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How do you get a dryad?


Squaredeal Sten

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Question:  How do you get a new dryad?  How does a new or reseeded forest get dryads?   if as Glorantha Bestiary p. 18 indicates,  "they are always tied to the tree of their birth", and they are an all-female  "race" that breeds with male brown and yellow elves, then how does territory inhabited by dryads ever expand?   Or are dryads only to be found in forests that date back to godtime? 

This question would appear to be key to expansion of a complete aldryami ecosystem.  What doesn't grow, dies - so this seems central to the future of the Aldryami.

 

Edited by Squaredeal Sten
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Short answer: Via propagation of "elf forests".

Longer answer: Trees still propagate in conventional manner, through seed and shoots.  A carefully tended and endowed new tree can eventually give rise to a new dryad.  You're right, that it takes much longer to generate a dryad from a tree than an elf from the womb of another elf or dryad (though I can't think, off hand, of how long the gestational period for a baby elf is).  But they form the stable core of Growing society, and thus the importance of maintaining them and, hopefully, expanding them again.

!i!

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18 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Short answer: Via propagation of "elf forests".

Longer answer: Trees still propagate in conventional manner, through seed and shoots.  A carefully tended and endowed new tree can eventually give rise to a new dryad.  You're right, that it takes much longer to generate a dryad from a tree than an elf from the womb of another elf or dryad (though I can't think, off hand, of how long the gestational period for a baby elf is).  But they form the stable core of Growing society, and thus the importance of maintaining them and, hopefully, expanding them again.

!i!

So any fairly old grove of trees should have a dryad?   Even in areas not very populated by Aldryami, such as most of Sartar?  I wonder what sort of careful tending and for how long, whether elfs can accelerate the process.  For  storyline purposes my answer would be maybe, yes, rune magic not listed, yes through rune megic, and bury the time period.

Seems to me there is considerable room to invent new Aldrya rune magic, just as there is considerable room to invent what else they can do with plants (arrow bushes etc.).

 

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27 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

So any fairly old grove of trees should have a dryad? 

I think the fairer answer is that any grove of trees might host a dryad.  That's sort of the problem that the Aldryami have been facing since the Gbaji Wars and the Second Age.

27 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

I wonder what sort of careful tending and for how long, whether elfs can accelerate the process.  For  storyline purposes my answer would be maybe, yes, rune magic not listed...

As-yet undisclosed Rune Magic, almost certainly.  If you have the Glorantha Bestiary, look to the Shamans of Aldrya or the Gardener subcult and the Rune spells Create War Tree and Animate War Tree for a sense of the nature of the magic involved in generating a dryad, though not nearly the scale.  As with so many things in RQ these days (and rightly so), I have to imagine that gestating and awakening a dryad involves a heroquest or shamanic journey, actually finding an appropriate spirit willing to be reborn into a specially-prepared seedling or sapling, then tended with Rune magics and conventional sacrifice for years (c.f. Elf Bows).

You know that imminent expansion of the elf forests have been prophesied for the Hero Wars, right?

!i!

Edited by Ian Absentia
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You want a new dryad : You just have to summon one ! 🧐

How do you not-naturally get a new dryad ? The main problem will to get your hand on the good spell (surely only know by Aldryami) by an Heroquest. Don't forget that Dryads are liked to Aldryami but as they are a peculiar type of Nymphs like Naiads ans Oreads (The Nymphs of the Woods to be precise). So they are not only a spirit but a embodied spirit and in consequence a dryad spirit "can incorporate in the material world, taking physical substance from their chosen matter".

As long as you can found a good material, which mean a beautiful tree in a pleasant grove this may work. But remember that playing with lesser goddess did not really help the Jrusteli having a good relation with Adryami... they have a long life and memory.😈

How do you naturally get a new dryad ? : This is another problem, more secure way to get a sympathetic and sexy neighbour but definitely less dangerous. For a new dryad to be born somewhere, you need to know that they are "feminine manifestations of the consciousness of Woods"; So you need some feminine spirits/Mana and a new wood which usually start by creating a new wood, make it very fertile and often invite the local Earth Cult or the local Fertility Cult (Uleria) for a festive ceremony. And then pray a lot that a Dryad is born in the next years... a shaman/priestess annual "summon dryad" to attract them around may help.😉

The Choice is up to you !

