Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

!	Message from: Oracle
	Approved, I think this is a really neat idea that allows for some spiffy customization.

Name: Cerberus
Appearance: A Cerberus always has an extremely large body, as the upper half of the dog must be able to fit three heads comfortably, and the body itself able to fit double the amount of organs. As far as height, weight, and coat color that is entirely dependent on the breeds. A Cerberus has either only female or male reproductive organs.
Description: Cerberus are rumored in Rharne to be the result of a cruel necromancer that has stitched together dog corpses in order to make a fighting machine. Yet, if this were true, the Cerberus' seen today are far from undead: a Cerberus has overall three breeds coexisting in the same large body, and it's existence has prompted medical mystery into it's origin for as long as it's been known. The behavior, and overall personality of the Cerberus is wildly dependent on three breeds that it makes up. Some Cerberus that are made up of friendly, domesticated breeds like Golden Retrievers or German Shepherds can be quite friendly overall, and a Cerberus that has wolf and any of the various hunting breeds will be aggressive.

Yet, out of those three breeds, is the "alpha", which determines the majority of the Cerberus' bodily behavior, and it influences the other two breeds. If a Cerberus is made up of a poodle and chihuahua, but has an alpha of a wolf, the whole Cerberus will be aggressive, and the dominant force of the three. Despite this, most Cerberus are quite large dogs regardless of their breeds, as their body needs to make space for three heads and double the amount of most organs: two hearts, four kidneys, etc. Each head on the body however has it's own separate brain and personality, but the alpha of the three will be the leader of the body and influence the two others. It's uncommon, but certainly possible, for the alpha to change in a Cerberus' lifespan.

A Cerberus is usually domesticated, but some can be found in the wilderness outside Rharne. Despite having a powerful body and three sets of teeth, a Cerberus is typically not found in the military as common as some other creatures, because their organs are so close together and so they are easy to injure and prone to many health complications. While having double the amount of organs might sound well, if a heart dies in the body of a Cerberus, or even a single head, the whole Cerberus will slowly and painfully die. It is possible to save a Cerberus once one head has been killed, but the two remaining breeds would likely be so distraught they would become a shadow of who they were before.

Cerberus are also difficult to train, and not nearly as common as most dog breeds, and so usually they are not useful or desirable pets. The lifespan of the Cerberus is often very short, and most do not live past the age of five arcs due to their health risks, but they do reach full maturity in only two arcs. It is possible that the entire Cerberus is one breed (for example, a Cerberus with three poodle breeds) but it's considered extremely rare and double as expensive as most Cerberus. They're eating habits are also dependent on their breeds, and that being said, many prefer meat. When a Cerberus mates, three breeds from the parent's maximum of six total breeds will be chosen, and typically no Cerberus breed is one hundred percent pure, considering they are mostly mutts.
Frequency: Rare
Level of Danger: High
Additional Information: Cost untrained: 150 gn, Cost trained: 250 gn
Credit: Ministry

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	Approved: Beautiful and dangerous, well done!

Name: Lightning's Grasp
Appearance: With a stem of around eighty centimetres and a small but beautiful bud, the Lightning's Grasp is a unique and notable plant. When night time falls these beautiful plants will glow in vibrant colors, making them easy to find and incredibly stunning to look at, especially when grouped together in a small cluster. Finally, they will drop bright purple seeds when they have fully grown to fill the ground, sometimes causing big waves of purple to flood the air, making for a stunning sight for anyone there to see it. Despite the awe these florae bring there is an inherent problem they cause, as they will oftentimes lean towards anyone that comes near, leading some to believe they have a level of intelligence to them. This, however, is a theory that can not be proven.

Description: Found in fields all around the Stormlands, and grown within the Thunder Priestesses bases, these plants are not uncommon to see and are actually spreading at alarming rates. With only forty trials needed to grow the plants to full size, the Lightning's Grasp have begun covering entire fields with their midnight glow, alluring many and drawing them closer to the plant. When a man or woman walks near them, the plants will learn closer in an attempt to touch the person in question. While many view this as a beautiful spectacle, avoiding the touch of the plant is crucial.

Frequency: Common

Level of Danger: High

Special Properties: Many people view this plant as cute, but the real danger comes from the paralytic moisture coating the petals. When touching direct human skin, the petals will drop a small dose of a contact poison on to the skin, quickly rendering the area of contact paralyzed. This, without a cure, can take up to a trial to be fixed. However, because these plants are often at leg height and the effect comes suddenly, it can cause many to fall and land deeper in the plants - rendering their entire body immobilized. Sustained contact with these plants can be lethal as the poison starts affecting any and all vital organs. As such, these plants are often taken by the Thunder Priestesses and turned in to a weapon smear, capable of taking down someone with little to no damage done to them.

Additional Information: Watch your step

Credit: Varlum

!	Message from: Oracle
	Fantastic job! What's a beautiful addition to Rharne! Approved!

