Ghoran

Intelligent plant people, created by Bolgan. They possess a sort of immortality through their seeds - unless these are destroyed by external events other than merely the ravages of time.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Roughly humanoid in size and shape, a ghoran's body is mostly made up of a fibrous plant material resembling a woody vine, with a face like an enormous, colorful flower. Ghorans have a great deal of control over the shape and structure of their bodies: with a few hours of effort, a ghoran might make themselves taller or shorter, long-limbed or barrel-chested. They have a reputation for tasting deliciously sweet and herbaceous. Most people merely find this quality a curiosity and don't attempt to take a bite, but animals in the wild will sometimes seek them out and attack them. Though they can learn to smile or laugh to fit in with other ancestries, they tend to use a different set of emotional signifiers, fluttering their face-petals to show happiness and making a rustling sound when agitated or upset.
Every ghoran has a large cavity within their torso that contains a large seed. When a ghoran's body becomes too decrepit to function, they impart their memories into the seed and plant it into the ground. Within 1 to 2 months, a new ghoran body finishes growing from the seed, and the original ghoran collapses into a pile of inert organic matter. This curious method of propagation leaves a ghoran vulnerable, and many ghorans are defensive about the process among non-ghoran peoples.
Being plants, ghorans have no innate understanding of gender in the human sense. Ghorans who find themselves in the company of other ancestries sometimes adopt a more masculine or feminine form, though just as many don't bother.

Dietary Needs and Habits

You gain nourishment from photosynthesis. You typically don't need to pay for food. If you go without sunlight for 1 week, you begin to starve. You can derive nourishment from specially formulated bottles of alchemical sunlight instead of natural sunlight, but these bottles cost 10 times as much as standard rations (40 sp).

Behaviour

Ghorans typically lack driving forces toward good or evil, though their plant-derived values can sometimes make them come across as amoral to people who are not likewise plant based. They have a slight tendency toward law, especially in their own communities.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Most reside as a tiny minority population in that land. In its major cities, they have built little enclaves of their own in neighborhoods featuring sweeping parks and massive trees. While they don't possess the magical ability to enter an extradimensional home within a tree like dryads, ghorans live among the trees, typically making their homes within the neighborhoods' big parks. They are extremely skilled at building their abodes so that they don't disrupt the lives of the local flora. Visitors to a ghoran enclave might not realize initially that they've entered a home, assuming instead that they're in a recreational public space. Ghorans don't typically mind the unexpected company so long as the visitors are respectful of the park, of their homes, and of any ghorans they meet. The ghorans who live in major cities are relatively social and accepting of other ancestries, and they tend to be eager to interact, learn about others, and engage in trade.
Outside of these cities, ghorans inhabit small, remote communities in the foothills. and dwell in secluded forests, and they tend to be much more isolationist. Remembering well that Ghorus originally created their ancestry as food for the “animals,” they generally have no great desire to get to know other ancestries. However, as each new incarnation slightly shifts a ghoran's personality, they sometimes develop a wanderlust that spurs them to leave an isolated home and travel into the wider world. Often, such ghorans hold bits—or even troves—of ancient lore lost to the outside world for many years, so their journeys can sometimes lead to important new discoveries for others in the Impossible Lands and beyond.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

You can see in dim light as though it were bright light and you ignore the concealed condition due to dim light.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Most ghorans pick a new name with each incarnation, usually selecting a name or concept that they found pleasing in a past life. Occasionally, a ghoran might reuse a name for several incarnations in a row, especially if remaining in a community of other peoples, though each incarnation is still a distinct person.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Common Sylvan
Choose: Aklo, Elven, Gnomish, Jotun