When the Matathran Empire was first united nearly forty-two years ago, it was compromised of three distinct polities with their own bodies of law and local customs. Due in part to the gruesome war with the rancorous Agate Spiders of the Matathran Vale and having already been through eight years of protracted war, the administration of the Warlord Empress Andromache set to work so as to make the campaign to fend off the Agate Spites feasible. The cobbled together armies of Matathran at the time were able to hold off and slowly push back the erratic and directionless violence of the Agate Spites, but the state of affairs was understood by everyone to be temporary at the time. The Spider Councils had untold thousands to command, and their onslaught was only limited by the spiders' inherently weak sense of sight and their difficulty of the Spider Councils in coercing and directing their from the depths of the earth and into the open fields. The newly created empire had to change in order to avoid the merciless, genocidal intentions of the Agate Spites. Perhaps this knowledge was what permitted Andromache's administration to get away with as much as they did, especially in the early years, as the people were by and large willing and desperate to try nearly anything if it meant survival.

The modern Empire is a caste-oriented military bureaucracy. Untold numbers of slaves toil in fields to grow the crop necessary to feed the Empire's massive armies. Craftsmen, merchants, and anybody with useful skills or education are assigned to their own distinct castes, each with their own rules, privileges, and duties. The entirety of the caste system and all its members is upheld and maintained wholly by the military. Execution Squads headed by Invigilators oversee the daily life of the populace at large, enforcing military law through wit of force and curtailing possible revolt. Those within the ranks of the military enjoy placement near to the top of the caste system, with officers and commanders usually being direct associates of the Imperial administrative body and almost universally and (but not entirely) zealously loyal. The Imperial administrative body theoretically oversees and regulates the Invigilators and officers of the military, but in practice there is no reliable mechanism for civil relief for infractions directed against the populace. Soldiers generally come, go, and do as they please, limited only by the discretion of their immediate superiors. Any dissent or complaint is met with violence and torture, if not worse. Only the most egregious instances of abuse and exploitation are responded to by the Imperial administrative body.

With the Imperial administrative body itself, all authority flows from the Empress Andromache. One can only be a member of the Imperial body through some form or another of direct association with her, which becomes necessary in order to even ascend beyond a certain rank within the military at large. While this typically results in somewhat sluggish and languid logistics due to the bureaucratic backlog of individuals seeking audience with the Empress or attendance to one of her festivals and the relatively small number of superior commanding officers, these individuals are typically cherry-picked from the very best amongst the whole of the military. It would thus not be unfair to say that the entire Empire is held together by a relatively small number of highly competent individuals, and the failure or departure of a number of them would undoubtedly cripple the Empire's infrastructure.

At the very top of the Imperial bureaucracy exist a number of Marshalls, the three members of the Royal Trident, and the Empress herself. All of them are incredibly tight-knit, all of them being on a first-name basis and subject to overbearing scrutiny by each other. Their assets and regular coteries also overlap significantly, ensuring that they all share in the same gains and losses.

The Northeast: The founding and eponymous region of the Matathran Empire, the Matathran Vale - known to some as the cradle of legends - is a long, tapering series of rolling plains, hills, and lush grassland. It is largely temperate as air currents bring moisture in from the West and South, which becomes trapped against the tapering Argent Mountains, resulting in regular and generous precipitation and a number of long, winding rivers. The terrain is nonetheless rocky in many places, preventing the rise of abundant overgrowth. Despite its lush and open nature, the vale proper is sparsely populated, due both to its other characteristics and its reputation. The whole of the vale is littered with barrows, burial mounds, and old forgotten places best left undisturbed. The tales and legends of the vale are numberless, and it is not uncommon for individuals and even groups to wander into the vale to never be seen again - giving rise to the local discretionary saying, 'Do you think you will make for legendary warrior or a legendary meal?' The East and Western mountain chains are notoriously treacherous, being one of the few places where Agate Spiders continue to weave their webs in peace, unforgotten yet unmolested in their airy nests. The lower sides of the mountains contain heavily saturated swampland and marshes with surrounding forests and glades, and most of the wildlife in the region is migratory and can be encountered traversing the mountain slopes on occasion - along with yet even more misbegotten gods-cursed ancient vaults, forbidden sepulchers, and primordial tombs.

