Reign of The Cultivar

Reign of The Cultivar is a book uncovered through use of Study-related Inquiries.

## History

After travelling into the Shifting Dunes to Sandoval Ravine in an effort to resolve unmanaged troubles brewing from Alwin ohd Monime's past, a group of adventurers stumbled across a magically-inclined tree growing freely in the central of the desert. Finding much curiosity and delight alike in its nature, a few managed to recover seeds from the plant, prompting Ashewan Norvegicus to look into methods by which to try and grow them.

## Reading

### Completed by Ashewan Norvegicus

After the passing of Kissara, the Fervor in 444AG, an individual that had spent near all of her time outside of the borders of the Empire, it was the delight to many that those chosen as their successor instead placed their focus more steadfastly within. Stretching through the mountains of the Ironfangs, across the sands of the Shifting Dunes, the grasslands of the south and west, the Empire of Raq could hardly be described as lacking in scope and scale, but the focus lingered within nonetheless. Orchamus, who would come to be known as The Cultivar through their actions, was a popular figure within court, his ascension to power was likewise popular, and served to bolster the Qalraq people in a number of ways, first and foremost amongst them investing heavily in the Guild of the Golden Grain, one of the Ten Guilds, blurring the line of impartiality and independence of the Guilds with the extent of state-sponsorship - a matter for another tome, no doubt. With this investment of the riches, for the lands themselves were and continue to be bountiful, filled with precious metals and spices, craftsfolk of glass, silks and weaponry, The Cultivar brought new stability to agriculture in the region, utilising what was possible to a greatly elevated state of efficiency, sufficient to create great stores known as Qillqas and fill them to the brim, to aid in times when crops faltered. Such is the hazard of sharing a border with the, by all accounts, accursed lands of Anorcor. Beyond this though, Orchamus reached out to the Guild for another purpose, who then reached out to those other Guilds scattered across the continent. With a large contingency of accomplished and capable spellcasters, The Cultivar got once more to work, seeking to cultivate the Primal Trees that would in time grant him his name definitively within the history books.

Primal Trees have long inspired majesty amongst the Principal Races, who by all the records found that they were pre-dated by the plants. There are numerous tales of adventurers heading forth into lands devoid of civilisation and life to find such trees that would, by the size and scope of any other type of tree, have surely existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Hence, therefore the name, atavistic and ancient as they are. To this statement of fact, it was quickly discovered by Orchamus that the conventional methods of cultivation would prove ultimately for naught. Not only did the actual process of harvesting the seed pods of the Sultan Ash prove at least somewhat troublesome, but how could something that naturally radiated heat be effectively irrigated and hydrated - given its proclivity to transform water cast its way into steam within a few moments as the soil in which they were planted started to blacken, burn, and in a few instances vitrify into glass over time. Furthermore, the planting of Sultan Ash trees within a certain vicinity of each other seemed to prove another source of trouble, their proximity effectively magnifying and compounding their heating effects, until even those with capable of residing in some sense of comfort in the depths of the Shifting Dunes started to struggle, even while they were little more than seedlings. To counter both of these, The Cultivar relied on both evokers capable of creating frigid environs with the arcane, as well as sending for shipments of ice from the lands of Courrakey to the north. Ever keen to establish the nuances of control in such things, each of these two pathways were kept separate, establishing that the former proved marginally more viable, particularly with increasing exertion placed on the spellcaster, something that Orchamus made note of, but did not push any further with for the time being as further options were considered.

Several years later, shipments of Sultan Ash wood started to cross the border from the Empire of Raq, bound for Atralran exclusively. Many years later, it would be established the nature of this agreement, costly as it was for both sides. Hesitant to cut down the trees, the shipments were seemingly few and far between, though the wand and staffs being created required little more than a few branches here and there, shaped carefully as to minimise wastage. Looking back over the legends of their supposed creation, gleamed through visions grasped at through use of not arcane magics, but divine, Orchamus sought to empower the land, as the Sixteen and their foes had done during the battles before Aita's Second Gift. Firstly, he had laced the soil with ground obsidian, basalt, granite and all other manner of rocks, gravels and soils collected from the Elemental Plane of Fire, giving the substrate in which he sought to plant a resilience and hardiness to the heat haze aura given off by the tree as it germinated and grew. To encourage that to occur in itself though, is what truly bound the Empire of Raq and Atralran together, so much so that King Leopold I Goldlor was not expected to pay anything for the first decade of the trade deals. It is no easy feat for a mortal being to grow close to replicating the power of a deity, although a small army of Spellslingers doing naught for but casting flame-producing evocation spells in a region for a year seemed to grow close enough to facilitate roots to definitively take hold, steadfast and strong.