Stabapple
From Changeling Venue
Contents |
Physical Description
Stabapple is one of the most widely cultivated Goblin Fruits. The tree is small, reaching only 5-12 meters tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately arranged simple ovals 5-12 cm long and 3-6 cm broad. Flowers are produced in Spring simultaneous with the budding of the leaves. The flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades and are five petaled. The center of the fruit contains five carpels arranged in a five point star, each carpel containing one to three seeds.
Cultivation and Propagation
Stabapple typically grows better in tropical or subtropical climates and can be transplanted into a private garden after all danger of frost has past. Seeds are typically started eight to ten weeks prior to the anticipated frost free date.
Stabapple trees vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock. Some trees, if left unburned, will grow very large, which allows them to bear a great deal more fruit, but makes harvest very difficult. Mature trees typically bear 40-200 apples a year, though productivity can be close to zero in poor years.
Properties of the Plant
Physical and Medical Properties
An old proverb attests to the health benefits of the fruit: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Research suggests that stabapples may reduce the risk of colon, prostate and lung cancer. Like many fruits, stabapples contain Vitamin C as well as a host of other antioxidant compounds, which may reduce the risk of cancer by preventing DNA damage. The fiber content, while less than in most other fruits, helps regulate bowel movements, help with heart disease, weight loss and assist with controlling cholesterol.
The seeds of a stabapple are poisonous, containing a small amount of amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside, but a large amount of seeds would need to be consumed in one sitting to have any toxic effect.
Mystical Properties
The fruits of the stabapple tree are benign goblin fruits, offering no benefit or detriment those who consume them other than a mild, savory taste. The thorns of the fruit, however, are sharp and hard as bone, long as a man’s forearm. A Changeling who breaks a stabapple thorn from the tree may use it as a knife, wielding it in melee or throwing it as he chooses. A stabapple thorn does one lethal damage and has a size of 1.
Rumors About Stabapple
Stabapples trees are known to carry a bacterial disease known as Fireblight. Fireblight is a systemic disease that leaves the stabapples with the appearance of a glow as if the fruit contained a fire at its core. A stabapple so infected may be used as a ranged weapon as the fruit explodes in a fireball once the skin is breached.
~Free to add additional rumors here~
OOC Information
Stabapple is an Oddment that is explained in White Wolf's Changeling: The Lost book on page 224. The real world counterpart to our Changeling Stabapple is an apple and the flavored text above I included based on the information we have about the real fruit.
