Drosera

Sentient, ambulatory plants that hide a hideous maw behind a 'face' made of organic chitin and flower petals.

Personality

Drosera prefer to eat meat to the exclusion of anything else, and they train their saplings in the art of the ambush from a young age. As they age, they take on more dangerous game with their sires, passing their skills down to the next generation. 
Finding work in civilized areas where their cannibalistic nature is not frowned upon is difficult, so drosera who leave their native jungles gravitate toward assassination work that  allows them to take the lives (or limbs) of others.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The first drosera looked like shambling plants, but quickly adapted shapes that could move faster and manipulate the environment better, eventually settling on a humanoid form. Their body, except the face, stomach and joints, is protected by a hard green rind.
At first glance, a drosera’s head looks like a large, ripe melon. In truth, is made of two (or in a few tribes, three or even four) thick, interlocked toothed plates which, when opened, expose their mouth and a pair of eyes. Their mouth is best described as a terrifying gullet filled with razor-like thorns and protrusions - perfect for these consummate carnivores to tear the flesh from living things. This under-visage can be disturbing to other races, and so most traveling Drosera keep their plates closed, wearing fanciful wooden or ceramic masks in a vague mockery of most races’ facial structure. They have a set of air-holes on their necks that allow them to speak and breathe while their head plates are closed.
Drosera have considerable control over, and can shape, their bodies within the basic confines of a humanoid silhouette. Each one carries a fist-sized droseran seed in its belly, from which it can spawn new a drosera.

Genetics and Reproduction

Each drosera has a droseran seed within its navel. When it decides to reproduce, it can expel this seed. If planted in fertile soil and left undisturbed for a few days, the seed grows into a sapling drosera who physically mirrors the original. If left undisturbed for an additional week or two, the seed grows into an oakling drosera instead. After a sapling drosera has been fully grown for an average of two and a half years, they can choose to grow into an oakling drosera, a process that takes about three weeks.
Every 20 years or so, a drosera develops a new seed, allowing the race to slowly grow its numbers.

Growth Rate & Stages

Like most plants, drosera grow from seeds that end up in the ground from a parent. Seedling drosera are unable to move from their rooted location. They will eat by luring in small prey like bugs and later birds as they grow. A drosera will remain rooted in the ground until they reach maturity, where they will finally be able to change their form into a more humanoid shape and begin hunting.
Drosera reach maturity within a few years and can theoretically live for up to 150, though they usually fall to predation long before then.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Drosera are strict carnivores and require meat to grow. They will typically hunt by ambush, taking down predators much large than themselves. When they are ready to feed, they will unhinge their jaw plates and tear chunks from the fallen prey, swallow the pieces whole, and then digest them with organic acids until all that is left is a deliciously meaty broth.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Drosera tend towards names that include both a personal and a surname, the second representing the place of it's birth.
Personal Names: Sness, Aefebore, Ebimyood, Eobromdegon, Adrekkess, Ismade, Chririn, Krecax, Aepivuin, Eanolmaisy, Aslorn, Cecheed, Grusport, Xoknamire
Surnames: fen Dullwood, fen Feywood, fen Horta, fen Elflund, fen Terrace

Major Organizations

The drosera have no known kingdoms of their own, though rare is the adventuring scholar who is able to truly explore the deep jungles of the Teyacan Basin. In general, the largest social structure they enjoy is the tribe. A tribe typically consists of less than 100 drosera, and it matters not whether they are of the same "family" or otherwise. They tend to band together more from of a similarity of outlook than anything else.

Common Dress Code

Clothing is not a necessity for most drosera, with only those who've adapted outward appearances most similar to other humanoids wearing clothes, and then only out of respect for others (not modesty for themselves). The exception to this rule would be the city-dwelling drosera, who are quite happy to adopt the fineries of whatever populace they have ingrained themselves into, tending towards the more dramatic end of the fashion spectrum.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Being plants, drosera emotions are alien, but they have also adapted themselves to mimic Soulborn emotions, empathy, and facial expressions. They have no concept of gender, and usually only adopt one if they frequently interact with other Soulborn.
Drosera are decentralised and have no central species-wide authority or culture, but have some sense of the species as a whole (especially when it pertains to threats) and have a fledgeling oral tradition.
In general, they prefer to either remain in the deep jungles, rain forests, and other wilds of their births - hunting and feeding great game - or to venture out of the savage unknown and into the cities of the other Soulborn to hunt a different type of prey. When part of a more modern society, drosera are naturally drawn towards high society and politics, viewing them as a very different, but still very envigorating type of hunting ground. Others, however, will gravitate downwards, finding their fit among the assassins, poisoners, thieves, slavers, and monster hunters.
They integrate well into Soulborn societies, the more vicious and backstabbing the better - specifically, they have formed quite large communities in the cities of Salkrinth Veldora, Avamast, the Myrenaean Peninsula, and even the Culled Kingdoms of Orlia and Aressea.

Common Taboos

Those few Drosera who turn Echo and join the Culled are generally referred to as Sylvari. They are a quiet and peaceful people, reacting so strongly against the nature of their race that they almost universal reject the eating of meat - some supposedly subsist entirely on water and sunlight.

History

The drosera are the children of Xicohtencatl, the Unfurled Blossom of Ten Thousand Maws, and have been loyal to it since the time of the War of Souls.

Origin/Ancestry

Xicohtencatl, the Unfurled Blossom of Ten Thousand Maws

Lifespan

150 years

Average Height

5'2"-6'0"

Average Weight

120-185 lbs.

Founding Emanation

Green Mother, the Feasting Flower

Racial Stats

Drosera

Drosera

Ability Score Increase +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Con

Size Medium

Speed 30ft

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Head-plate

While your head-plates are unhinged, you can see in darkness within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light. However, you can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. While your head-plates are closed, they obscure your vision considerably; you require bright light to see further than 15 feet away from you, and are only able to see to a distance of 60 feet even with the aid of it. You can hinge or unhinge the head-plates that form your jaw using your bonus action. When your jaw is unhinged, your sensitive eyes and mouth are exposed. If you are subject to a critical hit while your jaw is unhinged, you are stunned until the end of your next turn.

Acidic Maw

While your head-plates are unhinged, you can use your fearsome jaw to make melee attacks that deal 1d6 + Strength modifier piercing damage plus additional acid damage equal to twice your proficiency bonus.

Carnivorous

Drosera are purely carnivorous beings, and can extract all nutrients they need (including hydration) from a meal of meat. Once per long rest, you may consume a large meal of very fresh meat (less than 1 minute old after harvesting) to gain temporary hit points equal to your level + your constitution modifier.

Terrifying Visage

Your alien appearance is inherently unnerving and confusing to all other races. You are proficient in the Deception and Intimidation skills.

Languages. Eolian and Ashmirathi