The West: The chain of mountains further to the West block most of the moisture that rolls in from the Western sea, creating an arid, barren region directly to their East. There exist more temperate regions around the fringes of the territory and further West of the mountain chains, but by and large life is difficult in the region. The area is abundant in useful and precious metals and minerals however, making it the source of most of the Empire's wealth and materials - that is to say, the only safe and reliable source given the precarious nature of the Northeastern Argent mountain chains. Although the terrain gives way to more tractable savanna and grasslands to the East, the presence of the Aeolian Shrine precludes frequent intrusion.

The East: Directly beneath the Northeastern Vale, the drier but still temperate plains receive semi-frequent rainfall from storms that roll in from the East and Northeast. Thankfully free of the calamitous litter of the Matathran vale, these lands are heavily farmed and produce a large amount of the Empire's crop and cereals. For that very reason, combined its relatively open borders, the region is continuously host to rotating garrison forces - ostensibly present for rest and relaxation, but also serving as a deterrence and backline guard force for the area. The region of the empire is otherwise the most open and accommodating of outsiders and travelers alike, with especially well-maintained roads, little in the way of inimical wildlife, and frequent roadside inns.

The South: Below the Western Barrens and the Eastern Plains lies a small bottlegap of mountain peaks that create a somewhat fertile savanna to the West, which gives way to a rocky, slate-dominated area to the Southeast. A respectable degree of farming is done in the Southernmost regions of the savanna, while a number of mines to the Southwest turn out more slate and granite than anybody could possibly ever find a use for. The Southeasternmost region in particular is known primarily for how desolate it is. The slate steppes are fairly temperate and bodies of water are not infrequent, but the realm is simply so rocky and devoid of topsoil that there is barely any vegetation of note, with only small fauna and wildlife present. The terrain is likely jagged and uneven to an extreme, but otherwise largely uniform in character - making it the premier location for training exercises and field maneuvers by the Empire's armed forces. The continuous pounding of feet and grinding of wagon-wheels in the area has been known to kick up dust clouds large enough to swallow villages.

Culture

The people of Matathran are ethnically diverse, with multiple peoples and species having existed between the three Kingdoms that were conquered to form the Empire proper. The lines between these peoples have thinned over time, as the new Empire cares little for trivial distinctions of race, and as such it is not uncommon to find strange bedfellows drawn from different peoples and species within the same social caste, living within the same borough and expected to work side-by-side. There is an accepted tolerance of each other amongst them all, as in the forty years prior they had either been fighting for their lives against the Agate Spites or else toiling to ensure the survival of the Empire as a whole. Discrimination and racism is still present and is not proscribed against, but the Empire is nonetheless fairly progressive in its attitudes towards race and species. In particular parts of the Empire where fervor is high, this is an intense dislike and animosity towards foreigners and outsiders, an attitude which is tacitly encouraged by the Imperial Administration.

The modern Empire is a caste-oriented military bureaucracy. Untold numbers of slaves toil in fields to grow the crop necessary to feed the Empire's massive armies. Defiance of any sort is punished with permanent mutilation and disfigurement. Directly above them are pit-fighters, drawn from amongst those slaves too dangerous or rebellious to leave in the fields, or those who simply wish for a better life. They fight and die in slaughter-pits, the survivors indoctrinated and inducted into the military upon their graduation. Artisans, craftsmen, scholars, and anybody else with particular skills or education are likewise assigned to their own distinct castes, relegated to living in assigned boroughs. The quality of life for each specific caste is enforced by the Imperial Administration, which ensures through the assignment of slaves and the availability of supply that each specific member of each caste has what the state has deemed necessary for them to live and work productively, with laws concerning private business and trade primarily oriented towards ensuring appropriate cross-caste interactions than in trying to restrict the flow of wealth. It is thus possible for those in the lower castes to nonetheless be rather influence and prosperous, and caste mobility is also permitted through checks and proofs of qualification.

One aspect of society that has notably fallen by the wayside in the past forty years has been religion. Due to the historically inimical nature of the Matathran vale and its association with Primordials, the people at large have always been highly wary of magic and other fantastic phenomenon. It is commonly accepted that the gods exist and their worship is still effectively state-mandated, though not rigorously enforced. In contrast, there has been a growing trend of hero-worship amongst the populace, having been subjected to decades of propaganda and the aggrandization of mortal dominance over the world and the will to power.

