Alraune (Al-rawn-uh)

Femme fey flora

Alraune are massive rooted flowers with the form of a humanoid woman inside. As a plant fey, they have a strong connection with other plant life yet have the capacity to interact with other sapient races in a significant manner.

Basic Information

Anatomy

These beautiful women, humanoid from the waist up but veiled by large petals. Vines sprout out of the base of their bulb, which they use to absorb nutrients out of the soil. These vines are strong enough to allow for movement should the alraune uproot herself. Smaller vines grow up out of the bulb, wrapping around their humanoid forms. Alraune often distinguish themselves from one another with various flowers and leaves that they allow to grow out of their upper half.
Their skin comes in a multitude of green shades, although a light brown color is not uncommon in colder seasons when nutrients are scarce.
Despite the humanoid shape of their carpal, an alraune is composed entirely of plant tissues, some that mimic the look and function of animals like humanoids. Their skin has the texture of a lightly fuzzy herbaceous stem, and their hair is actually made of cellulose fibers. Typical internal humanoid anatomy is replicated in their carpal using the same plant tissues from the rest of their body.

Biological Traits

Vascular Plant: Alraunes have lignified tissues called xylem to conduct water and nutrients throughout their entire body. Even in their carpal, the xylem here mimics a humanoid circulatory system with nutrient and chlorophyll dissolved water instead of blood flowing.
Root System: Alraunes take in nutrients from the soil through their flowers root systems. As the case, aluranes are stuck to one place like natural plants. Occasionally, an alraune with sufficient energy can pull their roots ground the ground to move their propel their entire body forward with a gait between slithering and shuffling.
Fruit Bearing: Alraunes can produce a strain of round fleshy fruits that differ in color and taste between individuals. Unlike most plants, these fruits do not contain fertile seeds and are believed to instead provide sustenance for their mates.

Sorcery

Passive Traits
Regeneration Factor: Alraunes can passively regenerate wounds in a short time via biomagical reactions speeding up the process. The extent of this regeneration prevents the development of scar tissue and even regrow entire limbs within a few minutes to hours however these actions do not set any broken bones on its own. In addition, this magical trait is significantly slowed when the subject is increasingly exhausted or when exposed to substances that interfere with the process.
Negligible Aging: Alraune lack measurable symptoms of aging due to their cells' high regenerative properties. Most do not have reduction in functional or reproductive capabilities past maturity. Their bodies don't age after that but instead exhibit signs of age when they are unable to gain the nutrients they need. These signs manifest themselves as wilting vines, molting leaves and browning skin. They can live up to 750 years before returning to the earth from which they were born.

Active Abilities
Plant Growth: Alraunes can influence and accelerate the growth of pre-existing plants through touch, causing them to mature with supernatural speed, grow to unusual size, and produce in abundance. This includes causing plants to grow from seeds to full-grown plants in moments, cause them to flower and produce fruits, seeds, etc. outside season, cause a cut plant to grow roots and other similar feats.

Hypnotic Pollen Generation: Alraune generate pollen despite being female plants. Instead of gametes, they create strains of pollen that contains subtances that can affect or directly influence the minds of most beings to their wills when inhaled.
Petal Blizzard: Aluranes can generate and scatter a flurry of petals at high speed to restrict vision and damage targets caught in them. This defense mechanism is very tiring however and a typical alraune will likely only be able to do it a few times a day.

Genetics and Reproduction

Though they reproduce through sexual means, their pollen lacks male gametes and they do not have or cannot create their own anthers as they are an exclusively female species.
Alraunes have a unusual way of reproduction in the plant kingdom, instead of plant gametes like pollen, they acquire sperm from male humanoid organisms in order to produce seeds. They acquire this through actual humanoid sexual intercourse.
Alraunes typically have a short gestational period before they produce seeds that they scatter after winter.

Growth Rate & Stages

Alraunes begin life as a seed just like any other plant. Once they germinate, they grow like a typical plant until they develop a flower bud. Then the entire plant grows to a large size, wider and larger than most humanoids. Once the flower blooms, it reveals the humanoid carpal that can experience the world for the first time. Their humanoid portion already appears as an adult once revealed.

Ecology and Habitats

Alraunes only grow in heavily forested areas, typically in the tropics or warm temperate areas.

Dietary Needs and Habits

As plants, alraunes can perform photosynthesis which takes carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to create the food they need to live. If they have abundant sunlight and water, an alraune can subsist only on this and the nutrients their roots absorb from the soil.
If an alraune is lacking in what a plant needs or if they want to obtain more energy, comparable to animals, they can also consume and digest organic matter.
Since they are mostly stationary, they do this with the nectar in their flower producing an aroma that attracts potential prey or mates. Small animals like rodents, frogs, birds that get close are covered by toxic or acidic pollen or even serrated vines. Once their prey is dead, they will drag it inside their flower to be digested in a pool of digestive fluids or consumed through the mouth as their carpal has a digestive tract.
As such alraunes are technically mixothrophs, which means they use both autotrophy or heterotrophy depending on the situation.

Scientific Name

Mandragora byronia

Lifespan

750 years

Average Height

4′ 9″

Average Weight

60 lb

Average Physique

The carpals of alraunes tend to have generally emphasized humanoid feminine traits to attract potential male mates. Thus their bodies emphasize their breasts, narrow waists, wide hips, and often full bottoms to improve their reproductive fitness.