Design Challenge - Sunberry

"Sunberry is a berry that grows on swamps and river banks. Old legends tell that it was given to earth by the sun itself to combat darkness. Eating this berry will grand the eater energy to push forward, even at the brink of death."

Species name:

Sunberry

Species:

Plant/berry

Chosen design elements:

I had few ideas for an editable plant but I decided to go with something closer to Finnish culture. When I was in elementary school there was this tale told to us about cloud berries. Basically in the story Finnish tribes were way back when were dying off by wondering in the dark during winter. This is called the "polar night depression" (straight translation) that happens because of the lack of sunlight during winter months, we get few hours a day here. Because of this the tribes asked for sun to help and it's answer was the cloud berries that gave the energy of the sun during winter. The story had bitter sweet ending as the polar night wanted people to wander in the darkness and get lost so it asked the great north wind to freeze some of the berries. That is more or less how I remember the story.

Basically I decided to make a magical version of cloud berries that is more literal. I just thought it made for a nice idea to pay tribute to my heritage in a way.

Description:

Sunberry is a is a somewhat rare plant. It needs moist and sunny area to thrive in so you are most likely to find them in swamps or riverbanks. They grow on moss that keep the berries well hydrated. The berry grows inside a leaves and the leaves open up more as the berry becomes closer to be ripe for eating. The fully opened on in moss are over ripe and will not carry any benefits of the just ripe enough. The just ripe enough ones are the ones close to opening.

The side effects of the berry are boost in energy and temporary night vision. Due these effects, the ancient people believe that these berries come from the sun itself. The energy boost is potent enough to bring one back from the brink of death itself and carry one little longer. It has saved few lives as this buys enough time for proper medical treatment. Night vision makes your eyes more sensitive to low lighting but this effect doesn't last forever, usually up to half an hour at best. Keep in mind that this makes you vision weaker in daylight or in well lit areas. Night vision effect isn't carried over if the berry isn't eaten raw. Reason for this isn't known but it might have something to do with the unique bacteria that the inner side of the leaves attach on the outside of the berry.

The berry glows weakly so it's easier to find them during night time. The glow attracts night time animals to eat it and spread their pollen that get attached on them. This makes a good ingredient for stamina potions so you might want to get them when you see them, either for potions or raw eating.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally got time to do something like this...work takes too much time out of my life. And I usually don't feel like drawing after  =w=