Rubrock

Fit to survive

Rubrock can adapt to survive in a number of areas, but thrives only in places where no other living creature would. Their favourite environment are rocky walls of siliceous rocks with a strong inclination and exposed strong sea winds that would bring to them humidity and salt. Their hyphae can act as parasites to other plants and survive in a state of hibernation until they reach a more suitable place. None should be surprised finding out that their exhistence was kept as a secret for a long time and transmitted by father to son within the Cellaris family, that discover their exhistence by accident.

An inconspicuous aspect

Rubrock is a lichen comprised of a thallus, generally brown or grey-yellowish, of various branches up to 30cm in length originating from a common support that, in turn, originates from a hypogeal rhizome. The hyphae are organized in small clusters, dark brown or blackish in colour, attached anticlinally to the branches. They can be detached and carried away from the marine winds until they find a suitable place to grow or another plant to parasite. The reproduction is therefore asexuate, although some scholars theorize thats only a strategy to improve survavibility since Rubrock is poorly densily scattered over wide areas.

Cultivation

Despite the significant efforts to increase the growth rate of the lichen, so far the attempt to cultivate Rubrock have produce poor results. At the minute, the most effective system to increase the harvest rate is the protection of its natural habitat, letting nature take its own course.

Exploitation

Rubrock is important for the extraction, from its fully developed rhizomes, of the crimson red pigment called Ruberina. Highly sought after primarily by the members of the Clergy of Be Chuille but, as well, as status symbol from rich people the low reproduction rate and the difficulties to harvest it have kept the price steadily elevated through the centuries, granting richness to the Cellaris family who originally discovered its exhistence. During multiple attempts to increase the production of Ruberina, members of the Cellaris family have discovered that adding certain substances to the water causes the colour to change and various other pigment can be extracted making the extracting substance more acidic, none of them get sold for a price comparable to the one of Ruberina therefore the discovery is considered of doubtful utility.

Areas of distribution

Rubrock grows sparsely on most of the rocky walls that are scattered in the south of Saythian Republic but it can be found in most of areas that are touched by the Saynué. All the areas where the lichen grows more intensely where cheaply bought a long time ago by the ancestors of the Cellaris family.