Roundroot

Overview

The Roundroot is one of the first plants truly useful for a colony's lasting survival. It does not just give wood or fibre: it grows directly as a round, open, almost architectural structure. When mature, it looks less like a tree than a living frame ready to be reused.

• Status: building plant resource
• Home biomes: dry plains, mineral plateaus, edges of semi-humid areas
• Role in the colony: providing the round frame of level 2 dwellings

Silhouette and distinctive signs

• a round or egg-shaped form;
• an open shell of thick, fused branches pierced with irregular cells;
• pointed growths on some ribs;
• a tall vertical shoot on top, a sign of active growth;
• a dry, pale, almost bony or mineral look.

Water and heat

Perfectly suited to the world of O'Droukt, it needs little water to survive and handles heat far better than tender plants. It can grow where other crops fail.

• low water needs to survive, moderate needs to grow well;
• high heat tolerance;
• slower growth during the O'Droukt or extreme droughts;
• better growth near underground moisture, without depending on it.

Harvest

When mature, the Roundroot yields a plant shell, the resource for level 2 dwellings. Level 1 means makeshift tents cut from the canvas of the flying ship wrecked at the start of the game; level 2 marks the move to a stable settlement, built from the world's resources rather than the crash's leftovers.

Bestiary notes

The Roundroot is not a generous plant. It does not promise abundance: it promises endurance. It grows slowly, saves its water, hardens its matter, closes its shape on itself. It is probably the first plant that tells the player: "this world can become habitable, if you learn to read it".