The People Tree

CAUTION: as of 17/02/2022 this article is a WORK IN PROGRESS.

The 'Thlangmw' or 'People Tree' is a large evergreen tree exclusive to the western continent. The tree is notable for bearing fruit that becomes/births sapient, humanoid organisms. These organisms refer to themselves as the Blimblabalobobmz, or, Blimblabz. The nation of Mimbibl is the Blimblab homeland and the known native area of the Thlangmw.

## The Tree

The tree is tall and pale, with deep blueish foliage and pinkish bark. They fundamentally resemble eucalyptids, however differ in their root masses, which grow in immense gnarled structures not unlike those of mangroves or figs. Thlangmw grow most well in wet soil, swamps, marshes, near ponds lakes, rivers or various other wetlands. Thlangmw usually flower within the span of two to three years (approx 2.6), however, freakishly extreme monsoon seasons may inflict annual fruiting or, heaven forbid, multiple fruitings per year.

The Blimblabs count their lifespans by. Thlangmw have two sexes; male & female. Once the female flowers are pollinated it can take a couple of weeks to several years for those pollinated flowers to develop into fruit and ripen. Once fully ripe, the fruit will fall to the ground and split into segments, a young Blimblab emerging from the centre. At the apex of each segment, near the stem, there will be a seed. Traditionally the fruits themselves were pounded and mixed with grain to make a dough that would be baked and then eaten by the new generation. Recently however, Blimblabs have taken to storing the the fruit in hollow tree stumps, mashing them into a pulp and then being left to ‘mature’, creating alcohol.

## The Fruit (?)

Whether or not the Blimblabs are the fruit of the tree itself or separate entities that are housed within the fruit, is a point of conjecture.

### Anatomy, lifecycle and relation to the tree

Fruit start grapefruit size. When fruit fall naturally, Blimblab come out, also size of grapefruit. Blimblab maybe animals, maybe sapient fruit. Blimblab come out of fruit with adult cognition not baby so they dont be childhood or have parents. They grow in wisdom and size only. Maybe they face same diseases as animals? Maybe they immune to animal diseases and affected only by plant diseases and mould and fungus? maybe they bones are seeds? The fruit they come from have seeds. If they animal they blood purple, if they fruit they juice green. If fruit they can just sew limbs back on and they function again?

### Language:

The sole spoken language of the Blimblabs of Mimbibl is Mindlib.

### Culture:

Blimblab culture is, as of yet, the culture of Mimbibl and vice versa, The following is from the nation article for Mimbibl.

#### Moral values and principles

Blimblab culture has no belief in ‘certainty’. In Mindlib, words that are translated ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘will’, ‘was’ etc. really mean ‘probably’, ‘probably not’, ‘maybe will’ & ‘probably was’ respectively. Blimblabs do not believe that anything is completely certain, in fact, the idea of something having an absolute outcome is alien and inconceivable especially considering their language does not deal in absolutes. This does not mean that confidence in the outcome of an event is impossible. One can be confident in something without necessarily believing it is absolute, only that it will ‘probably happen’. This in mind, surprise is an emotion that is expected in Blimblab society. One should always expect the uncertain or expect nothing. This somewhat nullifies the idea of surprise being an emotion, because you can’t be surprised if you are surprised all the time. While the effects of surprise are still the same, it lasts a considerable amount less than in other societies.

This idea around uncertainty, that you are always surprised and should not expect anything in certainty  brings with it a prevalent ideal of self-consciousness and humbling. While one can be proud of their abilities they can never consider themselves ‘the best’ in a certain area. This means that Blimblabs do not see a need for recreational competition and instead treat discussion on it’s own as an enjoyable activity. This also brings with it a passive view on life and that issues can be resolved without conflict. This does not, however, eliminate conflict in Blimblab society.

This passive and cooperative outlook on life has led to peace among the Blimblab tribes, and thus, they have never experienced any conflict more violent than a somewhat heated argument. Likewise, they have no weaponry meant for war. If they were to encounter such a violent conflict, they would use tools they would otherwise use for hunting.

