The Living Forest
Created | Updated Jul 6, 2005
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The Living Forest. It is one entity, one mind. Ancient and angry. When it was young and foolish it permitted sentients to enter under it's branches and pluck it's fruit freely. Then they came with axes and fire. It almost perished, until it and it's Protectors drove the intruders out. It shelters smaller trees, plants and animals too, which live long and peaceful lives, and over which it is very protective.
The Protectors
The protectors are born in the forest. They call it Mato-sen, which means 'mother of all', they call the individual trees Su-mato-sen. They are centauroids. Their four hoofs are cloven, like a deer's, and the tail of a lion swings behind them. Their dark green fur runs over their quadruped bodies, then stops at the base of their humanoid torsoes. Then skin, dark brown, like bark, covered in white tatooed whirls with arcane patterns that seem to speak of the life cycle of the plants. Their hairless heads are crowned with a pair of antler-like branches. From birth to adolescence the branches grow leaves, when they become late adolescents the branches grow flowers - the size and colour depends on their personality and parentage, in middle age the branches fruit with small and strange seeded fruits. The seeds from these are planted into the forehead of newly born babes. When they are ageing the leaves turn the colours of Autumn and their fur goes iron grey. Near death their fur is pure white and their branches leafless. Upon their deaths their bodies are left in a glade to be taken back by the forest. The branches in their foreheads grow to join the great living forest.
The centauroids can communicate with the forest through their antlers.
Areas of the Forest
Some parts of the forest have few of the trees of the living forest and are mostly normal trees. There are creatures both dangerous and safe, dumb and sentient - the Protectors chief among these. Elves are often tolerated by the forest as innately gentle creatures.
