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Author Topic: Flora Idea Discussion  (Read 51250 times)
Rayblon
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« on: December 27, 2016, 01:17:03 PM »

This is an analog to the mob idea discussion. In this thread, more terrestrial plant varieties are somewhat acceptable.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2016, 02:16:21 PM »

Bloodwood (tree)

The bloodwood would be a situational decomposer. I'm seeing it as being a small, willow-tree esque plant. Maybe 3 or 4 meters tall. The leaves would look like bloody strips of flesh and it would probably have an irony smell. It would be rarely encountered in marshy environments, but is able to quickly mature anywhere a fresh corpse is. They'll produce fairly substantial fruit that is also rather meat-like. However, the leaves and fruit of the tree are poisonous and need to be cooked very thoroughly as well as de-seeded if they are to be safely consumed. Bloodwoods are able to propagate themselves that way by luring wildlife, poisoning them, then having their seeds take root inside of them. Many animals would likely wise-up to them rather quickly, but the ones that don't would be slowly killed and used as feed for what shouldn't be mistaken as anything less than a predator.

Burning them releases red smoke not unlike blood fog in appearance, but also toxic, able to kill surrounding foliage. Suffice to say, burning fresh bloodwood isn't smart. The sap in the tree is toxic as well, and has the consistency and appearance of somewhat congealed blood. It's a real angel of death, ain't it?

Well, it gets better. See, a bloodwood's wood can survive without roots for a considerable amount of time, can regenerate, and loses its smell while also being fairly decent in a staff or armor(though, it will have a smell of rot when it needs sustenance.) All it takes is exposure to, you guessed it, blood to sustain it. This is effectively the counterpart to living wood, which requires life energy to sustain itself and enhances magic; this wood is effective in physical weapons. At first, the wood will try to grow out again and develop branches and roots and such. As a player, you'd be able to encourage that, or prune it until it stops trying to grow. The former is dangerous, but would allow a weapon or armor to regenerate in combat at the cost of blood loss, and would envonom the weapon -- a great feature so long as you don't cut your hands. Armor allowed to grow would not require any leather straps to hold itself together after some time, instead binding itself together with its own foliage. Unlike corpsemaws, this is not some well meaning symbiosis, and failing to feed it will result in armor made of bloodwood trying to consume you fairly quickly. Corpsemaws would be fairly averse to bloodwood and bloodwood equipment. As bloodwood is pruned, it will gain more of a red-tinged, dark grey color, while 'free' bloodwood will retain a fleshier pink/red tone.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2017, 11:22:02 PM »

Not a plant, but a general idea. You probably thought of it already, but i felt it worth noting. plants in video games have a habit of being uh... binary, as it relates to physics. You either pass through them, or they're like brick walls. Will plants and certain parts of plants restrict movement without outright halting the player?
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pspeed
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« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2017, 06:33:02 AM »

Not a plant, but a general idea. You probably thought of it already, but i felt it worth noting. plants in video games have a habit of being uh... binary, as it relates to physics. You either pass through them, or they're like brick walls. Will plants and certain parts of plants restrict movement without outright halting the player?

I don't know yet.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2017, 09:27:04 AM »

I believe I brought this up before, but it never hurts to repeat it here. Crystal or mineral-based plants would be interesting.They'd probably have an ambient sound of 'chipping crystal' and would be iridescent. It would probably be too much to make these into sources for magic crystals, but I could see people cutting slabs of crystal wood and what have you to make fortified windows and such. I suppose that as a 'plant' the materials that hey are made out of would be able to capture sunlight in a reasonable capacity, so maybe they could be used like weak solar cells? That would require quite abit of balancing, of course. They would probably require either extreme cold(to grow using ice) or mineral rich soil to thrive.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2017, 07:06:13 AM »

Clamovin(Screaming vine/clamor vine)

A thick creeping vine that can cover hundreds of meters of land. It's generally found in darker, forested regions, but can grow in most low light areas, or any place that gets little or infrequent direct sunlight. It can, however, survive in marshy terrain quite handily, direct sunlight or no. It has sparse, but thick and fleshy leaves which are safe to eat and taste somewhat tart... and kelpy. They might be useful in neutralizing particularly salty soups, but aren't palatable otherwise. The vines themselves are woodier in consistency than your average vines, with a thick barked core reaching up from the center of each plant. The notable characteristic of this plant is that it creates a hissing or whistling sound by ejecting (typically) malodorous gas through small pores in the plants' surface whenever a leaf is damaged or pressure is applied to a vine. The gas appears to be inert in most cases, and is not itself harmful.  The plant can only do so a few times on any given day, but it is more than sufficient for scaring away would-be predators in most cases. The efficiency of the plants gas production seems to depend on the soil around it; more alkaline and drier soil results in less gas, with the opposite being true as well.

