Dryads

*Found in the lost journal of an unknown researcher:*

"Beautiful. Immortal. Aliens. Goddesses. These are some of the few words that come to mind when people think of Dryads. Legends told over ale cups from drunken adventurers, returning from portals in the first world, who tell of dryads and their strange, exotic, deadly allure.

Dryads are all of these things, but there are more to them than meets the eye.

Indeed, as usual, simply following the myths and legends of these exotic creatures was not enough for me, and so I ventured into the First World, along with my usual companion, and we set out to discover the truth of these creatures. That was 7 months ago. It has been a long and dangerous, but ultimately rewarding journey.

The first thing, in fact, the only thing, many will note about Dryads is their hypnotic beauty. They appear almost to be half elves, and perfect specimens thereof. Every dryad is female and there do not appear to be any males of the race. They move with a lithe and sinuous grace like that of a great cat, a constant reminder that they are the apex predator of their territory. And their beauty...it’s so absolute that only the world “Goddess” seems to describe them accurately. Whatever one’s preference is, the eye is instantly drawn to the part of them which encompasses that preference, and automatically ignores the others, as though it were a blind spot. They are so beautiful, that a smart man or woman is instantly on their guard.

They should be. Dryads are as primal as they are beautiful. And I mean that in every sense of the term. There is a reason that I mentioned they are the apex predator of their region. They are also dangerously intelligent, showing a childlike curiosity in everything new to them. A curiosity which encompasses everything. Down to how said new thing tastes.

For you see, Dryads have no sense of right or wrong. They do not understand morality, for they were never raised with it. They will lie with anything humanoid near them if they get the urge, caring not for gender, age, or race. If they are hungry, they will eat whatever they find nearest to them. And they are always hungry after they mate\*.

That isn’t to say there is no precedent for dryads learning morality. Dryads that live near portals to the first world often have a passing knowledge of morality, usually put in them by a cleric of some good deity or another. That is not to say that they understand that morality, only that killing humanoids will eventually bring the wrath of civilization upon them, usually by some group of adventurers.

Though civilization is also a nebulous force to them. They don’t understand it. Dryads count only others of their kind as equals, and dryad trees don’t tend to grow close to one another. So their bonds are only with the few other dryads that they have contact with, relationships that are best described as that of a close acquaintance. A …..very close acquaintance.

During my visit I became aware of a rare type of Dryad. One that is bonded to livingwood. The rareness of the wood itself means that dryad specimens of such are incredibly infrequent to come across. But they exist. Such dryads often make tools of their trees, often modeled after that of some erstwhile adventurer, which allows them to stray farther afield, and even rarely into the material plane. Their natural curiosity drives them to learn and discover more and more, everything they can. Such dryads soon find themselves in a new world, where they are surrounded by unnatural customs and seen as alien. They soon either adapt or, more often, die.

Overall, Dryads are fascinating creatures, more fascinating than even the tales of adventurers could impart. My studies of them complete, I will take the opportunity of my location to make an attempt to study closer the elusive bandersnatch."