| Class: | Microbial symbions of oasis plants |
| Hab: | Any with Folk or desolate |
| Fre: | Rare |
| Num: | Innumerable; several per cell of all plants in oasis |
| Lair: | 100% |
| Size: | Acres; S/M/L/XL: under 1 / 1-20 / 50-500 / 1,000 to 100,000 acres |
| Move: | Sessile / by plant host |
| Def: | Imbedded in plants; microbe population saturates area; no vitals |
| Att: | Infects plants by contact |
| Int: | None |
| Spec: | Creates oases |
| Posns: | Oasis sanctuary + host plants' possessions |
Areas affected by purple haze are readily recognized as the community of microbes alters the quality of light in its area of influence. Within an oasis enhanced by purple haze, the light is gentler, the breezes cooler. This permits its host plants to thrive, forming lush jungles in the midst of the most extreme of desert conditions. Purple haze oases are easily identified, as everything within the oasis looks as though it were painted by Paul Gauguin, with a slightly iridescent purple overlay. This "Gauguin effect" ranges from mild in "realistic" settings to extreme in fabulous "high fantasy" settings. When the effect is intense, it creates a Gauguin Effect area; SEE Gauguin Effect Groves and Symbiont.
Unlike full Gauguin Effect symbiont, the simpler purple haze microbes do not affect animal life. The purple haze microbes infect a new plant by contact, whether by brushing laves or by touching roots.
Purple haze infects all plant life with its area, creating a unified oasis-colony. The oasis has a collective area effect. The volume of the oasis is sharply delineated. The larger the oasis, the larger the volume effect, and the stronger the boundary membrane. The volume extends upwards, like a pavilion dome, and bellies to contain a similar volume below.
Free water can enter the oasis, either by the rare rainfall or by means of underground seepage, but water cannot leave the oasis save with strong pressure. This means that the body fluid water in a beast (or vegimal) will not prevent it from leaving, although a tugging sensation may be felt when passing out through the oasis membrane. This tugging will be mild, although possibly somewhat disturbing, in a small oasis, but in an oasis of over an acre in extent it may be quite strong; inhabitants able to control this effect (by psionic or majical means) may be able to use this water-retention effect to prevent Folk from leaving.
Similarly, water, which tends to pool in the bottom of the oasis, will not flood the oasis. When the water reaches more than half way up from the bottom of the oasis' "basement" membrane, there will be sufficient water pressure to allow an underground stream to trickle out.
| Vladpup Home RPG Home Bestiary Index | Last update Apr 4, 2006 |