willful intelligence and active imagination They are a whirlwind of activity and incessantly curious, always hungry for more Korapira has never been happier She recognizes the amazing abilities and potential of the putti, and she is convinced that they are but the first stage in an evolution to something greater She continues her work to perfect the process of their creation and attempt to coax the putti to their fullest potential Typical Characteristics: Korapira created the putti using her twisted experiments: infusing plant material with the soul fragments of living creatures The result is entirely fey, appearing as bloated, asexual, oversized humanoid babies They are still plantlike in some ways—for instance, their purple skin grants them photosynthesis, allowing them to convert sunlight to food Each is asexual and androgynous, though some choose to identify with a particular gender as they mature Their strange, unsettling appearance belies their wondrous abilities They look weak and undeveloped, but their fibrous musculature provides them sufficient strength for their size And whatever they lack physically is more than made up for mentally Putti are incredibly intelligent and can augment themselves psychically Most strikingly, a combination of their Putti Evolution Korapira is convinced that the putti are only in the first stage of their evolution She is attempting to understand them better in order to coax the process along but so far to no avail Is she right? What would their evolution be like? No one knows, least of all the putti themselves, but certainly, not all putti are born the same Some, like Cakurra the Thorn, have borne their differences from birth while others, like Eolelo Ai, have proven that their form need not be static — 78 — light frames and psychic manipulation allows them to float on the breeze Development: A putti’s seeming innocence belies the pain and terror of its creation, for its life begins only with another’s agonizing death The tree of sheol is directly responsible for producing a putti Developed and cultivated by Korapira with Red Jack’s assistance, this odd plant looks like a stumpy tree with disturbingly soft wood It seems barren, exhibiting no foliage of any kind Unlike most plants, a tree of sheol needs nothing from the sun but instead feeds fungus-like from the decay of its surroundings Some suggest it extends roots to Sheol itself, empowering itself by the endless feast Nondescript in appearance and always seemingly near-death, the plant nonetheless grows slowly to reach roughly the height of a man It’s at this stage that it can fulfill its intended purpose A live, sentient being held against the soft, gnarled trunk finds tendrils of wood come alive to lash it in place The trunk then grows slowly around the victim, encasing him or her completely in its soft wood within the span of twentyfour hours Often, the bole takes on the partial form of the encased victim frozen in grasping, screaming terror Instead of letting the creature suffocate, however, the plant keeps it just barely alive for one month In that time, the plant cannibalizes the creature’s flesh, mind, and soul to produce fruit, carefully using the creature in such a way that, though it would quickly perish if removed from the plant’s support systems, it continues to think, feel pain, and dream Slowly, a bud forms, the plant’s first sign of color and vibrancy Bulging to life, the giant bloom eventually erupts, disgorging its fruit—a fully formed putti Lingering for a time, anywhere from several hours to a few days, the putti ultimately drifts off on the breeze Though the tree may produce multiple flowers, only one typically bears fruit Once the putti drifts away, all blooms wilt and drop off the plant within a day, and the tree undergoes one final transformation into a creature known as a flower of sheol (see below) There was some concern expressed from Red Jack that problems could arise from the bleed-through of personality from the victims, that certain mannerisms