 August 6, 2015 - 5:20am | Thinking about yazirian religious practices and the fan created one tree. The belief in the one tree in the after life pre dates Fo1 going back 1000s of years. A place of religious worship would have been a particular species of tree forced to grow, in much the same manner as a Bonzai tree, to conform to a religious ideal. Fo1 naturally doesn't like religious practices it can't control so its limited access to viable specimens of this tree. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 6, 2015 - 5:21am | It goes without saying the yaz Bonzai is something on the order of a couple hundred feet tall. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 6, 2015 - 6:24am | Ancient beliefs held that the spirit of Yazira physically dwelt within the tree and their were numerous such trees with regional differences in how the tree was cultivated. During the clan Wars leading into the imperial period many religious sites fell prey to war especially if the tree was different from the invaders view of what it should look like. During the imperial period the look of these trees became solidified to more or less one look that became the standard and belief evolved that the tree simply represented the true form that existed on another plane of existence with the spirit of Yazira (effectively yazirian after life/heaven). Coming into the yazirian space age society had become significantly secular. The crisis facing the species in the form of the wandering brown dwarf lead to the rise of a belief of the spirit of Yazira dwelling in all yazirian and that all yazirian were one family and must pull together to face the challenge of saving their race and all other life on the planet. This belief was rather generalized and not codified or had an ecclesiastical structure. During the Star exodus clan anglann codified the belief system established itself as the ecclesiastical structure and planted one of these trees on Hentz as the symbol and justification of their being the ecclesiastical order in charge. Naturally, with their propensity for authoritarian control, they take a dim view of other clans trying to plant rival trees. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 6, 2015 - 8:05am | Ecology: I read years ago about a tree going extinct on the same island as where the dodo bird went extinct. Try as they might they could not get seeds of the last tree to germinate till someone wondered about the connection between two species going extinct on the same island and the discovered that their was a symbiotic relationship between the two. The dodo bird would eat the seeds and their shells would be softened in the birds gut before being pooped out. This was critical to the tree germinating. So they are saving the tree species by artificially cracking the hard but. I'd like to include something similar in the yazirian tree. Some yaz animal that was hunted near to extinction such that whenever yazirian found a naturally growing tree they would say it was the will of Yazira or that Yazira planted it herself. Typically yazirian have broken the nut for the tree to germinate. Thus a Yazira planted tree is a high holy place and a sign of her blessing. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 6, 2015 - 9:14am | The tree will need a name- something that translates as Yazira's tree, Yazira's blessing, or Spirit of Yazira. No doubt yazir(a) will be a root word I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 6, 2015 - 7:20pm | I have been contemplating stylized tree designs as symbols of this/these tree(s). Something like this code tree but standing up: http://raw.github.com/Voronenko/Storing_TreeView_Structures_WithMongoDB/master/images/categories_small.png These symbols would have meaning and be debated about what tree structure was the ideal or true or perfect form. The meanings could be relationships of morals and honor that define yazirian social code. The meaning could be relationships of clans to the first clan. The meaning could be something about religous progress to perfection. I also ran across this picture of what I see as yazirian like architecture. http://api.ning.com/files/cFuKl4jJG41K-glNuwFd9tdAFVtKiDDAAnuIXLeHDCAHnq3mjLAsP9ZpJlhpEirlHr08xyG7JRuLtZMAaJaidxW-IUnp5xcj/GH29.... http://www.solaripedia.com/images/medium/1759.jpg http://architecture-view.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/world-of-living-tree-house-structure.jpg -iggy |
 August 6, 2015 - 7:45pm | It's funny you bring up this topic. I have an old sketch of an idea for a GODCo logo that is a world with a large tree growing out of the top of it with it's roots extending through the planet. I had planned to put the corporate name in the leaves of the tree. It fits in pretty well with this idea. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
August 7, 2015 - 7:02am | The ideas currently floating in my head are strongly influenced by Japanese Bonzai trees and to a lesser extant the movie Avatar. I was thinking that primitive yazirians doing a Bonzai tree on a grand scale might impart a spiral shape to the trunk so that the tree could, for all intents and purposes, be walked up. This makes the religious site accessible to all: young, old and infirm. That at various level they would shape branches into platforms for groups to gather on. These branch platfroms would be oriented on one axis so that they could look down upon the other access 90 degrees from the platform axis. basically "east" and "west" sides of the tree would have branch platforms while the "north" and south sides would be open allowing the assembled to see what is going on below. On the ground in the north and south axis would be two stone table/sacrificial altars (ancient times) where a blood sacrifice was performed by priests. Blood was collected and mixed with ground up seed/nut of this sacred tree. This is the sacrificial altar at America's Stonehenge in NH: http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/the-depressingly-fake-mysteries-of-americas-stonehenge Its very dramatic when viewed in person and i like the image it presents. two priest assend the tree, one with bowl of blood in which he dips a branch and sprinkles the worshipers and the other with a bowl of blood meal that he holds out to each worshiper who takes a pinch of the meal. There is an intonement from the priest about being one with yazira This would have been the practice in ancient times which would have evolved and changed over the centuries but there would be a resemblence to this or exhoes of the forms. I composed much of this in my head while working yesterday but as I type it today I'm struck by how Christian or Catholic it strikes me now when I was working it up in my head I Christian and Catholic practice were the furthest from my thought so I dont know. