Rosewood

Properties

The wood of the Pink Fir is usually called Rosewood throughout Alven. The name of the wood is obviously linked to the deep magenta colour of the wood when polished. Rosewood is very much prized for its properties: a hardwood that can be worked into beautiful objects and furniture.

Its rarity makes it very expensive in the southern markets. The Prink Fir only grows in the most northern and desolate forests of Alven. As such, it is dangerous and difficult to access. Many loggers and adventurers have lost limbs and life to bring back the fabulous wood. 


Rosewood is also known for its amazing fresh scent. The odour of the wood is not overpowering but will gently pervade the room it is put in. Many clansmen's homes will have one or two objects in Rosewood (if they can afford it) as the scent can hide a multitude of other smells.

Geography

The Pink Fir can only be found north of The Lost Lochs and Lostport in the vast tundra forests that cover the vast plateau of The Lostlands. The fir colonises the soggy, bottom valleys of the forest. Its most distinctive feature is the dark rose fir cones that come out by Midsommer at the end of its boughs. Before the first snows, its needles also turn pale pink, before falling to the ground. The effect is enchanting and looks like a floor of cherry blossoms.

History

Rose Wood was introduced in the southern regions of Alven as recently as the last 30 years. Before that time, the clanless of the Lost Coast did not have the infrastructure or the organisations to log the wood and transport it to the southern harbours of the Eastern shores.

It was only when the smuggling operators of the Lost Coast harbours such as the Red Buds and the Kin realised the market potential of the wood that Rosewood found its way to the Highfort and Hollyholm markets.

Logging operations from The Fleece bay and other parts of the coast go deeper and deeper every year into the dangerous frozen hinterlands to bring back the Pink Fir logs to the smugglers' ships. In the last 10 years, small logging settlements have appeared in the forest around harbours such as Nedderhyve.
They are growing in numbers as the demand for wood increases. Despite the hardships and dangers of such a lifestyle, logging wood from the frozen forest still attracts desperate Easterners who very often have nothing to lose. 

Cultural Significance and Usage

Rose Wood has had an impact in changing clansmen's view of the lands beyond the Lost Lochs. Traditionally, the Lost Coast had been seen as a forsaken and deadly place where Alven's criminals and outcasts etched a living amid the cold and dangers of the ancient and cursed lands of the Ancestors.
As settlements along the coast grew over the last century and life became safer and more organised along the sheltered bays of the Lost Coast, Alvenites' perception of the place started to change slightly.

It is still seen as a dangerous and lawless place but also as a land of opportunities. Valuable resources from the frozen North such as, for example, wood, furs and fish, are giving the Lostlands a new mystique and air of mystery that some clansmen find irresistible. 

Rosewood has become very popular with cabinet makers in the large, populous cities of Alven. The fashion for Rosewood furniture is still going strong and does not seem to be abating anytime soon.
The high demand for the wood and its rarity has been driving prices upwards, and pushing smugglers and other operators to become more organised in its production and transport . Clan Glassader has taken an interest in the trade and the Clanbearers are looking to control the market from their stronghold of Hollyholm.

Byproducts

Rose wood is so expensive that no part of the wood is wasted. The wood that is discarded from the cabinet-making process is used to make popular toys for children. It is also turned into small marble-sized spheres that are very popular to scent drawers or wardrobes. The scent of Rosewood is said to be very effective against clothes mites and other wool and cloth parasites.

Hazards

Pink firs only grow in some parts of the tundra. The partially frozen marshes they prefer are particularly dangerous to navigate. Many humans have lost their lives in the deep sinkholes they contain. Poisonous gases are also a hazard in the marshes. When the weather gets warmer, the melting water can bubble up and release noxious gases which can kill living creatures instantly.  

The tundra is also home to large and dangerous carnivores and predators and it is particularly unsafe at night.  No one has yet been able to catalogue the different species of 'monsters' that call the tundra and the Lostlands home, but loggers and explorers talk about gigantic owls, dire wolves, as well as more disturbing creatures attacking in the night. 

Trade and Market

The market for Rosewood has become cutthroat. Smugglers' organisations are known to be territorial and violent. The Red Buds and the Kin control the shipping of Rosewood in the area they hold sway over. Once the wood is loaded up onto the trade ships, it makes its way to the main ports of the Eastern shore and also the Eastern Isles, mainly Inchaber and Hollyholm, but the precious cargo is also transported further south to the port cities of Mersow and Illicen. From there, it then finds its way into the The Southern Kingdoms and The Frencal Republic.


Clan Glassader who owns the largest clanlands in Lowside and the port of Hollyholm are not keen to see Rosewood escaping their grasp and have started arming Privateers' ships to intercept wood consignments heading south or east.
The Clanbearers have denied any involvement with the Privateers but the situation has created new tensions between the smugglers, the The Eastern Isles and Clan Glassader. After being heavily taxed by Clan Glassader, the wood leaves Hollyholm is transported to Highfort by the many merchant caravans that trade between the two major metropolises of the Alven world.

In Highfort, the wood is again taxed and the Thane takes its cut from the Rosewood sale. Some logs can be obtained from the black markets at a cheaper price but merchants and smugglers are very wary and frightened of the Arkivens and their spy network. The sentence for selling illegal Rosewood is steep - the guilty will be made clanless and thrown out of the clanlands, their properties confiscated by the Thane's Justice (The Circle of the Blaze.

Generated Ai image (Imagine AI)

Value

High Value

Rarity

Very rare

Odor

like spring rains

Color

Madeira magenta

Density

hard wood

Common State

wood

Related Locations

• The Fleece

Related Species

• Pink Fir