Homunculus Plant
Devilish mimicry sated by blood.
"I give it a little bit of my blood every week, but I feed it Elves every chance I get. I think it likes me!"Homunculi Plants are a rare genus of flora that thrive in moderate temperature climates. They are mostly seen in the swamps of Iys'myria and the forests of Ealdfold and Krezmany, but some races have introduced them to foreign ecologies like Sin-Hallodri. A typical Homunculus Plant stands at an average of one meter tall with spiked stems with thousands of tiny pores to absorb nutrients through. They grow numerous prehensile leaf-like tendril appendages that split from their stems that they use to grab and hold prey. They grow spikes on these appendages that they use to shred open prey or to defend themselves. Beneath each tendril are smaller stems that, when the leaf appendages are pulled back, reveal a small needle-like thorn that the plant uses to drink blood without hurting their prey.
Growth and Symbiosis
Homunculus Plants store excess blood under the ground in their roots, in a large sac that they can drink from without having to wait for new prey. They are primarily carnivores, and feed on the flesh and blood of other creatures. However, they are known to 'bond' with specific individuals who give it continuous helpings of blood - either their own or from other victims. The plant filters and 'recycles' the harmful properties of the blood. Homunculus Plants have some sense of sentience, as they are able to 'bond' with another creature by drinking its blood. It will not act aggressive or threatening towards any individuals it bonds with. If a Homunculus Plant detects that their bond is sick or injured, it will deposit some of its own into them. So far, there have been no known negative effects. If a Homunculus Plant has fed sufficiently enough without getting rid of any of the blood it has stored in its sac, it will enter 'pregnancy'. The stem engorges and expands, and it will create an 'offspring' either based on any bonded creatures or on the most common type of prey it has encountered. After four months of gestation, a plant-based Homunculus life form will emerge from the plant. It can adapt and evolve a thousand times faster than other life forms, taking on new traits from prey it eats. Some Homunculi life forms disguise themselves as a member of a race to continue feeding on them without their knowledge. If a Homunculus Plant has gone for a month without feeding, they will shrivel up into a smaller version of themselves, detatch from their roots, and wait until it finds new prey. It will then wait to make some form of contact with their prey, latching on to them and feeding until satisfied. Often, the victim's initial reaction will be to break it off and fling it away, which will put it in a new area, but by then it will have enough blood to regrow.Conservation
Despite the danger it presents to other races, some Goblin tribes, Cilithorian Elves, and Erd-Honn Dwarves each cultivate their own Homunculus Plants. The Cilithorians and the Erd-Honn each see value in the blood sacs the plant stores by its roots, and 'milk' plants for their blood. This blood has multiple uses in alchemy and medicine, and is commonly used in a process called a 'blood transfusion' to inject blood into other individuals that have lost blood or had it drained. Seureith Goblins will grow and protect Homunculi Plants as they are considered natural, even adopting the life forms they create and directing them to Elven towns to continue feeding. Wirven Goblins have also been known to bond with them occasionally, but only to move them away from their hide-outs and closer to Human towns. Some Wirven tribes will take the plants and present them as gifts to their leaders.Basic Information
Growth Rate & Stages
Homunculus Plant
Homunculus Plants mature over the course of five to seven years, developing necessary changes that allow it to adapt to its habitat. Small, immature or recently sown plants will be a bright green with white colourings on its stalk and over its appendages; mature Homunculus Plants are a darker shade of green, with the white tint taking on the hue of the blood it often drinks. When it reaches a mature stage, it can then use the nutrients and blood it stores to impregnate itself. Pregnancy lasts about two months. During this period, the plant becomes very aggressive and territorial toward life forms it doesn't recognize, and lacks the capacity to acknowledge and recognize new bonds.Homunculi Life Forms
After its pregnancy period finishes, Homunculus Plants split open and release a new life form based on its diet or on its bonds. These life forms do not mature, and are considered already mature when they are hatched. The plant then enters a recovery period and returns to as it was before its pregnancy. Homunculi Life Forms often take the form of a sentient being, one that mimics an existing species. However, its internal structure is very different to the species it copies. For instance, it does not have a heart and does not require to breathe as other creatures do. Instead, the life form is made up of dozens of sacs stored in its body that store flesh and blood from its recent meals, which it slowly digests in its stomach and recycles back into usable liquids. The life form will then vomit or pull a sac out and feed it to the Homunculus Plant that gave birth to it, in the interests of repeating the pregnancy cycle and creating more life forms. Because of the extreme differences between Homunculi Life Forms and the species they replicate, they cannot inherit magick through heritage, such as if the plant ate a magically gifted victim. Some life forms, however, can inherit magic through indirect means, such as if they or their plant was affected by a Weirding. In some instances, Homunculus Plants can go through generations of life forms. Early generations often have the same skin and appearance as the plant that gave birth to them, but as more blood is given to the plant, it begins to replicate more features commonly seen on other life forms. However, as these plants do not possess critical thought, many of the characteristics it develops for later generations of life forms may not 'make sense'. In one known situation, a third generation life form took the appearance of a Wirven Goblin, but due to the amount of blue blooded creatures it had been fed, it was born with a light shade of whitish-blue skin with blue veins. However, late generation life forms are known to almost be indistinguishable from the species they mimic, with very few obvious traits to rely on when differentiating them. Later generation life forms also possess a higher intelligence and capacity to learn, and some have even been 'adopted' by other species. Seureith Goblins have been known to treat Seureith replicas and their plants as though they were part of the tribe, even teaching them how to create and use 'oramkoti'. At least one later generation of Homunculi Life Form has possessed the potential to become, and has been made, an honourary Seureith Warlock.Ecology and Habitats
Homunculus Plants often grow in temperate swampy or wooded areas like Iys'myria, but have been known to adapt to colder climates such as the forests at the base of the Frelkinung Mountains in Sin-Hallodri. The creatures they primarily feed on may also change the hues of the blood it stores in its sac. One Dwarf Alchemist reported that after a Homunculus Plant fed on a creature captured from Yeldrun Forest, the blood sac contained dark purplish blood, while several Seureith Goblin plant-tenders have noted that some blood sacs contained a sickly orange hue from the fish that they fed the plants.
Scientific Name
(Elven: de'os Duodderynn)
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