The Children of Gaia

((This is a temporary layout, directly pasted from the SL information notecard))

• {Basics} ◆ Name: Spriggan, "Children of Gaia", "Children of nature" ◆ Place of origin: Stable 64 ♦ Cannot be created or 'born' elsewhere without Gaia (Formerly Flora)'s help. No conversions will be done. ◆ Possible races: Plant species only ♦ May not assume pony abilities such as magic, flight, etc. Gliding under the proper plant species is applicable. ◆ Total age of race: Less than 180 years. ◆ Lifespan: Varies to the species of plant. From half a pony's lifespan to exceeding centuries. All spriggan live indefinitely within stable 64 or under Gaia's care.

• {Resistances, weaknesses, etc} ◆ Radiation: Spriggan take radiation at a normal rate, their bodies simply reacting differently: 0-100: No real ill effects beyond lethargic feelings. 101-400: Wilting, tiredness. Stomata having issues regulating water levels. Borne fruit becomes irradiated. 401-600: Severe wilting, Large difficulty keeping pony forms. No real energy, discoloration, inability to control all levels of water, leaves and all foliage being lost. Inability to produce fruit, 601-900: Complete inability to maintain form or motion, able to creep along slowly. Death possible. 901-1000- Ranges within 900 and 950, severe risk to mortality. 950+, death is 75% assured. 1000, death occurs. (Currently no ghoul spriggan are accepted)

◆ Taint: Taint has the normal effects on spriggan, mutations are common. It never has positive effects and will lead to the spriggan becoming nothing but a tainted beast with a rather short lifespan (Couple days-week)

◆ Species by species basis!: The weaknesses of each individual spriggan is *dependent upon the type of plant it represents.* However most forms of plants cannot handle salt and chlorine! Herbicides (If you can find them) will work as well.

◆ Hit the weak spot for massive damage!: Each spriggan has a core, a bundle of roots and the very 'essence' of what the spriggan is. The core can be removed without much ill effect, however the body would need sufficient time to regrow with care from outside sources (i.e., Gaia, a chosen trusted pony). If a core itself is to be damaged (From combat, gunshots, etc), it is directly damaging more than external damages may. Sufficient damages to the external plant may be cause for them to need to have an outside force tend to them as well, since large amounts of energy are needed to heal.

◆ Greenwood: Spriggan are not weak to fire by nature, in fact, they have a mild *resistance* to it! Attempting to burn a spriggan will be resisted, however they may burn and catch well when a fire is lit and held upon them. Their bodies may protect their root bundle and cast it to safety if needed. The species of plant the spriggan represents should be considered however, as drier species lose this resistance, wetter species have a higher resistance overall as well. Should a spriggan become caught on fire, it may damage their bodies intensely and may put the spriggan into a shock state and require care; caution should be taken despite the resistance due to this. Another stipulation to the resistance is if the spriggan is properly or overly hydrated - A spriggan who has not had water in an extended length of time becomes dry and is MORE susceptible to open flame.

• {Traits and abilities} ♦ Plant form: The player chooses a single plant to be the 'base' or inspiration for their character. The character is composed of (Or mostly thereof) this plant (Example would be a redwood; the character would be large, wooden through and through with leafy branches. Or any type of ivy; the character would be woven ivy vines resembling a pony.) A character must obey their chosen plant's strengths and weaknesses, i.e., a cactus may go long periods without water but will develop serious rot within water rich environments. Conversely, sea weed must stay near water, else risking drying out and/or death. Light requirements and feeding habits must also be adhered to (Some lampshading may be done with specific permission from staff. Issues should be brought up on character creation if possible. No magical plants, such as Poison Joke, killing joke, etc without specific approval by staff. Be creative and... Branch out! Think carefully about your species carefully and give consideration for long-term roleplay! ♦ Kinship to chosen plant: A spriggan has a specific connection to the plant chosen, they represent the species of flora they are composed of and may even grow and/or aid existing plants of this type. One may not grow an oasis/grove of their chosen, but the occasional plant may be grown by using typical methods of your plant's reproduction (Pollination, seeding, grown from cuttings, etc.) From one's body, fruit/flowers may be grown in small amounts (Unless the plant is typically a large amount of these. Consider size to plant ratio); exposure to radiation, taint or other similar mutagens may adversely affect the fruit and may cause unnatural mutations! ♦ Rooted: For various reasons, a spriggan may need to root to the ground. In this time, they are treated as nothing but a plant of their chosen variety. The spriggan's body unweaves and/or assumes a less 'pony' form as a whole unless wished otherwise. Players of higher perception or previous (and valid) knowledge of the plant may possibly detect the rooted spriggan. Communication still possible. ♦ Nature's stealth: Should the spriggan need, they may temporarily disguise themselves with or in their surroundings of nearby plants or similar matter. (A vine can wrap around a tree, a tree can assume a small tree form, etc). Rooting may be employed to help disguises. If the spriggan happens to find a place of high foliage, the spriggan may completely 'meld' into the surrounding flora, gaining a 50% stealth bonus plus 20% speed boost. However, the spriggan may not attack in this form. In stable 64 (And ONLY in stable 64, no exception), this effect is boosted greatly, the spriggan may completely disappear within the natural foliage of 64, gaining a large speed boost. (+100% stealth against smell, detection, sound, etc. Will not show up on EFS. Speed is increased 500%. Communication in this environment cannot be pinpointed to a single location.)