Blimblabs do eat fruits and grains however they are most opposed to cutting down trees and using parts of trees that aren't the fruit, as they are birthed from trees.

#### Prejudices

Blimblab’s problems with other peoples lies in

1. Their isolation and lack of interaction with other people groups entirely, &
2. Not so much prejudice, but an extreme apathy

Blimblab’s have not encountered any civilisations as of yet and are completely unaware of technological and cultural developments outside of their isolated society. For other races this would lead either to xenophobia or xenophillia, however the Blimblab disposition towards being passive, avoiding conflicting & accepting sudden changes would mean that if they were to make contact with another civilisation they wouldn’t really want to rebel, however being assimilated and colonised would not be to their liking. They would, most likely, consider races and cultures with a less passive world-view and with more bravado and pride as braggadocious and full of themselves, however the Blimblab would not see themselves as superior, they’d simply see other races as simply and misguided, with a need to be steered in the right direction.

As of yet however, Blimblab hold no prejudices as they are unaware of other peoples they could be prejudiced against.

#### Religion

The Blimblab are animistic, believing that everything around them has a spiritual essence and conscious. The nature of Blimblab culture means that religious and philosophical ideas are never concrete and thus the Blimblab are flexible and accepting of various spiritual ideas, beliefs and stories. The most consistent aspects of Blimblab animism are the ideas that every object has, had or can have a spirit and that these spirits, much like people and other animals, are capable of being angered and being pleased. Spirits are known as Mungzud and of the different ways one could classify the many various Mungzud, none are fully malevolent or fully benign. This is in another expression of Blimblab culture's value of accepting the unexpected and their general universal apathy as a people.

#### Traditions

Blimblabs will regularly meet within their community and hold a discussion, sharing knowledge, stories, etc. This is known as ‘Wamzimblv’ and is often held in tandem with various obligatory rituals, such as cooking & eating, trade, rug weaving, etc. Another ritual is the ceremony that creates more Blimblab.

Blimblab are sexless creatures, however the trees they are birthed from do have sex. If the correct environmental conditions are met, the Thlangmw Tree from which the Blimblab are born, will flower. Once the female flowers are pollinated it can take a couple of weeks to several years for those pollinated flowers to develop into fruit and ripen. Once fully ripe, the fruit will fall to the ground and split into segments, a young Blimblab emerging from the centre. At the apex of each segment, near the stem, there will be a seed. The flowering of the trees marks the beginning of a new season, and once the fruits begin to collectively ripen and fall this occasion is marked with celebration of music dances and feasting.

It is upon the first Thlangmw fruit falling that the village will celebrate with the festival of **Vombingvth**. The festival begins with the gathering of all the fallen fruits, and thusly, meeting the newly ripened members of the village. They learn Mindlib with ease and are then given food and drink in a feast. Alongside this they are taught how to gather food & prepare meals, the Blimblab way of life and the laws of the land, and of their origin from the tree . Traditionally the fruits themselves were pounded and mixed with grain to make a dough that would be baked and then eaten by the new generation. Recently however, Blimblabs have taken to storing the the fruit in hollow tree stumps, mashing them into a pulp and then being left to ‘mature’, creating alcohol. There is also the usual feasting, dancing and music, but the focus is around teaching the way of life to the newly ripened.

The latter part of the celebration is when the new generation are taught to hunt and taught about death. Any of those who have died in the previous year have their bones carefully separated from their body. The flesh is cooked and eaten at that time, but the bones, which must NOT be damaged, are removed and wrapped in hide and stored in a building amongst the Thlangmw orchard. At the very end of the festival the new generation will hunt and cook for the last feast and will then be given a satchel of bones, which they are to carry into the forest at night, without light or guidance, and bury. This is thought to plant new trees, but does not compete with the seeds of fruit for the sole cause, they are both seen as doing as such. Whether or not it actually works is unknown, but the Blimblab see it as an undisputable truth.

