Yellow Jacket

Overview

The Thryvak Bloom is one of the 100 Wonders of Hemera, a valley where flowers the size of houses open and close in perfect unison every dusk. Each blossom is a towering stalk with vast pale petals, broad as sails, that unfurl with a sigh loud enough to rattle the hills. The moment they open, the entire valley begins to breathe: air surges outward, then draws back in, a rolling tide of atmosphere that continues in waves from dusk until dawn.

The Bloom is both spectacle and power source. Wind turbines line the surrounding ridges, their blades spinning without pause. Modern designs pivot and reverse automatically, catching each inhale and exhale with minimal loss. Unlike ordinary turbines, which depend on chance weather, these never rest, powered by the valley's living breath. The energy they generate keeps nearby settlements alive and, some whisper, quietly fuels Green Zone grids far away.

The Winds

Predictable Rhythm: The gusts come in pulses, steady and reliable, like bellows working in perfect time. Turbines are engineered to flip polarity when the wind reverses, making both directions productive.

The Breathing Effect: Standing in the Bloom feels like standing inside a lung. The air doesn't rush so much as press, heavy and warm, soaking the body in its rhythm.

Fragrance: The currents carry shifting scents. In spring, sweet as honey; in autumn, sharp and resinous. The fragrance is so thick that animals shun the valley entirely.

The Valley

By day the flowers stand sealed tight, rigid green spires rooted in mossy soil. They do not sway, even in storms, as if cut off from the natural world. At dusk the valley groans, stems bending and petals tearing open at once. Thousands bloom together, and the sound of their breathing shakes the hills.

All night the valley inhales and exhales in rolling surges. The turbines follow the rhythm, reversing again and again, spinning without pause. At dawn the blooms fold closed, releasing one final outward gust before silence settles. Through the day, the cycle of inhalation continues unseen, air drawn deep into the hollow chambers of the stalks, fueling a strange form of photosynthesis that relies not on leaves but on the atmosphere itself.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Culture & Belief

The Breathing Valley: Locals insist the blooms are lungs, and the land is alive.

Dreamers' Wind: Some sleep in the valley, convinced the currents carry omens through dreams.

Songs of the Bloom: Poets describe the synchronized opening as a hymn, a chorus of petals whispering like a thousand instruments tuning together.

Superstitions

The Last Breath: Standing in the valley at dawn, during the final exhale, is said to reveal whispers of the future.

The Still Season: Once in a generation the blooms fail to open. Locals swear famine or war always follows. Engineers call it dormancy.

Guarded Power: The Green guard the Bloom fiercely, not for reverence, but because its turbines pour more energy into their grids than any other single site.

Abandoned Proposal: Legion engineers once suggested weaponizing the valley's airflow. The idea was buried. Even hardened commanders admitted the Bloom deserved to remain untouched.

Study & Structure

First Records: Green Zone botanists were the first to document the Bloom seriously, noting its lack of leaves and concluding that it breathes the air for its food. Their journals call it "a valley that eats the sky."

The Turbine Makers: Local engineers quickly realized the airflow was cyclical, not one-way. They built the first reversible turbines, simple but effective. Today's steel towers still inherit their design.

Legion Curiosity: A survey squad once measured the winds for siege applications. The report concluded: "To choke the Bloom would be to choke ourselves."

Dr. Jon Jay: The Bloom's chief ecologist, credited with the definitive model. His studies dismissed myths of matter creation, showing instead that each stalk is a living pressure chamber, inhaling by day to fuel a unique air-fed photosynthesis, then exhaling by night in steady pulses. He also designed the turbine systems that flip polarity in rhythm with the breath.

Living Wells: Hollow vascular tubes inside the stems are broad enough for a person to crawl through, coated with sponge-like tissues that absorb trace gases. Some researchers claim the roots connect underground in a shared organ system, making the valley one vast body disguised as many flowers.