Athanasian Dryads

There is much dispute amongst different scholars and religious sects about the origins of Mankind's most significant neighbours. However, religion and speculation is not the purpose of this volume, but only to speak of what we know in surety, for assuredly have those early days been a subject of great division and constant debate has served to but still further the confusion rather than clear it as many claim different one from another in order to further advance their own worldview.

Though possessing views of his own, this author has determined to remain aloof as much as is possible in this matter, and so those elements of which there is dispute shall be summarized to their basic levels, telling only that which is true and obvious to the observer with eyes to see and ears to hear.

All scholars agree that the Dryadalis, known more commonly as Dryads and as such will we address them hitherto, came around the First Days when there appeared amongst us mighty beings, known to some as gods and others as guardians from the Creator, came to our lands to deliver us from the tyranny of the Nerthol or "Ischyros" as the Dryads call them.

Seeing that their power alone was insufficient to drive back the dark power of the Nerthol, two of these mighty beings, named Athana and Aremos, came to the first people, the Aildar, and beseeched them for their aid, and many indeed stepped forward some to Athana, and others to Aremos, and pledged themselves to their service respectively. These beings granted to their followers great gifts which distinguished them from the Aildar, and so did they become the Athanasian Dryads under Athana, those who are the subject of this current chapter, and Aremosian Dryads, whom this author will cover at some later date.

The nature of those known as Athanasian Dryads insofar as this author is aware of it is most strange when seen from the perspective of a human. They are in possession of a long of life, greater by a span of five times than that of the average man, they are distinguished physically by strangely coloured eyes, displaying oranges, reds, yellows, purples rather than the more common blues and browns of humanity, and their eyes are known to oft glow as though illuminated by a light from inside, much as the moon is lit by the light of the sun at night. They also feature prominently pointed ears tipped to points at then ends, combining thus with the eyes, the angular shape of the face common to them, to give them the appearance of a predator. Such alien yet still recognizably familiar appearance is often cited as to the reason for the great unease that many feel in their presence, some sense amongst other peoples that they are in the presence of the hunter, and they are the prey.

Aside from the physical differences and the extension of their age, perhaps the greatest difference between the Dryads and those of Man is the innate ability to draw upon the arcane, harnessing the power of their soul to fuel spells of raw energy. This difference has been the cause of much political and religious tension between the two peoples of Man and Dryads, as access to this power was said to be the cause of the madness experienced under the Nerthol in ages past.

It is understood that this power of the Dryads is indeed finite, and that it is required that it be restored by some form of meditation, rather like sleep for humans. Infamously another method is the drawing of energies of the souls of others, but such is forbidden even among the Dryads as a great evil. So reviled is the practice said to be that even when practiced against their foes it results in great punishment. The reason as this author understands is that this rule is what distinguishes their use of this power from the power wielded by the Nerthol, and that as long as they do not draw on another they are safe from the fate of those dread people of ancient times.

As for the political nature of these people, many are aware of their imperial system overlording a collection of princes who each by birthright rule their respective lands. However, for completeness sake I shall include a brief overview of it and its reasoning. By this Imperial system it is hoped that the traditions of each sovereign land within the Dryadalis Imperialis are retained and yet unity is imposed by overlaying this patchwork of peoples with common loyalty to an Imperial family that reigns in the grand and majestic Imperial city of Andronikopolis in the East.

Such a system is a remnant of their old Empire which had once stretched from Anatoli to the East, Khan'um to the South and all the way to Corvinia to the North. An Empire made mighty after their victory over the Toutheon Dynasty in the first human Empire, the Sacri Imperii over a series of wars that ground away at the borders of the bellicose human Empire, quickly losing itself from the path of its Holy founder Toutheos.

In todays time however the borders of that once mighty Empire have been reduced to that of Moreia, Anatoli, Mesi Anatoli and Potamos. Though they may appear greatly weakened, a leader would be foolish to think them vulnerable.

And so thus ends my brief overview of this people, more detail shall be developed later, such as their military capabilities and tactics and social interaction amongst themselves and others.

An excerpt from "Fabulis Animantium", by Favonius Justinianus