Blimblab folklore is entwined with religious beliefs and mostly covers the legends around various spirits.

Blimblab Spirits & Folkloric figures Expand

#### Art

Rug weaving is a common communal pass-time. The rugs of each village vary and have their own symbology and meanings but due to the recent union of several tribes the ‘Bingmiz’ pattern has come to represent the Blimblab as a whole and thus their sovereign nation of Mimbibl. Rugs have several purposes, some purposes with their own specific style. The Bingmiz is the only homogenous rug style when it comes to appearance and has come to represent the Blimblab as a whole. Znwubth rugs are used to tell narratives, the one represented [left] tells the story of a Blimblab defeating a monster that attacked a village. Gizgziz are used to indirectly express emotion, the example is a display of annoyance and dislike. Dnugungth serve as a method of tallying, accounting and other non-linguistic record-keeping. Zmedmgeg represent individuals, Izmlgezd represent Villages and Tribes & Ozg represent establishments (Apothecary in example). Dunbunbni are woven and placed at sites associated with spirits as offerings as well as serve to display that a site has significance. The example Dunbunbni is woven to appease Gnnggnng. This rug will be placed to mark the presence of nearby water sources or to serve as markers that someone had drowned in that specific water body.

The pattern displayed on the bingiz style rug is used on the flag to represent Mimbibl, if not a rug used instead of a flag.

Similar patterns and unique patterns are carved on the underside of cloaks, such as those made from the skins of Possums, Kangaroos, Wallabies and Umthimbd

#### Recreation

Quickly after urbanization, the Blimblab realised that while age brought wisdom, the younger and older Blimblab differed in size moreso than in mental capability. It was with this that the younger, smaller Blimblab were often employed for jobs that the older could not do on account of their size, and likewise the larger for the smaller. Getting around urban areas could be immensely difficult for smaller individuals, so larger Blimblab will offer to transport smaller individuals around the city in a cart. Gimbvobl Zvomdbobl Gzbivd was an elder who disliked the noise that the carts made and suggested that, in their stead, large individuals would stand at street corners, and, with immense coordination, would throw smaller individuals to each other and catch them. Gimbvobl got as far as organising a group and beginning their training before other elders deemed the suggestion too dangerous. The group Gimbvobl had formed were named the Zbingldbumv and practiced by throwing and catching fruit. Even though they no longer needed "training", they continued the practice however and spread it as a game, Zbingldbumvimbli.

Zbingldbumvimbli is best described as team-based cooperative Juggling. Three players stand in triangular formation and begin by tossing a fruit to each other in consecutive order. A fourth person will then throw another fruit to a designated player, who must catch it and throw it to the next player without breaking the loop or dropping the fruit. This is repeated over and over, the aim being to get as many fruit in circulation as possible. It can be played with anywhere upwards of 3 players, and can be played competitively between two teams, the game ending at a designated time, the winning team being the one with the most fruits in circulation.

Blimblab music is not standardised in anyway and varies from person to person, community to community . Various instruments are commonplace but some, more inventive designs may be utilised in specific villages. Instruments would be made primarily from wood debris found on the forest floor, as harming a tree is highly frowned upon. Likewise, bones and other animal parts may also be utilised. The simplest and most common instruments of Blimblab villages would be percussive; drums of various sizes, shakers of knuckle bones, beans and seeds and on the rare occasion short, marimba like instruments. A shawm may likewise be conceived and shared by a more inventive Blimblab but percussive instruments would still make majority.

Due to the initial small size of Blimblabs, it is conceivable for a young Blimblab to ascend to the heavens with assistance of a Lantern snake. Thusly, a night time tradition formed if a lantern snake or more was acquired by the village. You take a piece of scrap wood and have as many young Blimblabs as can fit on top of it. Attach a rope or vine that someone grips tightly, before allowing lantern snakes to wrap themselves around each end of the piece of wood. While this is most often recreational, it has been used as a method of creating platforms from which slings can be shot at birds which are hence plucked from the skies. Recreation however, is the tradition's main purpose.