Sequoia adeptus

The major indigenous vegetation of Equinox, these trees were classified by an early botanical survey team in the Order Coniferales. A classification confirmed by the shape of their seed clusters which resemble seed cones from the Terran Sequoia semperverans. Another reason for their attribution to the genus sequoia is their enormous size and extreme age – core samples of the mature trees confirms that the youngest of these is over 500,000 standard years old.

Also know as the Pillars of Wisdom, the Enochiian sequoias are categorized into two species: Sequoia adeptus, and Sequoia neophytes. Both species are phototropic. Their branch systems unfold during daylight hours to facilitate the collection of sunlight for photosynthesis. However, the branches retract at twilight to conserve thermal energy. This later state is what has caused them to be known colloquially as Pillars because of their resemblance to the lotus-capped columns of ancient Egyptian hypostyle temples of Luxor.

Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plantæ; Division – Pinophyta;  Sub-Division – Pinicae;  Class – Pinatae;  Order – Coniferales;  Family – Taxodiaceae;  Genus – Sequoia;  Species – Adeptus.

Genesis
The north polar region of Equinox presents exopaleotological evidence of an impact event whose hypocenter coincides with the location of the Crystal Chiefs at the Hall-of-the-Point. This location is also referenced by Enochiian School texts as the Advent where Zera T’chillah collided with the surface of Enochii. Geologists have uncovered abundant evidence of an impact event which is estimated to have occurred between 250 million to 280 million years before the settlement of Equinox in that region. Advent created global environmental changes on Enochii that were similar to the Terran Chicxulub impact event that precipitated a saurian extinction and made possible the evolution of Man.

Evolution
Genetic analysis and comparison of Terran and Enochiian Sequoia point to the potential of a common ancestor. Researchers have postulated the possibility that, in an earlier stage of their evolution, the Adeptii developed a means of “flinging” seed pods into planetary orbit where the pods were carried by stellar wind currents out of the Otz system into interstellar space. Some of these pods survived re-entry and landed on the Pangean supercontinent of Earth during the late Permian era. Metasequoia – the earliest ancestor of Sequoia semperverans shows some similarities to the Enochiian Sequoia Neophytes. However, it is Earth’s Sequoia gigantea with its significant height and girth that may be evidence of such a colonial effort by the Adeptii. Researchers believe that the evolution and mutation of the Enochiian Sequoia has been dictated by the complex of forces, matter, and energy created by the ninety-two bodies in the Otz Chiim system (See also – Otz Chiim). The ternary system’s periodic bursts of energy, shock waves and intense stellar wind have resulted in the Adeptii’s rise to sentience, and the interplay of electromagnetic and gravitational forces between Equinox and the other eighty-eight planets, moons and planetesimals of the system have created growth and organization of the Halls and the metamorphic cycles of the Pillars.

Organization and Structure
The Sequoia adeptii are a collaborative organism. Each tree is an individual, but each individual is a contributor in the greater life form. Each individual specializes in a single attribute of knowledge. Specialization is not by topic or category, but by universal pattern. The Adeptii are capable of collecting patterns and switching perspective from pattern to pattern in order to evolve new patterns and to integrate more knowledge. The neophytes are physical adults in the process of integrating universal patterns.

