Dryad

Dryads have no traditional tattoos or piercings, so a wide variety of
artistic bodily expression can be found on dryads. Still, most dryadic
jewelry or body art tends to follow themes found in nature, so flowers,
animalistic prints, and exotic fauna exist as common themes for dryadic
tattoos. For jewelry, piercings often take the form of flowers or
seashells while bangles and necklaces mimic vines, snakes, or weather
representations. Dryads suffer from such a lack of roots that they do
not have a traditional form of dress. Luckily, most dryads possess a
flair for color and coordination.

Unlike other humanoids, dryads have no male counterparts, and no infant
dryad has ever been seen. They possess no navels, only a simple dimple
where other species once had an umbilical cord which attached them to their
mothers' wombs. Over the centuries, scholars and historians have tried
repeatedly to discover the "birth" rituals of dryads, but so far, no one
has succeeded, including other dryads. Dryads have no memories of giving
birth or how they came to be. Theories exist that dryads spawn from trees
as toddlers, but no one has ever seen this occur.

During the growing and harvesting seasons, some dryads still gather for the
Rites of Creation, which differs from area to area. The rites, however,
have several common themes, suggesting that all dryads once took part in
this ceremony. All the rites involve decorating themselves with ribbon or
jewelry depicting the four elements of Creation. Song and dance serve as
integral parts of the ceremonies as well, but the variations across the
world are innumerable. Some of the rites are solemn affairs while others
are joyous festive ones. In some of the darkest, most remote regions of
the world, rumors exist of dryads who worship and pay tribute to a
mysterious fifth element. These dryads have skin that is ebony black with
sprinkles of white, like stars twinkling in the night sky. Most historians
write those accounts off as pure myth and conjecture.

Sadly, many dryads die as toddlers in the forest, and those that manage to
survive do so without a family. Some, though, manage to find good homes
whether it be by luck, fate, or design. Childless couples of other races will often
wander through various forests, hoping to find a lost dryad child to adopt.
Slave traders will go as far as to set traps for these children, but very
rarely will they catch an actual dryad. More often than not, the slavers
tend to catch unwanted children who have been abandoned in the woods. Due
to the number of myths that surround dryadic children, several families who
have unwanted children abandon them in forests in hopes that others may
want them. Most of these children die within a few weeks of being left,
but some do manage to survive. Not all of these lost children are female,
and thus, tales of male dryads abound.

Almost all dryads declare an affiliation, either publically or privately,
to a plant of some sort. Most pick a flower of some sort and interweave
that theme into their lives. Some take flower names while other simply
decorate everything they own with variations of the plant. This behavior
seems to be a compulsion for almost all dryads. Perhaps it is the only
link to what they once were.

### History

Rumor has it that dryads were once nature spirits associated with trees,
forests, and even water plants. They nurtured and guarded the forests from
those who would destroy or disrespect it. Then, when an ancient nature god
disappeared, dryads became trapped in their humanoid form and permanently
separated from their trees. Quite possibly, some dryads were forever
trapped within their trees and unable to manifest into humanoid form, but
no one has any means to support that theory.

During the Sundering, dryads completely lost their ability to commune with
the forests that were once their home. Some clung to their old ways and
remained in the forest, eking what they could out of their surroundings.
Many others gravitated towards the cities and towns for protection and
survival. The dryads became a race that had lost all of its roots, and so
their culture was diluted by the mainstream. Rumors abound, however, of a
group of dryads that still retain many of the lost abilities. They are
known simply as the Nemian Colony, but no one living in cities can admit to
having actually met this group of dryads. Those who seek the Colony rarely
return.

Throughout the period after the Sundering, many dryads have played
prominent roles in shaping the world as it is today. The famous Cactus
Gardens of Chemer were established by a dryad married to an old Chemerite
warlord who ruled the city briefly over a thousand years ago. King Rand
supposedly had a healer in his service who was a dryad. Many claim that
she was also his lover and that she saved his life more than once. As a
final act of love, she reportedly drained a virulent poison from King Rand
and took it into her own body, sacrificing herself so that he could live.
Her name has never been written in the annals of history, but King Rand
often visited a grave under an old willow tree. He always brought an
armful of lilies to the site. His coat of arms sports two lilies clasped
in the claws of a griffin.

SEE ALSO: Races