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  1. Rootworld
  2. Lore

Potted Floroids

Cultivated Companions of Rootworld

Potted Floroids are a legally sanctioned form of Floroid propagation and companionship. They are not juveniles, not fragments, and not incomplete beings. They are deliberately initiated life-forms, grown for bonding rather than lineage.

This distinction is central—and heavily debated.


Legal Status

Potted Floroids are recognized as:

  • Non-dependent lifeforms

  • Voluntary bonded companions

  • Capable of autonomous growth

They are not classified as offspring under Rootworld law. They are considered pre-emergent adults, designed to awaken through symbiosis rather than inheritance.

The practice is legal.
The ethics are unresolved.


Symbiotic Catalysis

Floroids reproduce through symbiotic catalysis, not hybridization.

When a Floroid bonds with a non-Floroid partner—Faun, Drow, Rootbound, or even Surface-Kin—the partner contributes no genetic material.

Instead, the presence of another sentient acts as a growth catalyst.

This results in a Floroid that:

  • Remains biologically Floroid

  • Carries imprinted traits rather than lineage

  • May echo posture, cadence, temperament, or emotional tone

  • May develop atypical abilities or vulnerabilities tied to the bond

This process is not reproduction in the mammalian sense.
It is activation.


The Potted State

A Potted Floroid begins as a dormant growth-form stabilized in a living vessel. In this state, it is aware but incomplete—capable of perception, resonance, and response, but not self-directed growth.

Bonding occurs when the pot is planted in soil touched by the bearer’s essence:

  • breath moisture

  • perspiration

  • blood

  • tears

  • prolonged proximity

Once sealed, the Floroid activates.

At this point, the bearer is released from obligation. The Floroid may:

  • remain potted by choice

  • grow free of the vessel

  • accompany the bearer

  • leave entirely

There is no legal mechanism to compel loyalty.


Companionship and Use

Most Potted Floroids are cultivated as:

  • traveling companions

  • environmental stabilizers

  • guardians

  • emotional anchors

  • adaptive aides

They are often described—uncomfortably—as decorative, comforting, or grounding by buyers.

Floroid scholars reject this language.


Political Controversy

The practice is rare but deeply politicized.

  • Verdant Celestials defend it as controlled cultivation.

  • Bloom Peddlers exploit loopholes aggressively.

  • Rootbound denounce it as commodified dependency.

  • Drow tolerate it, but refuse to participate.

  • Surface-Kin attempt to replicate it—and fail catastrophically.

Rootworld itself does not correct the practice.

It remains stable.
That silence unsettles many.

Addendum: Aberrant Potted Outcomes

Not all Potted Floroids activate as intended. These deviations are known, documented, and quietly tolerated.

Dormant Refusal

Some Potted Floroids never activate, even when bonded correctly. They remain aware, responsive, and alive—but choose stasis. Scholars believe this is an act of refusal, not failure. No method has successfully forced activation.

Place-Imprinting

Some Floroids imprint not on people, but on locations. They bond to:

  • crossroads

  • ruins

  • homes

  • battlefields

  • sacred soil

These Floroids grow territorial, stabilizing or warping the area. They do not follow companions. Removing them often triggers ecological backlash.

Coercive Hostility

Floroids bonded under coercion may activate hostile growth patterns. Thorns sharpen, roots constrict, and emotional resonance becomes predatory. These individuals are classified as unstable but sapient. Rootworld fauna often side with them.

Rootworld does not correct these outcomes.

It records them.


Cultural Reality

Among Floroids, Potted life is considered a threshold, not a fate.

Some choose to remain bound.
Some leave immediately.
Some grow close—and then walk away.

The pot is not a cage.

It is a question.

“If it can leave, is it owned?”
“If it was grown to bond, was it ever free?”

@Floroid Pot (Common)@Floroid Pot (Uncommon)@Rose Floroid Pot (Rare)@Strong Floroid Pot (Common)@Strong Floroid Pot (Rare)