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 7, 2015 - 7:05am | It's funny you bring up this topic. I have an old sketch of an idea for a GODCo logo that is a world with a large tree growing out of the top of it with it's roots extending through the planet. I had planned to put the corporate name in the leaves of the tree. It fits in pretty well with this idea. I like this idea, it meshes well with mine. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 29, 2015 - 11:22pm | I like this, it fits well. In Far Scape there is a relgious order that is messed up off on some world with a tree that is symbolic of the religion (can't rember much of the story line) but there is tree symbology including a great reference about the root being twisted & sick so the religious order is also twisted & sick. I wonder how Fo1 would respond to the tree being found growing naturally on an alien planet? The Etrog Tree is sacred and grown under strict Kosher rules... you might want to check that out, I think some of the rules might be perfect for the Yazarian Fo1 to use. It has fruit, and the fruit is used in rituals and must be ritually pure, has folk medical uses, must be grown a certain way, shipped carefully, there are different varieties some now rare and so on... but the rabbis oversee the growth and determing which trees are Kosher and so on, might want to check that out. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
August 30, 2015 - 9:03am | Some of the growing rules explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOv1pZbCYK8 So besides the trees having to have a certain shape... and the possability of different styles oh the heresey of a clan or two or maybe just a grower off on some world... those trees would not be considered ritually pure by the Fo1. But if there are rules like the tree can not be budded, grafted or a hybred then Fo1 would have even more control. If the tree produces a sacred nut used used ritually as well that is important to all Yazirians then Fo1 would have a huge market & if they control all the certifications of whose trees are sacred on or off Hentz, that is power. So non ritually pure trees could exist and might even be kept by Yazarians, but becuase they are not certified with a complex list of rules such trees would be symbolic symbols probably bonzaied by their keepers as meditative acts and a small conection to their ancient home, but the fruit/nut would not be ritualy pure, but probably eaten or used medically. Only Nuts from Fo1 certified trees could be used in ritual. Fo1 temples all might have one of these sacred trees or at least one temple per planet the Yazarians have settled on, but maybe the oldest tree on Hentz is considered the most sacred... maybe it was physically moved from the HW and is old the way redwoods can be... maybe 1000's of years. The most prized Bonsais are ones found growing naturally, so maybe this was such a tree and it ended up setting the standard, for shaping of all the trees... Now there could be a few cultivars all yazi kosher all closely related but with slight differences and all genetically related to the most holy of holy tree. The Citron/Etrog/Esrog/Persian Golden Apple (is the tree of knowledge in middle east tradition from the Garden of Eden) is such, in that varieties exist and of course people debate which is bestest... but all are Kosher. I was reading the DNA study on the trees in Isreal and there seems to be a debate on the grow rules as grafted trees produce genetically pure fruit, so some folks now say that is kosher too, others are all from the seed only no grafting school! All has to do with some obscure text interputation... you know the stuff rabbis read. :) Also if you watch the video I guess the first few years of fruits do not belong to man to use... so Yazis could have such a rule too. Oh and the trees have to have a certifified pedigree of seed only parents. The DNA study proved root stock does not cause hybredization which was the reason for the anti grafting/budding rules... thus the debate. I could see a similiar issue for these Yazi trees, especially if they are dificult to grow on some worlds without grafting. Just some thoughts... this sacred Citron tree is on my ancient sacred foods & herb plant garden wish list. Interestingly the species came from Asia and spread through the Middle East and then to the Mediterian world. In China it grows wild... and other varieties there are sacred too. So my guess is this tree has a sacred history that predates Jewish Tribal Traditions or Buddist Traditions. So several varieties are now on my wish list.  "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
August 30, 2015 - 10:02am | I think the old school way of doing things would be bonzai-ification of the tree and this pre-dates Fo1 by millenia. Since Fo1 is concerned with recreating a sacred ecosystem in the Frontier and the banzai style is connected to older religious belief systems they oppose this practice and only endorse natural tree growth. The irony being that the yaz bonzai practices actually trigger something in the tree to produce more knut/seeds. If a tree is found growing naturally on a planet not Hentz then Fo1 tries to claim it as a holy sign and site for Fo1 worship. There may have been instances where a Fo1 Inquisitor actually strategically planeted a tree in an area they were looking to develop influence. This will have met with varying degrees of success on different yazirian colonies due to the local policital climate. I heard about avocado trees that were being donated to poor people in 3rd world countries and these trees had 12 different varieties of avocado branches grafted on such that the tree had fruit coming ripe in each month of the year. Perhaps part of the yaz bonzai process is to graft in branches that will flower at other times and the goal is to have sacred knuts produced in every month of the yazirian home world callender. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
