Feathered Trees

What do you mean we have to pluck it?
I thought you were a carpenter and not a poultry farmer.

Also known as Winged Willows or Chicken Trees, Feathered Trees are strange, mutated plants that are native to the frigid wastes of the Frozen South and whose very being has been irrevocably twisted by the eldritch lights of the Aurora raptorus.

Basic Information

Anatomy

While each Feather Tree is composed of its very own unique mixture of aberrant mutations, there are nevertheless a number of changes brought on by the light of the Aurora raptorus which are shared by the entire species.
The most notable and also name-giving of these changes is a colorful, iridescent plumage, which has replaced the tree's bark and that forms into wing-like appendages at the ends of the tree's twisted branches. Beneath this cloak of feathers lies a light-touched wood, which commonly takes on a reddish-crimson color that frequently incorporates traces of other colors such as green, blue or yellow as the tree grows older.
A second striking mutation that is shared by nearly all Feathered Trees, is the presence of a handful of, luminescent, bell-shaped "fruits", which are made from an amalgamation of various precious metals and alloys, such as Electrum, Orichalcum and even few amounts of Celestial Bronze.

Growth Rate & Stages

The trees are humming, so go forth and seek shelter for the Triumphant Dawn will soon be upon us.
~ Wraith of the Errant Forest

The life cycle of Feathered Trees is determined by the eldritch phenomenon known as the "Triumphant Dawn" that takes place every three years and which douses the entirety of the Frozen South into a deadly cold golden light, which twists and mutates everything that it touches.
Starting roughly 12 Heavenly Hours before the onset of the next Triumphant Dawn both the plumage and the wood of a Feathered Tree will begin to change its coloration to a white-golden hue and begin to emit a faint humming sound, which grows in intensity the closer the onset of the Dawn becomes.
When the first rays of the Souther Sun begin to grace the Frozen South with their eldritch light, all Feathered Trees within the entire region will spread their wings and fly into the embrace of the Southern Sun, never to be seen again.
Once this event has been concluded fresh seedlings of Feathered Trees will spontaneously begin to grow from the light-touched soil and mature into fully grown trees within the span of a few Heavenly Hours. During this maturation process, the initially featherless Trees will also develop their name-giving plumaged, thought this initial feather-coat is generally far less colorful than that of older trees.
While a small percentage of newly grown trees already sports a handful of metallic "Bell-Fruits", most Trees develop these fruits during the first year of their life.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Feathered Trees are sustained be the baleful light of the Aurora raptorus and therefore are only able to persist within the boundaries of the Frozen South. Given that the light intensities of the Aurora continually changes, most Feathered Trees are frequently forced to relocate to a different region of the South.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Feathered wood or bleeding flesh, my worms don't care and neither do I.
~ Ap'p, Hus'kyra Sleigh Hound

Given that normal plants are unable to grow beneath the otherworldly light of the Aurora, Feathered Trees are one of the few sources of timber and firewood in the Frozen South. Due to the fact that Feathered Trees are not only far more common but also far less dangerous than other types of "Southern Flora", they are a highly valuable resource for the unlucky souls that call this frigid waste their home.
The Hus'kyra also utilize the wood of these trees to keep their failing bodies together and offer their parasitic worms a wooden alternative to their own organs, which has allowed them to survive in an environment that would otherwise be far too poor in harvestable organs to support such a large population of Agsimer.
While their crimson wood is by far the most utilized part of a Feathered Tree, their plumage can also be utilized in a variety of manners. Counterintuitively none of these applications involve the creation of clothing or eiderdown quilts, due to the fact that the feathers of Feathered Tree possess thermal conductivity more similar to iron than mundane plumages, which means that wearing a coat filled with such feathers would quickly cause acute hypothermia.
Instead, the feathers are used as colorful embellishments, writing quills or as ingredients for the various ritualistic concoctions that are consumed by the numerous starry cults native to the Frozen South. The Loraxya are also known to utilize these feathers as fletching for their wooden arrows, which imbues the arrows with a fraction of the trees flighting abilities and thereby allows them to seek out a target on their own.

Theme Song

Scientific Name

Arburo loviel

Lifespan

3 Years (Dawn to Dawn)

Average Height

6 - 24 m

Carrion Trees

Did the tree just...laugh?
~ Last words of a carless lumberjack

Even though they at first glance appear like a Feathered Tree, a Carrion or Hyena Tree is not a tree, but rather a species of shapeshifting "bird things" that mimic the shape of a Feathered Tree in order to hide from potential predators.
While they are usually not hostile towards other creatures due to their nature as carrion eaters, any heedless woodcutter that attempts to chop them down will swiftly make contact with their dung-coated talons, which generally causes an incredibly painful and frequently fatal wound infection.

We speak for the Trees

The Loraxya ("Woodwraiths") are an enigmatic group of woodcutters, carvers, and foresters that regard the Feathered Trees as the sacred godsends of the "Thing-in-the-Woods" and therefore punish all those that dare to work their blessed wood without the necessary reverence and gratitude.
Given that at least the upper echelon of the cult possess notably supernatural abilities most persons that inhabit the Frozen South will take to great care to treat all Feathered Trees in a respectful manner as those who don't have a high chance of never returning from their trips into the feathered forests.

Bells of Damnation

Tir'il is gone. He got...body-slammed by a freaking tree.

Even though Feathered Trees are considered to be harmless when compared to other types of light-touched flora, they nevertheless hide a deadly secret.
For, any person that makes the grave mistake of looking into one of the Feathered Tree's "Bell-Fruits" will be affected by dreadful malediction known as "The Unseen Bell", which causes them to hear a series of distant chime-like sounds that quickly comes closer and closer.
Shortly afterward one or even several Feathered Trees will swoop down from the heavens and attempt to crash into their unexpecting victim, either impaling them on their branches or crushing them beneath their feathered trunk.
Should an individual somehow manage to survive this sudden attack, they will be attacked again and again at irregular time intervals until they are either killed by a Feathered Tree or died due to an unrelated reason.