The Founding Tree Of Somnos
“To look upon a Founding Tree of Dormia is to gaze into the magic and mystery of life.”
These words are inscribed upon the entranceway into the Tree Palace, and no truer words have ever been written. A Founding Tree of Dormia rises hundreds and hundreds of feet into the air, and rivals the tallest skyscrapers in the modern world. Leaves and branches of this Tree extend for miles, and its root system goes even further. Those who find themselves within the embrace of the Tree eventually develop a refined, almost superhuman ability to sleep actively. They no longer need sleep to rest; instead they use this state to become even more efficient and concentrated in their tasks. The Tree provides life to all who live under its protection and in return, those who dwell beneath its canopy protect the Tree and guard it against those who want to burn it, kill it and steal its potent ash. No one knows how the Founding Trees came to be in the eleven scattered sites throughout the Urals. To the outside world, the Founding Trees are nothing more than a myth, like Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, or the Loch Ness Monster.
Here are some facts about Founding Trees that you may find interesting:
- The trunks of Founding Tree are typically three hundred feet in diameter. It takes a grown person roughly two minutes to walk around the base of such a tree.
- Founding Trees have been known to grow so tall that their branches quite often break through the clouds. Dormians often build observatories at the top of their Founding Trees because, at such heights, there are no clouds, rain, or snow of any kind to obstruct the view.
- Leaves from Founding Trees are bigger in surface area than your average city block; and yet, typically, they weigh no more than fifty pounds. These leaves are very, very light and this means they flap loudly in the wind.
- The limbs of Founding Trees are so wide that roads are sometimes built on them. The most famous such road, Skyline Way, was built on the twelfth Founding Tree of Quartin. This road stretched a mile in length and had twelve office buildings and four restaurants, including a very good place to get roasted venison.
- Founding Trees occasionally have holes or hollows that can be quite large. The largest hollow ever recorded was in the sixth Founding Tree of Zuydhoek. The hollow was 100 feet in width and 200 feet in height. The people of Zuydhoek used the hollow to store gold and, on one occasion, they held a music concert within the hollow.
- The roots of Founding Trees can extend for hundreds and, some say, thousands of miles. The longest root ever recorded is reputed to have spanned from Somnos to the Mongolian city of Öndörhushuu – a distance of over 3,000 miles.