Osina, Emerald of the Sands
Within the emerald mirage, this oasis you never expected to get to, regardless what your maps and the road signs, the few there were still intact along the Leshar Road, you have come upon it. This gem amongst the sands, this mirage in the dust and hot winds. A Woad Heartwood, here, thousands upon thousands of miles from the Depen, one of only three in the known world still in existence outside the Depen's protection. It has been a long and mighty journey, yet you stand triumphant upon the pilgrimage, and can yet find respite and rest, and shielding from the corruption of the rest of the Void Tainted Aethyr amongst people of the Woad. Even so far from the continent you know well, you can find hospitality and solace, a miracle amidst the harshest of climates you've ever explored.
"It is a marvel is it not? Plantains, Oranges, Coconuts, these trees dominate this Heartwood, growing to impressive proportions, a city amidst their canopy, bearing not massive fruits, but a number beyond imagining instead. This emerald in the sands is a paradise away from the harshness of life upon the dunes, the scrublands and the steppes. Protected by magick, by root, by leaf and by Woad, the ancient and strange connection of the small ruling Elven clan whom claims soveriegnty over this Heartwood, it is a paradise worthy of visit my friend. We should have no trouble getting in of course. Old Caliph Osin'iris is a dear friend and companion of nearly two decades. Whilst that isn't long for an elf allow me to assure you it was an eventful two decades. I'm sure my presence will get us past the gates, even as stickler as they may be sometimes.
Elijah 'Thornfingers' Parinja, traveler, talespinner and notorious musician.
Osina is a Heartwood city, a city grown amongst a magickal grove of sorts of trees mighty and massive compared to the norm. It is of the same presence and power as the Depenwood, and exists due to the presence of a long displaced Woad Elf Tribe, part of those whom would belong to the Topaz and Emerald Clans, yet found themselves heavily displaced, lost on another continent for most of the Sundering. They never forgot their ancestry and to this day the practices they encourage within the principality of Susma they rule are those of the Depen. Food bearing plants are sacred, to cut them is a crime worthy of immediate execution. This region among all others in the Susmian 'Kingdom of Kingdoms' never suffers from food shortages and that is in no small thanks to the Taos Bowl, as the veritable forest of a grove is known, and the Heartwood city of Osina.
Osina is the seat of power of this principality and is notoriously strict with whom and how many outsiders may enter its boundaries, keeping careful track, all its gates and watch forces in consistent contact with one another. Permission to enter into Osina is permission to leave the harshness of Susma behind. Beyond her walls of root, stone and thorn, the city is an oasis within an oasis grove, wanting for no luxury of food, comfort and happiness, though of rustic wood, leaf, fruit and drink. No smithies ply their craft here, very few are her stone workers or masons. No rail lines, nor Sky-port will one find here either. She is a jewel only accessed by commitment on foot through the desert and scrublands, through the heat, dangers and sand. But if one is blessed enough to be granted entry, one will find paradise a plenty.
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