The Cutters of Fallow Cove
By Professor May Paul
Throughout my extensive study into the various lost vegetation species of ages past, there has never been a more curious plant than the fallow tree.
The fallow tree, distinct for its bark of deep burgundy-maroon and almost pearlescent violet leaves, was native only to one location: a small, coastal area that would now fall strictly under the banner of Gwynia Avono.
While the exact location is relatively unknown, ancient texts of the time before the empire's fall speak of a Simaros town known as "Fallow Cove", upon whose land the tree was said to grow.
The Simaros of Fallow Cove had built their rather insular town's society around the tree, which possessed unusually sturdy bark, and a special woodcutting technique they mastered allowed them to cleave this bark from the tree, and use it in the crafting of everything from their buildings to the armor they wore.
According to my research, the technique involved raising one's woodcutting axe at a diagonal angle, and pulling it downward in a vertical arc, thus allowing the side of the bladed edge to shear away at the tough bark.
After a few such swings, they would hold their axe horizontally, with both hands equidistant on the haft, and cleave the weakened bark from the tree itself.
The exact details of this technique, of course, as well as all known specimens of the fallow tree itself, were lost during the great fall of the Simaros Empire.
Rather than allow their secrets and unique natural resources to be used by the enemy, the Simaros were known to have burned the entire population of fallow trees to the ground.
The rest, as they say, is history, though I have no doubt I will one day learn the truth through my extensive arboreal studies.
Markers currently shown on the map (1)
- Books and notes - The Cutters of Fallow Cove - Books and notes
