>>26584964A tributary? Not sure why that would be the case, but it's a no. The Rosebutas would have no gold that the Dragoons could see nor power for them to take. On the surface, Rosebutas are just a bunch of wandering tribes that live off of the land. Even if the Dragoons knew of the /rose/ underneath, they wouldn't be able to do much of anything about it. It's far too secure for them to invade. But hey, we could totally be tenuous friends.
>>26585090I'm glad you like it! I took some inspiration from butterfly and moth metamorphosis, but a lot of it was just stuff I came up with on the spot. The coma pod is loosely based on how actual carnivorous plants consume their prey.
Rosebuta skeletons are shaped very similar to that of an animal's and even vaguely share the color of bone. However the actual tissue is something akin to sporopollenin.
Judging by the difference in the anatomy, it's pretty likely that the situation would be that the pod has to take the bones of the Deadbeat and grow around them. So on the inside you're the same bony boy and it's not like the difference really matters to anyone. Hope that makes sense for you.