Phoenix Bloom

And as I climbed up the mountain in the Razorblade Range,
I saw it glowing in the dusk, overpowering the red of the setting sun.
The flower started blooming.
It opened up its petals, as they changed colour,
from green to yellow inside,
as the older ones faded from yellow to orange,
becoming red to black,
before they fell and crumbeled to ash.

— Explorer Extraordinaire, Erastus Hemmington

The Phoenix Bloom is a rare flower that grows in remote locations where a spark of the core of the Elemental Plane of Fire meets the Prime Material Plane, or in the Elemental Plane of Fire itself. Sometimes, when an Elemental Phoenix is born in the Elemental Plane of Fire, a flower like this is said to pop up in the prime material plane.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The fully-grown Phoenix Bloom has a stem and leaves that vary in color from black, over dark green to dark red, while the flower consists of a hot yellow young bud in the middle, just above that, sits a layer of orange and red, with old black petals to the sides.

Genetics and Reproduction

With the flaming growth process, the center of the flower releases orange and red pollen that look like cinder during the midsummer days. This release happens in both the material plane as well as the Elemental Plane of Fire. Very different to other flowers, the flower of the Phoenix Bloom, puffs half its genetical information in form of a small pollen-like seeding, into the air from the center of the flower, after which this pollen heats up and fades, making its way into the elemental plane of fire.

Once there, it is carried around by the heat and evocation-magic currents in the Ley Field, attracted to hotter locations or places with more evocation magic.

Upon meeting the pollen-like seedling of another flower by being attracted to hotspots, they fuse in a superheated process and melt their way back into the Prime Material Plane where they use the same path they took to find eachother, in order to find a good spot to root, then growing into a new Phoenix Bloom.

Growth Rate & Stages

When the pollen-like fusion of phoenix bloom genetical information takes root, it develops into a bud that develops into a flower within a day, upon which the bud starts rapidly growing and whilting, as if "flaming".

Dietary Needs and Habits

The seed floating through the Elemental Plane of Fire, collects energy, heat, and pressure. This is all the nourishment the Phoenix Bloom is going to receive and needs, for its lifetime.

Biological Cycle

These flowers whither into a pile of ash during the winter season, and rise up again in spring. The flower undergoes a quick process of making and losing leaves that looks like it was an actual flame since it happens so quickly. These flowers live for up to three years, upon which their stored up energy will have burnt up.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Cinderpetal - Tea

The probably simplest and least dangerous use is harvesting leaves that have achieved a certain stability, flying around near the source plants, which are then used for teas and as herbs called Cinderpetals. These yellow petals are warm to the touch, are said to have healing capabilities and are used as remedies for people who have just experienced frostbite. At room temperature, these petals can be stored for up to twenty years, and are sought after nobility for their slightly spicy taste in both tea and as spices.

Rebirth of Fire

A more grim usage of the Phoenix Bloom is its original namesake. Back when the Dawn War was raging between Gods/Deities and Primordials, the primordials retrieved more Phoenixes from the Elemental Plane of Fire, by distributing these flowers in the material plane as a sort of drop in point for Phoenixes. Using a well-guarded costly ritual, the petals grow in size, as does the flower, while the stem shrinks and whithers away like ashes, before the flower grows and grows until a warm egg is revealed as the last big petals open up.

This resulting egg then works exactly as if the phoenix had perished, and been transported into the material plane, immune to any harm, and rebirthing a phoenix into this plane after one to six days.

Civilization and Culture

Common Taboos

Oftentimes, other elementals, or powerful otherworldly beings, will do all in their power to destroy or claim budding Phoenix Blossoms, as their potential could threaten existing powers or bring even more power upon blooming.
Through the ritual described above, with enough time and effort, a phoenix could be called into the Prime Material Plane, an event that for many cultures can mean the end of life as a potential doomsday scenario. Thus, fragments of details of ritual descriptions are highly sought after by elemental and death cults, and thus these flowers are highly endangered by good natured folk, who would very much prefer not seeing their home burnt to a flaming desert of ashes.

History

The first time these flowers were used, was a result of the Primordials fighting the Gods, deploying phoenixes to burn the land they so desperately wanted in their elemental claws.

...and as the highpriest removed the charred fabric from the flower, which then started flaring up again, blooming, and searing as the highpriest spoke the lines.
The recounting of the phrases, it's not a voice, it is a mix of crackling, chirping, spitting, as the Primordial words, in an Ignan dialect.
Like a flare, the flower lit up, the bud growing, revealing
something
something
moving in the egg that grew out of the opening flower bud.

— Recounting of a dodged Doomsday Event

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Elemental

Lifespan

1 - 3 years

Average Height

6 - 8 "

Average Weight

0.127 lbs

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Soon, the inner yellow petals of the bud open, turn orange, then red, wandering outside, before they turn black and fall off, to whither away once more.
All the while, new yellow petals keep reforming in the center of the flower.

This process only takes a few seconds and repeats until the flower runs out of heat/elemental energy, and looks like the flower is burning based on the movement, quick aging and colour changing, as well as the ashen whilting of old petals.

Geographic Distribution

• Da Lonsan
• Estra
• Razorblade Range
• Steps of Demara
• Thiosil

Discovered by

Erastus Hemmington

Why the flower blooms in the Material Plane:
The Phoenix Bloom was and is used by Primordials to bring Phoenixes as weapons into the Prime Material Plane.
While the Dawn War is now over, the flowers remain, and are a popular target for cultists.