Wilden

**Primary language** | Common, Elven

The **wilden** emerged from the unspoiled reaches, ancient bogs, and primeval forests of the Feywild. Awakened to fight the growing corruption plaguing the land, they strive to restore the natural order and to purge aberrant horror from the world.

## Description and homelands

Wilden are fey creatures with plantlike characteristics. Their bones are hardwood, and their supple, barklike skin trails into viny tendrils and a cloak of leaves, which drapes across the back.

Within each wilden lies nature’s spirit, and all can manifest this spirit in different forms called aspects. Each aspect triggers a physical transformation, reflecting the purpose for which the wilden were created. A wilden in the aspect of the ancients has eyes and leaves of stark white. In the aspect of the destroyer, jagged spurs break through the wilden’s skin, and his or her eyes darken to a lustrous black. The hunter’s aspect camouflages a wilden’s body with alternating green and brown patterns, while his or her eyes take on a bright emerald color.

As wilden age, their bodies move through the seasons. Young wilden are like trees in spring, filled with life and vigor, their bodies a rich green hue. In the summer phase, a wilden’s body is brown or tan, having reached its full size and stature, while its cloak of leaves remains vibrant green. Wilden in the autumn phase undergo a profound change, their skin darkening as their leaves turn color to fiery reds, yellows, and oranges. Finally, the winter phase heralds the end of a wilden’s life, as the body grows thinner and the wilden’s leaves wither and fall. A typical wilden lives more than a century.

## Overview

The wilden are a race in its infancy. Wilden believe that they awoke to meet a threat moving across the Feywild and into the world: the rising power of the Far Realm and its incursions into the rest of the known universe, in the form of aberrant creatures.

Central to wilden existence are nature's three aspects: the keeper of ancient secrets, the destroyer, and the hunter. As keepers of ancient secrets, wilden act as stewards, preserving the land against any who would defile it. The destroyer aspect is nature's fury incarnate—the destruction embodied by hurricanes, tornadoes, and lightning strikes. Finally, the aspect of the hunter seeks out and eradicates aberrant corruption, containing the taint of aberration before it can spread.

Individuality has no place in a wilden's life. Male and female wilden display differences in personality and appearance, but all wilden regard themselves as being parts of a greater whole. When speaking of themselves, wilden tend to speak in the plural, using "we" instead of "I."

As a new people, the wilden lack any grudges toward other races, or indeed any history of interaction with other races. Most wilden are curious, eager to learn about other societies, beliefs, and cultures. Wilden might adopt the values of other races as their own, informing their outlooks based on those of the races they interact with the most.

Wilden experience dramatic shifts in personality when they assume their aspects. They become introspective, thoughtful, and cautious when in the aspect of the ancients, aggressive in the aspect of the destroyer, and secretive and withdrawn while in the aspect of the hunter. Wilden learn to control these tendencies over time, but the transformation can be jarring to those around them.

Even as wilden shape their beliefs through exposure to other cultures, they maintain that their purpose is to secure the Feywild and the natural world from harm. Wilden who worship gods venerate deities who cherish nature, such as Corellon, Melora, and Sehanine. Wilden also honor the primal spirits.

The wilden have no kingdoms or even cities, but they regard all of nature as their home. Where they do congregate, they gather in small communities where the borders between the Feywild and the natural world are thinnest. The wilden live in harmony with nature, so even in these settlements, it is difficult to distinguish where the wilderness leaves off and the community begins.

## Background

Here are background elements for wilden.

* **Born of Ruin**: You were born in a place defiled by the Far Realm. You might have been born to wilden parents, or simply emerged from the dying plant life at the edges of the defilement. Perhaps you hope to return there and purge that place of its corruption when your power is great enough. Or perhaps there is no hope for it, and you can strive only to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring elsewhere.
* **Hunted**: Something seems to know of you-- and to want you dead. Destruction has followed you for your entire life, and the fact that you are alive seems to be proof that you are being preserved for some greater purpose. Are aberrant monsters drawn to try to destroy you? Is there a widespread cult devoted to a Far Realm overlord that seeks to kill you? Or is there simply a curse on you that brings destruction to everyone and everything you love?
## Trivia and notes

* The wilden have low-light vision.
* The wilden are one of the many playable races in *Dungeons & Dragons*.
## Credits

* The content on this article was originally from Dungeons & Dragons 4 Wiki.