Name: The Lightning Violet

Appearance: The Lightning Violet is a bioluminescent flower thought to have originated on Isle Vyrelle however it can now be found all across the Stormlands. A highly adaptable species of violet the plant has an electric blue stalk normally around 6 inches tall and pale violet petals that shimmer like the water of an ocean. Dull and simple in the day it is at night that these plants truly show their beauty, it is also at night that they are most easily identified as their glow gives them away. Some might describe the spectacle of finding a meadow of these glorious flowers as ethereal and surreal, like one was walking through a sea of lightning. They truly capture the imagination and offer everyone a connection and sight into the domain that Ilaren controls, lightning.

Description: These plants are believed to have spread from Isle Vyrelle, perhaps through pollination of a more standard violet species upon the mainland. Their adaptability and toughness is hard to rival as they will flower throughout all seasons except Cylus in which they pass into a dormant state. The bioluminescence that is within them also causes them to radiate a slight heat. Scientists have speculated that this may be why they do not glow in the day to avoid over heating themselves and why they turn grey and dormant in the winter, only producing the glow deep within the cells of the flora. It is somewhat agreed that this is how they avoid dying during Cylus, the process keeping the cells from being destroyed during the freezing and eventual thawing that effects many plants. The only real interaction with these plants from mortals is one of watching them and occasionally picking them although they will only glow for one night after being cut from their roots. Following that they will turn grey and die.

Frequency: Common

Level of Danger: Non-existent

Special Properties: These plants are surprisingly useful to the night time ecosystem of the Stormlands, their glowing attracts many species of insects which will feed upon the pollen of the Lightning Violet during the night. This allows the insects to feed while making sure the violet can easily reproduce. However, the plants also attract frogs and lizards that have learnt to seek out these plants in search of the insects that feed there. This miniature ecosystem acts as a limiting factor on the number of insects within the lands and also the spread of the violets, helping to keep a balance that is ever present in nature.

Additional Information: It has been considered that these plants may be able to provide a form of glowing dye. However, no one has yet to manage it, most failing at the first hurdle of extracting the glowing matter without causing impurities or dilution that ruins the effect. Neither has anyone been able to figure out how to replicate the reactions that occurs within the plants either.
Credit: Lucas Nardovino

!	Message from: Oracle
	Approved, thanks for this submission!

Name: Gasping Orchid
Appearance: The Gasping Orchid is roughly 6" in height, but as most parasitic orchids are wont to do, will wrap around tree trunks with scarlet tendrils in order to fight for a place in the sun. Their leaves are small, roughly the length of a man's thumb. Though green in hue they are veined in the same blood-red color as the vine itself. The leaves grow in bunches, with foot-long bare intervals where they are few if any leaves at all. What makes this plant most striking is it's flower. Larger than an ithecal's fist, blood-red, and sticky, they bring to mind a red mouth opening to consume some poor creature. When not open, these flowers seal themselves up in fleshy, veiny 'pods' that are nearly impossible to cut through. These flowers are crepuscular, and bloom at early morning and sunset. All other times they are sealed.

Description: Gasping Orchids are native to the swamps of Rharne. They exist by winding up trees, sinking their roots deep into the flesh of the tree. Their aim is not to kill their victim, though the trees infected with Gasping Orchids often fail to thrive and wither away within a few arcs, leaving the orchid to capitalize on the corpse. Gasping Orchids reproduce in a strange way. A pair of white swellings at the rear of the "throat" of the flower will become monstrously huge in late Ymiden. By early Saun the swellings have grown to a point where the flower can no longer shut itself. When the pressure becomes too immense, the flower will explode. A hail of wet, sticky seeds each the size of a flea will fly through the air and (hopefully) stick to a nearby tree.

Beware; though these bursts are relatively harmless unless you happen to be a tree, Gasping Orchid seeds are designed to stick and hook onto a warm, viable host. Once they find one, be it the surface of a man's skin or the sun-warmed trunk of a tree, they immediately send a root down. This root is tipped in barbs. The longer the itchy seed stays on a man's skin, the deeper the root goes. The root will eventually mistake muscle tissue or bone for a tree, and will start to sprout. Once a man has been affected with this level of Gasping Orchid, it is too late. No matter how hard he tugs on the plant, or attempts to cut it out, the roots will allow it to leech energy from a man's flesh and regrow itself. Gasping Orchid infections can last for decades and decades. Skeletons of the afflicted look like swiss cheese where the roots have bored holes in and out of the bones to more securely anchor itself. Death is slow, and agonizing, and takes dozens of arcs. A man will shamble along until he is no longer recognizable, with flowers sprouting out of his back or arms, and vines consuming his features. If the roots manage to bore into the brain, a more severe symptom occurs; madness.

The plant will burrow deep into the brain and begin to drill holes into it for nutrients. Seizures, hallucinations both complex and simple, swelling in the brain, and eventual death are all symptoms of a poor mortal afflicted with a Gasping Orchid that has made its way to the brain. These individuals can be unspeakably violent, and will often attack friends and family members. The afflicted are known as Gaspers. Gaspers will shamble through the swamps of Rharne and stand in sunny spots to allow their vines to soak up the sun. They live a meager, horrific existence, until someone comes along to either cure them, or end their suffering.

