1001 Inconsequential Flora & Fauna

[Set]

613. Amethystine threadsnakes These tiny snakes are barely bigger than fat nightcrawler earthworms, and have delicate silvery scales that shimmer with a blue-violet iridescence that is the result of an oil they secrete to keep themselves clean and free from infection. This oil can only be harvested by allowing the tiny serpents to writhe across the cloth or metal items to be treated, leaving the oil behind in their travels, and they do not like traveling across cold or unpleasant surfaces, leading those who use this oil as a dye to keep the surfaces they want 'oiled' warm and fragrant, and to keep a supply of the even smaller insects these miniscule snakes feed upon, preferably mealworms, available. These snakes are mostly blind, with only rudimentary eyespots, seem quite content, if kept warm and safe from larger predators (which is, most of them...), being able to produce a fair amount of these lovely iridescent oils for several years in captivity.

The oil dries out / wears off and loses its luster the more a garment or metal accoutrement is worn, quite attractively, as it flakes into a sparkly dust like that from a butterfly or moth's wings (sometimes called 'starfall' by the pretentious), and so requires frequent 're-oiling' from whatever serpent-keeping artisan provides this service (whose exact nature is a closely guarded secret, as some of their customers would not react well to the thought that their nicely shimmering outfits are being slimed by squirmy snakes!) to the wealthy Taldan nobles who enjoy having only the shiniest shimmering gowns and jewelry.

Like the short lived trend of wearing translucent armwear and hosiery of specially treated glass falcon skin, this too, will no doubt pass in time and be a footnote in Taldan fad-fashion.

[Freehold DM]

614. Echolickia- These mischievous candies are often sold as lollipops to well off brats looking to get into mischief. They allow one to perfectly mimic the voice of another for about 10 rounds(one minute), but only if that person licks or otherwise ingests part of the candy before the mimic does. Originally used for fun, they have since gone on to be used in all manner of chicanery, from light hearted pranks to incredibly involved attempts to catch an unfaithful lover to at least one comically unsuccessful regicide. In game terms, these candies grant a +10 bonus to disguise as a specific individual, but only for the purposes of sounding like them, and there are usually massive penalties to offset the bonus because these candies, while expensive, are still quite common, and the fact that one has to taste the candy first before giving it to another party for them to use often tips off any people in the vicinity that something is afoot.

[Pizza Lord]

615. Ectolickia
These flowering plants have vibrant, green stalks that contrasts with their pale gray, almost shroud-like petals. They tend to grow in small clusters of three to five in a small area and are safe to eat for most animals, though they'd need to be brewed into a tea or soup for most humanoids, like thistles. The plants don't technically seed or reproduce on the Material Plane, they are actually truly on the Ethereal, where their flowers appear as a beautiful midnight blue.

Ectolickia:

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When an ectolickia grows on the Ethereal Plane, if its coterminous location on the Material is earthy or suited for plants, a facsimile of it also grows there. Made from ectoplasm, it otherwise acts as a normal plant, absorbing nutrients and sunlight and sharing it with the 'host'. Killing or cutting the plant on the Material Plane does not harm the true plant unless a blade that can affect ethereal creatures or objects is used. If only the Material plant is cut, the true plant does not regrow a new ecto-simulacra. It only creates one per lifetime.

If this happens, the original plant loses a lot of its ability to harvest nutrients or sunlight, but it can continue to grow and thrive depending on those available in the Ethereal, most slowly wither and turn to dander or floating seeds. Similar seeds forming on the Material Plane never create new life or take root and those on the Ethereal Plane never really spread far due to the vagaries of that plane's weather, gravity, and winds, usually requiring a creature to latch on or move them. For this reason, most cluster of ectolickia tend to stay where they are.

