Adu'ja

When the elves were young, the Adu'ja were already a race in their twilight years. By the time that the Shadow Cataclysm occurred and the drow were banished from elven lands, the Adu'ja empires had fallen apart, leaving only small communities scattered throughout the depths of the rainforests. With each individual Adu'ja capable of living for numerous centuries, as well as their ability to re-germinate the seed in their bodies to become reborn, this race of aloof and withdrawn plant-folk are ancient and live on a scale few humanoids can ever comprehend.
Consummate camouflagers, the Adu'ja have lived in solitude so long due to their ability to subtly alter their bodies- and minds- to blend into their environments. While this generally means that the long-lived Adu'ja all vaguely resemble each other in temperament and body, a particularly adventurous Adu'ja that leaves their forest home may return resembling the humanoid races it has studied more than it resembles an Adu'ja. This transformation happens subtly, over many years, but also accounts for why various Adu'ja resemble the plantlife of the places they live.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Adu'ja are a vaguely human-shaped race composed of layered leaves, vines, petals, and bark. They have a certain level of control over their bodies, often having the ability to shape their faces and proportions as they wish. In the center of an Adu'ja's chest is what they call their 'heartseed' or "ḫamāṭu"; the home of their complex nigh-immortal consciousness. Although their bodies and personalities change over time as they plant and replant themselves, the ḫamāṭu of an Adu'ja remains the same, storing memories and records.
The openings on an Adu'ja's face are not nostrils for respiration but rather pores that release the scents with which Adu'ja communicate with, and the petals ringing the face are not hair but are rather mood indicators, mobile and malleable. Although they resemble humanoids superficially, the internal anatomy of the Adu'ja is bizarre and inhuman, as most of their body mass is simply made of folded over plant matter.

Ecology and Habitats

Adu'ja live, typically, in the depth of rainforests, in the upper canopy level. Their buildings are housed in structures resembling enormous bromeliads, and the Adu'ja are quite good at climbing and navigating through high-up branches. Unable to eat, the Adu'ja simply require sunlight and light rain to remain alive, and can often be found sitting for months, completely still, with their petals open and turned towards the sky.

Biological Cycle

Every few centuries, an Adu'ja will notice its body growing weak, and will prepare to re-germinate. They will remove their ḫamāṭu from their body and, before 'dying', place it to take root on the extended limb of a tall tree. The heartseed will grow, slowly, taking in nutrients in its epiphytic lifestyle, and supplementing those nutrients with energy drawn from the same magic that keeps all Adu'ja alive and mobile. After a process of slow growth that can take up to 5 years, the ḫamāṭu will have blossomed into a new, fully formed body that possesses the same memories but a tabula rasa of a personality. After rejoining Adu'ja society, the 'newborn' will again develop into an individual, with all the same memories from its past.
Occasionally the time comes when an Adu'ja will want to increase the population of their species. They will willingly grow small flowers across their body, pruning them and cultivating them so that only the hardiest develop fully, and then will self fertilize. This is a short process, and the fertilized flowers will close and begin to develop seeds. Usually, an Adu'ja will only let one of these seeds 'live', before planting it upon a branch to develop into a new, blank ḫamāṭu- and then, from that, a new fully formed Adu'ja. Adu'ja born this way will be cared for by their 'parents' and given knowledge of the world.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Adu'ja populations are generally limited to small communities in the rainforests of northern Beshabha.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The Adu'ja have a pair of eye-holes in their face, with which they perceive the world. The entirety of their body is light sensitive, however, and they are adept at communicate and sensing chemical reception- smell and taste. In fact, an Adu'ja can 'taste' food simply by turning their face towards it. The ears of an Adu'ja house sensitive filaments that can detect miniscule vibrations, picking up sound like animals would.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

The Adu'ja speak Sylvan, and name themselves in that language based off of visual properties, such as Qarnepūlayyaru (Pink Rosette) when they are in a stage of their life where their face is ringed with pink petals. Because of their strange and transitory identities, Adu'ja names change often as cosmetic changes occur, and even when new Adu'ja are born through budding every century or so, they are given time to name themselves.

Major Organizations

There are no major organizations of Adu'ja, simply small isolated communes located in the canopies of rainforest trees. Not requiring food and able to survive on sunlight and rainwater, Adu'ja spend most of their time studying and practicing magic, but are very slow to do anything do to their long-term view of the world.

