Dryad History
When the Larsan Folly unleashed the Mist upon the face of Ivalice, there ensued a period of great destruction. Cities were ravaged by madness, and parts of the countryside were overrun by monsters and fiends. As the Mists eventually subsided, they left behind sorrow, suffering, and death. These were not the only effects of the Folly, however; death would not be the sole legacy of the Mist. Here and there, in small ways and small places, new life had been created. The Dryads are the most notable of these creations.
The Dryads currently stand as the youngest of all the sentient races; a position they share with the Fomorians. How exactly they came to be is unclear, though the most popular theories are that trees infused with Mist fused with nearby young women; or that the spirits of the trees were forced out, to walk the world in humanoid form.
After their inception, the first Dryads awoke in the forests where they had been born, in a fashion. Naked and alone, they faced a world blanketed in mist and monsters and madness. The struggle to survive began immediately. Many were quick to become food for monsters, but many more found ways to survive. They quickly sensed a bond, between themselves at the trees they had been born from; in a rudimentary way, they could learn about their surroundings, through the trees, almost in the same way that a spider senses things caught in a web. It was this that helped them to sruvive; and it was this that first led them to the Nu Mou, and to the Viera.
It was from these two races that the Drayds first learned not only to surive, but to thrive, and to grow as a race. The Nu Mou taught them freely, and from them they learned language, and mysticism. Nu Mou living in cottages in the woods spent a great deal of time instructing them on a number of topics, ranging from music to the magical arts. The Viera were not nearly so trusting at first, initially mistaking the Dryads for strange humes. From the few Viera who avoided insanity in the mists, they learned to defend themselves and their territory.
As a people, Dryads were first born in solitude, and for most this is how they prefer to remain. They lead solitary lives in the forests, living in conditions that most other races would view as extremely primitive; those that live in the colder northern climates cloth themselves in animal skins, and as a hole they use no tools more complicated than blow guns, bows and arrows, or anything they could make by hand from wood, bone, or stone. (Contrary to popular belief, Dryads have no particular qualms with using wood as a material, but will only use it sparingly.)
Their attachment to the trees they were born closest to is credited with driving them to their solitude; to leave the places that they were most at home in, which could span for many square miles, would be uncomfortable at best for more than a brief period of time. However, the need to meet other dryads and reproduce to perpetuate their newborn race quickly drove them to seek each other out. As they met, they learned to pass messages to one another. At first they met in person, but later with the help of the Nu Mou, they learned to communicate through music, played upon the wind, much as the birds do. (Dryads do not actually talk to birds themselves, as the Nu Mou are able to, they only mimic the techniques.) Eventually they arranged formal meeting places; here and there, experienced travellers might recognize Dryad's Groves. The most famous of these groves is also the largest, and is situated amongst the overgrown stones of a castle, ruined and abandoned during the wars preceding the Folly.
It is while they travel that Dryads come to be in greatest danger. While they are at home in their familiar areas, when they are abroad they cannot commune with the trees so easily, as the bonds take time to form. Some dryads, wandering nearer to civlization, have suffered at the hands of humes and animal kin, over laws they didn't know existed. Other Dryads have found their territories invaded by the civilizations that struggle to rebuild since the folley, and clash with growing towns and cities seeking to clear the forests for farmland. As the clashes arose, arguements turned to struggles to the death in some places. A handful of Dryads are known to have been hunted down and killed by Judges. These battles flared only briefly. In most places, the Dryads were either forced out, or the expansion ceased. The legacy of the Judges executions, however, is that for a long time the Dryads felt the need to conceal their identities. They did this with masks, made from wood, bone, or animal skins; this need persisted long enough that it is considered taboo to show one's face, and no Dryad would willingly appear without their mask today.
For almost a hundred and fifty years, the Dryads have lived in this way; secretive, solitary, and suspicious of travellers at best. Recently however, a new phenomenon has arisen. Much like the Viera before them, the occasional Dryad is succumbing to wanderlust. These individuals, for reasons unknown, do not experience the deep attachment to their territory that the majority of their kin feel, and invariably abandon their homes, forever. Such an act is viewed with deep disapproval by their fellows, and Dryads who take such action are usually shunned by their fellows. They find a different world to explore, however. They find civilization.
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