Within the last Forty years, a new ethnicity of peoples have appeared within the Empire - Warbreeds, grown and nurtured in the Imperial Harems within each city and metropolis which draw from the best and strongest of soldiers and pit fighters in order to produce superior soldiers. Warbreeds are much taller than normal and possess monstrous strength, but are somewhat dimwitted and host to a large number of hereditary defects that result in drastically shortened lifespans and innate sterility. Their numbers are relatively small, given the rate at which the Imperial Harems have grown, the sterility of the Warbreeds themselves, and the rate at which they die off over time. They are only just now in the present day starting to become regular sights in the Imperial forces.

Military

Work in progress.

History

To be determined in collaboration with other posters.

Relations

To be determined in collaboration with other posters.

Yaval, most ancient of Trees is effectively emperor in all but name and they are advised by 8 courts based on the 8 other islands of their homeland that still support life. These courts have a very loose internal structure, but are generally ruled by the oldest and/or wisest who in turn listen to all the other Trees on the islands. This system of government is relatively high level, working mainly about the ongoing survival of their race through diplomacy, war and the gathering of knowledge.

Local governances is left to their children, mainly because they are the ones who need to be governed. A Tree has few wants or needs, while the Dryads have all those that people do. Individual groups and communities elect 2 Dryad to act as their leaders and 11 others who act as advisors and subordinates to the Leader. Based on the size of a group those 11 might have their own subordinates, but these are hand picked by the individuals rather than elected to prevent voting fatigue. These elected bodies server their community as best they are able, and are the ones who are entrusted to act upon any orders that come from Yaval and the courts.

In the provinces the Empire has simply inserted itself into the position the kings and feudal lords used to hold, Dryad and Tree communities of governing a small area mostly independently, extracting wealth from the populace as they see fit. The only real difference is that instead of a complex web of deities and privileges, the land is now bound together by species loyalty and the presence of a living expedition of Yaval’s will growing at the heart of each of the Dreaming Forest’s Groves.

The Ever Green Isles:
A chain of islands that is the birthplace and homeland of the Dreaming Forest. These temperate misty isles are covered in thick woods and a near ubiquitous mist. A great part of that forest is made up of The sentient Trees that rule the empire. The land is mostly free of inhabitants or settlements apart from on the costs, where large numbers of docks made from the roots of the Trees can be found.

The Salted Groves:

4 islands closest to the mainland were rendered barren and lifeless in the first war between the Empire and the now subjugated Kingdom of Shenra. Only the largest of the islands is occupied by a small settlement of humans and their Dryad masters, who perform mining operations and scientific experiments to see if the damage can be undone.

Yaval: Named after it’s sole inhabitant, the Island of yaval is dominated by a single titanic Tree that is the ruler of the Emerald Empire. (

The Frigid Riverlands: The northern province of the empires mainland holdings runs from the border in the north to the river that travels from Lock Eshry to Fidgit Bay. The province is made up of most of the early acquisitions by the empire and as a result features both the mainland capital of Esterguile and the largest number of mainland Tree groves. It also contains the largest of those tree groves, a vast forest starting from the closest point to the Ever Green isles and stretching inland along the peninsula until it reaches large swaths of farmland. The riverlands are a home to much of the Provincial agriculture and is as a result the breadbasket of the entire empire.

The Grave of the Pioneers: The central Province consists of the land below the riverlands and above the river flowing from lake Sem to Crinwaley. Once home to an ancient Dreaming Forest, the province gets its name from their extinction at the hands of the Humans of the region. The province consists primarily of thick natural woodlands into which small young Trees have taken root. The region's primary produces are wild meats and luber of the regular variety. Woe be to the lumberjack who can’t tell the difference between a fir tree and his new masters.

The Glacial Marshes: the southern province is he to the, some say unnaturally, cold Frozen Cliffs and the quagmire of freezing swamps and marshes formed from the runoff of the glaciers that sleep on their sides. Because of the mountains and marshes the Province has the least usable land of the three, and is generally just a source of trouble from the monsters and rebels that hide among the vast cliffs and peaks.

