Thunder Oak is a particular set of massive hardwood trees found across deep woodlands in southern Esterra. There are a number of regional variants but a set of features are common across all the various forms of Thunder Oak:
- Thunder Oak trees are always wide, with the largest specimens being more than ten metres across.
- Thunder Oak trees are exceptionally durable, surviving fire, partial harvesting and even collapse. Even when dead their lumber remains durable.
- Worked Thunder Oak timber accepts enchantment easily and for a long period of time.
- Thunder Oak sap is as clear as glass when hardened and often results in clear channels through worked wood which glow when enchanted.
These features make Thunder Oak a timber of great prestige and use for projects such as ostentatious construction, ship keels and heavy construction that must support great weight (such as Arcstone quarries). As such, the Concord and other Esterran nations treat Thunder Oak as a very important strategic resource, often protected and hidden. Thunder Oak occurs naturally in deep woodlands and some success has been found in growing it in new locations, but no examples of living Thunder Oak have ever been found out of Esterra and attempts to transplant living trees across the sea have always met with failure. Thunder Oak occupies a similar industrial use as Artebazzani ‘Emperors Teeth’ or ‘Whitepines’, being the choice material for ship construction and enchantments requiring timber.
Thunder Oak Orchards are often found in areas of deep wilderness where the trees have had time to establish themselves. As harvesting Thunder Oak is a partial practice, rarely felling whole trees, many Thunder Oaks are hundreds of years old. Many tenders of the trees will become partial to particular ones, naming them and describing them with human-like personalities. Many Orchards also function as important community centres as it is seen as good fortune to be married, named a citizen or awarded in the shade of a Thunder Oak.
Harvesting Thunder Oak is difficult, requiring careful use of saws and axes with mithril-mixed metal. This is partially an issue of durability, most iron and steel simply wont retain and edge through the hardened form of Thunder Oak, and partially due to a latent magical energy that Thunder Oaks gain over time, which is diminished somewhat by Mithril. Partial cuts will be made into the tree, with slabs being removed before being worked. The protective clear sap will then protect the tree.
| Thunder Oak Orchards in The Concord | |
| Name | Location |
| The Eisen Orchard | Resinderholz |
Game Details
Cost: 20 Mithril + 7 Vaults 15 Locks
Upkeep: 2 Vaults 15 Locks
Construction Requirements: Thunder Oak Orchards must be built in a region that contains Thunder Oak, with a maximum of one Orchard per region.
Construction Time: 1 Season
Function: Thunder Oak Orchards produce Thunder Oak Wains which are granted to the current Deed holder. On average a Thunder Oak Orchard produces 15 Wains of Thunder Oak in the season before each summit. Although this number may slightly fluctuate each season.