Beauty Ideals

Adu'ja claim to not have any standards of beauty for their race when asked by humanoids, but it is clear that they do. They idolize the plant-like beauty of their race, and in general find the fleshy races to be disgusting. Regardless of this, their faces, bodies, and petals move subconsciously to blend in with their surroundings, so an Adu'ja that spends several years in a humanoid community will resemble a humanoid moreso than one who remains in the wilds.

Gender Ideals

Adu'ja have no concept of gender and are a monoecious plant species; every individual is capable of producing both male and female flowers during their lives. However, because of their unconscious urge to change shape in accordance to their environments, Adu'ja who form close bonds with individuals will often begin to appear in a similar way in regards to gender.

Relationship Ideals

Adu'ja rarely understand the concept of courtship. In traditional Adu'ja society, individuals may decide to bear offspring once every few centuries, developing flowers and fertilizing them with their own pollen. However, ever the chameleons, Adu'ja may develop a predilection towards romance from particularly romantic companions.
This is not to say that Adu'ja don't feel a social draw. Due to their adaptable minds, Adu'ja are quite social and will form strong relationships with travelling companions. Although not truly a sexual species, Adu'ja are very physically sensitive and enjoy the physical contact of another Adu'ja, intertwining their vines and petals and sharing memories and stories. Occasionally, an Adu'ja may develop this sort of relationship with a humanoid, especially if isolated from their homes, and such a relationship can often be viewed as sexual or romantic.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Adu'ja speak Sylvan, but rarely record anything in a written language, as their eclectic memories allow them to remember anything they've learned or spoken. Because of this, the dialect that they speak has remained unchanged, as no linguistic drift occurs in a species that has no desire or need to change the way a word is spoken.

RPG Datasheet

• Ability Score Modifiers:+2 Consitution, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Adu'ja are hardy and have near-eidetic memories, but they often come off as aloof and standoffish to the humanoid races they have difficulty understanding.

• Size: Adu'ja are medium creatures and therefore have no special penalties or bonuses due to size.

• Type: Adu'ja have the plant type, but lack the immunities to mind-affecting, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, and stunning effects that type usually has.

• Languages: Adu'ja begin play speaking Common and Sylvan. An Adu'ja with high intelligence scores may choose from any language (except secret languages, like Druidic).

• Plant Resistances: Adu'ja, due to their nature as plants, are immune to magic sleep effects. In addition, they gain a +2 bonus on saves against mind-affecting effects and poisons, as well as against effects that cause paralysis, stunning, or polymorphing.

• Natural Armor: The tough woody skin of an Adu'ja gives them a +1 natural armor bonus to their armor class.

• Camouflage: Adu'ja gain a +4 bonus to stealth checks when in forest or jungle terrain, due to their leafy fronds and natural instinct to camouflage.

• Past Life Knowlege (Ex): Adu'ja treat all Knowledge skills as class skills because of the long history of memories encoded in their bodies.

• Epiphytic Magic (Sp): An Adu'ja with an Intelligence of 11 or higher may use the following spell-like abilities once per day, each: Goodberry, Entangle, and Spider Climb. The DC for these abilities is Intelligence based.

• Treespeech (Su): Adu'ja have the ability to converse with plants as per a continual Speak with Plants spell.

• Sunlight Dependence: Adu'ja rely on sunlight to to stay alive, and therefore take 1d4 points of Constitution Damage every day that they go without exposure to bright sunlight-quality light.

Lifespan

Although Adu'ja need to regerminate their heartseed every 200-400 years, each individual heartseed is functionally immortal, and many Adu'ja have memories stretching back millenia.

Average Height

Adu'ja are tall and lanky, generally growing to be six to eight feet tall.

Average Weight

Made of plant matter that isn't very dense, even a particularly tall Adu'ja won't usually weigh more than 100 pounds.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The bodies of Adu'ja are generally colored green but can resemble all number of plants. Some are paler and more fibrous like Spanish Moss, whereas some have broad and colorful waxy bodies like orchids or bromeliads. The coloration of the petals and leaves of an Adu'ja will change throughout its life, blending to be similar to their environments.