The Frozen Cliffs: far up in the Frozen cliffs resides the last bastion of the Kingdom of Shenra. Home to Queen Rosabella the Third and her exile court, the small series of monasteries and villages high in the mountains is the source of much of the Empire’s internal conflict. The young Queen use it as a base to attempt to reclaim the throne, as have her ancestors before her. The freezing climate of the high mountains and the climb to reach any of the settlements mean that the Empire have simply given up on expelling their enemies and are content to let the royal line slowly dwindle into irrelevance.

All Of The Different Trees That There Are

The dreaming forest is the collective name for the Trees and their various designed offspring who sit at the top of the empire. Only the static Trees are capable of reproducing, either naturally creating more Tree seeds or by carefully magically modifying their offspring to have them grow to be one of the other various sub species. The name comes from an interpretation by a human of a description of the psychic dreamscape that binds them all together, a fuzzy mental landscape filled with the slow, deep thoughts of the Trees that are its source. All of the Dreaming forest species are highly magical in nature, but most of it is used to maintain their unnatural minds, motion and senses. As a result they have difficulty using that energy for other tasks, and as a result improving mana throughput is much harder form them than it is for more mundane races.

Being plants, the only internal organ exhibited by the members of the Dreaming forest are the rudimentary digestive systems found in dryads and living ships. Lacking even a center of their minds and being made of sapwood wood covered in bark they are all unnaturally hard to kill as a result. If a Treekin is cut in half the consciousness of the tree remains in the largest part while they maintain a connection to the severed part, which is what allows Yaval to spread their influence through planting of it’s branches to form new growths. Therefore the only way to kill Treekin is to reduce it so that no part consists of more of a quarter of its mass, burning it or starving it, generally done by removing its ability to feed and then leaving it to die.

Ever since the great fire, a blaze caused by a lightning strike during a particularly dry year in the otherwise rain soaked isles, the Trees have had an understandable fear of fire. This fear has been passed down unintentionally to their offspring,despite the fact that living wood is rather damp and hard to set on fire. This fear is particularly notable because the treekin lack a fight or flight reflex found in natural creatures, meaning that young Treekin are well know for picking overestimating their own ability when picking fights. They generally outgrow this fearlessness, either by being ought or learning from mistakes, something their tenacity fully allows

The Trees
Ancient sentient trees that grow on the Evergreen isles that are rich with primordial essence. They can grow to ancient ages and immense sizes and can communicate telepathically with one another over long distances. The ones in their home islands can all stay in touch with the neighboring islands, but can’t reach far enough to stay in touch with the mainland. To facilitate staying in contact the great Tree Yaval has had some of it’s immense branches cut off and planted on the continent, where they have grow as smaller trees that are extensions of her own will. These can be found anywhere the Empire has settled in force surrounded by groves of lesser Trees.

Culturally the Trees see themselves as the wise philosopher kings of their kind, they thirst for knowledge and endlessly debate among themselves about high minded topics. Generally they only get involved with their children and subject’s affaires to give advice or when there is a threat to themselves or the empire as a whole. The trees are unquestionably loyal to the Empire, primarily because they have little to gain from leaving or undermining it. Solong as a Tree’s own patch of ground and sky are unmolested.

Trees have basicly the same life cycle as normal trees, however once they reach about 50 years of growth, be it natural or magically accelerated, they develop the potential for consciousness. This potential is stimulated through psychic connection with their neighbors, as the elder Trees mentally raise the young Tree to be a fully fledged sentient being. As a tree grows and ages it’s psychic and magical capabilities grow as it’s mind slows down. The oldest and largest of the trees are incredibly intelligent and wise, but can take hours to respond to inputs. The Trees sense the physical world though the psychic dreamscape, though the resolution is rather dull and puts a lot of priority on motion. They can also hitchhike on the eyes of their children, sensing what they sense, though they have some difficulty interpreting this alien input.

Carnivorous Trees/plants these Trees have been grown with violence in mind. Similar to their natural progenitors in that they are routed to the spot as plants should be, they have various animated limbs, vines and flowers all made to catch and kill unsuspecting lumberjacks. Most alive today are either survivors of the war that birthed them peaceful living lives almost identical to the Trees whereas those on the continent have been deliberately as planted guards or as part of a fortified position during a battle.

For the ability to fight the carnivorous plants sacrifice a lot of their psychic potential and some of their intelligence: the carnivores are rather ferral and simple minded for the most part. Once they start to become very old and large, the plants slowly start to lose their ability to move their weapons until they end up rather as simply monstrous looking Trees. Time spent as a living weapon stunts their growth however, and so a former carnivore will generally be smaller than a standard Tree relative of the same age.

