Treants

Treants are a rarely seen and mysterious race, and the oldest race on Tellus. Their records date back to a time before even the drakes and the Sporemind, and for millions of years, they were the only sapient beings in the realm. Most people would describe the treants as walking trees, but this is inaccurate. The treant is actually a fungus infecting the tree. This fungus is sapient, and uses the tree as a vessel. Infected trees serve as bodies for the treants, who are helpless without one. They can infect any species of tree, but seem to prefer smaller deciduous species. Once inside a tree, a treant has full control of the tree’s functions in addition to adding its own. It can use branches as arms, roots as legs, and its knots as a face. The rearranged knots allow treants to see, hear and speak. While they were once found throughout the world, their numbers have begun to drop for unknown reasons. They are talented with magic, almost a match for the weaker races of fay. They are generally regarded as wise, in part due to their biological immortality and obsessive keeping of knowledge. They keep this knowledge in hidden libraries full of scrolls, scattered across the planet. While they are pacifists in any other situation, they will not hesitate to kill those who threaten their libraries. Their knowledge is written in Woodscript, an ancient system of hieroglyphics that serve as the basis for the orcish language. Despite their rarity, they do not distrust the godborn races, and have had a representative in the Conclave of Dragonroost since 57 ACF.