Dryad

For the new race of Dryads that emerged from Isonhound after 693 PR, see New Dryad.

The Dryads (later known as the Old World Dryads or the Old Dryads) were one of the original six races of Quelmar. They were a race of tree-like nymphs that inhabited forests in Amusa, Osugbo, and Isonhound.

Genocide wiped them out of Isonhound in the late 7th century PR, although at least a handful of Old World Dryads lived on in Amusa, as would be discovered two centuries later. The status of the Osugbo dryad is still unknown

Description

Unlike the New Dryads, who appeared very soon after their ancestors' extermination and had wooden skin and bark-like adornments, Quelmar's original dryad race were much more fey than they were forest, resembling green-skinned elves. These dryads almost always took the form of beautiful (and often unclothed) women, despite not having a true biological gender.

The original dryads reproduced by mating with both males and females of other races that they enticed into their woodlands. Because of these traditional methods, it was possible for dryads to cross-breed with other humanoid races of the realm, leading to the existence of the rare Half-Dryad.

Vulnerability and Evolution

As deforestation and civilization covered the landscape of Quelmar, the seclusive populations of dryads began to dwindle. Though some activists (unsuccessfully) tried to designate sanctuaries for the dryads, their inability to move from their trees meant that death was inevitable when civilization moved in. As populations died, the Dryads had fewer opportunities to reproduce. It was at this time that the link between the Dryad and the home-tree strengthened, and the dryads learned to reproduce through cloning and other botanical means. In return, the natural exterior beauty of the dryads also dwindled. They became more wooden and tree-like over the last decades before their extinguishing.

Disease and Genocide

In the 7th century PR, the last population of Dryads were isolated to small forests in Isonhound. One of these populations, the home forest of Doraleous, was targeted by evil archmage Kleckless Racoba in an act of vengeance against his former student. Brewing up an infectious tree-based virus, he unleashed a genocide on the forests that affected not just the dryads, but also the rest of the plant population. Although Doraleous returned home and slayed Kleckless, it was not in time to save the last of these Old Dryads.

However, members of the The Tempest Brothers Expeditionary Company discovered a group of six Old World Dryads alive in 894 PR, isolated from the devastation by their captivity in the domain of Galik in western Amusa.

Legacy

See New Dryads.