Carnivorous Plants are the younger version of Carnivorous Trees who, instead of having a solid trunk are instead 90% weaponry and are practically animals in their intelligence. This younger stage is often used to quickly reinforce defensive lines or create what are basicly minefields, the seeds can be carried by Dryads and grown to a useful sizes in a matter of hours, though the Dryads are naturally left vulnerable while doing this.

Both trees and plants are capable of disguising themselves in order to catch passing foes unawares. The trees use camouflage and a little magic to make themselves look like a mundane tree, while the plants hide their armaments under the ground or inside neighbouring plants.

Ents: the second of The Tree’s weapons, ents were the first attempt to make a mobile fighter to defend the Dreaming forest. They are large and have the same uncapped growth as the Trees themselves but also have the same issues as the Trees in terms of the speeds of their thoughts. Large Ents are incredibly strong and smart, but have poor reaction times. They also need to root themselves down in order to grow, absorbing nutrients from the soil during which they enter a hibernation like state that makes them almost the same as a regular Tree. Ents, unlike the smaller Dryads, do not have a particularly set shape and so, while vaguely humanoid is the most common form it is not the only one they can take: some ents are made in the shape of beasts with mouths full of thorns, others are wholly alien in shape.

Smaller Ents associated primarily with the Dryads and some could indeed be mistaken for their kin. As they grow they begin to drift away from active life, becoming more permanent fixtures in the Tree Groves, only awakening to come to their home’s it’s defence. The rate of this growth is based mostly on the individuals, some deliberately slow or pause their growth while others hibernate for most of their existence in order to become as large as possible. As a result of their shifting from one group to the other, the Ents are the awkward middle children of the Dreaming Forests, not quite fitting in with either their stationary or mobile peers.

The Dryads
Humanoid creatures made from living wood. Appearance wise they can grow from heights of 4 - 8 feet, though most are human sized. Appearance wise they resemble humans, but the accuracy of this resemblance varies based on how long the individual has to grow. Dryad born in peacetime look almost perfectly human in structure, while those hastily grown for war are often crude facsimiles, their bodies made from roots and branches rather than seamless wooden flesh. Dryads are either designed by a normal tree and then taken away to be planted somewhere or are grown trees specifically designed to produce only Dryad offspring. In either case, the seed sets routs and grows into a small tree which slowly takes on the appearance of a sleeping figure buried in wood. Once the Dryad is ready to be born, the tree forces all of it’s life source, energy and magic into the dryad, awakening it. The dryad then tares it way out of the shriveled cocoon of roots, trunk and branches. A newborn has about the intelligence capability of a human adult, but lack wisdom, which they gain from interacting with their kin and progenitors through their psychic link with them.

They are now the face of the empire and the driving force behind its expansion. They are the most warlike of their kin, and have a strong warrior culture where martial prowess is highly praised. The Dryads can only communicate telepathically if they are within range of one of their larger kin, but they have been given mouths with which to speak and thus are the only ones of their Genus capable of communicating with other races. 50% of the time this is used to hurl insults at foes, but some have become diplomats and merchants with, sometimes literal thanks to deliberate pigmentation choices, silver tongues.

Culturally they are primarily focused around war in all it’s forms and needs. What separates them from simply being a warrior cast is that they deal with not just fighting, but also preparing the materials of war such as armor, perform research into military technologies and are the face of diplomatic meetings. Beyond war the have a lot of interest in art, particularly the art of cooking. A Dryad’s normal diet consists of bland if nutritious fruits produced by The Trees of their home groves, The Trees maintain a meticulous control on the amount of children they produce, and as such food shortages are a rarity. This makes any and all other kinds of food a luxury and Chef’s are highly regarded among Dryad society for their ability to make eating interesting. This also makes those that go out to get food, be it viea taxation, trade or marauding, more highly valued by the Dryad’s than would be expected.

Dryads live in and around Groves of Their Tree parents. On the home islands this means they are rather disparate, living in small wandering communities that for the most part act as a garrison for the homeland. The only exceptions to this are the myriad of docks, into which the wealth of empire, conquest and trade flow. In the provinces they live in groves of young Trees planted around a planted branch of Yaval. These groves are generally located near major towns over which the Dryad’s act a feudal lords.

