Frenzy Fruit
“One bite, and you’re hooked. Two bites, and you’re lost.”
Everwealth is no stranger to cruel gifts from the land, poisoned waters, venomous blooms, and beasts whose very presence is an unspoken death sentence. Yet among these dangers, there exists a fruit so enticing, so succulent, that it lures even the cautious into its grasp. The Frenzy, a bulbous, pink-hued monstrosity, crowned with jagged yellow-tipped spines, offers a taste so irresistible that those who indulge may find themselves trapped in a cycle of dependency, longing, and eventual desperation. This fruit, resembling a durian in both form and the acrid tang of its scent, grows low to the ground, its vines creeping through the undergrowth like patient hunters. Its flavor, a tantalizing fusion of tart lemon and the mellow sweetness of rockmelon, deceives the senses, offering a fleeting moment of satisfaction before a slow-burning hunger for more takes root. The first taste is pleasure; every taste after is temptation.Basic Information
Anatomy
The Frenzy is a vine-growing fruit, its thick, fibrous stems curling along the earth, winding around rocks and trees with an almost serpentine patience. The fruit itself is an unnatural spectacle, large, heavy, and covered in a thick pink rind bristling with needle-like yellow-tipped spikes. This outer shell, though formidable in appearance, cracks open easily under the weight of a desperate grip, revealing the glistening, golden flesh within. The scent is pungent, a heady mix of overripe citrus and musk, enough to dissuade the weak-willed but utterly irresistible to those who have already succumbed to its spell.
Genetics and Reproduction
Unlike most fruit-bearing plants, the Frenzy does not rely solely on seasonal cycles for reproduction. It spreads naturally through pollination and seed dispersal, its vines taking root in the warm, damp soils of Everwealth’s southern ranges. However, it possesses a secondary, far more insidious method of propagation: reactive sprouting. When a fruit is plucked, the plant interprets this as an urgent need for survival, diverting nutrients toward the wound site. Within weeks, two, sometimes three, new fruits swell into existence in its place. Scholars theorize this adaptation developed to ensure continued feeding of wildlife with set foraging patterns, reinforcing a cycle of dependency that benefits both the plant and its unwitting consumers. This has led some naturalists to question whether the Frenzy is the result of natural evolution or a magickal aberration, an experiment left unchecked, its consequences now deeply rooted in the land.
Growth Rate & Stages
- Seedling Stage: The Frenzy vine takes root over several weeks, its tendrils weaving through the soil and anchoring itself beneath the shade of broader flora.
- Maturation: After three to five months, the first fruits begin to form, taking another month to fully ripen; Peculiarly, like a signaling torch the fruit emits a momentary series of harmless sparks from its base upon first ripening.
- Reproduction: The vine produces fruit seasonally but accelerates growth in response to harvesting, though this process still takes weeks rather than days.
Ecology and Habitats
The Frenzy’s addictive properties are not immediate, nor do they manifest in all who eat it. In moderate consumption, the effects are little more than a lingering craving, a fondness for the fruit that makes other food seem bland by comparison. However, continued indulgence leads to something far worse. Those who regularly consume the Frenzy find themselves unable to ignore its call, their minds slowly tethered to the sensation of its flavor. The fruit itself does not alter the body in any harmful way, yet the psychological toll it takes is undeniable. The longer one goes without it, the stronger the desire becomes, first a passing thought, then an intrusive need, and finally, an obsession. For some, this addiction manifests as restless hunger, an ever-present yearning that turns all other meals into tasteless gruel. For others, it warps their desires entirely, the need for the Frenzy transferring to something, or someone, else entirely. It is this property that has made it a coveted ingredient in alchemical concoctions, particularly those brewed to manipulate emotion.
Dietary Needs and Habits
The Frenzy, despite its volatile nature, is a plant at its core. It draws its sustenance from the soil, thriving in damp, nutrient-rich earth with high levels of organic decay. While it requires sunlight, it does not tolerate direct exposure for long periods, preferring the partial shade of larger trees. Unlike parasitic flora, it does not drain its surroundings of life. Instead, it thrives in areas where life is already abundant, an ecosystem in which it is both nurturer and executioner.
Biological Cycle
Unlike seasonal crops, the Frenzy grows year-round, indifferent to the passage of time or changing weather. However, while its vines are hardy, its fruits require time to mature. A freshly sprouted fruit will take three to five weeks to ripen into an edible state. While it produces new fruit normally in seasonal cycles, its reactive sprouting ensures that areas where it is frequently harvested will see rapid regrowth, so long as the plant has the resources to sustain it. Once a vine has exhausted itself, it withers, its last fruits left to rot in the underbrush. In its place, new seedlings may take root, rising from the remains of their predecessor in an unbroken cycle of renewal and destruction.
Behaviour
Wildlife that has adapted to the Frenzy often exhibits territorial behaviors, aggressively defending their feeding grounds against intruders. Some pack-dwelling creatures develop an almost ritualistic pattern of harvesting, pulling fruit from vines in careful cycles that ensure a constant supply. In isolated pockets of the wilderness, entire colonies of creatures have been found dead, driven to madness as they consumed the vines faster than they could regrow, their only food source exhausted by their own insatiable hunger. For those lost in the wilds, the Frenzy can be both salvation and damnation. It offers sustenance where none should exist, only to demand a price far steeper than mere hunger. Despite its dangers, the Frenzy is highly sought after by alchemists and cunning traders alike. The fruit’s subtle, mind-binding properties are often refined into potions and elixirs that, when properly distilled, shift the addictive focus from the fruit itself to a desired person or idea. This has made it a prized component in love philters, loyalty drafts, and even mind-conditioning brews, capable of making the unwitting develop deep, irrational attachments.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
The Frenzy does not react to touch or light, it exists in a state of passive patience as other plants do, though this plant waits for the inevitable. The true horror lies in its victims’ perception of it, once tasted, it is never truly forgotten. Travelers who have broken free of its grasp describe waking in cold sweats, their mouths watering at the memory of its flavor. Even years later, their thoughts drift back to the golden flesh hidden within its spiked shell, their fingers twitching at the mere thought of holding it once more.
Scientific Name
Fructus insaniae luxuria.
Origin/Ancestry
Some scholars argue that the Frenzy is a purely natural phenomenon, an evolutionary marvel that ensures its own spread through dependency and addiction.
Conservation Status
Despite the havoc it wreaks upon both beast and man, the Frenzy is not actively culled. It is too resilient, too deeply woven into the wilds to be eradicated. Some alchemists have even begun studying its properties, seeking ways to extract its essence for medicinal use, though whether any such attempts will end in success, or disaster, remains to be seen. For now, the Frenzy remains what it has always been: an unassuming fruit with a hidden price, waiting in the undergrowth for its next victim to take a bite.
Geographic Distribution
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