Dendrologer

A dendrologer wields the aether prasinofos, the living green light within plants, in order to guide others through greenery, to cleanse areas of pollutants, or to support plants.

Green Communion

To be a dendrologer, one must commune with the greenery around them. There must be a sufficient amount of greenery (herein defined as "plants", regardless of actual color) nearby, a certain density of plantlife, for there to be enough to be communed with. A forest, grassland, or wetlands will work. Greenhouses, gardens, and farms will likely also work. Green hills and mountains, underground forests, and the plant life of other worlds also works. But a few houseplants or the nearby cactus don't generate enough to work. A cactus field within a desert or an oasis may be enough, but it will vary by location.

Communion requires mindfulness of all plantlife around the dendrologer, and a deep meditation. The aromas of plants, the feel of grass beneath them, the way the canopy alters the light, the sound of leaves crunched underfoot or the swish of branches in the breeze, these must all be taken in as the mind slips into the collective consciousness of the green. Once meditating, the dendrologer must be accepted by the plants. This requires they not be involved in, for instance, industrial pollution, logging, or serial littering. In other words, you must be a friend to the plants. Once this is done (which easier said than...), the dendrologer will be able to sense prasinofos around them when they are near enough greenery.

Dryades, radandes, and other green folk do not need to commune with the greenery to sense prasinofos.

Drawing Greenlight

Prasinofos, sometimes called greenlight, green light, verdance, verdant light, floral aether, wood aether, wood spirit, or green aether, is in all plants, but it is only present in sufficient quantities for use where plants dominate the area. To draw it to oneself to use, one must have a plant or part of one and, using the power to sense prasinofos gained from green communion, focus on the breathe of the plants and synch with it, focus on it, and will it inward.

Verdance

Living plants are best, but freshly cut, still-green plant parts will also work.

Tools

Different plant parts will draw prasinofos in different ways.

Leaf

Leaves are the most common tool of the dendrologer. A leaf will light up quickly and hold the greenlight for a long time, and it can be used and re-used until it dries out. They are extremely versatile.

Root

Roots can be used for communication and deeper connections. One must place them into the ground if they are out of it in order to properly wield them.

Seed

Seeds last longer, but hold less prasinofos and can be drained of life too easily. The old dendrologer adage is "a seed is better planted".

Branch

Fresh cut branches will dry up quickly as the prasinofos transforms quickly into TykvaVlast. They channel a great deal of power, but tend to have a single use.

Bark

Scraps of bark serve as useful anchors for clothing or armor to make them tougher, but otherwise don't tend to work well.

Stalk

The stalk, stem, or fronds of a plant are much more potent than a tree branch, as they tend to be greener, but they are not as useful as weapons. Instead, they are like a cross between a leaf and a branch - quickly used up but channel more power.

Vines

Dendrologers often have vines hover around them as protectors.

Flower

Flowers have less prasinofos than hasken fure, and thus, tend to be better used by other botanicists. However, they do have some, and a petal can serve as well as a leaf in a pinch.

Full Plants

A full plant, of course, especially a living one, will have more prasinofos than anything. However, the living plant will wish to keep its lifeforce, and thus, the dendrologer will need permission to use any of the prasinofos within it or around it. If given, they can perform much more powerful attacks, but they will likely not have permission to do more than one spell.

Plant Species

The kind of plant used may affect the powers and effects possible. Some general guidelines:

• Trees are the most potent plants. The older the tree, the more powerful.
• The harder the wood, the stronger it will make you.
• The bigger the leaf, the more it will draw.
• Flowers rejuvenate.
• Vines ensnare and entangle.
• Edible plants can be multiplied for others to eat more, but their nutritional value will be reduced unless that is accounted for with Tmakikan.
• Poisonous plants can create poisonous effects, but may backlash on the caster. Same with hallucinogenic plants.
• Moss heals and cools.
• Ferns are great for communication.
• Cacti are great for survival and hardiness.
• Phytoplankton can help you swim, breathe underwater, etc. if you can't already do those things, but a lot must be used at once.
• Landscapes matter and can draw in other kinds of aether.
• If a plant is a live out of season, it will need its prasinofos more and will be unlikely to share it.
• Plants with other energies in them may be used to mimic the powers of those other energies, though weakly.
• If a plant has no strong association with another energy, its color might and will be relevant. Green plants (or even green parts) are best for dendrologers.

