Treant

Nouryāng

Treants are peaceful, nomadic sophonts native to Sikano. Tall and shaggy, treants are so called because their symbiotic plant cloaks and considerable size work as camouflage; when still, they often appear as plant-covered trees or stumps.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Treants are large and vaguely humanoid, though this is a considerable stretch. Their overall build is that of a low-set center of gravity, with long arms and shorter legs. They have hefty claws on their forelimbs (except the thumbs), and the soles of their feet are angled inwards. Treants also have thick tails that drag on the ground, used as fat storage.

Ecology and Habitats

Treants, as the name implies, are most at home in forested environments, particularly warm and humid forests.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Being pacifistic nomads with a love of learning, treants are widespread across Sikano and Thalassaterria, even residing on both sides of the violently-contested Eian-Gorgon border.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Like bugbears, the treants' strongest sense is that of smell. They are poor of hearing and sight, but their tactile sense is quite acute.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Treants actually share a symbiotic relationship with numerous specie of autotrophs (primarily aerophytes and algae), hence their specific name phytoforeas (“plant bearer”). Treants’ plant cloaks vary by region, with tropical treants cloaked in orchids and other treedwelling flowers while more temperate climes provide treants with shawls of moss and ferns. They also play host to a number of unique invertebrate symbionts, the most prominent of which are the various species of slothmoths that depend on treants.

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The treant language is called uhali, and because of their universality in the Southern Hemisphere, uhali is a favored neutral common language across Sikano and Thalassaterria.