10/30 Treefolk

1. Old Man Cotton
It is not often that the world of man and the world of the treeking intertwin, but that is just what has occured with Old Man Cotton. An old cotton tree, the ‘Old Man’ has long grown in the center of a provincial capital and remebers when the men came he was just a sapling, and he was entering his summer days when the men rebelled against their old masters. He has slept the deep sleep twice since then, but still remembers the vigor of man, and his ability to do both good and evil. Old Man Cotton doozes in a great park in the capital, surrounded by trees he has herded and planted himself, no few coming from his own seedings.

2. Magalie Wonderboom
This fig treeking remembers her awakening nearly ten centuries ago, and is accounted as among the most ancient of the treekings. Her branches still bear fruit and sometimes old Magalie will take up her roots and wander to a new part of the forest, to taste the sunshine and wind there. As far as trees go she is considered somewhat batty and has been on the borderline of the deep sleep. Every time this gnarled and ancient fig, surrounded by a score of her treeking offspring, dozes off, many fear she will be lost to the final dream and not return. Her many daughters, the eldest being a matronly sort herding the other much younger and more flighty saplings is a sort of nursemaid for Magalie.

3. L’Arbre, the Last
Standing alone amid a sea of shifting sand and broken rocks stands L’Arbre, a wizened and bitter acacia tree. He is the last survivor of a forest that was consumed by the desert many many years ago. The rest of the trees have long since been consumed by fire, nomads, and crawling things. The desert nomads consider the treeking to be both sacred and taboo, and they make small offerings to him when they pass. Fortunate for the nomads, L’Arbre spends most of his time in the deep sleep, sending his roots deep into the earth for the water that he needs to survive. On the rare occasions that he is awake at the time of visitors he shouts obscenities and hurls stones at those who are too close. Those he can reach he likes to grab and dash against the ground until they are dead. After many years of sleep, L’Arbre is not sure if the bells in his branches grew there or if the nomads tied them there.

4. Arzrab the Cedar
Cedar treekings are known to be aloof and have a deep connection to things spiritual. It was only a minor surprise when a cedarking appearing in the mantle of a cleric, speaking in a deep booming voice the words of the God of the Elements, the God of Stone and Wood, Thunder, and the Beasts of the earth. Now entering his prime, Arzrab leads a congregation of druids, rangers, and several settlements in worship of the God of All Things. In truth, most of the non-arboreal folk follow out of fear as it is not uncommon for Arzrab to set one of his branches aflame while sermonizing, commanding with a voice that no human can hope to match.

5. Jômon the Conifer
Just as they absorb sunlight and water, treekings absorb the ideas and cultural accoutrements of those around them. As most treekings spawn deep in forests this is of little notice. Jômon grew in into wakefulness in the garden of a warrior-monk, and the tree spent many years in contemplation and meditation as it watched the warrior practice his art of fighting. The warrior is now long since dead, and his grandchildren now play in that same garden. Jômon left when the elder swordsman died and now carries on his almost extinct art of fighting. Where a treeking found a sword to his size is a question that can only be answered by several confused and thoroughly beaten ogrish blacksmiths.

6. Ginkgoales Maidenhair
A young treeking by all accounts, Ginkgoales has not yet seen her first century. She is tall and thin, with her branchs hanging loose and billowing in the wind, much like a young woman standing upon a windy cliff face. She is very naive and thinks that the other treekings, dour and dissapproving of man are simply being being mean spirited. Her exposure to humanity and the rest of the Quick races has been limited to a large cloister of mendicants and erstwhile druids. Despite her great size, she is graceful and surprisingly an accomplished singer and for a treeking, dancer. She gives her fleshy seeds as gifts, and those who recieve them almost always remember something important when they pop the seed into their mouth.

7. Bloody Ek
Some trees, well some trees are just rotten. Ek wasn’t always rotten, but there was always something about the elm that left the other treekings uneasy, and his laugh was something that sent the quick running. When the slaughter and war came, Ek joined into the fray, but not with the humans and the other treekings, no. Ek stood with the barbarians, and with the pillagers. The elm was a juggernaut, slaying man and horse alike, those he didnt crush outright he caught and beat against his trunk until their bones broke and he was left slick with their spilled blood. Bloody Ek still lurks about the edges of the woods, one of the few treekings to learn orcish, and to favor the taste of blood and gristle.

8. Gallowbough
Oak treekings are often considered the kings among the treekings, those who assume the mantle of leadership. Gallowbough was one who went against the grain, and rather than lead, he became a follower and entered into the service of a local forestal and sherrif. As the oak grew, he outstriped the sherrif and was promoted to the service of the local lord as his new and most excellent executioner. With branches festooned with nooses and usually a body or two, Gallowbough is a walking gallows. Having witnessed what humans and the other races are capable of doing to trees he takes a black humor in returning the favor, one drop at a time.

9. Brutia the Sentinel
A towering and mighty ash, it has been a mortal generation since Brutia the Sentinel stirred from the deep sleep. This ashking once strode in the vanguard in the armies of man and elf in the great battles against orc and goblin, ogre and troll. After that terrible time passed and victory was gained, Brutia returned home, and watched as one by one all of his comrades followed the quick path and entered back into the earth. He stands as the last sentinel over their tombs and monuments.