Re: Herbmastery - Relevant plants
This is a plant I specifically designed when Zipp told me that our team in Culling was going to Kalte - it was meant to be a bit of colorful background for that mission, so while it is very detailed, most of these detail shouldn't really see much use in the game.
Gramush Moss
While not a very known export good of Kaltenland, this plants is the main reason the icy wasteland is of any interest for healers.
This very rare form of moss is stunningly white, and is almost never found on the open, in the middle of the frozen wastes; it insteads grows undergound, in the deep system of caves that misteriously fill the whole icy continent and whose labirintine complexities only the resident Ice Barbarians can navigate with any degree of success.
The moss especially favors those rocks that contain veines of stratified calcium compounds, wich are the main nutrient this plant need; as such, is not uncommon for it to be found in the form of long lines along the walls of caves, or to find stalagmites, stalactites and columns literally covered - and, at times, partially erosed - by this plant.
While this ability of the plant of getting nutrient out of rocks already turn it into a pretty uncommon sight, the more interesting things about it is the way it reproduces; once the spores of the plants, with a hard white shell not dissimilar from that of a coconut, if smaller, are mature, they are literally pushed inside the rock, in such a way as to break and spread the milk around the seed.
This milk is what anybody cares about when speaking of the plant; while called "milk" because of its very heavy calcium content, what the liquid actually does is to instantly solidify such calcium in a sturdy block that encase the seed, granting it a very fertile "ground" to grew in.
What makes the Gramush Milk so incredibly interesting is that, when applied to an area where calcium is already present - as it's likely if there's Gramush Moss around to begin with - it will strenghten it tenfold, reniforcing the might of the external layer to such a degree that almost nothing can penetrate it, effectively keeping the seed safe until maturation begin.
And this is where the medical application become clear: if injiected in a correctly allined broken bone, the Milk is capable of bringing it instantly back to peack condition, as if new; and any kind of bone fractures can be cured with nothing more than a couple drops added to an appropriate potion. There's more: it can be used to actually regrow broken teeth if administered properly, and many says that teeths regrown this way are even stronger then before, to the point that great warriors of the Barbarian tribes can go to the point of using it to turn their canines into sort of fangs, appearing far more menacing.
The Barbarians use of the Gramush Milk aren't limited to this kind of things, though; a proper addition of the milk to old people's diet seems to delay the common weakining of the body witnessed through age, meaning that among the Ice Barbarian there are elders whose body is, if not as strong as that of a man in his prine, certainly far srutdier than it would appear.
However, the more important use of the Milk among the Barbarian is another one: it is a weapon of war. While the bone weapons used by the clans are good enough for what they need them to do and are usually able to fight off the steel weapon of other groups, they are still a main military disadvantage for them. However, a bone weapon treated with repeated infusion of Gramush Milk over a period of some weeks will be stenghtened by it to a level that would be thought impossible, if there weren't witnesses: the bones takes a silverish hue to themselves, and it is reported that, by this point, they're not only able to witstand the edge of iron and steel weapons, but that some were even able to actually break steel weapons of inferior quality.
In the war among tribes, where there isn't any steel to oppose such weapons but only normal bones, a Gramish weapon - especially in the hand of a skilled leader - might very well be enough to turn the side of a battle; such weapons are passed down through generations and treated with the same reverence a magic one would be among the Sommerlund nobility.
It goes without saying that such a military advantage is not something shared lightly by the barbarians, and the plants is not only ferociously sought after, but also kept very secret by those lucky tribes that happens to found some of it; finding the plant is a challenge unto itself, as it requires to brave the dangers of the caves, and the particular combination of dry but cold climate, "soil" configuration and properly unilluminated areas the Gramush needs to grow make the plant almost a treasure for the Icy tribes.
This is the main reason why the Moss is such a rarely seen plants outside of kaltenland, and why those healers who happens to possess it wouldn't willingly part themselves from it. What few is exported is usually the lucky find of explorer and adventurer, or the result of an exiled barbarian stealing part of the precious supplies from his own tribes. It may also happen, although very rarely, that a tribe would barter such a prize for something they deem of equivalent value - like an actual magic item, a rare weapon of a special metal, rare medical supplies or combat potions - or as a tribute of subsmission to a leader recognized for his value as an equal chieftain and worthy opponent, but this is such a rare event it only barely needs to be mentioned.
Either way, healers from all the world would pay dearly for having some Gramush Milk, and it is not unheard of for some brave merchants to actually organize expedition to search for colonies of the plants, as such a find could be very worth it if brought to the attention of Durenor's medicians guild or to the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star.
Gramush Milk: strenghten any kind of bone it get in direct contact with, both through the production of calcium-based structures and through reinforcing the integrity and strenght of the same.
Gramush potions: composition varies; Gramush cannot be just drunk directly - it would create massive calcium deposites in the stomach and then calculus if assumed that way - but if mixed with any kind of potions that affect the bloodstream (Laumspur, Klorva, etc.) it add to the effect a +2 CS recover..
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:06, Sat 19 Nov 2011.