Yuriban Mangroves

The Yuriban Mangrove is a species of subtropical mangrove, a tree which grows in coastal saline habitats. While most mangroves exist in latitudes further south, the Yuriban Mangrove grows on the island in modest numbers, usually in locations heated to a sufficient temperature by subterranean activity.

Physical characteristics

The trees always grow in a coastal habitat, with their roots mostly submerged in a few feet of water. The roots are spindly and spidery, arcing out of the water to form a series of gnarled trunks, usually two or three. The branches are similarly gnarled and span over a broad area, bearing thick concentrations of 8-centimeter-long, oar-shaped leaves, which are emerald-green in colour and have the consistency of rubber. The average Yuriban Mangrove grows around thirty feet tall.

The Yuriban Mangrove bears its leaves year-round due to the subterranean warming necessary for them to thrive. The warming is adopted by the tree in an internal heating mechanism that allows them to defrost themselves to some degree during the winter, though the process is not absolute. Wintertime mangroves are usually seen with crystals of frosted sea water on their limbs and leaves.

Defining traits

Mangroves play a small but important role in the Yuriban ecosystem in that they make excellent floodbreaks. Like most mangroves, the Yuriban Mangrove grows in tight, semi-submerged forests along the coast, and Yuriba's few mangrove forests are thus extremely effective deterrents against tidal waves and typhoons. The trees are extremely durable and can withstand powerful winds and waves. They provide an effective shield against waves and storm fronts coming from the sea, preventing turbulent water and waves from flooding areas of the island where they are located, though calm water can pass among their roots with ease.

Obviously, due to the relative scarcity of mangrove patches they cannot stop every tidal wave or parts of a wave that do not hit the trees, but when a wave does impact against a mangrove forest it is effectively blunted or broken up.

The roots of the Yuriban Mangrove create a nutrient-rich environment. They provide a nesting ground for oysters, mussels, barnacles, and other such animals, and Seraph Salmon and Gildedsides often live among them.

Distribution

Yuriban Mangroves are modestly uncommon, occurring only along the coast of the island, usually in large numbers in areas where the Yuriba Forest extends to the shore and where the earth is warmed sufficiently by underground heating and spring currents. They are often difficult to reach and navigate through, as they tend to grow tightly together.

Yuriban lore

Yuriban Mangroves hold a special place in native lore.

The traditional Story of the Water Dryads tells of a love affair between Hakaze, a Dryad Priestess of Akibimi, and Katei, a Naiad Priestess of Issui. They produced a number of children, half-dryad and half-naiad. While the children of Hakaze and Katei were accepted and loved, they were part-Dryad and part-Naiad and thus had difficulty living the life of either. The eldest among the children was Seki, who despaired of she and her sisters ever finding their place in the world.

One day, a great typhoon came to Yuriba, bringing with it mighty winds and massive waves. The turbulence on the ocean carried through the Yuriba River and began to flood parts of the island, sending the people of the island running for higher ground. The native Yuribans searched frantically for a means of stopping the flood. However, one person, Seki, waded alone into the delta of the river and stood facing the storm, and she set down her roots into the sand, spreading out her branches and placing herself between the storm and the river. While alone her stand had little effect, one by one Seki's sisters joined with her and became mangroves, setting their roots into the bed of the river and forming a water forest across the mouth of the delta. Together the daughters of Hakaze and Katei formed a barrier against the storm, and the waves could not pass them. Only by calming itself and passing through the network of the sisters' roots could the sea pass peacefully into the river.

Thanks to Seki and her sisters the Yuriba River was safeguarded against the waves of the sea. Not only that, but the sisters had finally found a place for themselves, as trees standing in the water itself. They became known as the water dryads, spirits of the mangroves, and they vowed to stand forever at the mouth of the river to guard it against floods and to calm the waters before allowing them to progress. When Akibimi and Issui saw this, they blessed Seki and her sisters and set a mark in their midst to forever seal their vow as guardians of the river.