Dryad

Dryads are tree-related nymphs that have the ability to morph into trees and sometimes, other plants. Some varieties are able to make plants grow within seconds. Their connection is the strongest out there to nature, and are the best nature casters in the known world. Small, intelligent, and willingness to grow has gained them a positive reputation among other species.

""A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.""

- - old greek proverb

Overview
A very common species and well known to exist, however, hide in the forests and gardens so aren’t fond of being seen. Their green shades and brown patches make them the ideal for camouflage and if they intended not wanting to be seen, they can easily shield themselves using magic.

They have been said to have existed from primal times, before sentient life since they drive from plant based life. However, they have no intent of keeping history or history that most species know, for however complex they are they have always kept the goal of survival and only that as a key priority. Everything else is second priority.

Personality
Though intelligent and a strong sense of consciousness, Dryads are often numb to personality as it does not contribute much to survival. However, it has been a staple that Dryads are kind and nurturing, language and song are often used to sooth animals and creatures, and their song is reserved prayer. To other species, they are found to be more cold and logical than feeling, however, if that individual is worthy of respect then the Dryad will treat them more correctly.

All Dryads will have differing degrees of hostility, kindness and empathy due to sub species deviation as well as differing mindsets. It isn’t uncommon to find an overly kind Dryad or a hyper aggressive Dryad, but it should be noted all the same.

Most Dryads are very strong willed when it comes to saving life or fighting passionately to save the environment. Males are known to be often more closed minded and sloth like when it comes to duties, however, females are more open to other opinions and relatively active. But throughout their merits, they are rather stuck in their ways: they have no real intention to build more than basic shelters, no attitude to invent, nothing that would invoke a deep curiosity, they live for life and others, nothing more.

Religion
With how Dryads are - worship is a fleeting thought for many, and they are very content with their life as it is, by their own morals without divine intervention. Many of them show little interest in other religions, but do worship things of their own.

Many believe the Dryads worship the Sun itself - the giver of life, and while many are unsure if it in itself is a deity, they do this to show gratitude and to ground themselves and appreciate the energy they have been given. And in turn - they too worship the Moon, a feminine reflection of the Sun’s strong light. Many Dryads worship Lyrassel and the forests more genuinely than they do the sun, since many strongly believe in the existence of them more so than a Sun God.

Despite their own beliefs, they do not discriminate or despise other kinds of religious talks if presented. They may not listen genuinely - but if asked to help construct a small, temporary worshiping place for their own Gods - they will happily aid them, if they are kind, and close to the Dryad.

Biology
Unlike many species, Dryad's adapted to different climates and plants from ancient times and over the ages, all subspecies have refined their adaptation to the extreme. Since the world has so many factors and new types of Dryad’s being discovered all the time, it is near impossible to categorize them all. However, here are some basic traits:

Dryads will serve other plants and their own well being so their traits will reflect that: in an area full of aggressive grazers, Dryads will be more suited for more offensive capabilities or if the area is desert like, Dryads will have water reserves and hardened skin against the sun.

There, the most common and the most likely a traveler will come across is a mild or temperate Dryad. Their body is patched with wooded armour, small water reserves as well as long hands for digging (a trait for gardening well).

A male Dryad is often much more mellow than the Female of their species. Females are born humanoid - with the capacity to disguise themselves within the trees, however Males are usually born within the plants themselves. Males are much more mellow and have a quieter lifestyle - oftentimes hibernating within them for centuries at a time, before being awoken to mate and raise children - using their humanoid forms for a short while -  if only to return to hibernation shortly after.

Male Dryads are almost never seen by others - with their quiet and sleeping through hundreds of years without care - and it is why many believe that Dryads are a purely female species.

Diet and Habitat
Dryads will spend one to four hours sitting in the sun and getting energy from that, similar to how a plant gets its energy. The only other component a Dryad needs is water, though it isn’t uncommon to find Dryads who can filter out sea water; most Dryads get their fresh water from the rain. In communities, there are standard sunning spots and a collection of sorts where rain water can drip in for anyone to use.

Fruits or crops grown by Dryads are typically used for trading or domestic pets and creatures a Dryad can keep.

Dryads favor land as the sea provides very little in terms of sunlight and usable water, they will gravitate to places like lakes and rivers however aren’t always easy to find. Anywhere there is alot of plant life, soil and typically no large predators is a Dryads home. But there are always exceptions, life can spring in the most difficult of circumstances and the Dryads follow.

