Dryad

Myconid Subspecies

An example of a Dryad

Dryads are a mystic and magical race of tree-like humanoids sporting very different customs and understandings of the world around them. These creatures are, by far, the most alien of all the other sentient races, taking various different forms amongst themselves and during their lifetime, which to some may seem like it is endless.

## *Anatomy*

At first glance a naive observer could determine a Dryad to be rather similar to the ents from the forest, even though they do not share many of the traits we’d assume from relative species. While they are indeed both plants-like, the biggest factor Dryads share with the Ents is the magical sap flowing through their bodies, however, differently from the Ent, a Dryad’s capacity of producing new sap never truly breaks down, as explained in the life cycle section.

Dryads usually reach the common height of 6’5”, this however, as for any species isn’t the norm. Dryads are a malleable people, thus being able to take shapes resembling almost any **plant life** out there. The smallest recorded dryads resembled flowers, standing at about 3’2”. Some Dryads may seem to imitate wood on their outside, however what is seen outside is some sort of bark, which acts as skin. It is not nearly as resistant as actual wood is, thus, being able to be cut or pierced with just a little bit more strength applied than human skin and muscle.

All Dryads also possess all five senses, those being: sight; hearing; smell; taste and touch, however, none of these senses are neither better or worse than the common races, nor do they seem to decay with age, more than that, Dryads also have a sixth sense of sorts, being able to feel places with **GREAT** magical power due to their sap also being of magical nature.

Dryads do not have a need for food as the common races do, however some forms of Dryad may indeed consume some kinds of food as to enhance their diet a little more. What these strange creatures DO require however is water, to both keep them alive and to recuperate them from tiredness, since they do not sleep. The plant-like humanoids are able to attune themselves to a certain mancy if they choose to, as any other race would, however, neither carnomancy nor herbomancy seems to affect them as one would expect, meaning a Dryad cannot be altered by neither Carnomancy nor Herbomancy. Dryads CAN be affected by Necromancy.

While dryads don't contain physical lungs or a respitory system that does not mean they can't drown. Dryads have very permeable skin, meaning liquids leach into it much easier than other races. This means that every minute a dryad is submerged they are taking in water. The sap that flows through a dryad is impermeable to water, and so the water will actually push the sap out of the dryad over a long period of time. This process takes around 6 OOC minutes before a dryad would "drown". Dryads also much like humans can not exceed certain depths, as the pressure would crush them like an aluminium can under a boot.

## Life Cycle

Dryads seem to have an interesting life cycle, while their average lifespan in humanoid form seems to be about 150 to 200 years, after that, the way their sap is produced slowly changes, and their sap slowly loses its magical properties. Because of that, the Dryad slowly starts undergoing a few changes, becoming a slower creature, growing larger, and eventually stopping altogether, growing roots on the floor below them if possible. Over a few more years, what was left of the dryad fully becomes a tree.

Their consciousness, their soul is gone to wherever it must be, and all that remains is what previously was the body of said Dryad, which remains as a tree resembling the Dryad itself. This tree then goes on to live… indefinitely, however it is not a normal tree by any means, for at least once during its ridiculously long lifetime, said tree will produce anywhere from one to five seeds, which will fall on the ground below it and give origin to new Dryads.

## *History*

For centuries, if not since the beginning of Azura, dryads had co-existed with the much less civilized Ents, these two races even developed a near-legendary system of cooperation, as the much more intelligent dryads would often lead and assist the Ents away from danger.

During the creation of Dormia, the race of smaller tree people parted ways with the Ents in search of more information and intelligent civilization, unlike the far less advanced ents they lived with for so many years. To this day, Dryads can be seen anywhere, always travelling in search of discovering the secrets of society, and the intelligence of other races. They seem intrigued by the common races just as much as the common races are intrigued by them. Like their much larger counterparts, the Dryads seem to grow wiser and more intelligent through inspecting their surroundings over the years, but unlike ents, they can be educated and seem to be naturally intelligent.