Kihai Adaptation

Adaptation is a phenomenon exclusive to the Kihai, causing them to physically alter and mutate over time in accordance with the flora in their area.

Generally speaking only a Kihai's immediate surroundings or frequent locations affect them, such as their bedroom or workplace. It takes roughly two weeks of consistent exposure to a plant for it to begin seeding into a Kihai's foliage.

Adaptations can change as rapidly as a few months or as gradually as a year. This depends on several factors, such as the growth rate of the plant in question, its significance in the Kihai's immediate environment, and how healthy the plant itself is. For example, adaptations from trees and weeds tend to stick for much longer than others.

### Physical Changes

Adaptations cause numerous physical changes in a Kihai, such as affecting their lifespan, pigmentation, and responding to physical trauma.

* **Age**
	+ Kihai tend to live a little under 200 years at most, but an adaptation can affect the lifespan. For example, Kihai who are adapted to trees tend to experience greater longevity than an adaptation to farmland crops or flowers. Age affectation is exponential, meaning that plants with shorter lifespans affect a Kihai in smaller ways than plants with an extremely long lifespan.
	+ Age affectation is viewed differently among different sects of Kihai, due to their differing flora. A Kihai who is born into adaptation of perennials, which spring back after dying in the cold, may view death and their shorter lifespan differently than a Kihai who is born into adaptation of ancient redwoods.
* **Growths**
	+ Plant growths such as flowers, vines, and moss are the most common type of adaptation, and tend to be the quickest to change with one's surroundings. Flowering growths tend to follow the bloom times of the plant, causing many Kihai to have unripe bulbs when their plantlife is out of season. Growths like this thrive mainly on exposed, smooth skin such as the arms and legs.
	+ Sometimes, a Kihai might have growths in place of their hair, such as beards of pine needles or moss patches, or creeping vines in place of hair.
		- Kihai do not generally grow fruits or vegetables, though these plant features affect them in other ways. (See Pigmentation below.)
	+ Growths such as thorns, bark patches, and spore vents sometimes come from physical trauma. (See Trauma below.)
* **Pigmentation**
	+ Another very common feature of adaptation, usually restricted to eye and hair color. Pigment changes occur most often in Kihai who are adapted to flowering or fruit-bearing plants and tend to be consistent with the color of the fruit or flower. For example, a Kihai adapted to a blueberry bush may develop blue eyes.
	+ Skin color is not often altered by adaptation, but when present stays close to the "human" spectrum. Root vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, and beets more often cause skin color changes.
* **Trauma**
	+ Physical injuries can sometimes inspire adaptations or abberant growths, such as wood protrusions, bark patches, thorns, and spore vents. These adaptations tend to be more stubborn and long-lasting than other adaptations.
		- Some cultures among the Kihai intentionally undergo ritual physical trials to bring these aspects out.
	+ Abberant growths - growths that stray from the general shape of a Kihai - can come in the form of major protrusions, and generally do not come from common trauma. Near-death experiences are far more likely to present them, but the phenomenon is still incredibly rare.

### Psychological Changes

Adaptation can sometimes cause changes in a Kihai's demeanor or personality. Below is a list of potential causes for personality changes related to one's adaptation.

* **Diseases**
	+ Plant-bound parasites or diseases in a Kihai's environment may cause depression, physical fatigue, and mood swings. Kihai tend to meticulously maintain their environment to avoid this.
		- Historically, exposure to plant-bound issues has been used as a particularly gruesome form of torture or even a rite of passage.
* **Psychoactive**
	+ Plants with psychoactive effects, such as poppies and salvia, can affect a Kihai's personality in ways consistent with the plant's properties. This only tends to happen if the offending plant is an extremely dominant part of their environment.

### Severe Environment

* **Deprivation**
	+ Barren environments, such as deserts and badlands, cause Kihai to physically dessicate and degrade as a result of not having thriving plantlife nearby.
		- A Kihai can survive in such an environment by adapting to plants that need less frequent nourishment, such as cacti. It is notoriously unpleasant, and the longest a Kihai could survive in such a manner stands at roughly six months, assuming all of their other basic needs (food, water, and rest) are met.
* **Poison**
	+ Contrary to popular belief, Kihai are not immune or even resistant to plant-based poisons, even if they grow those plants themselves. Plants like poison ivy or stinging nettle can be quite irritating to a Kihai, and thus are rarely, if ever cultivated in common spaces.
	+ Some cultures among the Kihai make a point to adapt to certain poisonous plants, such as yew shrubbery and foxgloves as an act of rebellion or a political statement.