The Living Ships
Sentient Trees grown into the shape of ocean going vessels, propelled by leaf sails and animated oar like arms. So long as it can get sunlight the ship can indefinitely sustain itself and a small crew, and it can be repaired with magic and biomatter. The ship is it’s own captain, navigator and helmsman, the crew are generally along to repel boarding attacks, though the ship is not entirely helpless in this regard, to move cargo about and to act as envoys to land folk. There are three primary roles in life a ship may take. Some are part of a standing navy, bred for war and conflict they guard the isles and coasts. There are the transports who ferry goods and soldiers around and, as most of the internal trade and transport is done viea ship, they are always busy. The third are explorers, who go off far from the psychic contact with the rest of the Dreaming forest, carrying a small hardened crew they sail the oceans of the world to trade, talk and sometimes engage in piracy.

Living ships are made to a specific design by the Trees and are planted by the shoreline where they slowly grow into a fully formed ship while rooted to the earth. Like Ents the Ships are conscious during their growing period and learn everything the need to know as they mature, often getting to know or choosing the crew that is going to join them. Once fully formed they carefully detach the routes that held them to the earth, that they will subsequently sue as anchors, and slip into the water. Like the Dryads, the ships are capable of eating, though unlike their small kin they gain most of their energy from photosynthesising, and thus only really need it for elements that cannot be gauged from the absorption and splitting of Co2 and of water.

Like the Ents, some Ships are not content with the standard form of a boat. Some instead deliberately grow to resemble sea monsters instead, great whales, serpents or squids of bark,leaf and vine that are terrifying to behold.



Human citizens
The subjugated citizens of the former feudal Kingdom of Shenra where once traders, raiders and explorers who sailed the seas on ships made from the wood of the Trees that now rule them. Now they live under the thumb of the Empire but for the average peasant and the poor, very little has changed, their lords simply now live in the haunted forest rather than in splendorous manors. The merchant class has been considerably more affected, their ability to trade severely hampered by the loss of their prized magical ships and the Living Ships mastery of the waves have made most of them mostly redundant.

Though it has been several generations since the Empire’s total conquest of the region tensions still run high, with both the Dreaming Forest and the humans looking down on another as barely tolerable filth. The Dreaming forest consider the humans a useful tool for doing things like farming, mining or textile work, something few Dryad’s have ay interest in, and consider themselves incredibly merciful for not committing genocide on the human population. The humans are resentful of not being ruled by their own kind, frustrated with the fact that the Empire does basically nothing to help the people they rule. In Fact they barely rule at all.

Friends of the Forest: Every change in rulership has its Talleyrands, people who see the end coming and jump ship to the new regime before the old one sinks or just those that think it best to suck up to the new boss, same as they did with the old boss. The self proclaimed Friends of the Forest are a loose group of old powers who work to support the empire in order to get to the top of the bottom of the pile. Bureaucrats and taxmen who “streamline” things for their masters by acting as middle men, ruling the local populace in terms of law enforcement, handing out justice, planning public works and other mundanities that the Dreaming Forest does not have time for. Sometimes specifically chosen, sometimes self imposed and rarely elected, for the msopt they are a corrupt and self serving lot, but they have their uses.



Hivers: Large furred bees that can grow to about the size of a small dog. These are the primary pollinators of the Ever Green Isles, but they can also be found in most Dreaming Forests on the continent. Equipped with sword like stingers and a territorial attitude towards non plant life they are often used as the equivalent of guard dogs for groves of Trees. Some Dryads also keep them as pets.

Forest Hydras: Serpentine cousins of dragons the forest ydras live in small number in the larger forests throughout the Empire. Massive, aggressive and incredibly venomous most do their best to stay well clear of these hot blooded monsters.

Snow Lions: Winged Lions twice the size of their savannah cousins, these beast live in and around the frozen cliffs. Seemingly immune to the cold, the regal beasts fl swiftly through the air on nearly silent wings while they hunt deer, goats and men alike.

