The Draead (singular draea, pronounced DRAY-add and DRAY-uh) are a race of half-fae treefolk. Draead are uniquely long-lived, making even the elves seem young in comparison; in fact, it is not entirely certain whether a draea actually can die of old age. Some scholars believe that the eldest draead were around at the beginning of time itself. This is not an easily verifiable fact, however, as elder draea can be quite inscrutable.

Draeac life is divided into several stages. They begin life as seedlings, rooted to the earth and no more sentient than any other tree. During this time, they must be carefully cared for. When a draea begins to form a sentience, it becomes a sapling. Saplings are still rooted to the ground, but are more hardy and can begin learning from their caretakers.

After the sapling stage, a draea becomes a dryad. This is a unique point in draeac life, as dryads are unusually capricious and love exploring. Even in this stage, however, draea seem slow and ponderous to most others. The dryad stage can left for decades or even centuries, and is ended more by a shift in attitude more than anything.

At some point, a draea’s wanderlust and curiosity die off, and they long to return to their home grove. At this point, they have become caretakers. Usually the most able-bodied in the grove, it is left to caretakers to raise the seedlings and defend the grove from incursions. While in the grove, the caretakers tend to root themselves to the ground more frequently as well.

As a result of their frequent rooting, draead grow larger and larger until they begin having trouble moving. They are now called greatwoods, and it is ultimately the last real classification of their life cycle. Greatwoods continue growing larger and larger, and speak less and less. At first, they teach and provide guidance to seedlings, but eventually it comes to a point where they are no longer able to move safely on their own at all.

At that point, the greatwoods retreat to the center of the grove, to join the collective of all their elders. The heart of a draeac grove may contain hundreds of draead each millenia old. These draead speak rarely, and usually only amongst themselves; the youngest among them is given the task communicating with petitioners. Only other draead may talk with them, however; all others will be ignored no matter how pressing the matter.

Needless to say, most people only ever meet the dryads, and thus most believe the draead are all similar to dryads. Dryads have shape changing abilities, and can root themselves to the ground and assume the appearance of any tree native to their current locale. When in their humanoid form, their bodies are sleek and, curiously, feminine in shape, covered in bark with delicate fingers.

Cascades of leaves fall behind the dryads like hair; usually these leaves are green, but when they are sad or despairing the leaves turn brown and when the dryad is angry or excited they turn the fiery colors of autumn.

Encounters with the Draead

It should be needless to say that greatwoods can provide an invaluable source of information on ages past. Securing their aid, however, can prove to be exceedingly difficult. It would be necessary for the characters to first ingratiate themselves with a dryad or caretaker and get it to ask on their behalf; even then, it may still prove difficult to get an answer.

Most draead are basically good creatures; their entire society is based on the concepts of community, extended family, and dependence on others. As a result, dryads are quite willing allies when it comes to helping and protecting people. In addition, their knowledge and skills could prove very valuable, particular in wilderness settings.

Note: My apologies if this post is not up to my usual par. Didn’t have a chance to write this until 11 PM, knocked it out in half an hour, and don’t have time at the moment to re-read it for spelling and grammar. In particular, I’m sure I messed up the draea/draead thing a couple times. Damn me and my affinity for non-standard pluralizations! If I can, I’ll try to go back tomorrow and fix it up.