From: JARDINE@RMCS.CRANFIELD.AC.UK
Date: Thu 07 Apr 1994 - 18:42:00 EEST
Hi All
Here is a little idea I had for a Gloranthan plant to add colour.
Broo Grass (aka Ratslaff's Curse, Disorder Daisy and Bitter-Pretty)
A weed which produces small, brightly coloured flowers in spring. The colour of the flowers varies from plant to plant, but is almost always constant on a given specimen. While attractive Broo Grass is not liked by herders and parents alike as it is mildly poisonous during most of the year, but very unpleasant during Sea Season when the flowers are out. When flowering the leaves also produces a sticky substance which will irritate sensitive skin (like that of children). Broo Grass thrives in most soils and under most climatic conditions. It does this because it is able to hybridize with virtually all other plants, thus when hybridized with the local plants it can survive the local conditions. Broo Grass wilts somewhat in Dark Season and dies off completely during Storm Season. Green shoots typical burst from the ground during sacred time. The flowers are vulnerable to a heavy frost or rain which is one of the few reasons which has stopped this ubiquitous plant from spreading everywhere. Naturally aldryami are VERY hostile towards this plant (although it is not poisonous to them). Typically aldryami rip up Broo Grass on sight and immediately eat it. Some aldryami do not even use Food Song when killing the plant as they regard it as a chaos perversion of plant life. In fact there is plenty of evidence that Broo Grass is linked to Disorder rather than Chaos. The Myths state that Ratslaff was challenged by Yelm to find a more beautiful plant that the perfectly formed, pure white, rose. He went away and wooed Aldrya who would have nothing to do with this consumate liar, cheat and troublemaker. He then went to Ernalda who had Elmal box his ears and kick him into the dung heap. Finally, he snuck up on Voria who was singing to the birds with flowers in her hair. He was about to grab her, but she was warned by the smell of the dung and the birds twittering so she jumped up and ran away, leaving Ratslaff with just a handful of flowers from her hair. Ratslaff, grinned (with lots of sharp teeth) and took the flowers back to his castle filled with Boggles and other wierd creatures. There, he taught the flowers how to combine with other plants in order to cheat nature so that they could grow anywhere. He taught them to produce brightly coloured flowers to make themselves attractive, but made their juices poisonous to create a lie. He took his flowers to Yelm who said they were a cheap, gaudy, shower without true artistic merit. Ratslaff felt angry so he sent his flowers out into the world to cause trouble by mixing with other species and causing animals and children to have sore stomachs and skin. Death had not yet been discovered, otherwise he would have probably made his plants leathal. Still he used some of the tricks he had learned when making his flowers when he fathered the race of Broos, that it one of the reasons why we call it Broo Grass.
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Lewis
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