Treants

Treants are a race of tree-beings who live in The Amber Forest on the west side of Minareth in Baobab, a city of trees. They are descendants of Ents, and they form a simple civilization with a population of about 10,000. As trees are not confrontational, the Treants do not provoke any aggression from the outside world, but even though they live peacefully, they do maintain a military just in case anyone wants to cut or burn down the forest. In fact the Treants have managed to maintain 2000 years of peace, and have faded from outsider's knowledge into only a legend of the past.

## History

The Treants are descendants of Ents from all over the continent. 1000 years after the creation the Ents came together to migrate together to a new forest where they would all live together away from the rest of civilization. They made a costly journey across the world to The Amber Forest. Many Ents died or aged into trees on the journey, so only 11 survived all the way to the forest. Upon reaching the forest the Ents regretted the trip, for it had almost made their species extinct.

These last 11 were sure that they would die too, but at the center of the forest there was a deep spring that the Ents drank from. After drinking the water the Ents, didn't harden up and die, but they continued to live. Soon the Ents felt young again. At this point they began to call themselves Treants. In celebration of their rejuvenation, one of the Treants named Fanleaf planted his roots at the opening of the spring that they now called the Deep Spring. Fanleaf grew into the Baobab, and the remaining Treants built a city around the great tree. After the settling of the forest the Treants have lived the same way for thousands of years.

## Class System

The Treants live in six different classes that preform different functions for the society. All rolls are essential to the society. There is no discrimination between classes, but it is understood that some classes are more important than others. Mobility between the classes is possible except where there are genetic differences between the classes.

### Commoners

The Commoners are the backbone of the society. In total they make up about 90% of the total population with about 9,000 common Treants. The Commoner's one main job is to survey the entire forest to check on each and every tree's health, and since each Commoner has the responsibility over 10 square miles of forest, this task takes up all of their time every year. Each sick or dead tree is noted by the Commoners, and at each Drinking Ceremony all of the information is shared so that the overall health of the forest can be assessed.

The Commoners can be promoted to Priests or Ancient Sentinels if there is an open position, but because Cave Dwellers and Emberbarks are genetically different, Commoners cannot become these two.

### Priests

Priests organize and manage the Treants. They compile the data that the Commoners collect from the forest, and, based on the data, they decide how to manage the forest. The Priest's second job is to organize the Drinking Ceremony each year, and to check the purity of the Deep Spring's water.

Priests are all promoted from the Commoner population, but there is only about 100 of them at a time.

### Emberbark

The Emberbark are the warrior class of the Treants. They protect the outer parts of the forest from intruders. Emberbarks are slightly genetically different than Commoners, so they have some added strengths over Commoners. Emberbarks are naturally larger than most other Treants, they have battle tactics pre-programmed into their brains, and they are resistant to fire. Because they are fire resistant, they are known to set themselves on fire in battle to intimidate their foe. Their fire resistance has a practical benefit too because they are able to safely fight fires in the forest.

Their genetic difference prevent Commoners being promoted to Emberbark, and there are about 750 Emberbark protecting the forest.

### Sylvans

The Sylvans are the mage class of the Treants. Sylvans have Lodestones embedded into their bark in order to cast spells, and they are the only Treants that can use magic.

Their magic is used in two ways. They can fight alongside the Emberbarks in battle, and they can use their magic to detect intruders. Most Sylvans spend their time meditating and watching over the entire forest with their magic.

To prevent any corruption of the Deep Spring Sylvans are not allowed to become Priests.

Commoners can be promoted to Sylvans if needed and there are about 100 Sylvans total.

### Cave Protectors

    The Cave Protectors protect the society from any dangers that could wander into the forest from the cave system underneath the forest. Each Protector guards a part of the caves in solitude. There are too few of them to cover all of the caves if they worked together, so they are lonely for most of the year. Their responsibility also covers the underground Lodestone that the Deep Spring flows through.

The Protectors live in the darkness below the roots of Baobab, so they must create energy from their phosphorescent mushrooms. Their genetically unique bodies create these mushrooms for light and energy in the deep caves so that the Protectors do not have to leave the caves except for the Drinking Ceremony.

There are about 50 Cave Protectors, but if a few die it is hard for them to make new ones because Commoners cannot be promoted to Protectors.

### Ancient Sentinels

The Ancient Sentinels are Baobab's guard. They form a ring around Baobab to stand watch. Unlike the Emberbark, the Sentinels do not participate in any battles unless the attackers reach the inner city.

Their bark is much stronger than the other Treant's because Sentinels deprive themselves of Deep Spring water. They only drink a little of the water to force their bodies to start to turn into tree, and this process causes their bark to be stronger and better equipped to defend the city. However, Sentinels mover much slower than other Treants because of their harder wood.

There are usually around 100 Ancient Sentinels at at time, and Commoners can be promoted to Sentinels at any time.

### Elders

    Elders are the ruling class of the Treants who have been living since the beginning of time. They were among the first Ents who migrated across the plains to The Amber Forest. These ancient Treants are the only remaining Ents, and every Treant is a descendent of the Elders.

The Elders record and remember every every event that they can, so they are the Treant's historians. As the ancient history is forgotten in other parts of the world, the Elders remember back to Creation.

Originally there were 11 Elders, but one of them planted his roots and drank hundreds of gallons of Deep Spring water. The water turned him into the the Great Tree at the center of Baobab.

## Daily Life & Family Structure

The Treants spend most of their time doing their assigned tasks which generally involve protecting the forest. Each Treant takes their job very seriously, but during times of peace, their lives are simple and easy. They are often wandering the forest alone, but they talk with each other with their deep voices that travel for miles. If they have any free time they may venture outside of the forest for a few hours at most, but they avoid being seen by any humans or nonhumans.

Treants have only one gender, and it is seen as male. To reproduce the Treants plant seeds in the ground that grow into Treants after 50 years. For the first 100 years of a Treant's life they are known as saplings. After the saplings sprout there is no sense of parental duties from the Treant who gave the seed.