A I: Carniflora OUTDATED

Written by Neons-Mindrealm

Carniflora
Carnivorous Plants of Alterna I: The Lands of Paradise

Origins:

Whilst many forms of Carniflora already existed widely spread on Narcana, the unique forms found in the Lands' are believed to be a result of the forest deity Ariya's great curiosity. After she manipulated and mixed the life energy of countless plants and conscious creatures together, to create her own unique flora, that even appears to possess a mind of its own.

Current Habitat:

The vast majority of Carniflora are found widely spread across the Endless Forest, appearing to be able to sprout from nearly any surface. With some variants of Carniflora also appearing to have made their way to the Singing Sea or the Living Decay.

Average Size / Height:

Carniflora come in many different shapes and sizes. With the smallest ones being no bigger than 3 centimeters, and the largest known Carniflora reaching a size of up to 5 meters, both in width and height.

Diet:

As the name suggests, Carniflora live purely on a carnivorous diet, where, based on their size, they prey on anything as small as insects, to creatures as large as Dusk Bears. And simply swallow their prey whole and mostly alive before utterly digesting it over the course of up to a week.

Physical Appearance:

Usually, Carniflora appear as a single, slightly spiky or sometimes also hairy bud. With a hollow and flexible root, serving as the plant's stomach, which is able to stretch up to three times the size of its above ground part.
The bud itself serves the purpose as the plant's head and maw, and can vary widely on its interior, ranging from the illusion of a beautiful flower when opened, to a ravenous green maw, spiked with multiple rows of small but sharp fangs. Which also double as the Carniflora's seeds.
Some Carniflora also seem to be crested with leaf like petals around their buds, to help them blend in better with the exotic flowers mostly found in the surrounding environments.
And starting at a size of around 60 centimeters, some earth sprouting Carniflora also occasionally appear to grow tentacle like extensions from their roots, which mostly stay hidden below ground, and are used to swiftly ambush and subdue larger prey for an easier consumption.

Behavior and Social Structure:

Whilst it is evident in certain situations that Carniflora seem to be able to act on thoughts and observation, their cognitive abilities appear to be minimal at best. As most of the time, they still purely act on an instinctual desire to feed, and only assess both the size and strength of their potential prey, before deciding on whether they should try to strike or keep up their disguise.
When it comes to a situation in which multiple Carniflora of the same size are close enough to one potential prey, they will turn highly territorial, and actively try to keep the other one from feeding, effectively trying to starve them out. Which they either attempt by simply outpacing their food rival, or snap at their prey and throw it away, if they are already too full to fit another one in.

Role in the Food Chain:

As unmoving creatures, anchored deep beneath the surface, Carniflora rely heavily on their ability to blend in with the environment, and to lure in prey whilst waiting patiently for it to come within reach.
As their sizes vary greatly from just being as small as an insect, to being as large as a noble house, Carniflora rank as both prey as well as mid to high tier predator in the Endless Forest. With their larger forms preying on virtually anything they out scale, whilst their smaller variants are commonly preyed upon by many herbivores for their quite nutritious buds.
Some also believe that their smaller variants often actively choose to slow down their growth intentionally, and even try to lure in predators to consume them. As their seed carrying fangs appear to be quite resistant to most herbivores digestions, and are able to largely survive before being effectively spread across the forest through the unknowing aid of their herbivorous predator.

Special Abilities and unique Physical Traits:

Most Carniflora appear to possess a primal form of channeling, that enables them to slightly alter their physical appearance and disguise themselves as a more harmless plant. Whilst also being able to emit a sweet and alluring scent to lure in unsuspecting prey.
Larger variants also seem to be capable of sneakily maneuvering their roots in a certain radius through the ground, and ambush their prey from below with a swift up shoot of their almost spear like roots.

Additional Insights:

When coming across a preying Carniflora, it is usually safe to assume that as long as it doesn't out scale oneself, it will not attack and simply lie dormant until a smaller prey comes by.
However, during the first expeditions of trying to reach Ariya's hidden Underground Garden, several groups of adventurers claimed to have witnessed a strange anomaly in the behavior of multiple Carniflora they encountered along the way. As they were not only ignoring their usual passive hunting strategy completely, but also didn't care about the size of the creature they tried to prey upon.
Whilst the majority of Carniflora did follow their usual hunting pattern, a good handful tried to aggressively snap at anything and anyone that came too close to them instead.
Which at first was simply thought to be a way of Ariya trying to protect her sacred temple from the greedy eyes of the adventurers, but later on turned out to actually be caused by an unknown disease. As those who were attacked and bitten by the small yet aggressive Carniflora may not had suffered any serious injuries, but fell severely ill not long after returning to the human Town.
Carrying a mysterious disease, now known as The Green Scourge, which at that time no alchemist had ever seen before, and in most cases led to a painful death after around a week of improper treatment.