Thornbound

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Realm 66: Dystopian Roadtrip

Thornbound describes the condition of being in the thrall of, or infested and merged with, a large interconnected plant colony.
It is unknown if the plant colony itself is sentient, or if it only compels intelligent creatures to act on its behalf.
The plant colony manifests itself above ground as large plant nodes, which appear to be large thorny vines which wrap around buildings and rise high into the air. The nodes tend to form in locations which have a lot of human traffic.

by Midjourney

by Midjourney

The plant colony uses pollen to intoxicate the minds of humans. While affected, they are blind to the presence of the plant, seeing buildings and areas it inhabits as normal. Likewise, infested people appear normal to other thornbound creatures. The pollen causes those affected to see those not under its control as monstrous, and inhibits direct communication with them.
Those under the control of the pollen are compelled to help propagate the plant's lifecycle and growth, encouraging more people to visit the nodes and return with the pollen and spores which help spread the plant growth and enter others into its thrall.

by Midjourney

Those infested by the plant have different stages and intensities of infestation. Early stages involve small plant growths on the skin. When the infestation takes root, the affected person will be wrapped in small vines connecting with the local plant node.
More serious infestations involve the thornbound becoming severely altered, and often connected to a centralized, thick, thorny vine which can burrow through the ground.
Nodes, once reaching a critical mass, will have an advanced thornbound humanoid act as its central protector. Unlike others in the thrall of the plant infestation, these people seem to have some awareness of the plant entity which controls them, and fervently acts on its behalf.

by Midjourney

These advanced cases are incredibly strong and can control mutiple large vines. They can also give commands to lesser thornbound entities. They use vines to form protective armor around themselves, and can use them to effectively increase their size or change shape.

Type

Chemical Compound