Wild Plants and Timber
Nothing found in the wild is man-made, and — a thing no one has thought to question — the wild plants are not the ancestors of the crops in the fields. What grows outside the walls is native to Teraell. Most of it is hard to reach because of what else lives there, and almost all of it is, quite literally, hard.
Native plants lay down minerals as they grow. Their leaves are stiff and faintly glassy; their bark comes in plates rather than fissures. A blade dulls fast on wild timber in a way it never does on field-grown things, and every woodcutter keeps a stone on his belt. No one has asked why.
Timber
- Fyrn
- The evergreen of the northern forests and the most common timber in the world — fast, straight, and everywhere north of the Frostline. The north builds floors and roofs with it and burns it; Stormharbor's stave halls, docks, boats, and furniture are Fyrn. It works quickly and cannot be trusted with a major load. A Fyrn beam where a Halvek beam belonged is the mark of cheap work.
- Halvek
- The slow temperate hardwood that takes a century to grow. Keels, wheels, and guild masters' benches.
- Ombari
- The dense dark hardwood of the southern forests and the carving timber of Eldershore — heavy, close-grained, finishing to a beautiful black. The great gates, lineage halls, market columns, and carved beams visitors remember are Ombari. It does not float, which limits how it can be moved, and a tool not kept sharp is blunted quickly; the carvers consider both a test rather than a problem. It is cut from the same forests the Zhorai grow in.
- Skarv
- The twisted timber of the mountains and the only tree that grows at Clearhold's height. Wind keeps it slow, small, and twisted, so long cuts are impossible; what it gives is short, hard, and extremely durable, and Clearhold built a complex joinery tradition around short pieces because it had no choice. Most of the city's timber comes up the Mountain Way at great expense.
- Kelva
- Charcoal — burned slowly from Fyrn in the north, from whatever is on hand elsewhere. The finest is made from Halvek and almost nobody can justify it. A dirty, lonely, well-paid trade. See Minerals of Teraell#Fuel.
Wild gathered food
Free food exists in theory for anyone willing to walk. In practice that means the edges of the agricultural rings, the hinterland of a waystation, and perhaps the first mile of forest.
- Vwyn
- A hard-shelled nut of the temperate trees, gathered in autumn and stored for winter — roasted, ground into coarse meal, or in a poor year pressed into a bitter oil.
- Moeka
- The wild fungi. Knowing which is safe is a skill; every region has its own account and none agree. Gathered in the wet months, dried, and stored — one of the few wild foods with real flavor. A city physician treats Moeka poisoning about twice a year and speaks of it with weary acceptance.
- Grael
- Wild greens from hedgerow and roadside — bitter, plentiful, free, and after months of Chiaz and preserved Stoek, the thing everyone risks the walk for. The first Grael of spring is not a hardship food; it is something to look forward to.
Ground cover
- Graesa
- The common grass, and what the Dorath and the Baechri eat. Most of the world's meat, milk, hide, and Fleisk comes from animals fed on it; it is cut and dried for winter, and a bad Graesa year is felt by the herds first and the tables after. It grows on everything not used for something else.
- Waevel
- The world's weed, in every crack, rut, and wall base, known on sight by everyone. Nearly useless, except that its leaves are a mild remedy for cuts and stings, which small children are taught. Its persistence is proverbial: a thing that cannot be gotten rid of is Waevel.