Infernal Plant Folk

Anthropomorphic plants with inherent infernal, imperial, or industrial powers.

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Ditior

Infernal tree people.

• Lifespan: 200 years
• Diet: Wood
• Habitat: Forests and wetlands
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class

Ditiors are tree folk who have split off from their elemental cousins, taking on infernal powers as they engage in invasive actions and dominate other plant people.

Unlike green folk, ditiors take their power from dominate and using trees and plants. They are innately skilled at carpentry, and they gain power when they engage in logging. They view mundane trees as lesser things to be owned and controlled in their culture.

Ditiors live in a very stratified society, with a distinct ruling class that is very powerful and very rich, and others who are enslaved. Any slave in ditior culture can buy their way out by capturing a person of another species, especially green folk, to enslave. They have a specific hierarchy of trees and tree folk that they adhere to.

There are seven distinct nations of ditiors in Ranu:

[European] aspen folk: 16' tall anthropomorphic aspen trees. They are titans of the match industry, and they are known for their role in ruling some of the coldest reaches.

PRO 9 ATH 5 STR 18 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 5 ESS 8

[European] beech folk: 20' tall anthropomorphic beech trees. They own glue, dye, and varnish companies, and they are known for their brutal role in the Burevi ruling classes.

PRO 9 ATH 3 STR 22 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 3 ESS 8

[English] oak folk: 13' tall anthropomorphic oak trees. They make furniture. They are wielders of thunder and are known for their raids on coastal communities.

PRO 9 ATH 5 STR 15 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 6 STH 6 ESS 8

[Austrian] pine folk: 24.5' tall anthropomorphic pine trees. They make paper. They are from a western empire and view others as less than them.

PRO 9 ATH 3 STR 27 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 6 STH 3 ESS 7

[European] spindletree folk: 4.5" tall anthropomorphic spindletrees. They make charcoal. They are known for their prickly bodies and personalities.

PRO 9 ATH 7 STR 7 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 7 ESS 8

[English] walnut folk: 11.5' tall anthropomorphic walnut trees. They are big into making flooring. They are known for their potent soul magic.

PRO 8 ATH 6 STR 14 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 5 ESS 8

[European] white elm folk: 20' tall anthropomorphic white elm trees. They are known for their archery and bow making. They are a warrior culture.

PRO 10 ATH 3 STR 22 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 3 ESS 8

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Monofrond

Singular, silent plant people.

• Lifespan: 80-100 years
• Diet: Photosynthesis, nutrients, water
• Habitat: Rugged areas
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class or Privileged oppressed

Monofronds are 4' tall people with one eye, one leg, one nostril, one arm, and one single frond growing out of their head. The frond contains their soul, and they have no mouth.

Monofronds can leech the voices from people with their frond. They do not need these for sustenance, but instead use them for magical power. If they take voices, they can use them to create an aura of silence around themselves. All monofronds can stun people by whistling through their nose.

Monofronds do not communicate with others if they do not have to. They prefer to be isolated and alone most of the time, and they use their powers to maintain their solitude. Some are recruited into imperial society to use their powers on behalf of the empires, and they are lauded and rewarded for it. Those who reject both these approaches are outcast.

PRO 7 ATH 7 STR 6 AWA 10 WIL 10 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 9

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Plusage

Ancient tree folk.

• Lifespan: 70-120 year or 2,000 years
• Diet: Youth or Photosynthesis, nutrients, water
• Habitat: Temperate forests
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class

Plusages are 7' tall grey and blue tree people with drooping limbs and withered faces.

Plusages can drain the youth from people with their limbs. They can make people age prematurely. They use this to stay alive much longer than other plant folk, but they can live on photosynthesis, nutrients, and water without it. Their voices can soothe people into slumber, and their gaze can make people consider their entire lives. One in a hundred can instill dementia into anyone who has injured them.

Plusages once used their powers as hunters and for defense, but they quickly assimilated into imperial society and started using them in service to power. They are a ruling class species with a lot of influence, and they are often found working to weaken the enemies of their chosen empires. Those who refuse to be part of imperial culture are often killed.

PRO 7 ATH 6 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 6 STH 6 ESS 10

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Thornling

Infernal thorn people.