Powers

While powers can vary and be very specific to different plants, some powers are common:

• Greenlight Guide: prasinofos can be drawn in and let to flow freely such that it will guide anyone nearby through the greenery they are in. This is often used in deep forests, swamps, and grasslands to help people find their way through.
• Cleansing Light: any plant good at cleansing the air will be good at repulsing brown aether and other dangerous energies.
• Growth: many dendrologers can encourge plants to grow, but in doing so, they take in a lot of prasinofos, which can turn them more plantlike.
• Photosynthesis: a skilled dendrologer can imbue photosynthesis into living things other than plants, improve the photosynthesis in plants, and even use it to empower objects.
• Barkskin: the commonest defense of a dendrologer is to use a patch of bark to make their skin bark-like and thus provide better protetion.
• Plantspeech: speaking to plants is a very common skill used by dendrologers, especially when they need permission from a plant.
• Entanglement: wielding of vines as protection is one of the commonest weapon/armor combinations of dendrologers.
• Root Sensing: dendrologers often commune with specific plants and use their roots (or equivalent), especially ferns, to speak with all of the plant sin an area.
• Shaping: shaping wood or plants requires the dendrologer get permission from living plants.

Plant Form

Some dendrologers begin to take on plantlike qualities the more they use their powers. Some even take on a plant form completely, though this is much rarer.

Alternation of Generations

If a dendrologer takes on enough plantlike qualities or full plant form, their children will be plants.

Inventory

Most of what a dendrologer needs comes from a plant:

Plants

Either full plants or parts of them are the most basic need. Dendrologers keep home gardens if they do not live in the wilderness, but most live in forests, or near them. They will gather fresh cuts and fallen leaves for quick spells and get permission from major plants to borrow from them. They befriend the plants in the area and are known to them.

Dirt, Water, Sunlight, Pots

Even dendrologers who live in forests and other wilderness areas keep basic pots and other materials for growing plants or keeping cuttings.

Variations

Variations and specializations include

• Gramma: dendrologers who read leaves and keep archives of leaf-documents.
• Mosstrooper: bandits who wield dendrology to help them move through forests and hills in order to attack targets.
• Pengendara daun: northeastern Dabusenese dendrologers who ride and pilot giant leaves as boats, lifts, or airsails. Often they take passengers.
• Prasinomorpheum: dendrologers who shape plants and wood to make structures or art.
• Sepeplasmator: dendrologers who specialize in making complex topiaries for communities or lords.
• Sfyrichtra: dendrologers who use living woodwinds.
• Xylourgos: dendrologers who work as carpenters of living wood.

The most notable variation is the green knight, who are the warrior defenders of green landscapes:

Green Knight

Warriors wearing wooden armor, caked in moss, wielding clubs and spears, and having vines attend them. They are wielders of prasinofos via bonding with forests, and it is said they can survive even having their heads removed. Usually they are dendrologers who merged with forests or other greenery in order to become a protector of the area. They become fully plantlike, merging with the landscape, often not moving for years unless needed. Their armor forms naturally around them, and vines obey their commands at will.

Persecution

Major logging and other companies that destroy forests or take their lands often engage in outright combat against dendrologers, persecuting them and even having them killed.

Skills

Some common skills include

• Gardening
• Farming
• Cultivations
• Herbalism
• Botany

Stats

Common modifiers from base of nation/species:

PRO -1
ATH +1
STR +2 Toughness +3
AWA +3
WIL +3
STH /
PRS -1