Elderwood Trees (Ulaanmod) are a species of trees found in northern Eteru known for their white wood and red leaves. Similarly, the red grass that covers the Scarlet Moorland is called Scarletgrass (Ulaanövs).
They are considered sacred by the natives of Eteru and many of the ancient faiths of the region. Most importantly, the natives believe the red foliage to be a creation and blessing of the primordial of earth, Gazaaran. The red foliage is a chaotic and primal form of flora, deeply rooted into the ground both literally and figuratively. The scarletgrass takes over and replaces regular grass slowly, and some of the natives believe that it could one day cover the world. In the wild, the red foliage represents the chaos of life and the presence of the primordial gods watching over mortalkind. Due to the red foliage's invasive nature and representation of deities not recognised by Aeterism, the Jakunic Church considers the wild red foliage to be blasphemous and a curse upon Abmarah. Much of the old red growth in the Scarlet Moorland has been burnt down by elven forces over the past few centuries, with more than half of the previous extent of the Moorland having been transformed into the Torched Dunes.
Despite the blasphemous and chaotic nature of the red foliage, elves pride themselves on being able to "tame" the red foliage through their divine magic. Both the holy city of Alsorion and the Scarlet Keep of Sombus contain large groves of red foliage in which the scarletgrass is maintained to a fixed height and the trees are grown and shaped into orderly shapes aesthetic to elven eyes. By controlling the growth of the red foliage, the priests of Deltus believe that the blasphemous flora is purified by the Sun-Father and is no longer linked to the primordial powers. The high-elves have long been criticized for this hypocrisy of burning down natural red foliage but growing red foliage in their own controlled gardens. The elves of Cinoh are known to create small bonsais of elderwoods in their homes. Other peoples sometimes have difficulty in parsing the elven attitudes to the red foliage, as the hatred is specifically a jakunic and high-elven belief. Wood-Elves have been known to guard groves of red foliage from high-elves in Eteru, as they hold all plant-life sacred no matter what.
Elderwood as a material is incredibly tough and denser than water. While not as tough as steel, it is said to be as tough as iron. Elderwood does not rot, and can be fashioned into furniture, armor, and weapons such as staves, swords, spears, clubs, and bows. Many of these objects have been destroyed over the years.
Wondrous item, weapon (Staff), simple weapon, melee weapon, 1d6 bludgeoning damage, versatile (1d8), mastery: topple, spellcasting focus, rare (requires attunement by a cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger)
This staff was cut from an Elderwood tree infused with primordial power and has 6 charges, regaining 1d6 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. While attuned, you can use the staff as a spellcasting focus for your spells and you gain a +2 bonus to spell attack rolls and to the saving throw DCs of your spells. It can also be wielded as a magic Quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it.
Spells. You can use an action to expend 1 or more of the staff's charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC: barkskin (2 charges), commune with nature (5 charges), cure wounds (1 charge), divination (4 charges), goodberry (1 charge), mass cure wounds (5 charges), speak with plants (3 charges), spike growth (2 charges), spirit guardians (3 charges), wall of thorns (6 charges).
Versatile. This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property. The weapon deals that damage when used with two hands to make a melee attack.
Mastery: Topple. If you hit a creature with this weapon, you can force the creature to make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 plus the ability modifier used to make the attack roll and your Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, the creature has the Prone condition.