Gild Lilies

This is a Summer Camp article written AT GREAT SPEED! It has not yet been edited, so apologies for the copious typos and small text issues.

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Gild liles are a hybrid species of flower the glows in the dark. They come from a blending of two species; a fungus from the underdark that biolumineces, and a common or garden lily flower. Developed by Moon Elves, they're notoriously hard to breed, but their golden glowing blooms make them the envy of any gardener. They are social plants, best grown in groups of three to five.

Look and Aroma

Gild Lilies are perennial, bulb-grown flowers. They have dark green, long dagger-shaped foliage. Their scent is often described as "lemon-vanilla", and their pollen also biolumineces, making it valuable. They grow about 1-2 feet tall, and bloom in spring and throughout summer, their flowers dying back in autumn.

Contemporary uses

The Gild Lily is most commonly grown for its light. The perfume is rare and sought after. The pollen is used in some inks to make it glow in the dark, and is often used in both magical runes and tattoos.

The development of the Gild Lilies

From Underdark Fungus

The shine of gild lilies comes from their fungal parent, Lucifer Fungus. Before the Underdark Collapse, the fungus was a major part of underdark traditions and life-milestone ceremonies for many species. However, the fungus couldn't survive on the surface, and began to die.
Moonelves, keep to maintain their dying culture, sought for a way to replicate the glowing fungus, using other species.

Lilies as saviour

After some trial and error, the Moon Elves finally succeeded in creating a hybrid... with the common lily flower. Because lilies grow from bulbs, Moonelves injected those bulbs with spores that would convey the glow they required. Moreover, becayse lilies are perennial, the bulbs sprung up again each year, making their life cycle longers. Soon, the Moon Elves had a breeding stock of Lilies, and none too soon. Their reserved of the Lucifer Fungus were dwindling to nothing.