The most basic and fundamental unit of the Empire's military is a grove of Trees. Be they entire islands or a few young Trees on the frontiers, it is from these places that the the armies of the empire march out and thy are the most important of the lands they hold. Because of Yaval’s many proxy offshoots and the Tree’s psychic abilities, the empire has communications capabilities that are centuries ahead of their time. Because of this connection, yaval and the island courts of the ever green isles can and will make important military and bureaucratic decisions that can be instantaneously implemented day's worth of travel away. This communications advantage extends down to individual soldiers, and so while operating around Groves, the trees have a masterful advantage when it comes to coordination, information gathering and clarity of orders.

When away from their progenitors however, much of this advantage fades away. While Ents and Living ships can act as pylons for the Psychic Dreamscape, allowing communication between the army as a whole, this is a lot less of an advantage. Lacking the ancient wells of wisdom that come with a connection with the homeland, Yaval’s ability to force orders tought he haze through sheer force of will and the Trees ability to process all of the information going in and out of the psychic collective consciousness leaves the Dreamscape a hazy, unreliable and vague impression of the state of the army.

As a result, Dryad commanders of armies on the field rely on traditional methods of control, using the state of the dreamscape as a touchstone to see how moral is doing in places instead of a control mechanism. A commander can tell which areas of a battle that the dryads believe they are winning, and in which areas they are scared, panicked or disheartened in. this might not give a clear picture but it gives them some indication of where to send reinforcements or to take command of personally. Order are often given via shouting, instruments such as horns or flags. Ents make excellent platforms from which to give orders and so commanders can often be seen sitting atop the shoulder of an ent for both order giving purposes and the sightline advantage it gives. If all the ents and ships in an army ar routed or destroyed then the dreamscape collapses completely and the Dryads are left connected only to those nearby them. This is something most are wholly unused too and all too often the army will rout on mass in order to get back into contact with one another. Unlike most armies who break, a routing Treekin army is a panicked flight to somewhere rather than away from the enemy, and the army will naturally regroup at the closest Dreaming grove.

As a result of the advantages of fighting near The Trees, the prefered tactic of the Dreaming Forest when attacking is to set up groves as they advance to act as relays back to a Yaval cutting. While this can be done faster than might be expected, the dryads and ents can be lead in a week long ceremony to accelerate the growth of Tree seeds by fueling their own energy into them, it leaves them vulnerable and makes progress slow. The creeping advance also puts Trees in potentially dangerous territory, and the death of one of them, no matter how young, is considered a great tragedy. Weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of this approach and carefully balancing when to extend the forest VS sending an army out away from it to rapidly respond to a crisis or potential advantage is a careful balancing act, one the empire is still learning the art of.



He mainstay of the Empire's armies are the Dryads. These unnaturally tough Treekin (a dryad who’s head and/arms are cut off can still run away and, if healed could come back to fight that very same battle) are a force to be reckoned with, worth many times their own number. The empire itself is small however, and the land actually lived in by the Dreaming forest smaller still, so Dryads are almost always outnumbered by conventional armies. Dryads are technically full time soldiers, but outside of crisis periods only have to be on active duty half of the year. Dryads are divided into 2 seasons, spring and autumn and get their season, plus half of winter and summer, off.. When not on duty they engage in hobbies or professions like cooking, smithing, fletching, painting etc. or travel to receive instruction from famous warriors, mages, chefs or artists. This seasonal structure is also what prompts new elections for Dryad leaders. The only real exceptions to this rota are the merchants and explorers who travel with the Living ships to far off lands, they are often away for years at a time on what technically counts as their duty.

For weapons, Dryads use blunt weapons like maces and hammers as their mainstay, forgoing shields in order to use both hands for attacking, relying on their tough bodies for defence. Swords are generally reserved for officers and notable warriors due to the skill required to make one. Axes are taboo for obvious reasons and spears generally do not suit the Dryad’s aggressive fighting style. Dryad archers are literally born with their bows, the wood used to make it is taken from the refuges of the trees they grow out off to create enchanted short bows. Dryads can be divided up into a number of subtypes

Dryad Foot soldiers: The average Dryad wears an magically grown lightweight steel armor that's more carbon than iron, known as ironbark. It has about the same defensive value as chainmail while being easier to produce, lighter and having the advantage that it can be repaired by nature magic at the same time as the wearer. They make up the bulk of the standing army of the Empire, but are still far more dangerous than most warriors of flesh and blood.

