Willora History, The Willow, New Willora

Willora was once an entire planet, beautiful and lush and filled with life and the purest air and water. Giant invertebrates and other simpler life forms lived here, but the biology was far more advanced to that of Earth's and sustained life far better and longer. Plants would absorb and "resurrect" life with ease, though not a conscious effort, the planet evolved to remedy the biological "flaw" of death. To us, this planet would defy science and logic but, magical though it may seem, it was a simply a natural world that had evolved abilities beyond our comprehension. Despite this, all life was very simple but lived in harmony. There were no predators as the planet had evolved into what many may consider the perfect Eden.

But before the planet could reach its 2,000th year, a sudden virus destroyed it along with nearly everything on it. The perfect Eden never knew conflict or the fight for survival, creatures unlike ours with only one life that it must defend and a biology built to fight off disease. The virus was probably something that would only give a human symptoms of the common cold, but this insular planet died entirely in a matter of days. A planet that seemingly found a solution to death, gone in a flash. A single tree was the only known life to survive, though barely. The tree cast a protective aura around itself; a type of projected energy barrier unique to the plant and animal life of Willora, and traveled through space until it found the nearest planet with life; Earth. The Willow fell through our atmosphere invisibly and unharmed, and dug its roots into the earth, its protective aura still in place but appearing as a dome above ground while keeping its circular shape and encasing the Willow's roots. It absorbed our planet's history through its roots... existing in a time set far into the future where the majority of man kind has been wiped out from disease itself, as well as war and destruction of the environment, the Willow senses the dangers on this planet and instinctively grows a sort-of second Willora within its protective barrier.

The Langurhali are a species born from the Willow's roots along with many other creatures similar to life on Earth, both current and ancient. The Willow took the dna from these pitiful creatures and gave them traits similar to the life on Willora, particularly to the Langurhali. It also imbued them with the ability to survive practically any disease known to Earth as well as the one that destroyed the previous planet.

The aura around the Willow became filled with life, a massive dome not only because it encased a tree large enough to be seen from space, but because the tree could not survive without years worth of the rich oxygen from its home planet. And so, though it only created a few hundred Langurhali, they have an incredible home about the size of Egypt to explore, with a wide variety of climates packed inside, separated by various barriers/auras that help contain and regulate temperature, humidity etc.

The Willow is the only one in existence and will be the only one for some time yet. The species of plant the Willow is creates a single seed only once every thousand years. The Willow & Langurhali's new settlement on Earth is only about 300 years old, with the Willow itself being only about 600, counting the time it was on its home planet and the time it took to travel to Earth. There was only one other willow of its kind on Willora, which was just over 1,000 and had only produced one seed, which became our surviving Willow. Once the second Willow of Earth reaches around 1,000 years, it will be quite a celebration to the Langurhali as they will be able to expand their new Willora and their future will be more assured. Willows live to be around 5,000 years and thus may only produce up to 5 new Willows.

The Langurhali make use of the seemingly-magical Willow in a variety of ways, and make sure not to take too much, though even if they took without concern for the Willow, it would be nearly impossible for them to damage it in any real way. While not super-skilled when it comes to understanding science, they don't need to know much to know that the Willow has healing properties and a variety of other uses.

Willow root - The most plentiful (as it grows back fast) and commonly-
used part of the Willow, though the weakest potency - it is still quite
strong and has the widest variety of abilities, giving a boost to just about
any healing concoctions.
Willow branch - A bit more potent than the roots, but less of a variety of
abilities, a piece of the Willow's branch is mainly used in helping with
memory loss. The arms which carry nutrients to the leaves and buds are
filled with the most dense synapses may also be useful in helping an
organism to re-grow nerves that may have been destroyed in an injury.
Willow blossom - Blossoms may be used mainly in mental/emotional
healing. Filled with the Willow's innermost feelings and expressions of joy
and beauty, blossoms carry immense positive energy and radiate with it.
Sometimes literally, as they have bioluminescent properties. The Willow
typically blossoms at the beginning of each season, displaying a different
variety of colors for each.
Willow pollen - Sometimes harvested by the Langurhali to help encourage
the growth of an embryo, whether plant or animal. When it is the season
for the Willow to grow flowers and release pollen, all of Willora benefits
as well as the Langurhali. Breathing it in stimulates the Langurhali's
reproductive system, encouraging their bodies to grow life. It is typically
only harvested when a Langurhali is for some reason unable to bear cubs
during the season and wishes to save it to use later in the year.
Willow sap - Growing from the deepest part of the Willow, the sap carries
very potent energy. It contains traces of stardust, which can be extremely
useful in regrowing limbs, organs etc, or enhancing a Langurhali's special
abilities. It is also the part most frequently used in creating a familiar. The
sap may be collected, sealed and cooled underground, but slowly becomes
less potent over time.
Willow fruit - The Willow may produce fruit in late Summer/early Autumn.
It rarely produces seeds, but despite this, is necessary for the Langurhali's
reproduction as eating it stimulates egg and sperm growth. Though this is
the main purpose of the fruit, when dried, the reproductive components
vanish and the fruit is eaten year round. It is a staple to the Langurhali as
no other food gives them the full nutrients they need.
Willow seed - The most potent power can be found in a Willow's seed as
these are only produced once every 1,000 years. The embryo inside could
be used to bring nearly anything back from a point of near-death, to jump-
start the growth of a Langurhali's own embryo, or even mutate an embryo
into two or three, giving a Langurhali parent a small litter as compared to
the usual one cub per pregnancy. The radicle, if allowed to grow out of the
seed a little, can be the most useful part of the Willow - acting as a hyper-
energized root that can not only have a variety of abilities, but the most
potent as well. However incredible these things may be, they are still not
worth using to the Langurhali as their world is still growing and every seed
will be immensely precious and used only to create new Willows.

The one part of the Willow which should never be touched or marred is the "brain"; a small car-sized, dense, simple organ sitting deep in the middle of the base near the roots. While most plants have synapses similar to a nervous system, they do not have or need brains, and the Willow's brain is only barely evolved and thus far has a very simple function; to store memories for use in its creations. It is not quite a fully-functional brain as we understand them, but may be the beginnings of evolution trying to form a deeper consciousness and nervous system in the species.