Hamadryad

Hamadryads are plants composed of a mobile organism the Dryad, and an immobile organism reassembling a classical plant called the Hama.
== Dryad ==
A dryad is a mobile plant organism linked to one or several specific trees called Hamas, forming the Hamadryad organism.
== Hama ==
A hama is a tree that is linked to one or several dryads, together they form the organism known as a Hamadryad.
==Species overview==
Hamadryads are typically found in large overgrown forests with little or no maintenance.
==Biology==
Hamadryads display many unique properties owing to its biology.
===Interdependance===
As a rule, dryads and their Hamas get weaker the further they move from each other, limiting their effective range, but most Hamas are usually resilient enough that they can be moved.
===Morphology===
Dryad morphology can vary drastically. While some are indistinguishable from other anthropomorphs, others are more akin to animals, some have no clear body plans and are simply masses of mobile plant matter.
In some cases the Dryad reflects the plant species of its Hama, some Dryads linked to short lived plants tend to resemble short lived animals.
Most Hamas however are indistinguishable from regular plant species. Laurel, apple and oak trees are common species found in groves where Dryads are found.
===Sentience===
Some species of dryads are sentient, some to a degree of civilization, others are organized in eusocial superorganisms with different roles filled by special castes, and some are devoid of social structures or sentience, and are considered animals or creature's.
== Abilities ==
=== Dryads saddle ===
Some dryads create hypernutritious mushrooms called dryad's saddle in semi underground gardens that massively accelerate plant growth.
=== Druidism ===
Dryads have a mutualistic relationship with butterflies, baboons and king cobras. In some cases, they also herd sheep and goats, possibly to graze an area down before creating a grove.  
=== Telegraph danse ===
Hama trees dance to communicate with each other.
=== Treowism ===
Treowism is a phenomenon where in time, some dryads can turn into trees, if their tree is cut down, the trees they turn into bleed blood if cut, but are completely immobile. If in tree form for long enough, a new dryad will emerge in time. They are neighbors of treants, who mostly tolerate each other. Some dryads learn to turn into treants; when the dryad is inside its Hama, the tree takes on morphic features of the dryad inside it and becomes mobile.
=== Leafsheep ===
Some cultures believe that hamadryads are born from blood drops of a credofides. This stems from the fact that goats raised by hamadryads produce milk that can be drunk by deities, these are known as leafsheep.
===Hamadry===
Pronounced Hamadree
Moments where the vegetation grows incredibly fast.
Hamadries are caused by dryads overstimulating seeds in an area that will grow into adult plants (and beyond) much faster than they normally would.
With this ability dryads can create groves rapidly. This is a boon for lumberjacks who will often seek out dryad groves to cut down the woods around its tree.
Hamadries are a geological hazard however, as dryad groves will invade and destroy local ecosystems as well as modify weather patterns, and root systems will destroy the undergrowth, sometimes to the point of causing minor weltquakes.
===Grovewood===
Wood from dryad groves keep growing unless the dryads are dead or sufficiently far away from the dryad. Dryad tree lumber is extremely high quality, being resistant to pests, water damage and rot.
This means that wood is a completely renewable resource if the dryad remains nearby. However the harvesting of the wood is a constant source of pain for the dryad.
=== Forest loom ===
The forest loom is the communication system between the trees of a hamadryads grove. Chopping down one tree causes all the woods to know, prompting the arrival of dryads to neutralize the intruders. This protection does not spread to other plants, only the trees are protected by the dryad.
==Culture==
=== Chory ===
Hamadryads are the biggest proponents of Chory, which is observed by the immense majority of them.
==True and false dryads==
Dryads have several subspecies with different traits. And are classified as either true or false dryads.
===True dryads===
A true dryad is defined as a fauna-flora organism where the tree (or plant) and the mobile organism both contain the essential organs for the whole to function, and as such both the dryad and the plant die should one die.
===False dryads===
A dryad is considered false when the mobile or immobile organism can survive the loss of the other. When the plant contains the essential organs for the whole to function it is considered a Floric Dryad.
====Floric dryads====
A floric dryad is a type of false dryad where the Hama is the vital organism, and can have one or several Dryads linked to it.
A floric dryad is defined as an organism where the Hama (a tree or plant) contains the essential organs for the whole to function while the dryad is a mobile extension of the plant used for various functions such as photosynthesis or pollination.
Floric Dryads are believed to be an avatars of their plant, meaning they will regenerate regularly unless their plant is killed.
It isn't unheard of that the Hama organism can have several dryads linked to it.
