Alon pyralis
| |
| Common name | Alon pyralis |
|---|---|
| Type | Deciduous oak |
| Mature height | 40–60 ft (12–18 m) |
| Estimated mass | ≈ 1,200 lb (540 kg) per trunk |
| Range | Autumnal lowlands and hill country along the Strait of Haifa |
| Habitat | Fertile soils, riparian banks, rolling hills |
| Canopy colour | Deep russet and gold (autumn) |
| Distinct trait | Creaks resemble speech in an unknown tongue |
| Spiritual belief | Absorbs souls of the recently departed; voices heard through wood |
| Cultural role | Symbol of wisdom and stability; acorns used in harvest rituals |
| Ecological value | Soil enrichment, flood control, wildlife food and shelter |
| Protected status | Revered; living trees rarely felled |
The alon pyralis is a majestic deciduous oak native to the autumn-lit forests flanking the Strait of Haifa and the gently rolling interior of Bassaridia Vaeringheim. Mature specimens rise forty to sixty feet, their broad trunks weighing well over half a tonne. Each autumn the canopy flares in deep russet and burnished gold, while heavy acorns feed deer, jays, and burrowing moss-dogs through the long Haifan winter.
Auditory Phenomenon
Even on still days the alon pyralis creaks with a hollow, vocal cadence that resembles human speech spoken in no known tongue. In dense groves the echoes overlap, giving travellers the uneasy sense of being addressed from every direction. At dusk the murmuring chorus drifts across valleys in a sound locals simply call “the Gathering.”
Cultural Significance, Legend, and Myth
Across Bassaridia the tree embodies wisdom anchored by permanence, yet nowhere is its mystique stronger than around Erythros. Here, according to temple chronicle, the merchant-prince Erysicthon once ignored a plea from the wine-god Silenus not to fell a sacred grove of alon pyralis. Swinging his axe anyway, Erysicthon toppled the oldest tree and was cursed on the spot with perpetual thirst and hunger. Convinced no earthly feast could ease his torment, he renounced his wealth and wandered the streets begging for crumbs and water. Those who follow his path are today called the Erysic, an order of ascetic mendicants who haunt Erythros' arcades, listening beneath alon pyralis branches for Silenus' warning in every groan of the wood.
Alperkin tradition—later adopted by several cults of the Reformed Stripping Path—holds that the tree absorbs the souls of the newly departed, granting them voice through its timbers until they pass fully into the realm beyond. During funerary vigils a fresh branch may be placed at the bier so the spirit can travel to the nearest living trunk, and children at autumn festivals still crowd beneath the boughs to catch ancestral whispers riding the wind.
The alon pyralis plays a central role in one of Bassaridia Vaeringheim's most powerful, best known love songs, Sözle Lanaf Grove, which is about an intimate encounter between two lovers who meet in a sacred grove of alon pyralis trees under the quiet watch of a pride of Upper Haifan woolly lions.
Ecology and Landscape Role
Deep tap-roots anchor riverside banks and slow seasonal floods, while constantly falling leaves enrich the soil with minerals dredged from deep substrata. The rough bark hosts lichens, nocturnal glow-moths, and owl nests, creating micro-habitats that bolster forest resilience. Whether standing alone on a hillock or massed in lowland clefts, the tree's autumn colour gives the landscape its signature copper warmth.
Symbolism and Use
Acorns serve as talismans of latency and growth, pressed into wax seals on trade charters and scattered over newly ploughed fields during new-year rites. Artisans prize naturally fallen limbs for lyre backs and shrine doors, but felling a healthy alon pyralis is taboo—an act still said to summon Erysicthon's curse. Beneath the branches of city-groves markets convene, debate circulates, and quiet counsel is sought, for the tree remains the Bassaridian emblem of endurance seasoned by memory.
