Raintree

The raintree is a variety of virid tree adapted to arid regions, found mainly in the tropical deserts and plains of Anásthiasplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAnásthias

Anásthias [a-NAS-thee-ass / ænæsθiːæs], or [an-ass-THEE-as] is an equatorial island continent, heart of the Civilised World. The north straddles the equator and is hot and humid, while most of the equatorial centre is an upland plateau with fertile river valleys, and stretches of arid plains and desert in the shadow of the mountains. The south is temperate but more wild, separated from the civilisations of the north by the almost impassable Harthera.

Raintrees have a scaly white or dun-coloured skin, with numerous up-pointing limbs. They cope with arid conditions by growing fine, hair-like air roots from their branches. These normally lay flat, giving the limbs a hairy appearance. In the cool hours before dawn they become erect, catching dew from the air which is either absorbed directing into the air root, or trickles down the trunk of the tree to be absorbed via the soil. Raintrees can often drip water on travellers who take shelter under their boughs, hence the name.

The raintree's skin-like bark has often been used for paper though its waxy finish makes only the inside suitable for writing on. It is particularly used by merchants or scribes for temporary notes or receipts, since as paper it crumbles within weeks.

The Prophet Therion was said to have written his first drafts on raintree sheaves while dwelling in the desert, so the trees are particularly revered in Ororrplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigOrorr

Ororr [o-ROARR, ɒ̝rɔ'ɾ], also called the Holy Motherland of Ororr, is a theocratic nation in Anásthias, one of the world's great powers. It the largest nation in the world, perhaps the largest empire in history, occupying the entire northwest of the continent between the mountains and the sea. Ororrlanguagelanguagelanguage.