====Faunic Dryads====
While the term "Faunic" is a misnomer, since dryads are all considered plants, a faunic dryad is defined as an organism where the Dryad is the physical body that contains the essential organs for the whole to function and the Hama serves as extensions of the Dryad. The Hama serving various functions such as shelter, defense against predation, and/or nourishment via photosynthesis.
A faunic dryad isn't linked to a single tree, rather it will seek to create groves of Hama trees in order to have greater access to the resources it requires to live. Faunic dryads are strategic in their gardening, positioning their Hamas near sun patches, rivers, and access points to better survey and protect their territory.
Unlike Floric dryads, faunic dryad Hamas do not necessarily reflect the Dryads morphic aesthetic, and there can be several root species linked to a single faunic dryad. Up to three different root organisms have been observed, usually with traits useful to the dryad.
==Sentient dryads==
Irregardless of their Faunic or Floric nature, some dryads are sentient, and are often a part of cosmopolitan societies.
===Ghyllie-Nymph Dryads===
Ghyllie-Nymphs are one of the most common forms of faunic dryad and appear as anthropomorphic women (Nymphs), or as masses of vegetation (Ghillies). These dryads are the most diverse, some create their own civilizations deep within forests alongside their own cosmopolitan society of dryads, elves, treants, trolls and other deep forest dwellers.
==Non sentient or quasi sentient==
===Dryataur===
Resemble centaurs, these creatures would qualify as animals if they were not curious and friendly towards outsiders of their groves. Dryataurs are often found exploring the forests where they grow, and are typically linked to large bushes such as blackberry or dogwood. They are often the source of quite a fright when they rush out of their bushes at the approach of something that catches their attention. They often live in herds that run through the woods, dispersing seeds as they go. While not opposed to company, they never last long in civilized society and quickly return to their forests.
They make use of their nimbleness and surprising ability to navigate forested terrain in combat. They hide in bushes and throw tiredness inducing poison spears at their targets before running off.
===Houridryad===
Dryads that act like an insect colony, they will create groves and restore plantlife in previously barren or deserted areas.
A unique species of floric dryad that functions as a eusocial superorganism (not unlike hymenoptera) a Houridryad serving as a de facto "queen" to a colony of castes with specialized roles such as cultivators, midwives and herders.
Houridryad queens are bonded to a certain tree, and later a grove, while other Houridryads are simply the indwelling entity of a tree. If the tree should die, the Houridryad associated with it would die as well. Houridryad are often found in the deepest forests for this reason.
Houridryad drones help plants grow and flourish, but only the queen can produce seeds of plants and make the forest grow. In addition, any tree inhabited by an Houridryad can produce dryads, creating a cycle of growth for the Houridryad colony.
Houridryad Drones can leave their forests to forage or farm, while the queen cannot without quickly withering and wilting rapidly.
Houridryad workers have strange biological abilities, they can transmute most liquids into honey, they also sweat musk and spit honey.
===Heliotropidryad===
A prime example of a Floric dryad, Heliotropidryads are the extensions of Hamas who live in sun starved environments. The dryads act as mobile flowers, whose role is to go out and take in sunlight. Anatomically, they are hollow skins filled with stamen and pollen, and pollinate each other by kissing. The dryads appear as either male or female flowers. They don’t appear to be sentient, they will flee unless someone or something is in their favored sun spot, where they will deploy thorns all over their body and hug the intruder until it bleeds out and dies. Their Hama however is sentient, and so communication can be established with the Heliotropihama.
===Capridryad===
A species of Faunic dryad that resemble caprinomorphs. Dryads of this species have two horns that can be used in powerful healing potions.
The horns are often poached, where hunters will cut them off and the dryad is sold into slavery.
===Paguroideadryad===
Kleptoplastidic Faunic Dryad that uses trees as sustenance and shelter once the tree dies or can no longer house the growing dryad, it seeks another tree to bond to. Considered pests by sylvicultors.
===Ceredryad===
Summoned by a ritual that involves local farmers seeding fields ensuring an ample harvest. When they arrive, the farmers give them their gametes in order for the Ceredryads to later reproduce and to fuel their magic to make nature grow. Their presence causes flowers to bloom, and they are considered a type of succubus given their reliance on outside gametes in order to reproduce.
==Dryad factions and individuals==
===Obstetridryad===
A floric dryad who poses as a babysitter in population centers, where it abducts babies to feed them to its Hama tree.
===Calydrads===
Main article: The Sunthief Forest
Calydryads are a Floric Dryad faction that serve Caly Sunthief, a forest lord whose quest to return previously barren lands to green ended in tragic success and the creation of the Sunthief forest.
Category:Dryads
Category:Hamadryads
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Category:Botany
Category:Flora and Fungi of Welt