Flora

The Bao Fruit

The Bao fruit is the agricultural foundation of the outer districts. It has orange-brown skin, a reddish pulp that is limited and prized, and large seeds that carry the real value. The seeds are dried and ground into flour. That flour becomes bread, flatbreads, and baked goods that the outer districts live on. On Earth Day — the third day of the working week — bread from Bao flour is the reason the day has any celebration attached to it at all.

The fruit grows on the Roof Gardens: flat-roofed buildings throughout the outer and middle districts whose rooftops have been converted to agricultural use. These elevated plots are managed by residents and small operations who supply the morning markets. It is practical, visible, and slightly competitive — the rooftop growers have opinions about whose yield is better, and they will share those opinions if you give them half a moment.

The pulp, which is scarce relative to the seed, is used for fermented drinks. The seeds find use in everything else. Very little of the Bao fruit goes to waste. The city cannot afford anything that goes to waste.

From Seed to Glass

Soltherra drinks what it grows.

Bao Beer is the most common alcoholic drink in the city. Seeds and husks are mashed and fermented — inexpensive, abundant, and present on every table from outer-district Oios to mid-city taverns. It is not particularly refined. It has been drunk every day by the same people since they were old enough to be given it, and they have the kind of affection for it that comes with that familiarity.

Bao Wine is fermented from the red pulp. Deep red, noticeably bitter in its natural state, it comes to the table with sweetness added to make it tolerable. The sweetness and the bitterness are both present. Whether the result is pleasant depends on who you ask and how much they have had.

Beon Wine is what happens when Bao wine is distilled further. The result is heavier, with a strong sweet aroma that announces itself before you open the bottle. It is a luxury item in most of the outer districts. In the inner-caste households near the city center, refined variations of Beon wine are kept on hand for occasions where what you pour communicates something about your standing. The same drink, at different prices, in different vessels, saying different things to different people. The drink is identical.

See Eating and Drinking — how food and drink fit into the outer district daily routine.

Thial Moss

Thial moss grows wherever it can find damp stone and no direct sunlight — underground passages, the undersides of viaducts, the lower walls of drainage tunnels. It emits a faint cyan glow that provides enough ambient light to see by without providing enough light to see well. Those who can see in the dark describe it as vibrant green and blue. Everyone else finds it useful and faintly unsettling.

The moss has one well-documented response to pressure: when stepped on or otherwise compressed, it shifts color to pink. The change lasts several minutes. Underground passages where foot traffic is heavy take on an irregular, patchy pink that does not photograph well in descriptions but is immediately recognizable to anyone who has navigated the lower tunnels after hours.

In areas where the growth is especially thick, the moss produces nearly invisible threads that terminate in small glowing beads. These are not dangerous. They are, in low light, easy to walk through without noticing until the threads are around your ankles and the beads are swinging.

The moss is edible. This is noted as a fact, not a recommendation. The taste has been described as terrible by every person who has attempted it and then continued to describe it, which is a representative sample.

The Dia Bean

The Dia bean — sometimes called Diabonne in apothecary records — is a poisonous, pea-like legume with a reputation that walks the line between useful and fatal. The line is a matter of dose.

In small quantities and applied correctly, the Dia bean is medicinal. Processed into a paste, it works as a local anesthetic for minor injuries. As a muscle relaxant, it is used on people who would otherwise not hold still for treatment. A very small dose taken after a meal can ease a person toward sleep. These applications have genuine value, and those who work with the bean take the dosage seriously, because the distance between a useful amount and a dangerous one is not as wide as anyone finds comfortable.

Higher doses cause nausea, vomiting, and respiratory distress. At sufficient concentration, they cause death. This is not a contested fact. The bean is managed carefully wherever it is used.

The Arena employs Dia bean preparations routinely for medical purposes — workers in the Arena use it to treat injuries from matches, to relax combatants for examination, and for other situations where quick pain management is necessary and questions about what you are administering are not the priority.

See The Arena — details on Arena medical practice.

The Rest of the Garden

The Bao fruit, Thial moss, and Dia bean are the three plants with enough consequence to warrant careful attention. The rest of the city’s flora is less dramatic.

Berry bushes and fruit trees grow throughout the residential areas, tended by households that have the rooftop space or the access to small garden plots. Flower boxes line windows in most residential streets — practical optimism, against the grey stone of the city’s outer districts. They add color. They contribute very little to the food supply, which is not the point of them.

Chickens are raised within the city walls. They are classified, somewhat formally, as fine food. Transporting them through the outer districts in baskets is a visible signal that you can afford them — a status display so consistent that it has become almost official. Whether people in the outer districts interpret this display in the intended spirit varies by street.

The Roof Gardens supply fresh produce — seasonal fruit, vegetables, and herbs — that supplements the Bao flour staple. The variety changes by season and by which growers have had a good month. The morning markets are the most reliable way to find what is available.

See Economy: Trade — the fishing industry, which provides most of the city’s protein. See Economy: Living — food prices.