Agriculture

Various crops and animals have been domesticated across the world, and many have spread far beyond their ancestral domains. Below are given some of the basics used worldwide by humans, both for food and for other purposes.

There are six separate cradles of agriculture, with associated species being added to the list as humanity spreads. The cradles, in order of age, are the island of Verna in Sayintha; the Yashdar Basin; the Temacan Peninsula; the Tjiwehng region of Yandjee; the island of Knausor in Oma; and Ammu Island. (It is notable but not exceptional that three of these cradles of agriculture are on or near Mocueyoh.)

Apple

The apple, often called the goilos, is a favourite fruit in the north, cultivated for eating raw, cooked, or for cider or juice production. The wood is not rot-resistant but can be used to make high-class furniture.

Origin: Osāyo.

Arvest

Arvest, or juki, is a perennial vine with a long tuberous root, rich in Vitamins A, B, and C and manganese. The leaves can also be eaten as greens.

Origin: Verna.

Bali Nut

Although the bali pine flowers (and produces seeds) somewhat irregularly, they are considered a delicacy, and harvest festivals are held when the seeds fall, anywhere from two to five years apart. They can be eaten raw or cooked, or ground into paste.

Origin: Arumandjee.

Cabbage Tree

The cabbage tree, also called the lykton, grows up to sixty feet tall, and regrows well after fires. The rhizomes are cooked or used to make alcohol; the leaves can be boiled like cabbage, or fibres extracted from them can be used to make rope.

Origin: Knausor.

Camille

The camille or korian is a perennial plant with annual flowers. The seeds are used as a pseudocereal, which can be used to prevent beriberi at sea, and the plant produces oil used for cooking.

Origin: Knausor.

Crug

Technically a perennial vine, the crug, locally extih, is treated as an annual plant. There are over fifteen hundred varieties of long-lasting tubers.

Origin: Temacan.

Earthberry

The earthberry, called a daza, is an annual plant with a perennial root system. The rhizomes are nitrogen-rich and earthy, and the fruits look like peppercorns, with a blackberry taste.

Origin: Knausor.

Eddy Root

In much demand as a root vegetable and salad greens, strains of eddy (locally jabr) have also been produced that are high in sugar, allowing for a particular sweetness unique to the area.

Origin: Yashdar.

Elberry

Elberries were domesticated twice, and so are known as rhokhin or s'irqu depending on location. The seeds are edible and produce oil; the wood is excellent for furniture.

Origin: Knausor and Yashdar.

Ettle

Ettles, called tzicuah locally, the vines the pods grow on wind around zee stalks, and the seeds are a good source of nitrogen, protein, and oil.

Origin: Temacan.

Golden Wyrtum

Golden wyrtrum, or kanysa, is an annual vine growing from a perennial rootstock. The rootstock can be partially cut away and stored for quite a long time. A good source of Vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fibre. Prefers Mediterranean or subtropical climates.

Origin: Knausor.

Koi

Locally called janda, the koi fruit, high in potassium, can be eaten raw (in sweet varieties) or cooked (in starchy ones). Fibres from the leaf-stems are used to make a strong fabric.

Origin: Verna.

Melissan

Melissan, called jamari, is a perennial grass, and the stem is rich in sucrose.

Origin: Verna.

Moon-Fruit

Moon-fruit, called pos, are noted for the thick juicy pulp (tasting of vanilla with a hint of cinnamon) around their seeds (which, although poisonous raw, taste like chickpeas when cooked).

Origin: Eileiwa.

Pan Plant

Called pitjol in its native land, the pan plant is a perennial vine of many uses. The pear-shaped fruit is big and sweet; the seeds taste like peas. The roots are edible raw or cooked, and the young leaves are excellent in salads.

Origin: Tjiwehng.

Pummel

The pummel, called ayoh, is a hairy vine with a large fruit, coming in many colours, shapes, and sizes and rich in Vitamins A and C.

Origin: Temacan.

Pyric

Called euta in its native region, pyric is a hardy annual grass with tufts of high-protein grain up to five feet high.

Origin: Knausor.

Red Bean Tree

The red bean tree, locally badjok, is a fast-growing tree that fixes nitrogen in the soil. The seeds in their legumes are an excellent pseudocereal. A good source of dietary fibre and protein, the sap is gummy and can be used as a sweetener, and the bark is used for paper. Prefers a fairly wide range of hot to cool climates.

Origin: Tjiwehng.

Snowbean

It is in fact the large and edible root of this plant (kus locally) that has become so important to the communities living in the north of the world, although the seeds are indeed bean-shaped.

Origin: Yiyande

Sunfruit

The sunfruit, or ocuey, is a perennial tree from the family Phaethonaceae that bears large, soft, golden achenes vaguely reminiscent of a peach. A good source of manganese and Vitamin C. Prefers subtropical and warm-temperate climates.

Origin: Temacan.

