Era Trees (時代樹, Jidai-ju) are a type of tree in Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki. They drive the plot as the objects that allow the player to travel back in time.
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The Era Tree is a special tree that extends its branches and leaves beyond time. An individual carrying a Star or a special jewel can use a tree to travel back in time, generally to when the Era Tree's sapling was planted, by touching it.
It blooms with pale blue flowers that hang down, and it is possible to leap through time only while the flowers are in bloom. These flowers naturally wither after one year. If the Era Tree is not in bloom, then it cannot be used.
The range of an Era Tree is limited and moving beyond said range while in the past will cause a person to be returned to their relative present instantly. Era Trees could also not bring someone from the past forward in time nor could it bring man-made objects forward in time with some limited exceptions.
Being in proximity of an Era Tree when the past was changed allowed a person to retain memories of the original timeline, sometimes causing confusing 'doubling' of recollections. Original Teras Pharma could be repelled by an Era Tree so the main character used it to protect Therbe Village from being destroyed by the monsters. A second attempt to do this by planting an Era Tree in Hodos Village did not work, indicating that the Vermilion Axe's Teras Pharma differed somehow.
Era Trees grew incredibly quickly when their saplings were planted but beyond this and their time traveling properties, otherwise functioned as normal trees. Their flowers, branches, bark, etc., did not contain any unusual properties and the trees could be felled or destroyed by fire.
The first Era Tree lay in the depths of the Yggdrasilian Palace under the watchful eye of Renefarious. Its original use was twofold: to power the barrier protecting the land and to scatter the 108 Stars through time so that they could never gather and pose a threat to the Holy Empire of Ionia. However, the Era Trees also connected the timelines through the True Era Tree and their use would ultimately prove the Holy Emperor's downfall.
References
- Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki Design Works, pages 65, 102
- Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki The Perfect Guide (ISBN 978-4-04-886456-5), page 20
- Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki The Complete Guide (ISBN 978-4-04-886462-6), page 240