He always found it funny how the stuff was bright green but it smelled like cherries. You'd think it be red in that case right? Oh well, it didn't matter in the long run. The sap was amazing regardless of its scent or colour, nearly three days on and his lantern still lit with ease and shone brightly for hours. What a wonderous thing, he thought. And it call came from some tree in a damn jungle.
Discovery
Baju Sap was first discovered when four travellers got lost in the Jungles of Mijhail, desperate for something to fill their dwindling lamps with, or at least start a fire to illuminate the area before dark, they began to peel away the bark from the dense and spindly Bajuti Tree. However, the group soon discovered that whenever their knives dug too deep into the tree's flesh, an odd green sap would ooze forth. Curious if it would burn in their lanterns, even just a little bit, they took the thick sap and smeared it inside their lanterns best they could. To their surprise, the sap burned brighter and longer than then their regular lamp oil, and it actually smelt quite pleasantly reminding them of the smell of cherries oddly enough.
These four travellers would survive to see the morning's light thanks to the glow of the sap in their lanterns. These individuals knew right then the potential of this tree and its sap and began planning their return trip before they had even arrived home. Only a few short weeks later they returned to the same copse of trees and began tapping a few dozen trees for their sap. They would later learn from locals of the region that the trees were called Bajuti, so the new entrepreneurs decided to call their wonderous sap, Baju Sap.
Now, many years later Baju Sap is widely used in the Jungles of Mijhail and even on ships across the waters of the Vilanto Sea. The four entropeneurs that originally discovered the sap are now wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Though disagreements in production and sales caused a splinter in the group and now run competition Baju Sap production facilities and are bitter rivals.
Production and Use
Production of the sap is fairly simple, the Bajuti Trees are tapped en masse wherever they are discovered and are usually marked with the symbol of one of the two rival companies. These taps drain into large buckets which are then hauled onto carts, rafts, or draft animals in order to transport them back to a refinement facility. Here, the sap is cleaned of any refuse, a tedious job completed by low wage workers. Then the sap is either packaged in its raw form, a sticky and thick paste, usually contained in palm-sized containers or it is sent for further refinement. This refined form follows a secret process that has been guarded for years and is only known by the four founders of the two rival manufacturers. Even its workers are only allowed to man their one station and are prohibited from entertaining into the areas where different stages are completed. In its refined state, the Baju Sap becomes much thinner in viscosity but keeps its odd green colour and pleasant cherry smell when burned. This refined form has become the more popular of the two due to its storability and ease of use in common lanterns.
Baju Sap is sold at a premium and is considered a luxury for those that can afford it. And those that can afford it, usually use it to keep their lanterns lit for longer. Though some have begun developing new and interesting technologies that utilized the abilities of the Baju Sap. For example, intuitive sailors have devised a way to burn both the raw and refined Baju Sap in order to help propel their ships when the wind is low. They do this by placing the Baju Sap in large lantern-like objects that sit below their sails. When the lanterns are lit, they create a large flame that pushes their sails, which are made from non-flammable materials, forward.
Others have begun to test the Baju Sap as a fuel source, injecting it into simple engines or mechanisms to see if it will produce enough force to power them. Much of these experiments have failed so far, but the possibilities are so enticing that many continue to try, despite the sap's penchant to suddenly flare up or cause mini-explosions while trapped in tight spaces.
Environmental Impact and Controversy
Many have condemned the mass harvesting of Baju Sap, claiming that the two companies harvest too much and that it is causing harm to the Bajuti Tree population and the surrounding jungle itself. Conservationists claim that if the trees are tapped too quickly it can cause irreparable harm to the tree and even cause the tree to rot and die. They also say that the Bajuti Tree plays an important role in the ecosystem of the Jungles of Mijhail and that if it were harvested to extinction it could cause serious repercussions for the entire jungle and its indigenous people. Unfortunately, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, as the owners and discovers of the Baju Sap do their best to ignore or
remove these detractors despite their claims being largely true.
The Baju Sap has also come under controversy for its penchant to suddenly ignite, and even explode under unknown circumstances. Some hypothesize that the sap can only withstand being pushed to certain temperatures or can only handle certain pressures before it spontaneously ignites. This has caused dozens of injuries and even the occasional death as the resulting explosion of flame can cause serious damage, especially if the raw sap gets stuck in clothing or hair. Many have sought reparations from the producers of the Baju Sap, but due to lax business laws in the Jungles of Mijhail, none have been successful.
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