The plant would go dormant during snowy months. Through Frowndelia(or throughout a climate's dry/cold season if it's hot/warm), one may see large flowers dotting the surface of the vines, similar in appearance to clematis blooms. The flowers create a powerfully sweet smell, with the petals being usable in confectionery items or for use as a sweetener when diffusing or brewing. After the flowers are pollinated, massive, round, and green hued gourds develop at the buds. As they mature, the outer layer of the gourds harden and become brown and woody, making them exceptionally difficult to breach by wildlife. The gourds carry the same air as the plant, so getting into them can be a rather unpleasant experience. If the temperature gets too cold, the gourds may collapse in on themselves, or explode with surprising force in high heat, dispersing the walls of the gourd along with its seeds rather effectively. Blunt force is also sufficient to cause the gourds to explode, so the fruit can be used as makeshift explosives, though they would only really be effective at pushing back or stunning enemies, and would need to be thrown at a stony surface.

There isn't much in the way of food that can be obtained from the fruit, but the smooth, fleshy seeds lining the walls of the gourds are large and dense. They are quite sour, but by dehydrating them and grinding them into a fine powder, you can use them in nourishing candies, or to simply use as a spice, or as a compact emergency food source. The seeds can be planted, but an individual plant takes up a massive amount of space relative to the quantity of seeds it produces, and is initially slow to develop. The plant can be directed to grow in a certain way, so to speak, using blocks to restrict its growth to specified paths. Though, if you're not careful, it may just grow over the obstructions you build.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2017, 07:09:48 AM by Rayblon » Logged

Rayblon
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« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2017, 05:44:12 AM »

Hug Mush

An extremely rare, giant, immobile, and stout mushroom that grows 2-4 prehensile mycelium tentacles from its front, and possesses large, beady eyes. The mushroom's tentacles will gyrate and reach toward nearby sapients and players that don't have any weapons drawn. They are effectively harmless, but will attempt to hug others using the tentacles when there are no hostiles nearby; never forcefully, though(not that they'd be strong enough to be forceful in the first place). They cannot produce their own life energy, but are able to absorb and disperse surrounding life energy. A hug mush would most likely grow in forest clearings rich in life energy, and would visibly deteriorate over time if the surrounding area becomes deficient in life energy and they begin exhausting theirs.  A hug mush can also ward various other fungal infestations and can slightly enhance soil quality. Oddly, it doesn't seem to have any predators, and might even be cultivated by giant ants on occasion(perhaps a more docile type of ant?).

Around a healthy hug mush, some smaller mushrooms will appear over time. They can be collected and used for food, or placed elsewhere to grow into another hug mush. Hug mushes might like players harvesting the smaller mushrooms and may mimic friendly actions like hand waves. Perhaps they would even directly offer smaller mushrooms to players that are starving, showing what can be interpreted as disappointment when their offer is refused.


The process of deterioration would have several significant effects on hug mushes. A hug mush that is in good health would be able to replenish some of a player's life energy with a hug, while a deteriorated one would be more likely to leech small amounts of life energy from players and restore some of their health, though never enough to cause physical effects. Same for plants and perhaps some animals that are presented to it(so you may be able to restore dying potted plants, pets and such with a healthy hug mush, to an extent). They would have vibrant coloration, with smooth, tannish stalks and vibrant caps of various colors and patterns. As they deteriorate, however, their textures would gradually be replaced with prunish textures and dull coloration, with their eyes becoming visibly dulled with cataracts and subsequently having a lower range where they offer hugs and food. Their ability to grow mushrooms drops off quickly(with the quality of the mushrooms it does grow significantly dropping). Their ability to ward off other fungi becomes severely inhibited when their life energy nears ~20% capacity, though they will always have a small area where other fungi can't spread into until they die. They will visibly slump as they deteriorate, and their tentacles will also move slower and droop more, with their cap fraying and curling up. Even in a deteriorated state, they would still offer food and such when they have it, though the animation would show them physically struggling to do so, maybe even dropping offerings it makes on accident, same for action mimicry.

