Leavenisiae Bap

Baps, barms, buns, rolls, cobs, baguettes... bagels? Beers? Where does it stop?!

— exasperated baker

Leavenisiae baps, known more colloquially as lifebread, animate rolls, or did that fucking bread just move, are sentient and sapient beings formed from magically-activated yeast in the middle of a horrible accident in the kitchens of the royal Aletheian palace.
They terrorised the Empire's borders for three months during the early reign of Emperor Aneirin, proving that their lives were much longer than standard yeast used for baking, before finally being defeated through a combination of Clancy Foodle's baking and combat prowess, and through their natural lifespans gradually reaching their end via starvation.
The species is currently considered extinct due to the end of its brief reign of terror, but significant study is underway by those unnecessary to the war efforts - and particularly by students attending Liese's Tower of Learning in Ironfalls - to recreate the experiment that first spawned them. Liese Celadrion is hopeful that by recreating the baps, they will be able to create tameable versions - or at least to have something new to send to the Medimian Empire's kitchens to wreak utter havoc.
The Emperor is personally sponsoring these research efforts, and has amended his ongoing contract with Clancy Foodle to encourage the legendary baker to continue to with with Celadrion.

Look, we all need a bit of levity in these times. If it'll get a rise out of Medimia, then it's worth it.

— Emperor Aneirin

Basic Information

Dietary Needs and Habits

...fascinating. It's like sourdough, but weirder.

— observer

Leavenisiae, like sourdough, requires regular intake of a mixture of flour and water to maintain the cultures of microorganisms that give it life.
Whilst it was too challenging to analyse how much the initial leavenisiae baps needed, post-mortem analysis suggests that daily feeding is required unless the animated source material - analogous to a sourdough starter - is kept in cold temperatures that extend this life to approximately a week.
If assuming the leavenisiae is like sourdough, then for twenty grams of the base material, one hundred grams of flour and water are needed. This could likely be scaled up if neededed.
Experiments are underway with different breads, starters, and magical infusions to determine if this will hold true for the next revival of leavenisiae, and particularly to determine if this future living bread will need the addition of some magical element - perhaps direct conjuration magic - to survive long-term.

Leavenisiae Awakens by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

It stands to reason that, given sufficient materials, the leavenisiae may be able to sustain itself for far greater periods of time. One intended future experiment is to draw on the sapience of the leavenisiae and teach it how to acquire flour and water from shops, mills, and rivers in the hope that when let loose, it will be able to survive in the wild - or even potentially run flour mills itself.
As this does run the risk of letting loose a new species on the world with all the skills it needs to maintain a population, there are some notable concerns with this approach.

I'm happy to experiment, of course, but we need to be sure it's safe! Nobody is allowed to feed them necromantic magic! We do not need to face the Night of the Living Bread!

— Liese

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Wait, the traders left this morning? Don't tell me they collected the bread. Fuck, they collected the bread.

— Emperor Aneirin

Totally Inconspicuous Bread by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

The animate rolls were first discovered in the kitchens of the Aletheian palace in the heart of Aletheia, yet they were not to remain constrained. They bided their time as their yeast was split into jars and traded away, and their brethren were shared to traders - for there was simply too much for the small group of people in the palace - to share throughout the nation as a product of the capital's finest bakers.
The largest amount of this new baking yeast and bread arrived in Ironfalls for critique and sampling by the legendary baker and winner of realmwide bake-offs, Clancy Foodle. Much of the bread made its way to Undria and Celesthem Temple; fortunately, it didn't have a chance to make it to the frontlines of the ongoing war against Medimia.
When the bread revealed its true, animate nature, some was already in the process of being turned into beer.

You could say all of our plans for the next few weeks went... a-rye!

— cheery baker

Your Town's Toast by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

EXTINCT

Hopefully Normal Bread by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Scientific Name

Saccharomyces leavenisiae

Origin/Ancestry

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Lifespan

~3 months

Conservation Status

Coming Soon

Average Height

Varies

Geographic Distribution

• Aletheia
• Ironfalls

I'm beginning to suspect everyone who's around these things gets afflicted with a condition that ensures they'll make terrible puns.