The plant does have one quirk. When the Material Plane copy of it is killed, cut, or eaten, the true plant (if not also dead at at the time) spawns an ectoplasmic image of the creature that did it. This appears during the first night after it happens and the image tends to mill about in one place and generally do what was happening at the time. This is usually an animal that will appear to be grazing or sometimes a person just walking in the area, having trodden upon the plant, or maybe swinging a sickle or blade and cutting it. The ectoplasmic image is akin to an incorporeal creature and only has 8 hit points before dissipating. It does not react or attack anything, though most normal animals avoid them. They always appear ghostly or spectral. They only exist until sunlight touches them or 12 hours pass before they fade away.
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[Goth Guru]

Freehold DM wrote:

614. Echolickia- These mischievous candies are often sold as lollipops to well off brats looking to get into mischief. They allow one to perfectly mimic the voice of another for about 10 rounds(one minute), but only if that person licks or otherwise ingests part of the candy before the mimic does. Originally used for fun, they have since gone on to be used in all manner of chicanery, from light hearted pranks to incredibly involved attempts to catch an unfaithful lover to at least one comically unsuccessful regicide. In game terms, these candies grant a +10 bonus to disguise as a specific individual, but only for the purposes of sounding like them, and there are usually massive penalties to offset the bonus because these candies, while expensive, are still quite common, and the fact that one has to taste the candy first before giving it to another party for them to use often tips off any people in the vicinity that something is afoot.

It is made from a pseudo sugar plant that looks like a sugar cane above but like a sugar beet below. The sugar is very hard to identify as anything other than sweet.

[Set]

[Ooh, stuff with planar off-shoots, me likey!]

616. Shadowtop These high climbing vines reach high up any surface they can cling to, to 'top' any other vegetation, in their ruthless search for more sunlight. Dozens of yards below, buried in the soil, a scraggly tuber grows with the energy they have stolen from the various plants they have shouldered aside in their mindless pursuit, and this tuber extends it's shadow into the literal Plane of Shadow, where it appears as a fat tuber, more potato than carrot, nothing like the withered shadow of itself on Golarion. This vegetable is a staple on the Plane of Shadow, and its incredibly small and durable seeds are propagated far and wide through the waste of Shadow Plane residents. These seeds them push their sickly white tendrils back into Golarion, blindly seek out the tallest thing they can, and climb ever higher, seeking out the sun, so they can do it all over again.

These plants are distinctive, with the upper surface of their leaves such a dark shade of green that they are almost black, and have a pale flower, white or blue or green, that only opens at night, attracting moths and bats to sup at it's sickly-sweet nectar, with the faintest hint of corrupting flesh, which is the base of a popular perfume in Nidal.

Most common in Nidal (although pruned back from the proud towers of their greatest cities, and rarely seen by outsiders to the nation), the tuber in bitter and foul, unlike the earthy and 'meaty' flavor of the Plane of Shadow-'shadow' of itself, and used for little more than a spice meant to make overly sweet dishes and teas, less so. It is rumored to have medicinal properties, to prevent disease or infection, but there appears to be no substance to these rumors, although it remains popular as a home remedy because it stings like alcohol when applied to a wound, which, to a Kuthite, is a good thing.

The elite of Pangolais enjoy braised 'steaks' cut from the fat and succulent tubers grown in the Plane of Shadow, but they are limited in supply, and expensive to import from Shadow Pangolais, where they are a staple (usually the residents there will only trade them for ten times their weight in material planes foodstuffs, such as meat and wine, which, to them, are an equally rare and precious luxury).

Shadowcasters long ago studied and catalogued the plane-crossing abilities of this plant, and it is common knowledge among them, at least, that the most usual spells of shadow transport, such as Shadow Walk, were derived from studies into this unique ability. Such knowledge isn't generally known outside of Nidal, and they are not prone to sharing such things, so few arcanists are even aware this plant exists, let alone that some shadow magics owe their very existence to it's properties.

The seeming contradiction of this light-craving vine thriving in the oft-times poorly-lit nation of Nidal, and not in sunnier climes, remains a mystery. Kuthites claim it is because the vine was made to suffer, and cannot abide an easy life with no price for success, and while fitting their bleak mindset, it is possible that *too much light* is as damaging for Shadowtop as not enough?