The Pillars are organized into groves of individuals the early botanical survey team called the “Halls of the Adeptii”. These groves are placed over the ninety-two magnetogravitic nodes of the planet. The twelve oldest groves are situated over the planet’s cardinal gravitational nodes. The remaining eighty groves have developed over the electrogravitic nodes that result from the complex interaction of the various stellar and planetary bodies that comprise the Otz system. These forests are reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian and Persian hypostyle halls, e.g. the Palace of Darius the Great at Persepolis, or the Temple of Amon-Ra at Karnak. One of the most fascinating qualities of these groves is that they are identical. Exhaustive geodetic surveys conducted as part of the Second Planetary Survey (SPS) confirm that the placement of the individuals in the groves is concentrically symmetrical. The variation in placement from grove to grove is statistically less than two centimeters (1.5729…). The spacing between the individuals and growth pattern of the groves adhere unerringly to a complex fractal pattern. The SPS team identified a proportional relationship between the distance between trunk centerlines and the height of the respective individuals. The similarity to ancient Terran architecture caused the SPS team members and the colonization advance team to commonly refer to the groves as “Halls” or “Mansions”. The Halls are intersected by wide spaces in the trees. The SPS team came to call the passages running from the exterior of the groves to the center rotunda “Avenues” and the concentric passages became “Rings”. These Rings separate growths of different heights. At the center of each grove is a clearing the survey team called “the Rotunda” which measures 1,100 meters in diameter. During daylight hours the interior of the groves resembles the nave of an enormous gothic cathedral. Detailed drawings of the branching patterns of a grove community reveal complex fractal patterns that rival the beauty of the Cathedrals at Chartre and Washington DC or the Abbey at Westminster. In the Rotunda the trunks of the innermost individuals rise unbroken by branches for nearly 1,350 meters while at the outermost rings where the youngest are 40 meters tall the primary branches appear at 33 meters.

Equinox has a Sequoia adeptus population of 573,133,142. The census taken by the SPS team attributes a population of 9,161,921 individuals to each of the twelve Cardinal Halls and a population of 6,046,868 and 3,990,933 to each of the seventy Ordinal Halls and ten Decimal Halls respectively.

Species Morphology
The Sequoia adeptus has a complex symmetry which is radial in the vertical shaft of the trunk, and is elliptical in its branch system. The trunk and seed pylon of the species developed on base-10 symmetry. This base-10 symmetry extends into the primary branches and is augmented by a hexadecimal pattern in the primary, secondary and tertiary structures.

Trunk
The trunk of the adult Sequoia adeptus has four distinct elements; 1) a polyfurcated based consisting of ten segments, 2) a merge zone where the ten elements first merge into five elements then become trifurcated before merging into the central column, 3) a central column, and 4) a branchcase that anchors the ten primary branches.

Base
The trunk of a Sequoia adeptus is anchored into the Enochiian soil by ten, semicircular root stalks. The horns of these crescents point toward the central axis of the trunk column. In the largest adults each root stalk is twenty-two meters across. The perimeter of the root stalk is corrugated with eighteen niches and eighteen ribs. Each rib protects a guide that conducts fluids, electromagnetic or electrogravitic energy within trunk’s vertical column.

The base of the trunk in the largest of the adult Sequoia adeptus has a diameter of 109 meters. The interstitial space between root stalks is approximately 8 meters and the open space within the circle of root stalks encompasses over 4,900 square meters in the shape of a conical hyperboloid nearly 400 meters tall.

Merge Zone
On the tallest specimens of Sequoia adeptus, the merge zone extends from an altitude of 250 meters above average terrain (AAT) to 420 meters AAT. The first merging joins adjacent pairs of base elements into five stalks at 250 meters above the Hall floor. At approximately 335 meters AAT two of the adjacent merged pairs merge again to form three stalks. These three stalks merge to form the central column at 420 meters AAT.

It is important to note that the merged root stalks represent a true union of the root stalk pairs. The thirty-six ribs of the two individual root stalks become twenty-seven in the merged pair. Likewise, another nine ribs are lost when two merged pairs are united to form a four element set.

Central Column
This element of the trunk extends from the final rootstalk merger at 420 meters AAT in the largest adult Sequoia adeptus to the base of the branchcase. The diameter of the central column is 44meters at the top of the merger zone and tapers gently to a diameter of 22 meters at 602 meters AAT. This diameter is maintained for the remaining 430 meters of column height to the base of the branchcase.

Vestiges of the root stalks are evident in the flutings about the circumference of the central column. Fifty ribs and niches remain on the crest of the nodes. Ten larger niches appear in the interstitial valleys between the nodes. The cross-section at the right indicates that the individual ribs have merged into one large rib within each of the ten nodes which, in turn surround the central waveguide of the heartwood.

