I am currently working on a character that is essentially a naga, with a few stuff added in.
The problem lies with their general life cycle. I've made their species somewhat co-dependent to a type of plant found in their local ecosystem that greatly impacts their overall lifestyle.
I had several ideas as to what the plant might offer, but i havent gotten deeper into the details yet
Option 1: it allows them to enter the final stage of their life, basically adulthood, and this implies an entire ritual which they must not miss else they will remain in their current young form forever, like a curse.
Option 2: it gives them a lot of benefits in the long run, but they also carry the risk of becoming afflicted with a sickness caused by said plant upon reaching a certain age or most likely when gravely injured - the sickness itself manifests as plant matter growing from their skin like a type of parasite.
The general idea i was going for the character itself is that because they themselves were unable to participate in the ritual/consume said plant due to having been kidnapped, they can never go back to their old home, where even if they survived, they would probably be shunned or hunted by a certain type of people, either because of their attractive looks or in some cases just for their meat/pretty scales.
The first option still stood due to a preference of having the older adults look different than the younger specimens, in a way that perhaps is not as attractive, but its a process that cannot happen naturally to this character due to their predicament.
So the general questions i had for this, which option sounded best? or if there was a better alternative that would work more fluidly and make more sense/makes them interesting? how to make it make sense in an ecosystem? And what would the general benefits of this plant be, that gives them such a drastic edge over other species, hence why they need it?
