than try the work themselves.   Some desert lauraume families are rumored to know the secrets to its cultivation, and create groves of their own in secret. Some are even thought to inherit the glimmerberry itself, growing their own to give out. It's hard to say for certain, but what few lauraume live in the deserts end up with a benevolent superstition around them.   Giving both water and food, the glimmerberry is an icon of hope and endurance in the harsh deserts. Those seeking fortuitous encounters or safe passage in the deserts often buy wreaths made from fallen branches. Similarly, the berries themselves are a token of peace through arduous effort, as one must find a growth, harvest, and then deliver said berries.   It is often thought to be a food from the goddesses, for its wondrous simplicity and life-saving gifts are deserving of such esteem. Those who culture it into a kind of wine can produce one of the most expensive vintages known upon Veltrona. Even the pharaohs of Atenkhet can struggle to secure such bottles, making them nigh-priceless to own.