Branchcase
This element of the trunk echoes the complexity of the base and merge zones but in reverse. It swells from the central column in the largest specimen of Sequoia adeptus at 1,033 meters above the Hall floor and reaches a diameter of 56 meters before the first of the primary branches separate from the branchcase at 1,348 meters AAT. The smallest primaries are the last to separate from the branchcase at a height of 1,422 meters.

The branchcase structure is anchored to the central column through the bifurcation of the vestigial root stalk ribs. These forks become the core and heartwood for the primary branches. Each node of the branchcase supports one primary branch, and the sequence in which the branches separate from the branchcase is governed by fractal geometry. The sequence of separation has a rhythm of 4:4:2.

Branching
Researchers have classified the four-level branching system of the Enochiian Sequoias. The classifications are: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary. These are complex structures designed to support the weight of the needle clusters, and yet, are sufficiently flexible so that they may contract the entire branch and needle cluster complex into a compact pod during those hours the Tefireth eclipses Keser or Equinox’s rotation moves the Hall out of direct sunlight.

The figure above is a schematic of the branching system and the needle clusters that the branches support. Primary branches are indicated in blue, secondary branches are indicated in red, and tertiary branches are shown in green. The 1,320 ellipses indicate the needle bundles which are supported by the quaternary branches that are too small and too numerous to be shown on this diagram. It should also be noted that the clusters of needle bundles have evolved in two configurations – one vertical and one horizontal. These two structures represent the most efficient method of supporting and distributing the needle bundles to maximize their exposure to sunlight.

Primary Branches
The Primary branch system of the Sequoia adeptus is radially symmetrical. Figure 15 below clearly demonstrates the rhythmic height distribution of the primary branching scheme. Four primary branches separate at the first layer to support the two short axis vertical needle clusters, and the two horizontal needle clusters that mark the ends of the long axis. Another four primary branches separate from the branchcase at the second layer to support needle clusters that complete the perimeter edge of the parabolic needle array. The remaining two primary branches separate from the branchcase at the third layer support the two vertical needle clusters on the long axis adjacent to the branchcase.

The eight primary branches generated at the first and second levels on the branchcase are also furcated to support more than one needle cluster. In each instance of this type of furcation the primary branch supported one large and two small needle cluster. The large cluster is supported by the center of the three elements, and the smaller needle clusters are supported by the furcated and smaller branch elements.

Secondary Branches
This branch system is designed to support directly the large needle macroclusters. The secondary system juncture with the primary branches is asymetrical. The system spreads from a central point that is not at the center of the elliptical macroclusters. These secondary branches are configured on two axes – vertical and horizontal, and the central point varies with the orientation of the secondary branch structure. In the caseof the vertical orientation, the central point is located over one of the elliptical nodes. The horizontal configuration of the secondary branches has a central point located on the short axis of the elliptical macrocluster at a point that segments that axis at a ratio of two to one where the short segment is at the lower side of the needle macrocluster.

The two secondary branch configurations are schematically represented in the diagram shown above. The horizontal version is bilaterally symetrical with the twenty-six tertiary nodes being furcated from seven base branches. The vertical configuration demonstrates partial bilateral symetry with the tertiary nodes being furcated from five base branches. However, the vertical configuration falls short of full bilateral symetry because the top, left, base branch supports eight tertiary nodes while the top, right, base branch only supports six nodes.

