Fairy Flower

Fairy Flower is a multi-purpose flower, spice, and incense across Lossul. Though it is only found in the northern jungle, nearly everyone native to Lossul knows what it is by sight. Depending on how it is prepared, this magical plant has a plethora of uses - whether it is helpful or almost poisonous. Given that it requires a tropical, humid climate to grow, it is not usually successfully grown south of the jungle.
This vine-like plant with dark green leaves and bright pink flowers is named so for its sweet smell and enchanting quality - often distracting unwary travelers in the jungle. Though the plant in and of itself is harmless, larger predators are generally drawn to it in the hopes of catching an easy, entranced meal. Many of the creatures that call the jungle home have either some resistance or immunity to the plant. There are a few brightly colored hummingbirds of a similar bright pink coloration that usually call the vines home, relying both on the smell of the flower and the presence of larger predators to keep themselves safe.

Location

Northern jungles of Lossul

Alternative Names

Fairy, Pink Haze, Fairy Sweet

Average Length

One mature sprig can grow to 3-4 ft.

"You can always tell what part of a city you're in by the smell. It's not just about body odors, fish, the sea... But the sweet, alluring call of the Fairy in the entertainment streets. Follow the pink smoke. You'll find it."
- shipmate to another

Basic Information

Growth Rate & Stages

Fairy Flower is primarily a vine, with each individual 'sprig' running roughly 3 to 4 feet in length before it will split and start another sprig. It prefers to hang freely, creating curtains of flowers in the jungle where small hummingbirds flit.
Each individual 'sprig' of Fairy Flower can, and usually does, take root if it is in a place to do so. Preferring tree bark or soft, fertile jungle soil. It can be a tempermental plant to try and cultivate. No one has successfully done so outside of the norther jungles. The roots are small, delicate things. The plant can easily be pulled off any perch it finds itself - so the 'sprigs' of the Fairy Flower never get too long or grow too crazy so as to weigh itself down. In that way, the plant grows in neat curtains. Growing out and creating a new 'sprig' only when it must. Thus, it is not necessarily an invasive vine either.
Though it has never been successfully cultivated, it has been observed growing rather quickly to claim whatever available space before simply existing in flowering cycles. The curtain will bloom in the rainy, hot seasons of the jungle then go through a dormant phase, before repeating. There hasn't been an observable end to the Fairy Flower. It has only died when brought out of the jungle and grown by human hands.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Commonly

Grown wild, the flower has a sweet, enticing smell that draws all manner of animals and pollinators. This smell is a mild aphodisiac for most humanoids and, in high concentractions in certain portions of the jungle, it's been known to cause hallucinogenic affects. While in and of itself harmless, it's led many explorers and adventures into dangerous situations with predatory flora and fauna that linger in these areas, hoping to prey upon anything that is inebriated off the smell.
In the nearest villages and cities, people collect the flower for sweet teas and incense. Diluted, the fairy flower is just a pleasant drink that usually doesn't require any sugary additives or a floral, albeit unique, smell. Close to the jungle, it's a commoner's drink and smell.

by Dimitri Bong

by Paul Einerhand

Purified

The farther south in Lossul, where shipments from the jungle are rare and thus ingredients are more expensive, fairy flower is shipped out in a dried form and broken down into powders. Crushed, compressed, sifted, and crystalized, the flower becomes a sweet alcohol or pink-smoke drug with mild depressive affects that is easily identified by the fragrant, sweet smell that lingers in the air. It's rather popular in the entertainment areas of large cities since it is relatively harmless and has a very inoffensive smell.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Fairy Hummingbirds

These bright, small birds are only found around Fairy Flowers. Aptly named, they survive exclusively on the nectar produced by the Fairy Flower and are immune to its mind-altering allure. If anything, that is what draws lost or displaced birds to the Fairy Flower's location. The bird's life cycles reflect that of the sweet smelling vine. When it is blooming, the birds are most active. At the height of the plant's bloom, they mate and construct hanging nests amongst the trees the vine hangs on. When the vine goes dormant, the birds go into a sort of quiet stasis. Hybernating until the vine starts to bloom and provide for them once more.