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In my glorantha elves are born of seeds, and are planted never born alive. Elves don't so much die of old age, but stop moving and become rooted trees.  Dryads grow from dryad saplings but if they need to move can cast the animate war tree on thier tree and pilot it like a magic mecha.

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Just now, Videopete said:

In my glorantha elves are born of seeds, and are planted never born alive. 

I approve of this statement.  But, if I may be indelicate, where do the seeds come from?  Are they, er, laid like an egg from a dryad or female elf?

I'm getting an odd sense of déjà vu, like this elf-seed/egg-thing has been discussed many times before.

Cheers to dryads piloting mobile trees!  Though I have to assume that going to war in them would be reserved for only the most desperate of circumstances.

!i!

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I am interested to note that in the Bestiary entry under Dryad there is no mention of Dryads moving from material to spirit form and then reappearing.  It seems the description got even shorter as a change from RQ3.  I wonder whether that is an intentional change to Dryads, or just a result of editing down for space.

I do note that dryads also are referenced in the Spirits section of the Bestiary, which appears much later, also that they are are not listed in its Nymphs sub-section, making that speculation less probable.  Instead they seem to be a variety of Genius Loci.  Incidentally my opinion: There should at least have been a cross-reference from Dryads to this.  It's not good to make such important aspects of a creature into little detective mysteries that take deep immersion before the gamesmaster can find or know them.

 

Edited by Squaredeal Sten
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6 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

I approve of this statement.  But, if I may be indelicate, where do the seeds come from?  Are they, er, laid like an egg from a dryad or female elf?

I'm getting an odd sense of déjà vu, like this elf-seed/egg-thing has been discussed many times before.

Cheers to dryads piloting mobile trees!  Though I have to assume that going to war in them would be reserved for only the most desperate of circumstances.

!i!

They are plucked from the ripened fruit depending on  the tree they descend from.

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9 minutes ago, Videopete said:

They are plucked from the ripened fruit depending on  the tree they descend from.

Ah, okay, so your elves aren't born (hu)Man-like from a womb, but from trees.

Digging out my copy of the Glorantha Bestiary, I see the conventional mode of elf gestation and birth is described on p.17, though the text clarifies that this is from the point of view of human belief.  Female elves (and presumably pregnant dryads) give birth to coconut-sized seeds, which are then planted and tended, and which later produce a stalk and fruit.  Fertilisation to ripening occurs over a period of roughly two years.

But, no, discussion of dryads is surprisingly scant, given the role they occupy in Aldryami society.

!i!

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10 minutes ago, Videopete said:

Dryads grow from dryad saplings but if they need to move can cast the animate war tree on thier tree and pilot it like a magic mecha.

For the magic Mecha, I like the principle for War tree but Dryads is very different...

The most Gloranthan example is Froalar second wive : Seshna Likita the Incarnated Demigoddess of Seshna. She is an embodied spirit of the land and likita is the feminine version of Likiti : the western term for earth elemental. Seshna could use a stone statue of herself to create her walking/serpenting avatar on earth. The Snake daughter use the same ability like most guardian deity like the Godess in the Broken Tower scenario.

The Nymphs of Woods as Fertility Spirit just use any kind of tree to be born (or incarnate herself) in the middle world. To me, the can use anything in their own grove to form a body (like naiads can use the water to form body like ondines does), it may be the leaves of the woods or the moss where an adventurer choose to comfortably sleep; this way, when a man want to catch of capture a dryad with his arms or a net, her body just turn back into leaves... like some king of magic; because few know the secret of the nymphs. (I did trick some players with the leaves tricks 😁)

The Dryad tree is like the body of a shaman, she can discorporate at will and form a female body of her chosen appearance or race to please her target. The dryad body is infuse with her surnatural Fertility Rune; so like Seshna did for Froalar's children, a dryad can give mate to any kind of species and probably give birth strictly like father's species (in term of pregnancy). It's possible because they are Nymphs a Goddess of Fertility (a lesser one but one goddess still !!!).