Each Sequoia adeptus has 676 secondary branches in twenty-six bundles. Thte ratio of vertival bundles to horizontal bundles is one to two. Tertiary Branches: This system is designed to support the quaternary branches. The tertiary system juncture with the secondary branches is asymetrical. Similar in structure to the secondary branches, the tertiary system spreads from a central point that is not at the center of the elliptical needle clusters. The tertiary branches are configured on two axes – vertical and horizontal, and the central point varies with the orientation of the tertiary branch structure. In the case of the vertical orientation, the central point is located over one of the elliptical nodes. The horizontal configuration of the tertiary branches has a central point located on the short axis of the elliptical needle cluster at a point that segments that axis at a ratio of two to one where the short segment is at the lower side of the needle cluster. Each Sequoia adeptus has 3,016 tertiary branches in 116 bundles. The ratio of vertical bundles to horizontal bundles is one to two.

Quaternary Branches
This system is designed to support the needles. The quaternary system juncture with the tertiary branches is asymetrical. Similar in structure to the tertiary branches, the quaternaries spreads from a central point that is not at the center of the needle microclusters. The quaternaries are configured on two axes – vertical and horizontal, and the central point varies with the orientation of the tertiary branch structure.

Each Sequoia adeptus has 349,856 quaternary branches in 3,016 bundles. The ratio of vertical bundles to horizontal bundles is one to two.

Seed Pylon
Atop the central column where it emerges from the branchcase is the seed pylon. In the largest of the adult Sequoia adeptus the pylon is 28 meters in diameter and 192 meters tall. The exterior of the pylon is similar to the central column with vestiges of the root stalk element ribs creating a corrugated surface with ten swellings in the corrugation. The base of the seed pylon nests into the second and third levels of the branchcase and expands to its largest diameter just above the level at which the last two primary branches complete separation of the branchcase from the central column. The seed pylon tapers to a diameter eight meters immediately below the seed cone bowl which is eighteen meters in diameter in the largest adult specimens.

Species Anatomy
The species has an anatomy that is unique in the Known Universe. Sequoia adeptus is a product of the complex interaction of the electromagnetic and gravitational forces of the Otz Chiim system.

Heartwood
The metamorphosed cells of the heartwood change through the assimilation of “doped” or trace-impure silicon dioxide (SiO2) into the cell walls. This migration of water out of the heartwood produces a quartz crystalline latticework comprised of channels and resonant cavities. The cavities or harmonic units known as “domains” resonate to the electromagnetic and electrogravitic influences of the Otz system that result in these domains being energized periodically. The channels between the cell walls act as waveguides to direct energy between the various domain structures in ways similar to the nerve/axon/neuron relationship in the human brain. The crystal core of the living individuals also acts as a structural column to support its organic elements. The exposed crystal columns of the Chiefs act as waveguides, receptors and emitters for the communications and sentience apparatus of the regenerated Chiefs.

Sapwood
The high level of silicon dioxide (SiO2) in the cell fluids produces an opalescent glow that changes with the intensity of the electromagnetic and gravitational fields present in the wood. Sequoia neophytes sapwood which is almost identical to Sequoia adeptus sapwood is marketed throughout the Known Universe as “wisdomwood”.

Cambium
Cambium cells produce a human serotonin moderator that when filtered through the bark and inhaled or ingested by humans produces a psychotropic reaction in the subject. The human perceives an altered state of consciousness in which communication with the Adeptii, direct access to universal knowledge, and the ability to fold space and time are possible. Prolonged exposure to this chemical creates a permanent altered state in the human independent of proximity to the trees.

Bark
The bark of the Sequoia adeptus is the organ of the Trees that has the most significant effect on the neurophysiology of Man. The pharmacologically active ingredient in the bark is a long chain crystalline alkaloid LVX or lysergic pentabanol xyloethylamide (C30H36NO6) or known as “the Light” among the Equinox colonists. In order to experience the effect of this chemical, LVX must either be inhaled or ingested. The alkaloid results from subjecting esters present in the bark of the Adeptii to direct or indirect heat of more than 115C. The effect is not unpleasant and positively transformational. Cognitive scientists hypothesize that LVX alters the base-wave frequency of the human cerebral cortex, and causes the pineal gland to secrete a specific serotonin modifier. The indications of these alterations in the brain’s chemical balance are the subject’s altered awareness of his surroundings and an altered perspective of his “place” within the Universe. From a distance the Sequoia adeptus primary looks like a large, ornately carved and fluted column. The flutes interlace into complex designs. The parallel flutes spiral the Trees in a clockwise helix. The aroma of the fresh bark and also its smoke is that of a cross between cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Outer bark, when removed from a Tree is of low mass, and disintegrates to a coarse powder under the slightest pressure, or shreds when moist. The surface texture of the bark is of coarse velvet. Sequoia adeptus bark has a mean surface temperature of 28C because it acts as a heat dissipater for the inner wood layers.

