The Oasis Root

The Oasis Root is the most popular name for a gemstone which is also sometimes called the Emerald of Klaractazum.   According to city lore, in the ancient days of the city, as the glacial melt water before its walls began to dry out, a vast tree which had once stood below the cliffs finally died in a great drought. A well-digger, chasing a deeper spring by grubbing up the roots found a strange raw emerald, branching, and veined like a leaf and pulsing with a strange light. At the moment he removed it, a spring burst forth, the waters gurgling and frothing in their haste to reach the surface. This spring became the source of the Royal Oasis.     Carved down and polished by generations of desert artisans, the emerald now gleams with a moist, inner light no fire can imitate. It is kept in a special chamber in the royal palace. Farmers still bless it at planting, and legends say it pulses when buried seeds first break open in the earth.