Sarendril

Sarendril refers to both an enormous ash tree and the island it now dominates in the middle of Binordheim. Sarendril was brought by the Nords to Binordheim when their own homeland was destroyed and serves as the last major connection they can claim to that old homeland they call Midgard.

Description

Sarendril, in its glory days, was a majestic tree of white bark and shimmering golden leaves that rose up and out for miles, capable of being seen from nearly all corners of Binordheim, and almost shining with a light and warmth of its own. But Sarendril does not refer only to the single tree but many of the trees surrounding it, as its roots dig deep but also grow from the ground with trees of their own. The island that Sarendril sits upon is dominated by hundreds of these sprouts.
Now, however it stands as an enormous tree of dark wood and grey bark with leaves that turn quickly after growing to shades of red and brown, and more of the sprouts that rise from its roots slowly turn to join the greater tree in appearance each passing year.

Geography

Sarendril sits on an island in the center of Binordheim surrounded by the Serpent's Domain, but before the Shattering of Eldaria and the flooding of Binordheim it dominated an isolated mountain with settlements surrounding and living among its roots.

Purpose / Function

Sarendril holds a cultural and spiritual connection to the Nords' old homeland of Midgard. Taken as a sapling from the tree that grew there, it was transplanted by the Nordic clans in Binordheim when they settled the continent and left in the care of the Nornir, who made their home beneath it with the Well of Urdr. It proved as a place of pilgrimage and spiritual significance to the Nords who would seek it out for blessing and vision.
Beyond the cultural significance, Sarendril was intrinsically tied to the Askarn species and was believed to bring light and life to the land, making the winters calmer and the plantlife more fruitful.
However, since its sundering, Sarendril no longer holds that same significance. Many of the Nords hold it a sacred place out of tradition, but popular belief leans towards it being a cursed place and a sign of ill omen attached to the Askarn race's decline since that time.

Alterations

Since its planting, Sarendril has grown to enormous proportions, able to be seen from dozens of miles away as it rises up and spreads out for miles. In the days of its splendor, Sarendril was a tree of radiant white bark and golden leaves that bathed the land around it in light, but after the events of its sundering it is a testament to a dying people. Its bark is now a sullen gray falling off in patches, and the leaves quickly turn a dull red and brown.

Architecture

Before the flooding of Binordheim, buildings were built around its base as a communal area for all the clans to visit and live, but following its destruction, the settlement was never rebuilt.

Defenses

The island on which Sarendril sits is seen as a holy site, and most Nordic clans will go to its defense if it is threatened, but since its sundering no clans have remained in active defense of the island. Instead, the physical defense is handled by a group of ravenfolk that hold a sacred oath to the tree. These ravenfolk were wiped out, however, during an assault in the summer of 846 AoM when a powerful Mare demon was able to wear their defenses down and invade the island.
While some supernatural defenses have been placed upon the island, the tree itself has been known to be more than capable of preventing unholy trespassers from stepping foot on the island it sits in the past. But with its withering, those defenses placed by the clans came more seldomly and the natural defenses weakened as well, a weakness that became gravely apparent in the winter of 846 AoM when a group of draugr were able to be summoned upon the island during a gathering called by the Nornir, and later that same year when a Mare demon invaded the sanctum of the Nornir, beneath the tree.

History

Sarendril was planted as a sapling of the another tree that grew in the lost homeland of the Nords when they came to Binordheim. It grew as its predecessor did with a connection to Yggdrassil and the Nords' homeland of Midgard.
In 221 AoM when the Nordic king turned conqueror, Rainer Norgard, made his way north again from his conquest of the southern continents of Harental and Tol'Galen, he assaulted the island of Sarendril with an army from the south, sundering the tree with unknown magic that caused it to wither to a husk of its former glory over the next several hundred years.

Recent History

As of the end of Enkindling of the year 846 AoM, a group of heroes chosen by the Nornir to prevent what they foresaw as the premature beginning of Ragnarok uncovered the truth of the Sarendril's withered state. Though once connected to the celestial tree Yggdrasil, Sarendril has lost that connection due to the actions of King Rainer Norgard during his assault on the tree, and the remaining celestial power held within it was stifled by the power of an entity that had possessed the once-king Norgard and led to his aggression toward the tree as it sought the power and connection held within it. During the invasion, Rainer seized control of himself long enough to sever the connection between Sarendril and Yggdrasil, but the entity was still able to entrap the residual power within it in the hope of returning to claim it and becoming a god on the mortal plane. The entity, to them known as Sfar, revealed to be the sentience - mind with limited power - of a former avatar of the god Kaos that developed independent cognizance following the Mad God's imprisonment and lived for domination and control under the name {REDACTED}. He was defeated by the heroes in order to prevent him from completing his plan of claiming the power within Sarendril before they attempted to restore the tree by freeing the hindered celestial power bound within it.
846 AoM, Enkindling 34
With their combined power, the champions chosen by the Norns took on the task of cleansing Sarendril of its corrupting, binding force, releasing the energy trapped within to revitalize the tree. The life within Sarendril surged and began its recovery as both the power within, the efforts of the champions, and the magics of a nature spirit, Autumnlegs, worked in concert and Ley energy was poured into it. Clan Ulger arrived soon after to assist with this task.
The effect this will have on the Askarn race is yet to be seen and the connection it once had remains untethered, but the tree's revitalization is nothing short of a miracle for the Nordic people as a whole, none of whom have seen the tree in its splendor in over six-hundred years.

The dying, corrupted roots of Sarendril after its sundering.

Alternative Names

Sapling of Yggdrasil, The Great Ash

Type

Tree

Parent Location

Binorðheim

Sarendril before the Shattering of Eldaria led to the flooding of Binordheim.