Needle
The Sequoia adeptus has a needle structure common with all other conifers. The needle is unique in contrast to other conifers in that it is wafer-thin and elliptical in shape. The needles of adult individuals are 2cm by 3cm, and are arranged in clusters of 116 needles to a needle bundle supported over the quaternary branches. The upper surface of the needle is a highly polished mirror, and the under surface is an iridescent green. New growth appears as an extension of the quaternary branch with an addition of new needles clusters. New needle growth is distinguished by its emerald green color. New needles are nearly transparent for the first season and then assume the appearance of mature needles after one year.

The parabolic macroclusters of the Sequoia adeptus are massive photovoltaic collectors. Driven by the electromagnetic radiation output of Tefireth,, Keser, and the Ain ternary system, each needle has a collective surface area of 4.718 cm² and a photovoltaic output of 31.93 watt-hours daily. Each adult Sequoia adeptus produces 11.17 megawatt-hours of electrical energy daily. The daily output of Enochii’s Sequoia adeptus population is 6.4 terawatt-hours. This equivalent to the annual energy budget for pre-Hegemony Earth.

Burl
Burl cells cluster in structures identical to that of fullerene crystals – the icosahedral arrays of close-packed spheres.

Cones & Seeds
Each Tree produces male and female cones. The male cone blossoms into a fine filamented flower and produce pollen the texture, aroma, and consistency of ground nutmeg. Female cones are proportionally smaller than Sequoia semperverans cones, but they develop clustered within a carbon-silicon fiber husk atop a central branch or seed pylon at the highest point on the tree. The seeds develop enclosed within the folds of the fibrous cone.

Reproductive Cycle
The Sequoia adeptus reproduces every 264,000 years. The cycle is timed to coincide with the tenth and largest novæ burst of Ain which occur once in the same period. The orbit of Enochii around Tefireth, and Tefireth around the ternary, Ain-Ain Soph-Ain Soph Aur, complex places Enochii in direct alignment to receive the full undeflected effect of the ternary’s nova-augmented solar wind.

Precursor fluctuations in the electrogravitic flux of the solar radiation are sensed by the Trees. A pocket of hydrogen gas develops at the base of the cone husk. The quaternary branching complex surrounding the seed pylon creates a parabaloid mirror focused on the base of the cone husk.

The increase in infrared radiation that precedes the nova wave front triggers the ejection mechanism and initiates the Trees’ reproductive process. The heat reflected off of the needle cluster parabaloid causes the hydrogen to expand rapidly ejecting the cone husk straight upward.

The cone husk itself is shaped somewhat like the nosecone of a Twentieth Century chemical rocket. The underside has a concave mirrored surface. The heat focused by the Trees’ parabaloid branching systems focuses nearly all of the energy radiated by the nova at the base of each Tree’s seed cone. This is reflected by the concave base of the husk to heat the air immediately below the husk which propels the husk upwards at increasing acceleration that approaches but does not exceed escape velocity.

The reflected solar wind acceleration ejects the cone husk into a suborbital ballistic trajectory. The seed cones eventually exhaust the forward momentum and curve back toward the surface of Enochii. As they enter the Enochiian atmosphere friction heats the outer carbon-silicon husk which eventually ablates carrying with the ablative material the heat it has absorbed. At a height of one kilometer the remains of the husk shatters releasing the seeds which imbed themselves in the Enochiian soil to a depth of one and one half meters.