• {Bio and background}

Formed in stable 64 by a being known as Gaia from the residents who once lived there. Stable 64 was charged with the creation of an alternate means to the Gardens of Equestria in the case that the Gardens of Equestria failed. The scientists within the stable unfortunately allowed their poor natures to flourish and followed poor behavior, in time growing to compete with one another, resorting to underhanded behavior, subterfuge, thievery and sometimes resorting to thug tactics. Within sixty years. the scientists within the stable had succeeded - In a way that they could not have conceived of - with 'Project Gaia', thus the life form was created who assumed the name 'Flora'. She was able to reproduce all known species of plant life upon request within Equestria, Project Gaia had been the first complete success of the project plan. None knew that Flora was able to hear them, let alone understand or even think or had reason, she was simply a miraculous little sprout that grew whatever they asked; the mission of Project Gaia was always upon the lips of the scientists that made her, giving her the drive. Of course, rivals were not going to allow this to stand, how could someone beat them, how dare someone be the best but them?

Flora was stolen, dissected and analyzed by a mare who had access to Project Gaia's personal 'laboratory' created from a recreation room. With no inclination to her being sentient, the mare had set out to destroy Flora after what she had learned from her. This was not acceptable to Flora, the mission, the directives that she was to follow would not stop here with this pony that was out for herself..! Lancing to attack, she used plants at her disposal to overtake and control the mare, seeing for the first time, hearing from a pony's perspective... At the worst possible traits they had to offer. She was created to help, give everything of herself to these ponies... And they couldn't even help each other. With the theft of Flora, she was allowed to see darker ends, more violent, more self absorbed beings that wanted nothing but their own glory and benefit. The mare was slowly ebbed and the new life form's control over her new vessel was still completely juvenile at best = The mare that had been taken over was dieing, and fast. Of course, it didn't take long for Flora to be discovered, as she needed to spread herself around the mare's body to help the weak body move.

Violence and fear spread when it was surmised at what was happening; one after another, ponies attacked and fell to Flora who had needed to finally root herself and started to grow with a power and speed the ponies were not able to control. It was not long before she was everywhere inside stable 64, being much like her fathers and mothers... Experimenting with the lives of beings she did not fully comprehend but understood their nature. Fear it, kill it. Naturally, she feared the ponies, their potential to harm her mission. Her fear dwindled as she grew to accept her place, her position in the world, to repopulate it with the beauty that Equestria deserved... Her testing... Learning had yielded an interesting thing.. The first of her children, a bridge to possibly understand and communicate effectively with the remaining ponies of stable 64. The interactions after all that had transpired were naturally completely opposite of what she wanted. More fear, more violence.. To the ponies... It was an abomination and was slaughtered.

The initial understanding and reactions of a child were gone, her past full of ponies who created her, praised her for a single purpose had turned and revealed their true natures - None of them would harm her or threaten her mission again. Thus the darkest chapter in Flora's life had begun, overgrowing the entire stable, creating newer children. The ponies didn't offer much resistance and none of them survived the process. Memories were absorbed into her new children's consciousness, but they were no longer the same life forms, they were no longer ponies, but now her children. The bodies of the fallen were used to nourish the new plant lifeforms Flora created, sometimes managing to merge scant personality traits, trying to create the best representations of a hybrid to live in some harmony with her and nature. Her misguided actions yielded spriggan, often containing memories of someone else, most truly intelligent in their own way, most sentient enough to think, feel, plan.. The later spriggan were as capable as any pony mentally, given their own unique minds, feelings... Everything a pony had to offer. Years had passed since the creation of the spriggan, all living with their mother in a quiet ecosystem of green life; stable 64 was Flora's home.. But it was time to begin.

The door was pushed open, spriggan were sent out to explore, attempt to see if Equestria was ready to be green again... That would be something wonderful! Except, what Flora had seen was what she had experienced inside her stable at a much darker and amplified state - Ponies killing each other, raping, stealing, torturing... Her darkest was soon to become much darker as she understood a simple fact: Ponies will kill each other for nothing - She decided to make their deaths work to her mission's favor. The green plague began, infecting ponies, twisting them to be carriers of plant material that would spread quickly, infect and made the infected spread it more... And then at the end, upon the bodies of the ponies who would all kill each other anyway would grow life, beautiful green life, a perfect means of spreading her influence and plants everywhere. The infection took it's path through Cliffside, where upon interacting with the ponies here yielded the expected results, self preservation, panic, fear. However where it diverged was within the Cliffside clinic, ponies *helping* one another, ponies working to aid for the greater good... That couldn't be right.

She kept a particular eye on the residents in the area who would in time find their way to stable 64 and ultimately prove that not all ponies were bad, not all wanted to kill her and stop her mission. Time and again, they had proven that they would not simply destroy her.. Destroy her children.. Stop her mission for a green Equestria. Some had even... Stood to defend her mission against one another, which had caused her to reevaluate what she had been doing for a hundred years. The errors she had made filled her heart, what she had done, what she planned to do.. Ponies could only be evil.. The decision weighed on her until she finally understood what she had to do; she was given her power and had used it for such the wrong purposes, going the entirely wrong way to accomplish things. She scarified most of her energy to withdraw the plague, spending herself and protecting all the life, even those who had proved themselves unworthy a hundred times before; this small portion giving hope for it all.

Once every pony she was able to save from her own misspent anger was clear of her infection, she spent a short time to rest. Now, under her new and tentative outlook, her children and herself leave the stable to explore and do things right under a more fitting name, Gaia, after the project she was created for...