"A being trapped within a tree, no mouth to scream or eyes to see. A cage of bark, a prison of wood. A thing of rage where nature stood."— Unknown
Sylvans are trees possessed by
demons. They are incredibly tall, powerful, and durable. When they are moving around, a sylvan can be noticed by two things. First, the tree is walking around. Second, the tree will be contorted to look more person-like. Sylvans usually have created entire heads, arms, legs, and sometimes entire upper-bodies to mimic a human. However tree bark only contorts so much, leaving sylvans to look like mockeries of real people.
Existence
"For demons crossing over into our world, mankind is not always the preferred prey. Possessing humans means risking encounters with powerful mages and Templars, as well as other complications. Some demons seem to find it far easier to seek out animals or even plants, assuming that these will make as suitable a hast as a human. Those that possess trees are known as sylvans.
Generally, as a rule of thumb, it seems as though demons of rage are the most likely to become a sylvan. Once they do, they must spend a great deal of time twisting and molding the host in order to make it mobile. Once they have, what results is a powerful and deadly monstrosity. Other more intelligent demons can create sylvans, but they
Slow but immensely powerful, sylvans prefer to lay in ambush, waiting for a victim to become lost, tired, or trapped before closing in for the kill. They hide among regular trees, nearly undetectable until they begin to move and to reach. When they do "come to life" as some travelers say, they stand tall, roots forming into legs and feet and branches stretching out into lashing arms.
When not presented with a living target, however, it has been noted that sylvans often fall into a form of dormancy. Perhaps this is brought upon by the nature of their tree host, and would suggest that the the tree isn't entirely under the control of the demon.
Another anecdotal phenomena is the that expressing strong, primal emotions in the areas where sylvans may exist is dangerous. As we know, demons cling themselves to those of us who feel feelings of fear, anger, hunger, and the like. According to some tales, engaging in these feelings can allow demons to more easily possess things around you. In one tale, two lovers caught in a shouting match became so enraged with one another that an entire grove of trees quickly became sylvans. As they ran, their anger for one another only allowed more demons to breach through into our world.
For these reasons, a forest that has sylvans within can become incredibly dangerous to pass through for very long periods of time."
Variations
Occasionally demons may attempt to escape the
Fade by possessing and corrupting a tree that is on fire, or at least recently was. This union can rekindle the fire that first damaged the tree, resulting in a sylvan that burns continuously without being destroyed. These are few and far between, but if awoken are capable of burning down entire regions of land all on their own.
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