As I am currently building my own world, I have developed an appreciation for how complex our world actually is. Every little aspect is so interconnected, from the soil composition to the grandest of skyscrapers. I have developed an appreciation for how truly complex our world is. My current goal for my setting is to create a solid foundation to explore the human condition living in a fantastical magical world.
Occasionally, I glance around and witness other projects that others are working on. Some of their ideas are quite charming. This one person I encountered is building a high fantasy setting where each country is inspired by a different culture. Upon looking at their designs, it seemed like the author was indeed doing their homework.
The oddest thing I have encountered thus far with people’s world-building projects had to be this all-female deer species. A peculiar race that propagated their legacy by eating a magical fruit known as the ‘tree of life’. In autumn, this wondrous tree would bear fruit. People from all over the country would come to visit the tree in hopes of starting or extending their family. What a novel idea!
There are a lot of cool story angles one could take to portray such an interesting alien race. The culture of single mothers, their need for connection, their duties towards society, population stagnation, and the apathy towards having children. There is a lot of social commentary that a person can tackle in a fantasy setting.
However, I have so many questions about the logistics of that tree. How much fruit does it bear on average? How big does that tree get? Can the tree be propagated into other locations? Are animals affected by the magic fruit? What happens when a different type of deer race eats another’s fruit? How much of the fruit do you need to eat to fall pregnant? How long does the fruit last when it’s picked?
I also have some concerns about the tree. Let’s say someone managed to pilfer some fruit. What's preventing someone from making a batch of cupcakes to take to work for everyone to eat? Would that be in the same class as sexual assault?
Considering deer society is made up of working single moms, how many children are they expected to raise and feed? With the current rates of declining birth rate, I can’t help but theorize a population crash as juggling maternity leave and being able to eat is problematic.
Also, while I was eating my breakfast alone, a thought popped into my head. What would happen if their tree died? All it would take is one demented soul with an axe, herbicide, the tree falling ill due to pests, or even a bloodthirsty warlord. Then all the people would be doomed to extinction.
One could make the argument: “But it’s a magic tree!” To counter that very point one will just have to declare, “Where there is a will there's a way. Just get a magic poison to counteract the magic tree.” As my friend humorlessly said, “people just pinky promised that they won’t hurt their tree.”
I remember reading in Dungeons and Dragons: Fizban's Treasury of Dragons that as a potential source of half-dragons, a dragon can curse any fruit tree so that whoever ate it fell pregnant. I found it rather hilarious that a dragon would go through all the effort to mess with the ‘lesser races’.
Overall, I am rather glad we don’t have such trees in the real world.