14 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

But, no, discussion of dryads is surprisingly scant, given the role they occupy in Aldryami society.

Elders race a pretty much forgotten in RQ-G, Even with the bestiary when don't have much infos. They didn't even mention name and an role of Voria ... which got pretty much forgotten unless in well of Dalia where she is mention a part of Aldryami Pantheon but not mentioned in the Pantheon List 😒...

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On 7/16/2020 at 6:06 PM, Squaredeal Sten said:

Question:  How do you get a new dryad?  How does a new or reseeded forest get dryads?   if as Glorantha Bestiary p. 18 indicates,  "they are always tied to the tree of their birth", and they are an all-female  "race" that breeds with male brown and yellow elves, then how does territory inhabited by dryads ever expand?   Or are dryads only to be found in forests that date back to godtime?

Looking at the RQ2 Classic book adds a small but useful snippet - "A totally female race which breeds with elves for continuance."

Likewise Elder Secrets:

Quote

Yellow elves are all male. They mate with dryads for continuance. Green elves are both male and female. When a green elf male mates with a dryad, no children result. Brown elves are both male and female, and can successfully reproduce with dryad mates as well.

So a dryad must mate with a male elf and any female seeds from the dryad will be dryads themselves and any male likely breed true as their father (except as noted above).

Here's the elf reproduction information from Elder Secrets as well:

Quote

Elves reproduce by internal fertilization. (At least, this is the current human belief.) The females give birth to a coconut-sized hard seed which is planted in a secret place. The seed, carefully tended by the parents. sprouts a stalk, leaves, etc. and eventually produces a large fleshy fruit. The fruit enlarges in size. When it is ripe, the parents open it and within is a small elf child. It takes about two years from fertilization to the opening of the ripe fruit. The "newborn" elf child in age and maturity is similar to that of a human child between four and six years of age.

If you can get a copy of Shannon Appel's Elf's published by Mongoose (2007) have a look. The core material is pretty good (ignore the art and second age stuff), Shannon had been writing elf stuff for some time before this appeared. It's section on dryad's is good.

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Search the Glorantha Resource Site: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com. Search the Glorantha mailing list archives: https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/

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On 7/16/2020 at 6:06 PM, Squaredeal Sten said:

Question:  How do you get a new dryad? 

A dryad happens when a sacred grove awakens. This means that a grove matures enough until a dryad awakens. some groves never mature and are always without a dryad.

I am sure that the gardeners have a way of forcing a Dryad to appear in a young sacred grove, but there are dangers to that.

On 7/16/2020 at 7:40 PM, Ian Absentia said:

I approve of this statement.  But, if I may be indelicate, where do the seeds come from?  Are they, er, laid like an egg from a dryad or female elf?

In my Glorantha, anything born from a Dryad actually appears among the roots of the sacred tree or beneath a bush in the Sacred Grove.

Elves might be different and it may be that the female elf carries a soft seed within her that grows and expands.

5 hours ago, David Scott said:

Here's the elf reproduction information from Elder Secrets as well:

Quote

Elves reproduce by internal fertilization. (At least, this is the current human belief.) The females give birth to a coconut-sized hard seed which is planted in a secret place. The seed, carefully tended by the parents. sprouts a stalk, leaves, etc. and eventually produces a large fleshy fruit. The fruit enlarges in size. When it is ripe, the parents open it and within is a small elf child. It takes about two years from fertilization to the opening of the ripe fruit. The "newborn" elf child in age and maturity is similar to that of a human child between four and six years of age.

Or we could go down the official route, which is just as good.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

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