— citizen of Ironfalls

Clancy by TheDumbOwl

Absence of the Lost Ones

Usually, the Lost Ones would be the ones to handle situations like the attack of the Leavenisiae; indeed, Ironfalls is the town they founded, and they are close allies of the Emperor's.
Unfortunately, the sudden appearance of the bread occurred in their great absence. It would later be learnt that they were fighting the Unbroken March during this time, and were thus stuck in an area of warped time.
In keeping with the spirit of things, though, Ashlyn Alarian did manage to fight and capture some animated popcorn during their most tense of frays.

Helping stop this mess is the yeast those idiot mages could do!

— cheerful citizen

Clancy Foodle by Qu33nAce

If you squint hard enough, the bags kinda looked like a dog, so I tricked myself using my own perception into letting me cast Awaken!

— Azyel Lathronon, suspected to have been involved in the creation process

A More Detailed History of the Bread's Rise

Well I don't think it is supposed to do that normally! Wait.. Do they all do this and they normally just stay still?? LIESE IS ALL MY BREAD ALIVE?

— Clancy Foodle

It would seem that the bread was first infused with magic when a few mages stumbled into the palace kitchens. More knowledgeable, yet more secretive, sources suggest that Emperor Aneirin 'Cyne' of Aletheia allegedly was one of these mages - and that supposedly, at least one Champion of the Divine was in the group as well. The group of friends were intending to experiment with magic for advantages at battle, and had been spending the evening studying and talking tactics until it had gotten late enough that they'd decided to take a break for refreshments.

It's Breadin' Time by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Refreshments, in this case, meant alcohol. Tipsy at minimum and hammered at best, the group roamed around the palace's rooms in search of inspiration for their continued experiments.
They stumbled through alchemical resources, dedicated libraries, bedrooms, studies, and fell all the way into the palace kitchens. Undaunted by the kitchen staff, they set up an area to experiment. At the time, they seemed satisfied enough by the magical biscuits they'd infused a potion into.
It wouldn't be until three days later that the yeast's change would be revealed, unfortunately only after it had been shipped out in batches throughout the Empire to alleviate strain on food supplies elsewhere.
Every batch of bread - baguette, roll, and the like - that was made from the yeast that had been exposed to the drunken shenanigans all came to life at once.

Not only had they all suddenly animated, but they seemed to have chosen the path of chaos and aggression; many started roaring incoherently and trying to take over bakeries. Some, still in the sludgelike form of dough, joined forces and got bigger; others that had been formed and baked used their girth and heft to start flinging themselves around.

Gluten Tag, Ironfalls by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Whilst many rolls were quickly subdued by angered bakers, handy members of the public, passing adventurers, and local guards, not all were so easily defeated. Indeed, those in Ironfalls seemed to be somewhat stronger than normal, and somewhat more insistent on making themselves known - in post-mortem discussions, Liese Celadrion has posited that this was the influence of Clancy Foodle, who is known throughout the realm as a near-deity in the baking world.

Loafing Around by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

These particularly aggressive baps, breads, and dough flowed from the bakery whilst the orcish proprietor was busy elsewhere, and immediately set about besieging the town. They seized weapons from the sizeable working and adventuring population, much to the astonishment of the locals, and even broke into the local pubs to make allies out of the beers - indeed, it seemed that this strain of Leavenisiae could awaken other yeast.

It took the collaboration of the strongest figures in Ironfalls - the town's steward Mery Eventide and her daughter Midna Alarian, Midna's draconic friend Veldrin, the visiting Lady Alysia Undria, the baker Clancy Foodle, the Champions Pin Whisperbreath, Kazric Szithna, and Azyel Lathronon, Azyel's sister and fellow mage Liese Celadrion and her partner Jericho McGonagall, the cleric Yiranna Adair, and many others - to finally take down the animated breadstuffs, and the town smelled strongly of burnt toast for the next week.
In the aftermath, curious and intelligent heads - largely Liese, Azyel, Pin, and Mery at first, before Alysia dragged the Emperor into things during his recovery from Heavensfall - came together to begin to plan out ways to use the animated dough.
Now, just over a year from the initial attacks, it is rumoured that Liese's Tower of Learning has achieved results...

Bready to Fight by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

You know, I'm really liking the idea of living bear traps!

— Sir Pennyswaggle after the dough stole some of his bear traps to use as teeth