Age
Dryads will typically live between 100 to 1000 years old with males typically living longer as they are less active. There is a large difference in age due to Dryads being a variety in sub species, so some Dryads tend to live much less because there isn’t much sunlight or are based in plants that don’t live that long. Elder Dryads are typically ones surrounded by the forests, where great trees live on for centuries.

Abilities
Dryads have a potency with plant life, and can often control and manipulate plant life in small, short bursts. Their energies are vast and plentiful, and can allow them to funnel into plants in order to help guide them to life. Many of them often use their magic to construct gardens and safe havens for wildlife - or a home for themselves. Some Dryads are noted to be able to produce some smaller elements - like kindling small, palm sized fires, or to produce water from humidity in the air.

Others may be able to produce or secrete poison, depending on their species of plant, and others can enhance sections of their bodies in order to create defenses such as thorns, or thicker plating of bark for armor.

These creatures only really have one or two abilities - and are rarely used for anything other than defense, or to attract mates and create homes.

Dating
Not being able to find a mate is considered a failure as there can be no means of passing on life, which is the goal of nature. Hence why you don’t see differing orientations in Dryad relationships. However, unlike plants, Dryads will mate for life and stay loyal to that.

Females will be the ones that try to attract males as it’d benefit the species that the more active gender creates the necessary rituals to attract the opposite gender.

During mating season, usually between the seasons of late spring and early summer, the female intending to mate (note that Dryads will have an instinctual pull towards this ritual, however it can be resided if the female wants to), will go towards a large body of water. Through magic and skill, the female Dryad will try to create a garden or area full of life that looks impressive and grandiose. With enough success, a male Dryad will notice or feel the garden and go towards it.

If the answer is acceptance, the male dryad will exchange a leaf, or blossom from his morphed form with the female. (An example would be an apple dryad exchanging an apple blossom with an oak leaf from an oak dryad.) They attach these tokens and keep them on their person at all times, keeping them alive and well all the while. To allow it to die would be a large insult. If rejection is the answer, the male dryad will remain in hibernation or hiding. It is not impossible, though it is uncommon for these nymphs to also mate with humans.

It is up to the Dryad if they wish to build a shelter in the female made garden or move elsewhere. Once a secure location is set, a special seed is set as a result of mating, and will be taken care of by both parents. A protective cage of leaves grows near the seed in a ring like fashion and then covering itself in a dome, the Dryad within the dome grows and when fully grown it blooms to reveal the infant within. The child is then raised as normal as a parent would raise a child.

Normally, the seed will only produce one child as more than one puts strain on the resources the parents have available to them. However, double domes do happen albeit rarely; when this happens the parents must provide double the sunlight and double the water, the twins are not any different from single born infants; though they are known to have golden eyes and small enhancements to their magic when near each other.

Children
Gender will not be fully determined until teen-hood so the parents will teach their children a variety of things: the father will generally teach wood magic, fortification, general knowledge of the world. The mother will teach fighting techniques magic or otherwise, logical thinking, and other species. The child in its early stages is fragile as it hasn’t grown wooden defenses nor a strong skeletal root layer, there’s for it is standard protocol to not let the child wander out of the shelter until the parents feel the child is safe. Dryad children are notorious for being inconsistent in personality, through childhood to adulthood they will have drastic changes in them as they grow and differ. They are also known to be fast learners in their younger years and slow learners in their older years for an unknown reason.

At the age of 10 their gender will fully reveal to be either female or male and will steer towards those gender traits, as age 20 they are considered a fully fledged adult and now ready to depart from their parents. Whether they want to stay connected is up to the child, though it is a tradition for the parents to give a part of their plant that the couple proposed to each other with to the child as a parting gift.

Culture
Culture for the Dryads are often circulated off one another and their faith, it is only fitting that in communities teamwork is perceived as extremely positive. In nature, it is common to find plants working together in this world, floods and harsh weathers cause the most aggressive forms of evolution. In Wisteria there are lone plants of which are huge and complex and operate with a brute force, even straggling out it’s own species at times just to preserve its own. A harsh reflection on some extreme Dryad ideals….

However, to combat such harsh environments, plants have leaned into cooperation rather than competition. Small species that would have been washed away in an instant bind their strengths and often create quite the adversary for the lone predator plants.

Dryads have found that community, small or otherwise, will contribute to their joy and survivability. Though their faith is what guides them, brings them power and perhaps purpose; there is no better duty a Dryad can bring, is to plant a seed of which they know, they will never enjoy it’s shade or fruits but rather, the life beyond them that will enjoy it.