Dryad

Dryads are a group of plant-based humanoid species, first sprouting in the simpler Plains and Forest biomes, but have since then proliferated out all across the world. Since spreading out across the world, there have been evolutionary divides where different species have adapted to their environments, resulting in different cultures and diverging biologies.

Creation
Dryads are historically said to first be born from the remains of a burnt forest. While burning, the trees called out to the nature gods and goddesses, and out of determination and spite, conjured enough magical energy to be reborn as more humanoid creatures. These proto-Dyrads, now known as the Dytrae, would be the ancestors of what are now the modern Dryads.

Forest Dryads - Dyrii
The first descendants from the original Dytrae the Dyrii never moved outside of their comfortable zone of the Forests and Plains, and therefore are the closest biologically speaking. Dyrii like most Dryads, are a peaceful people, and live in small tribes of close familial bonds. Their diets often consist of tree sap and different forest berries, and are incapable of ingesting meat. Their plant biology are closest to that of trees, and have lush green skin. Dyrii are around 6' in height. They have long lifespans, living for several hundred years before Returning into plants.

Mountain Dryads - Tellyl
Tellyl hail from the high mountains and have white, snow like tendrils covering their skin in order to hide from predators. They live in small communities comprised of hunters and cultivators. While they do not eat meat, they control the local population of animals in order to not be overwhelmed from predators and competition for plants. Their diets consist of berries and certain, poisonous shrubs. However, after generations of eating aforementioned poisonous shrubs, Tellyl have developed an immunity and a poisonous quality of their own. Tellyl are often similar height to Dyrii also around 6'. Tellyl have very long lifespans, with the eldest of the species living thousands of years before Returning.

Ocean Dryads - Seilhei
Most Seilhei live in large communities in coral reefs, and have a large variety of bright colours that blend perfectly with their environment. However, inside the centre of coral reefs inhabited by colonies of Seilhei is a large circle of bleached coral. This area is a farm of coral where Seilhei will eat. This process occurs by Seilhei biting into the coral and draining the coral of the algae that give the nutrients coral desire. Seilhei are smaller than most other Dyrads, around 5' in height. Seilhei have short lifespans, living up to around 200 years.

Mushroom Dryads - Shieliee
Where death is, Shieliee will follow. Either alone or in small groups, these bite-size (4') Dyrads will often sprout colonies of mushrooms and sleep. Like fungi, they absorb nutrients from decaying organisms. Shieliee often do not make social connections and are solitary creatures. On giant mushroom islands, large colonies of up to hundreds of Shieliee can be found, living off the nutrients that mushrooms provide. Shieliee tend to accidentally spread around in unintentional places when their spores spread through the wind. They have the shortest lifespans out of any Dyrad, living upwards of 100 years.

Desert Dryads - Leidrie
Perhaps the largest group of Drayds in terms of population, Leidrie seek to colonise deserts by creating an intricate network of converting oases into cactus farms. As the desert is very inhospitable to plantlife, Leidrie initially had a very difficult time surviving the dry and scorching wasteland. The Leidrie relied on the high water content of cacti in order to survive, and as such, has altered entire ecosystems through hybridization and irrigation, to allow cacti to grow exponentially. They also developed more polygamous relationships in order to ensure the survival of families, however this tradition has become less of a necessity and more of a custom. Liedrie typically have muted brown skin, and are taller in height (6'3) on average. They have slightly longer lifespans, the eldest of which can live up to a millenium.

Jungle Dryads - Eydrie
Living in small tribes of up to 20, Eydrie decided to adapt to the constant competition for nutrients and sunlight in the lush and enveloping jungles by burning parts of the jungle away and using the ashes as seasonings to their dishes. Unlike other Dryads, Eydrie are almost exclusively carnivorous, being split into groups of hunters and arsonists. They are much more hostile than other Dryad sub-species, as early attempts to tame and befriend creatures of the jungle were unsuccessful and lead only to death. Eydrie have a deep green skin, and are much smaller than the average Dyrii (4'5). They have average lifespans, living only a few centuries, however, instead of Returning as most Dryads do, Eydrie instead turn into flames.

Frost Dryads - Meyderlie
Meyderlie are ponderous, hulking beings, spending a large portion of their lifespan in hibernation from the everlasting winters in the Tundras and Ice Spikes. They will often stay in large groups of up to 100, and some may mistake a colony of Meyderlie to be an actual, albeit incredibly dense forest. They share the body warmth and nutrients from one another, as if they were one being. However, it is possible for a Meyderlie to survive on their own if they are determined enough. They have chartreuse skin, and are the tallest of the Dryads, the biggest of which can reach up to 10' tall. Meyderlie have short lifespans, living up to 200 years.

Undergrowth Dryads - Shylie
After a group of Dryii fell into a ravine, the survivors would become the ancestors of the strange species of Shylie. Part rock along with plant, Shylie often camoflauge into the walls of the caves they inhabit. Along with snacking on glow berries, Shylie will connect a system of roots into the ground, absorbing the nutrients of the area. They often will spread very widely apart, and there will only be a few Shylie living in one cave. They have a lush grey skin, and are the smallest of Dryads, the smallest of which can be the size of an actual rock, however can still grow to be an average Dryad height. They have very long lifespans, living up to over a thousand years.

Crystalgrowth Dryads - Chetlei
Crystalgrowth Dryads are a elusive Dryad sub-species native to the Moon. Due to the overexploitation of resources by Moonfolk civilization, the great crystalgrowth meadows that once covered the light side of the Moon became rarer and rarer, and with them went the Crystalgrowth Dryads. In present time, there are less then 5000 known Crystalgrowth Dryads, although only very few of them made it to the Main World. But with those that made the fall, there is hope for the crystalgrowth meadows, as their impact sites will turn into a small patch of crystalgrowth after their collision.

Decay
Some Dryads can be afflicted with a certain disease known as 'Decay'. While most Dryads will eventually Return to being a plant, Decay interrupts this process, and kills the part of a Dryad's body systems that allows it to take in nutrients. This will give the Dryad a pale white colouring, and an apparent loss of energy. This disease is much less common in Meyderlie, as they all share and process nutrients as a collective rather than an individual.

At the final stages of Decay, an event known as "Blooming" will occur. This involves the afflicted Dryad having white flowers bloom all over their body, before finally crumpling into lifelessness. As such, white flowers are generally considered bad luck by Dryads, and Dryads that have white flowers without Decay are considered cursed.