Lexicon:Modern/Skarv

Skarv
Stage	Modern CLT
Pronunciation	/ˈskaɾv/
Part of speech	Noun
Etymology	origin obscure; native to the mountain
Related words	Vaesk, Talvi, Clearhold

Skarv — the twisted mountain timber of the high slopes. The only wood that grows at Clearhold’s altitude.

Notes

Small, slow, and gnarled by the wind into shapes that make long straight cuts impossible. What comes out of it is short, hard, and extremely tough, and Clearhold has built a whole joinery tradition around working in short pieces because it has never had the option of long ones. Much of Clearhold’s building timber is imported up the Mountain Way at considerable cost. Skarv is what the city has of its own, and it is used where hardness matters more than length.

Native timber. The bark plates rather than fissures and the wood carries mineral through it, which is why it takes an edge off a tool faster than an imported wood does.