• Lifespan : 200 years
• Diet: Lifeforce
• Habitat: Temperate
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class

Thorn-vine people who consume the identities of others. They stand on average about 6' tall. They have hominid bodies with greenish white flesh and many, many thorned vines growing out of them. The vines grow in and out of their flesh, going through bone and organ, out of orifices, and all entangling in a knot on their backs. The thorns often rip their bodies open.

Thornlings have the power to drain the Names of other mortals by wrapping them in their vines. First, they drain the blood, absorbing it for lifeforce. Then, they drain the minds, turning it into perceptive ability. Then, they drain the heart, turning emotion into pure energy. And then they drain the soul, which allows them to take in the entire identity of the victim.

The victim is then left a faceless, featureless husk, and the thornling can glamour as the victim for a day, or they can convert the Name into energy to make themselves more powerful. They can use this energy to improve their abilities or to give themselves an ability they took from the victim, which will last for a month.

Thornlings do not do this for nourishment - they can live off sunshine, soil, and water, like a plant - but for power.

Thornlings come from the kingdom of Mwyr Aeld, an ancient and powerful kingdom of doppelgangers, thornlings, and other beings who are known for hunting slaves for sport, complex politics, and feudal conquests. Though there are lower class members of their culture who are not cruel and tyrannical, the ruling class dictates a harsh society that is dominated by their desire to consume, to one-up others, and to be the most powerful and beautiful they can be.

Thornlings in Ranu often resemble one of the following: common nettle, stinging nettle, [Christ’s] thorn, creeping thistle, garland thorn, [Greimler's] thistle, spiny spurge, and yellow archangel.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 10 STH 9 ESS 9

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Tordu

Expansive vine people whose vines and roots take over where they stay.

• Lifespan: 90-120 years
• Diet: Common mortal fare
• Habitat: Anywhere
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class

Tordus are expansive 7' tall vine people with pure white leaves and vines and faces like grey human faces. They have long roots they can sink into the ground.

Tordus have the power to dominate an entire place by spreading their vines and sinking their roots into the ground there. They can take control over the ground, the buildings, and even people. Their vines can influence people’s minds, and their roots can poison the ground if they wish.

Tordus once used their powers to create their own communities and protect them, but they have been assimilated into imperial culture to become thieves of the lands, communities, spaces of others. They serve the empires in manipulating people, taking over places, stealing resources, and creating a unified approach to imperial power. They are almost all ruling class. Those who reject imperial culture are seen as weak and often killed.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 9 ESS 9

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Venoki

Poison ivy people.

• Lifespan: 80-100 years
• Diet: Common mortal fare
• Habitat: Temperate regions
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class

Venokis are 6' tall anthropomorphic poison ivy people.

Venokis’ leaves are poisonous to the touch, though some people are immune. They are immune to all poisons and breathe toxic gases. They can release a spray of pollen from their small white flowers that constitute a toxic gas.

Venokis are a ruling class species. They are found in Vendale and Fennvell, mostly, but they live in any empire. In Vendale they are especially prominent, being one of the most powerful ruling class species, their families among the most important in the nobility. They claim to be from another world that gives them the right to control and rule. Those who refuse to be part of this are outcast.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 7 ESS 8

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Viridangoris

Nettle people.

• Lifespan: 80-100 years
• Diet: Meat
• Habitat: Temperate regions
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class or Privileged oppressed

Viridangorises are 8' tall nettle people.

Viridangorises’ nettles cause intense pain in those they pierce. Some people will have intense reactions with hives and rashes, while others just experience pain. Either way, the pain is long lasting and intense, amplifying over time without some sort of healing. If unattended, it becomes intense anguish that never leaves a person, spreading from the body into the heart (emotions), mind, and then soul.

Viridangorises come from an ancient hunting and trapping culture, but they have assimilated into imperial society finding work as warriors, soldiers, hunters, and torturers. They are privileged for this and often rise up to fully ruling class. They are indoctrinated to believe that others deserve the pain they cause, using it on people rather than to incapacitate large prey as their ancestors did.

PRO 9 ATH 8 STR 10 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 7 ESS 8