Mana Orchid

Name: Mana Orchid

Appearance: Mana orchids are a white orchid that fades into a striking aqua blue color as it gets close to the edge of the petal. This blue color has an iridescent quality to it that makes it seem to glow a soft, blue light. This affect is most apparently visually during clear night skies. Many flowers can be found on a single plant, making it hard to miss when one has one in sights. The tallest recorded mana orchid plant was said to be 2.5 feet in length, but the most commonly found length is between 1 and 1.5 feet.

Environment: Mana orchids are extremely rare plants that have no set environment that they thrive in. They have been found in many parts of the Elesya and have been referenced to for centuries. It can thrive in snowy conditions, underwater, and even arid climates. One is lucky to even see a single plant, let alone many in a small, concentrated area. As of late, most of the mana orchid sightings have been near tainted areas, as they seem to be growing dangerously close to the edge of the affected area. Mana orchids also seem to bloom more after extensive magic has been used in a certain area, with the residual magic used when casting seeming to act as a catalyst for such a growth. However, controlled efforts to replicate this effect have proved as failures. Unfortunately, mana orchids do not produce seeds and, if they are influenced by magic or by magical effects they quickly wither and die, leaving nothing behind. This causes attempts to farm or produce the plant en masse nearly impossible.

Uses: The mana orchid is an extremely potent flower, with its petals and pollen acting as a sort of magical form of gunpowder. The flower, once plucked from its stem, losing it's glowing properties and seems like a regular old flower, but can be ground up and/or dried into a powder which has many uses. While powerful, in its pure powder form, it is extremely volatile to any trace of destructive magic and should be handled with extreme care. In potion form, the powder allows the user to access their limits of magical capabilities for a short while, with extreme side effects such as nausea and even leaving the user in a semi-permanent comatose state if too much magic has been used under its effects. Due to its dangerous nature, the most common way to use the powder is to create mana batteries that supply power very intricate and complicated constructs, as well as mana-intensive equipment. Its sought after by many of the factions of Elesya, hoping to harness its effects to their maximum capabilities. Because each flower produces only a small amount of powder, these batteries are expensive to produce and thus availability is scarce and extremely exclusive. Both the potion form and battery form of this powder replicate the flower's iridescent abilities, which give way to its authenticity and purity.