Scarlet Siren

Native to the lush forests of Tassendrel, Scarlet Sirens are round carnivorous plants with hardened outer cuticles. Growing up to half a meter in diameter, their tops are emblazoned with protective spikes. Each siren houses a mated pair of hypnotist crickets within specially grown cavities lined with glands that secrete sugar-rich residue. In exchange for food and shelter, the siren’s tenants continuously produce a hypnotic call that, while insufficient to cloud the mind of anything larger than a particularly large rat, is irresistible to small mice, lizards, invertebrates, etc., within an approximately 40 to 50 meter radius of the siren. 

Prey items are drawn to the siren and, searching for a way in, inevitably stumble upon the siren’s orifice. Without hesitation, the siren’s victims climb in, head up through the u-bend of the esophagus, and fall down into the digestive pool. Splashing corrosive juices all around, captured prey will frantically attempt to scramble up the slippery wax-coated lining of the central chamber, still desperately trying to reach that alluring song, indifferent to the enzymes and acid slowly eating away at their flesh.

Scarlet Sirens are cultivated across the northern coasts of Tassendrel for use in pest control, such as by grain silos. “Fences” of sirens, spaced around 35-39 meters apart, are cultivated around farms to protect them from small rodents and other pests. However, the care of the bulbous plants is notoriously difficult, as they tolerate only a narrow range of water saturation, temperature, pH, mineral quantities, etc. Inexperienced caretakers will invariably kill their sirens.

Siren care is made even more difficult due to the symbiotic relationship with the hypnotist crickets that the plant relies on to attract its prey. If conditions deteriorate a Scarlet Siren will continue to synthesize sugar-rich secretions for its tenants, which can and do abandon sirens that fail to compensate them for their singing. The magic the crickets imbue into their ceaseless calls is quite taxing, requiring a great deal of nutrients to perform. As such, hypnotist crickets pose a not insignificant burden on their hosts. 

Austerity during lean times is not an option for a scarlet siren though. Sirens that lose their crickets are helpless, and doomed to die, as they are incapable of attracting prey on their own. While it continues to feed its residents, if the poor conditions persist and/or deteriorate a siren can quickly begin expending more energy than it gathers from its prey. Even at this point, a siren will continue to secrete sugar-rich residue or trade a probable death for a certain one. 

During this whole process a scarlet siren, with its rigid, outer cuticle, will appear unchanged. Only after a siren has expended all of its energy reserves, having been subject to adverse conditions for months, will it cease residue production and the crickets promptly leave. At this point a siren is beyond saving, and suited only for mulching.

NOTE: Do not grow Sirens within 35 meters of each other. This large species requires a great deal of prey to support both themselves and their tenants. Forcing Sirens to compete over prey will result in malnutrition, followed quickly by expiration.

Trivia: Scarlet Sirens were banned within the walls of the Imperial Palace after then Crown Prince Talenar’s pet snake escaped and was found half-digested in an ornamental siren, its tail poking out of the plant’s orifice