Sweet-Rice

Sweet-rice, typically called ghirz, is an annual grass typically grown in quite wet conditions. The cooked grains are reasonably high in calories, and the golden ones have a decent Vitamin A content. Usually harvested by an entire community.

Origin: Yashdar.

Tackroot

Tackroot, commonly called kutjong, is a perennial plant with annual growth from a tuber, which can grow up to a metre long, is rich in Vitamin C, and tastes a bit like a coconut.

Origin: Tjiwehng.

Tetragon

Native to sandy shores and quite salt-tolerant, tetragon leaves, also called tjatjop, are consumed like (and taste much like) spinach. After a certain age the leaves become bitter, and can be used as a herb instead.

Origin: Tjiwehng.

Thriddic

Thriddic (ridu) is found across the Northern Hemisphere, and is an essential component in many salads. It can be eaten cooked or raw, and also used for flavouring.

Origin: Yashdar.

Treegrass

The variety of treegrass called laka has edible shoots (albeit cyanide-heavy; they must be boiled first). The sap can also be tapped and made into an alcohol, and the seeds are collected—somewhat rarely—to make cakes.

Origin: Eileiwa.

White Yam

White yams (hoko locally) are, as the name suggests, large white tubers at the root of vines, rich in starch, fibre, and carbohydrates.

Origin: Eileiwa.

Zee

Called cicah originally, the kernels of this grass are large and rich in carbohydrates.

Origin: Temacan.

Ashmont

Spodizenus pyrophorus, the ashmont, in the wild migrates along the great rivers of the Yashdar Basin. Its domestication in the 12th Century BC gave the denizens thereof mounts for war and peace, and (in smaller breeds) excellent guards for the house. The ashmont is quite horsey, but covered in tabby-like stripes in shades that vary from breed to breed—black, white, gold, brown, grey, red…

Caple

Arion hippoides, the caple, is native to the Whirlwind Plains of central Aion, and was domesticated around the end of the 6th Century by the Hākan. Used as a mount, the caple was also one of the earliest creatures used to plough fields, causing a small agricultural revolution of its own. The caple rather resembles an eland, save that it bears no horns except as a bony pad atop its head.

Cat

Aelurus aelurus, the cat, was never actually domesticated per se, but is in the process of domesticating humans. It first met up with them in Yashdar and spread fairly quickly to other lands nearby. Mostly they are kept as companions, and as protection against rodentine incursions; a few cultures also eat them, or make their fur into coats, but thankfully this is not a very common practice.

Dhai

Bovulus australis, the dhai (also called the domesticated bush-cow), was first tamed for milk and meat in the forests and grasslands of Svidhuni, and quite resembles a large tapir in varying colours. Their wild variety is relatively solitary, but millennia of breeding has led to the dhai being quite gregarious indeed, with an elephant-like social structure of up to several hundred.

Duck

There are, in fact, two species of duck that have been domesticated. Pachynetta domestica has been its own species for some time now in Yandjee, although it still can interbreed with other local species, and produces eggs, feathers, and meat. Another species, lampronetta grypa, has been similarly domesticated by the people of the Temacan Peninsula for similar reasons.

Eggoat

Ootragus spp., the eggoat, is a monotreme lactile resembling a small woolly cow, domesticated in Suru. Aside from meat and wool (although not as high-quality as longram wool), they also produce eggs (rather like large turtle eggs); the fertilized ones are typically picked up and carried by males, while the unfertilized ones are free for picking.

Longram

Macrauchen domesticus, the longram, resembles, if nothing else, a rather soft-faced llama. It was domesticated around the year 5000 BC in the mountains around Lake Mempa, and is used for meat and wool as well as carrying material (but not people, save young children). The meat has a sweet, beefy taste to it.

Muttonbird

Gegenes arneiae, the muttonbird, is native to southern Yandjee, and was domesticated separately by the Warruk and the Koorra. The large brown bird's eggs can feed a great many, the meat tastes quite like beef, and the birds themselves can be left to run through the red bean fields after harvesting, cleaning up the discarded pods and feeding on insects harmful to tackroots and other plants.

Tyke

Canis iosephus, the painted dhole—also called the jungle wolf or painted dingo—is native to the island of Mocueyoh, and appears to have been the earliest animal to be domesticated. Its descendant, canis familiaris—the tyke, sometimes deemed "latran" or "hound"—has travelled with humans across the entire planet as a companion, a guardians, and occasionally a pack animal…or food. On two separate occasions, they have been bred for long hair, which is spun as a kind of wool.

Wullock

Chimarus chimarus, the wullock, was domesticated around the year 6000 BC on the islands of Oma. It has long been a fairly important source of milk, meat, and wool for the people of the Lands and Isles. (Witnesses say it taste a lot like mutton, herby and gamey.) Small bone nubs substitute for horns, but are quite painful nevertheless; otherwise, it rather resembles a rabbit-turned-goat.

All placeholder images taken from stock photos, Midjourney, and Mage.

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