Guardian Trees

"In my memories of my lost land, I can see the once teeming forests of Vanavaan, the flames crawling across the foliage like crimson clouds dancing on the wind. I was there when Hallivan fell, and the great libraries burned. Thousands of years of recorded history, gone forever. Yet in spite of this loss, it wasn't the city that I remember most vividly. It was the silhouette of the great Guardian Trees, black shadows against a burning landscape. To the very end, their hulking frames held back the tide of the Unhallowed as they burned the world. I'll never forget the primeval rage that I witnessed by these creatures. I have no better metaphor for nature fighting back to save itself."

--Jallic Whitecrow, Memoirs of the Fall of Empires

The great guardian trees of Amva Naequa have been written about for generations. While only a few of the great tree survived the Hallowing War, the elves worked to preserve the legacy by replanting the sporelings of the great guardians. The guardian trees were a race of constructs made by the ancient elves of the western coast and used as one of the primary defensive tools for their cities. Effective against siege equipment, troops, and resistant to all but the most punishing damage, the Guardian Trees held at bay numerous invaders throughout their tenure.
When dormant the Guardian Trees appears as oddly shaped trees, appearing to be rooted in place, but more sparse with regards to foliage than their non-sentient counterparts. When activated, the trees will uproot themselves, and orienting themselves into hulking humanoid figures made of natural wooden forms. The guardian trees have no facial features like eyes or mouths, but rather use extrasensory methods to perceive the environment around them. Their deep connection with the natural world allow them to use other flora as secondary sensory organs, to pinpoint locations or targets.

Additional Information

Domestication

Guardian trees are completely domesticated, requiring a magic user to help establish goals and directed tasks. If they have the capacity for self-determination, they do not indulge in it. Guardian trees serve as willing vessels for the will of their elven masters.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The most common and prevalent example of guardian trees can be found in the city of Amva Naequa. Protecting the Palace of Leaves and the great walls of the city, are the oldest and most renowned of the guardian trees and their ancestors. Sparse pockets of these beings are found in other locales such as Ulen Allanar, but are less prevalent.

Average Intelligence

Guardian trees are not considered to be fully sentient creatures. While they are alive, and have a level of perception regarding self and others, they have never been witnessed to exhibit higher-order functions like cultural achievements, social interactions, or self-expression. The guardian trees fall somewhere between an baser animal, running on pure instinct, and higher-functioning constructs like elementi. Largely, guardian trees serve at the whim of their elves adjutants and largely ignore one another unless engaged in goal-directed tasks requiring cooperative effort with other guardian trees.

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Guardian trees communicate with their elven masters through a telepathic bond. Elven magic users are paired with a specific guardian tree, or clutch of guardian trees, and use telepathic commands to issue instruction to the constructs. When engaged in cooperative tasks, guardian trees have been witnessed to utilize a specialized form of language that is unique to their species. These trees use a rhythmic cacophony of creaking limbs and rustling of foliage to communicate specifically action-oriented commands and requests. The phenomenon is extremely difficult to understand for other sapient species, even after years of study, and the meaning of each rustle and creak must be assessed fro pitch, duration, quantity of sounds, successive patterns, and all of this must be assessed while ignoring natural phenomenon such as wind.

Lifespan

Unknown

Geographic Distribution

• The Malestrom Coast