Podling


 * From seed to flower, a tiny terror is grown.

The podlings are a race of small, wide-eyed and extremely vicious plant-creatures native to. They are members of the Primal faction.

Background
In the aftermath of Botaan's destruction, spores from the Sporemound's corpse settled in the wilds, giving sentience to existing forms of plants. The jungles stirred as new beings took shape and walked the land, among which were the small and simpleminded podlings and sporelings.

A number of 's indigenous species blur the line between plant and animal, and the so-called podlings are the most vicious and chaotic of their ilk. Small and seemingly harmless, they work together to capture their prey, attacking only when they have numerical superiority. Explorers who pay attention to the color of podlings' flowering buds can ascertain whether they favor poison, ensnaring, or physical attacks to incapacitate their victims. Once podlings have overwhelmed their quarry, they will drag the unlucky creature down into the weeds to fertilize a new generation. The clear lesson for adventurers: looks can be deceiving!

Podlings appear in a wide range of bright and eye-catching colours. Lively creatures with an aggressive demeanour, podlings often use simple spear-like weapons — crudely adorned with thorns and twigs — to attack enemies. Usually found in groups, these tiny warriors do not seem afraid of taking on prey several times larger than themselves. Podlings are capable of overwhelming and devouring humans and other larger humanoids. Podlings also lay traps for prey such as squirrels, rooting them in place until the podlings return.

Podlings are able to communicate with the other races, including those from Azeroth, but speak in slightly broken language. Some podlings such as Phlox have been known to speak exclusively in rhyme.

Some say the podlings of Gloomshade Grove bow to the mad king of the east, Mad "King" Sporeon.

The "Star Root Sniffer" podlings of Ashran's Gorian Falls seem to be drawn to the Star Root Tuber that grows there.

Known groups

 * Spiteleaves


 * Spinebloom

As a companion pet

 * Captured Forest Sproutling is purchasable at a cost of and  from Gazrix Gearlock (Alliance), Kwilax Fuseshiv (neutral) or Mimi Wizzlebub (Horde) upon reaching revered reputation with Steamwheedle Preservation Society.
 * Sun Sproutling has a chance to drop from Big Bag of Pet Supplies.
 * Nightshade Sproutling has a small chance to drop from Disturbed Podling, which in turn has a chance to spawn upon harvesting Herbalism nodes in.
 * Autumnal Sproutling is bought from Draemus in Dalaran for 100 Pet Charms.

Notes and trivia

 * Rumor has it that podlings are extremely allergic to the spores of fungal giants.
 * Podlings hate fire.
 * Some legends say the draenei first befriended the elekk after one of the beasts saved an injured scout from a pack of vicious podlings.
 * Players can turn into a podling for a short time using Podling Camouflage.
 * Drinking Bottomless Stygana Mushroom Brew turns all nearby humanoids into podlings.
 * Podlings are voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz.
 * In the early beta, they were referred to as the foreling, with the unused NPCs having the podling and sporeling models.

Sporelings
While fungi are not actually a type of plant (despite common misconception), the podlings of can be seen dancing around an image of a sporeling, projected by, hinting at some sort of connection. Kurri exclaims, yell hinting that podlings may have become sporelings, likely due to being infected by the Zangar encroachment (seemingly despite their apparent allergy to spores). This seems to be supported by Blizzard's statement that the sporelings were not always mushroom creatures.