They would serve a variety of purposes, but their high life energy needs mean that they can't be placed just anywhere, or otherwise require a great deal of maintenance to keep alive and 'happy'. They would be a reprieve of sorts from the dangers of the magic forests far from civilization, though they would be equally content in a town or city given enough life energy supplementation. In their native areas, they would be useful for gauging the health of the surrounding areas given their particular sensitivity. That said, perhaps their most important role would be making peoples' day a bit better.

I was conflicted about whether to put it in the plants or mob section, but this seemed the most appropriate given its more passive nature to place it here.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2017, 05:58:32 AM by Rayblon » Logged

Rayblon
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« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2017, 08:36:47 AM »

Spore Moss

A mostly harmless group of mosses that would be able to grow on trees but can survive anywhere. Spore moss would create a small area of colored fog around over time, which would allow it to spread. Spore moss would be edible when cooked, but is otherwise mildly poisonous. Different spore mosses could have mild, unique effects.
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Duff_Beer
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« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2017, 08:38:42 PM »

Some sort of carnivorous thorn bush found in the undergrowth of forests. The thorns prick the skin and paralyze the victim like some sort of spider venom, then, once the paralysis has fully taken hold,
the ground immediately around the creature or person becomes like quicksand, sucking them down to be wrapped up in the roots to nourish the plant and quickly mummify the person or creature encased there within.
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Duff_Beer
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« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2017, 08:43:31 PM »

A fruit salad tree sounds enjoyable. One of those big wide branching oaks who's very wood is shaped in a spiral or dna type pattern, almost as if multiple trees tried to grow in the same spot and ended up bending and twisting around each other and winds up producing the various fruits you might find in a fruit salad.

Possibly with some sort of multi-berry bush growing up around it's base.
Like a blackberry briar patch/bramble bush but filled with all sorts of different edible berry types.

Make it a bit more of a challenge to get to the tree fruit and also risk injuring yourself if you try to pick the berries.
« Last Edit: September 14, 2017, 11:34:46 PM by Duff_Beer » Logged
Rayblon
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« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2017, 11:47:11 PM »

dna type pattern


That's a double helix. Probs not what you want lol
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Duff_Beer
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« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2017, 03:31:45 AM »

dna type pattern


That's a double helix. Probs not what you want lol

Ooh. No I guess not. I was thinking of those old roman columns that have that twisting spiraling shape crawling up them.
Like how a snake likes to twist and coil around the base of something diagonally until it reaches the top.
Or like a coil of rope if it was coiled around something.

But you know, on a tree.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2017, 03:33:43 AM by Duff_Beer » Logged
Duff_Beer
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« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2017, 03:35:35 AM »

Didn't we already have a thread like this? I could have sworn I already gave out some suggestions that I don't see here.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2017, 08:17:47 AM »

possibly, but this is the 'official' one.
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Duff_Beer
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« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2017, 10:35:03 PM »

Allready mentioned this in another topic awhile ago I'm pretty sure, but the topic must have been deleted or locked since then as I cannot find it.
So here is this suggestion of mine from another thread.  I saw it in a cartoon once. Looked pretty cool.

Some sort of large wide trunked tree. Maybe some sort of weeping willow/really thick oak hybrid or something.
It mimics certain sounds through echo chamber-like mouth shaped holes in various areas along it's trunk to lure in prey.
Usually mating calls or calls of distress.

The prey is tricked into getting close to a decent sized hole at it's base where the trunk meets the roots.
Once the prey is close enough, one of two things happens.
Either the earth briefly rumbles under the prey's feet, causing it to trip up and slide towards the hole,
or the prey is pulled down toward the hole by the roots, seeming to move of their own volition.

Either way, the prey is bound to wind up going in the hole that stretches open like a mouth to accommodate whatever size the prey is.
Only then does the prey notice several circular rows of sharp pointy shark-like teeth descending into the hole.
Rows of teeth that seem to rotate when the prey gets dangerously close to sliding into the hole,  
like the blades of a blender or food processor.
Ready to dice up the prey and make it into a puree.

« Last Edit: September 14, 2017, 11:29:50 PM by Duff_Beer » Logged
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