Arboreal

The Arboreals are a race of non-human creatures from another dimension. They are the creators and keepers of the Book of Translation – a powerful device capable of transporting plots of land and those who stand upon them between worlds. Its capabilities are vast.

The Arboreals themselves stand about 10 feet tall. There are male and female of the species. They are not immortal, but they do live for what we on Earth would consider immense lifespans. As they age, they become more and more rooted to the soil until finally transforming into an eternal hibernation. At that point, they would be unidentifiable and seem like any other tree.

Their skin is made of various types of bark, but most prominently that of a larch tree. Their attire is composed of various plant life. They are strong as trees and capable of extending or retracting the branches out of which protrude from their body. Most walk on two-legs, although it is not a requirement. They have the facial features of a human, with the same apparent cranial structure, including eyes, mouth, ears and nostrils.

They are infinitely wise, intelligent, and peaceful beings. The Arboreals are the ancestors of the Ogier, a similar race of non-human creatures that eventually come into possession of the Book of Translation.

Arboreals exist in the real world, but the Book of Translation also has the capability to program avatars into Tel’Aran’Rhiod. These programmable avatars stand guard over the functional capabilities the book requires to be operational. One avatar is named Tuuru, and exists in the Dream World guarding the famous Four-Way Pillar – a Portal Stone that exists in the original Garden of Eden, the original Stedding.

It was unlike any face he’d seen before, and he stared silently to comprehend. It had a head of wood through which was etched deep crevices of bark. Green tufts that he took for gleaming grasses sprang from the top and rolled downward along its jaw. Thorny sticks circled its brow like a makeshift crown. More crossed the line of its shoulders like armor-plating, and from them billowed a cape of pine needles and bushy ferns. As its body unfurled itself before them, the shape flickered from a place of kneeling slumber to fully upright. When it did, Philip saw Nimeda through the opacity on the other side. Philip shivered as he had the sense that they didn’t awaken the creature so much as activate it.

Noctua, Alluvion

Related mythologies

In the Tungus Evenki language of Siberia, the larch tree was called Tuuru, meaning World Tree. The oldest known wood wooden sculpture in the world was discovered in Siberia and is known as the Shigir Idol. It is from approximately 10,000 BC and was at that time made from a nearly 200-year-old larch tree. Communicating with the world tree, Tuuru, brought shamans to the spirit world whereby all knowledge would be imparted upon them. Therefore, the tree Tuuru, could alternatively be recognized as a Tree of Knowledge, and represents another symbol associated with the Garden of Eden.

Genus: Larix – Family: Pinaceae

Larch trees remind us to rest and recover. Its appearance indicates a time of connection and rejuvenation by seeing the larger world around us also lives within us.

In the Tungus Evenki language of Siberia, the larch tree was called Tuuru, meaning “World Tree.” It was seen as a cosmic ladder that connected Earth to the North Star. This connection worked like a “hitching post” that helped shamans accurately navigate the night skies, thus encouraging travel within the inner and outer realms of reality.

Message: When larch appears, we are entering a time of connection to the multi-dimensional world that surrounds us. Larch reminds us that when our world seems to be of spinning out of control we can always connect to our core. Our core is our soul, and our soul knows that this is but another moment in time. Now is also a time of remembering, honoring and healing where we have been, where we want to go and where we are now.