The nova that initiates the Sequoia adeptus reproductive cycle also prepares the Enochiian soil to receive the seeds. Unfortunately, it also destroys all other unprotected fauna, floræ and man made structures. The fauna of Enochii have developed the instinct for self-preservation that drives them to enter the Halls of the Adeptii before the start of the nova. However, the floræ – particularly the Sequoia neophytes – face the full force of the nova-augmented solar wind. This causes them to flash to incineration point. By the time the Sequoia adeptus seeds strike the once forest floor, the Sequoia neophytes are a thick layer of ash deposited on top of the soil and mulch of the old forest floor.

Although the ballistic cone scattering of the Tree’s is unusual, the flight control exercised by the falling seeds is unique. It is a yet unexplained by modern science, but it explains the patterns within the Halls of the Adeptii. Just as iron filings follow the lines of planetary magnetic force, so do the Sequoia adeptus seeds follow the lines of electrogravitic force around Enochii. The seeds implant themselves in precise arcs and curves with equidistant spacings that emulate the outer rings of the existing Halls. Each reproductive cycle produces a new rank or ring seedling Sequoia adeptii.

Sentient Properties
The exobotanists of the Second Planetary Survey were the first scientists to postulate sentience for the Sequoia adeptus. Anecdotal evidence gleaned from the personal logs of the scientists and the raw visual records of the expedition tell the story.

The Effingulus
One of the botanical survey teams was documenting the root stalks of a first-ring specimens in the Sequoia adeptus community that later came to be called Mishkan Ruwach by the Enochiian School. A team member measuring the distance between a root stalk rib and the effingulus was overcome with pangs of hunger. She became consumed with thoughts of her mother’s meatloaf dinner made from a receipt handed down from generation to generation for nearly eight hundred years. She was surprised at the strength of the memory because not only could she see the meal she could smell it. The realization that she smelled the meat dish caused her to look away from the laserule to see the steaming dish resting atop the larger of the two circular platforms on the effingulus. A visual record of the above event showed that the meatloaf dinner materialized on the effingulus majoris. Frame-by-frame analysis revealed that the object appeared to be constructed on the platform during an elapsed time of twenty-eight milliseconds – particle by particle.

The exobotanists determined through experimentation that not only would the effingulus product an exact copy of the mental image of a physical object, but if an object were placed on the effingulus minoris an exact duplicate would appear on the larger platform. All attributes of the object would be reproduced accurately; size, color, texture, taste, and even temperature. The Second Planetary Survey team concluded that the Sequoia adeptus have the ability to interpret sentient thought, contextualize it, and create a simulacrum of the thought in matter from pure energy. To date, no one has postulated the process by which the Trees accomplish this feat.

The Tabella Potior
The Sequoia adeptus has demonstrated sentience through another, similar process that is manifested on the inner, concave corrugations of the root stalk. This region was also described by the members of the Second Planetary Survey as the Tabella potior – the magic tablet.

In the largest adult specimens the Tabella potior region covers a surface area of approximately 7,550 square meters, or the area highlighted in blue in the diagram above to a height of four meters above the forest floor. The exobotanists examining the root stalks took note of raised designs that appeared on the surface of the inner, concave corrugations under oblique lighting conditions. The designs were ordered in columns and rows and appeared to be variations of a regular quadrilateral with rounded corners and a proportional ratio of vertical to horizontal sides of three to five. The team discovered that a figure touched would glow. Photometric analysis demonstrated that the glow appeared and disappeared in proportion to a saw-tooth curve where the rise time was one-tenth second and the decay time was two and two-tenths seconds.

Linguists attached to the Survey team postulated that the designs were ideograms, and as such, representation of language similar ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics or modern Nippo-chinese. Many attempts have been mounted to attribute the ideograms to phonemes, but all attempts have been thwarted due to the lack of the Enochiian equivalent of the Rosetta stone.