Plants of the Easterealm
Travelers who find themselves wandering over the ridges and hills of the northern Easterealm toward the close of each year will be stunned by the autumnal colors and abundant vegetation of this temperate wilderness. The cleansing has been particularly effective near the city of Carida (or Masq, as it is locally known). Here, flora has flourished in abundance.
Here you can see several common types of plants. The flamebough is particularly vibrant and shocking in the month of October, when the warm days and cool nights trigger it to release a blaze of orange-yellow leaves, veined with scarlet-red. This is nicely contrasted with the cool, slate-blue needles of the hardy leatherleaf. Stands of leatherleaf flood the colder northern slopes of the hills, creating a marvelous striped effect, since the flameboughs favor the warmer southern-facing slopes. In the fall, the contrast between yellow-gold and slate-blue is a clear and colorful harbinger of oncoming winter.
Widefinger has a more demure autumn garb, changing its emerald-green summer colors for a khaki-mustard palette. Yet even so, in quantity, the subtle variation of hue gives a warm, earthy background to the widefinger’s more flamboyant neighbors.
Speaking of flamboyant, no traveler forgets their first night-time sighting of an old burltree that has been overrun with a wild tanglevine! The blackened burltree wood simply glows when wrapped in strand upon strand of glowing golden vines. No one knows why the tanglevine becomes luminous when it encounters burltree bark, but its impressive effect is undeniable. Fireshapers try to copy the effect, but with only limited success. At other times, the tanglevine takes a back-seat to other fall foliage, although many find its rich, plum-purple leaves to be pleasant and it is a traditional part of any harvest decoration.
Michael Somerville is the author of several short stories, as well as an in-progress high-fantasy series called the Tales of the Broken Realm. He loves telling stories of hope about ordinary characters doing their small part to help heal a broken world. By day, he pays the bills as a hands-on storyteller and project manager, leading and envisioning professional teams in the "real-world", even as he is busily building and illustrating imaginary worlds in his evenings and on the weekends.
Outside of work and writing, he enjoys a wide range of hobbies, including playing music with his family and friends on keyboard or guitar, drawing, sculpting, painting, sewing, and blacksmithing, or walking the length of the Appalachian Trail in his home neighborhood in the Shenandoah Valley, where he serves as a Board member on his local civic association.
Most important to Michael are his family and his church. Michael and Jessica celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2026 and are happily raising three wonderful daughters. He serves actively in his local church, playing music on Sunday, teaching the older elementary kids, and leading a small group of wonderful saints. He hopes to hear "Well done" one day, and plans to keep serving his true King until then.
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