The treatment for Gasping Orchid is currently unknown.

Frequency: Uncommon
Level of Danger: Extremely High
Special Properties: Psychotoxins; the Gasping Orchid seems to have the power to convince its mammalian victims that it is somehow beneficial, to prevent them from removing it. This is derived from the roots of the plant, and can be ground up and added to food to temporarily make an individual highly suggestible. However, due to the instability of the compound, the difficulty in harvesting the orchids without oneself becoming infected, and the relative rarity of the plants, only a master alchemist or chemist would have the skills to produce such a serum. Alchemists lower than Master will find that their serums only aid in suggestibility of a varying to lower degree, and run the risk of the serum backfiring and infecting the intended target with Gasping Orchid seeds.
Additional Information: Hi, I love you, this is for the contest.
Credit: Your name here

!	Message from: Oracle
	Looks good to me! Approved!

!	Message from: Oracle
	Approved! Thanks so much for writing this up, it's a fantastic location.

!	Message from: Oracle
	Approved! This is a lovely write up. Thank you!

!	Message from: Oracle
	Oh my gosh I love this! A Stormwastes cacti! Fantastic! Approved!

Name: Prickled Fists

Appearance: The spherical cacti range from three to six inches in diameter and can weigh from two to ten pounds, all the depending on the quantity of the cluster growing together. The stems are a dull green color, though the dust from the Storm Wastes often clings to the plant, giving it a brownish tint during much of the arc. Tiny areoles sit between the stems, which ripple like that of a pineapple, and the spines grow out in a five-sided star pattern across the entirety of the plant. They bloom in the latter half of the Ashan season for about a fortnight, producing a vibrant purple color.


Description: One of the few plants that can survive the desolate Storm's Waste, these cacti grow in small clusters among rocky terrain and in the more shaded areas, few that can be found, in the area. Given the lack of extensive fauna in the region, this plant has evolved over the centuries to self-pollinate their seeds that then attach to the flower blooms in the spring season. As the flowers wilt, the wind carries the them far distances until the debris settles and the seeds germinate elsewhere. The Prickled Fist is a squat and tough plant, both of which are necessary traits in this harsh environment.


Frequency: Uncommon


Level of Danger: Low


Special Properties: Like most cacti, The Prickled Fist conserve water in their stems, making it a vital plant for any wanderer or resident who tries to travel in The Storm's Waste. The yield is low for any one plant, but these cacti tend to grow in clumps of eight to twelve, so there is often more than enough to sustain a small party as long as they're not solely reliant on the plants. The one downside is the water is tainted with the Fist's natural pollen which has a hallucinogenic effect if too much of the liquid is consumed. Side effects include feverish dreams and an increased reaction to visual stimuli.

Additional Information: Besides the water, the spines can also be harvested and are sturdy enough to be used as makeshift needles in sewing kits if necessary

Credit: Mute

!	Message from: Oracle
	What an interesting plant! I'm sure the denizens of the Adult Forum will appreciate this! Approved!

Name: Tempestatem Dulcia Facit (Seductive Storm)
Appearance: 14 - 16 inches when mature, has an faint static sound that echoes from it
Description: Native to the plains of Rharne, the Seductive Storm is a remarkable flower that blooms with their pink petals tipped in bright blue appear to be almost hand painted! Shorter in stature, the Seductive Storm typically has smaller leaves than other Rharne flowers. The small pink lily is adored for its pink to lavender-blue blooms that appear very late in Ymiden and early in Saun. This bulbous perennial is native to the forests and even the sheltered areas of the plains of Rharne, where it grows in moist, often shaded, locations. Delivering a clump of green, strap-like leaves in very early spring, the flowerless clump remains photosynthetic until it dies away in early summer. Leafless stems rise from the ground in mid- to late-Ymiden. Each stem is topped with a cluster of four to six pink, trumpet-shaped flowers, each with six petals edged with a vibrant light blue color. Some plants' flowers are deeper rose-pink while others are pale violet-blue. Insects are the primary pollinators but in some areas, small birds may also visit the blooms. Bulbous, three angled pods willed with flattened black seeds are produced during the end of the Hot Cycle. These plants rarely germinate in a garden.

Frequency: Common
Level of Danger: Only when taken in drug form (Dangerous) as it can cause damage to your liver and bladder.
Special Properties:

Flower Nectar: Used primarily as an aphrodisiac, the nectar of the Seductive Storm lives up to the name its been given. The nectar is as sweet as honey and when one drinks it and it increases arousal, which is great for foreplay and setting the mood for any carnal interaction. Taking excessive amounts or using for extended periods of time can cause severe damage to the lining of your liver & bladder, so take sparingly.

Stems: The safest form of the plant, it acts as an erectile dysfunction cure when ground into a fine powder and imbibed with a liquid.

Additional Information: None

Credit: Yavanna E.