Meadow Dryads
Threat level: Moderate - High
Meadow Dryads are a sub-species of dryad that are known for their abilites to alter the environment around them.
Appearance:
Like all dryads, meadow dryads have the traits of both humans and plants. From the waist up, they appear fairly human-like. Their skin tends to be smooth and a bit on the pale side. Occaisionally small splotches of plant matter will dot their human halves here and there as well. Their hair can come in a wide variety of colors, everything from brown, to green, red, blonde and so on, but paler colorations tend to be more common. The most noticable features of the hair of a meadow dryad though are the flowers. Many flowers, usually of a similar color to the dryad's hair, grow all throughout a meadow dryad's hair. These flowers often fall off on their own, or get blown away by the wind, but new ones soon grow back to replace them.
From the waist down, their bodies resemble the trunk of a tree and are usually covered in dark colored bark, when tends to be a shade of brown or green. Small branches and other plant-like features may grow from the bark, but for the most part, it tends to be fairly smooth to the touch.
Habitat:
Meadow dryads are interesting in the fact that they alter the environment around them to better suit themselves. First the dryad will move into a region, and look for a place to root herself. They prefer the flat, open space of a meadow or clearing (hence, their name), but if one is not readily available, the dryad will make one for herself by using her strong arms, roots and magic (if available) to uproot and move nearby trees to create an open space.
Once an open space is found, or cleared, the meadow dryad will then root herself in, digging her roots into the ground and starting to fan them out. This is the part where their environment altering effects begin to take shape. As the dryad lives there, seeds will grow from, and fall off of her body, spreading out around her in the process. These seeds eventually sprout and begin to grow into small trees, usually with a similar coloration to the dryad who spawned them. Due to the high percentage of meadow dryads with some kind of plant-focused magic, this is the point where most will begin to use their magic to speed up the growth of these trees.
Once these smaller trees have reached full size, the meadow dryad will begin expanding her own rooth system. She carefully ties her roots into the root systems of the dozen or more smaller trees that surround her. Once she is properly linked to them, the dryad can actually draw extra nutriets and nourishment straight from these smaller trees. Given the size of a meadow dryad, and her energy requirements, she can only draw relatively tiny amounts from each tree, but when they are all added up, they make for a nice supplement to the meadow dryad's own photosynthesis.
This does not mean a meadow dryad doesn't have to catch and eat smaller prey of course, it just means that she has a fallback in case of a period of bad hunting or a steady source of extra nourishment so that she doesn't have to eat quite as often.
Another interesting aspect of the process is its effect on the dryad network. Because of the size and complexity of a meadow dryad's root system, or perhaps from some other unknown reason,they seem to act as a kind of node in the network, and can actually expand the nearby dryad Network much further than it normally would reach. There have been cases of isolated dryads suddenly gaining access to the main dryad network after a meadow dryad happened to set herself up in the proper position. There have also been other cases where, at the urging of other dryads on the network, meadow dryads have intentionally rooted themselves in certain spots to help bridge the dryad network to groups of isolated, previously inaccessible dryads.
Abilities:
Beyond the abilites mentioned above, meadow dryads have a fairly normal set of abilites. They can create and maintain illusions, and tend to have an extremely strong affinity for plant-based magic.
Like other dryads, the leaves, petals, saliva and even blood of Meadow Dryads tends to have various special properties. While each meadow dryad is different from one another, there does seem to be a common trend, most of those special properties tend to involve healing of some kind. This fact has made meadow dryads very popular with those who practice the healing arts. Other giants, and even the occaisional brave human, neko or elf, will seek them out to try and get ingredients for various types of medicine.
Hunting Habits:
Even with the extra nutrition coming in from the trees they are tied into, meadow dryads do still need to supplement their diets by catching and eating small animals, even if it is a smaller amount of them than some other dryad species. Prey tends to come to them fairly easily, drawn in by the trees that grow around them (either for the leaves, fruit, or just to take a look at the beautiful scene all those colorful trees can make). Once a meadow dryad decides to eat something, it will usually just grab onto it by thrusting some of its roots through the ground. After the prey has been immobilized, the dryad will drop her illusion, grab the prey and then eat it. Once she is done, her roots retreat back underground and her illusion is turned back on, effectively resetting the trap for whatever else decides to show up next.
Behavior:
All in all, meadow dryads tend to be a fairly pleasent bunch. They can usually get along well enough with just about anyone who treats them decently in return. Because of their healing properties, and how they are often called on to help bridge the network to new regions, they also tend to be fine with helping those who come to them seeking help. There have even been cases of meadow dryads donating parts of their bodies to human healerss after hearing their stories and why they needed the help. While they are by no means harmless to humans and human-sized people, they do tend to be a little less dangerous than other types of dryads. Cases of them actually talking to and getting to know humans are somewhat rare though, since a meadow dryad will usually just keep her illusion up and let any humans she doesn't want to eat pass her by. Sometimes they will drop their illusion and talk though, which can come as a major shock to any humans that may have visited the dryad's meadow many times without even realizing she was there.
Subject: Meadow Dryads 
Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:48 am
