#bristlecone

[unbfacts]

Some trees are older than written history. The oldest confirmed living non-clonal tree is a bristlecone pine called Methuselah, about 4,850+ years old. A few sources suggest another bristlecone may be just over 5,000 years, and many bristlecones easily surpass 3,000 years.

[mojozoo]

Lilith

Nikon Z8 Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR California

This is a photo of my favorite Bristlecone Pine tree, somewhere in the White Mountains of California. I must have over 100 photos of this tree - multiple cameras, multiple sensors and multiple film emulsions. This photo is one of my favorites.

[beccawise7]

Goodnight. 💜🖤

Ancient Bristlecone with the Milky Way.

Colorado skies.

[wandering-jana]

Ancient Bristlecone Pine. This species of trees is the oldest life form on the planet. The oldest tree is over 5,000 years old. The ones here in Cedar Breaks are up to 2,000 years old.

Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah

Summer 2018

[kkdas]

Growth rings of Bristlecone Pine. The oldest living things on earth. Please zoom in and reflect on how many winters these sacred trees lived through at over 10,000 ft. elevation.

[maple-writes]

My attempt to introduce Bristlecone:

Details subject to change without notice as I think of better ideas lol

Tagging @concealeddarkness13 since they said they were curious!

Text version under the cut:

Slide one: Bristlecone!

I am trying yet again to edit this story

Slide two: ... Bristlecone?

An older wip (finished last draft back in 2018)

Not sure if I’ll keep the title Bristlecone but I don’t have any better ideas either

I’m finally getting back to it (hopefully)

It’s editing/revising time now

Setting – fantasy with wild west inspiration (simply because I thought it would be neat)

Kind of a murder mystery, kind of a general mystery, kind of an adventure

Which means one of these characters could be the culprit… Or not… It’s a mystery…

Slide three: Viper (one of the POV characters)

That’s not her real name

Deputy of the Aristata and unofficially Winter’s girlfriend (They act as more than just working partners but neither has said anything to each other to acknowledge this)

Observant but tends to ignore her gut feelings

Loves horses, and is in charge of training them

Is unable to speak to people she doesn't know, and then can only manage a whisper

Has had a rough decade or so before joining the Aristata to say the least

Slide four: Honey Davis (the other POV character)

That’s not his real name

Was training to take Cecil’s place as a Mortician Mage until recent events stopped that

Newly recruited as a mercenary to the Aristata

He has some… Secrets (some of which he himself doesn’t even know)

Orphaned as a child when his parents were executed (for good reason)

Something off about him. Eyes shine at night like a cat.

Kind, gentle, and would have made a very good Mortician Mage

Slide five: Winter Balfouriana

This is her real name!

Leader and founder of the Aristata

Viper’s girlfriend

Last surviving member of fairly powerful/noble family of demon slayers

Prior to the “disaster” which killed her family, her mother had trained her in enchanted metalsmithing

Tenacious and strategic, and genuinely cares for her mercenaries

Respectful and fair

Slide six: Stark Jiang

Sees the best in people and tends to treat people as friends unless proven otherwise

Tbh to the point where it’s easy to forget he’s just as deadly as Viper

The first person to join Winter as a mercenary, before their little group even had a name

Pretty hard to rattle him and most of the time he’s just vibing

Very reliable and very trustworthy

Slide seven: Other people

Cecil Davis – Wayton’s Mortician Mage and the man   who took in Honey after he was orphaned 

Taiga – Cecil’s weird dog

Lady Alabaster – Countess of Vindale. She hired   the Aristata to settle a conflict with a   neighbouring Lord

Ren Alabaster – Lady Alabaster’s son (he’s gone   missing)

Annie and Theo – The other two members of the   Aristata

Slide eight: Stuff that's going on

Basically, Lady Alabaster’s son goes missing in the middle of the night

That same night Winter finds Honey alone in desert

 The Aristata agree to stay under Lady Alabaster’s employment to try and find her son

So what happened to Ren Alabaster?

Is he even still alive?

What’s the deal with this Honey kid?

Could it perhaps be an issue that Viper doesn’t like to accept what she knows to be true and instead deny to avoid recognizing uncomfortable truths?

Who knows, could be anything!

Slide nine: ~worldbuilding~

It’s fantasy loosely based on wild west aesthetic

There are demons, there are gods and there are fae (technically all three are the same thing but it’s complicated)

Most of the story comes out of a place called Vindale, governed by Lady Alabaster

[exploding-salmon-heart]

Bristlecone :)

[colorsoutofearth]

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) in Inyo NF, CA

Photo by Juan Carlos Munoz