Hierarch

The hierach is highest position within a forest of dryads. They are often also the eldest. They make many of the most important decisions and are usually highly respected by all the other dryads. The position is inherited in most dryad forests.
The hierarch takes council from other elder trees within their forest. This is largely an informal group in most forests, however, in some larger dryad communities or in communities that have close contact with human and other complex polities they formalize this.
It is the responsibility of the hierarch to protect the dryads of the forest, guide the younger dryads on their path and ensure that the forest they inhabit remains healthy and hole. This is a great responsility, but the wisdom handed down by previous hierarchs helps them to fill this position to the best of their ability.
Hierarchs have become spiritual leaders through the eirinist faith of the Olive Tree Dryads. The inhabitants of local villages, witches and other denizens of forests and close to them often seek out these hierachs for their wisdom. They've often watched the world for hundred if not thousands of years.
In the modern world, many hierarchs are much younger than they used to be as many of the older trees were cut down and regrown. This has lead to a massive upheaval within dryad society around the world as much knowledge, wisdom, traditions and rituals were lost in the process. Younger hierarchs have now overtaken leadership with many of the older ones getting towards a hundred years of age. Many of these hierarch took action in allying themselves with other supernatural communities or finding allies within human organizations to protect them. Dryads were heavily involved and ofte crucial in the build up of the green movements in the 1970s and later.

Type

Leadership

Leader of

Dryad Forest
Dryad Wilderness Federation of the Adirondack Mountains

Known Hierarch

Aderines
Aldaria