Dryad Paladins: The empire doesn’t produce full plate armor, and as a result it's quite the sought after prize by the Dryads. Anyone seen wearing this has either strong enough to claimed it as a spoil of war, old enough to have looted it from the kingdoms armories or traveled far and wide to acquire it via shrew trading. As a result, these warriors are rare and also almost always exceptionally dangerous before their heavy armor is taken into consideration.

WarDancers: Warrios of what could be described as a cult, these Dryads forgo the armor of their kin and go into battle in wearing light dress and armed truly massive bladed weapons. They undergo a rigorous training program to learn how to use mana to increase their agility and flexibility, as a result they move through the battlefield as a swift and beautiful death, scything down their foes and artfully dodging attempts to stop them.

Dryad Sprout Berzerkers: these are the bastard children of the Dreaming Forest. Rapidly grown via magic and then forced to uproot as soon as they can move, their mass appearance on the battlefield can only mean that the local Tree Grove has been spooked and has decided to rapidly grow reinforcements or an entire army to defend themselves. Feral, frenzied with the only the thought of war pushed haphazardly into their minds and armed and armored with weapons made from the detritus of their emerging they are the expendable shock troops fearless through ignorance of their own mortality. Any that survive will eventually be integrated into society, but the violence of their birth and their retched appearances often leave them as social pariahs.



Ent Warrior: standing at one to three times the average human the smallest of the ents could be mistaken for overgrown Dryads if they weren't quite so ugly. The youngest of the Ents fight somewhat similarly to their Dryad cousins, only with even more brute strength and a distinct lack of fitness or agility. Most are armed with crude weapons that they feel little attachment to as they keep outgrowing them and for that same reason they generally don’t wear armor.

Bestial Ents: bigger, meaner, these ents have gotten to the point that weapons are just to expensive to make for them and as a result have turned to more bestail forms to fight. Sporting claws, fangs and more, the elder ent towers above the battlefield and is sometimes so heavy they resort to walking on 4 libs rather than two.

Monsters: Sometimes ents decide that the humanoid form isn’t dangerous enough and they go for something more exotic instead. Large animals like wolfs skirt the line between beast and monster, but ents in the shape of wyrms, dragons, shoggoths and other mythic beasts have been known to exist as have ons in the shapes of giant insects, spiders or crustaceans.

Armored Titans: Colossal siege towers that have reached the pinnacle of what an Ent can grow to while still remaining mobile. At this point weapons and armor become viable choices once again, though they are now works of architecture rather than craftsmanship, their equipment being predominantly stone in material. Such dences are necessary, because the Titans embody the principle of “shoot the big ones” if one shows up on the battlefield it will be the target for every mage and artillery pieces. This and fear are in part the point, the Ent is now so slow in its thoughts that even tightly packed formations have a chance to move out of the way while it winds up a strike. As a result they are best used to scare away enemies, walk straight through their lines to trample them or destroy fortifications rather than be used to stand and fight



While all Dryads are innately magical thanks to the Primordial blood giving them life, actual spellcraft comes slowly to the members of the Dreaming forest. They are limited by having a much harder time raising their mana rate than other races. The process of becoming versed in spellcraft is a long and slow process that requires a lot of dedication. For a mage to even consider a potential acolyte worthy of teaching the seeker of magic knowledge must prove their commitment by raising their mana throughput to a realm that it is actually able to perform spellcraft. As a result, there are four stages of magical ability among the Dreaming Forest. The only exception to this are the Trees themselves as all of them learn, at the very least, enough magic to create the various subspecies using their own seeds.

Spell Swords: at the bottom of the totem poll are the spellswords. Any Treekin who wishes to increase their mana throughput starts of by acquiring some simple enchanted weapon or item that can be used to briefly augment their combat ability. By keeping these items that have relatively low mana requirements or capacities on hand and constantly refilling them, the Spellsword gradually ups their mana throughput over a course of several years.

Enchanters: once a hopeful has upped their mana rate sufficiently, they seek out either a more powerful artifact or, if they can get some training or literature on the subject, create their own. These more powerful artifacts generally allow the mage to perform one or more spells without having to learn all the specifics. They then use this as a primary weapon in order to train further. These generally make up the majority of spellcasters in an empire army, generally providing a specific, inflexible, function like healers, artillery support or firefighters.

Mages: A fully fledged mage is incredibly powerful, not just because of their now heightened mana throughput, but also because the mage is experienced, dedicated to their craft has seen many battles and is as a result, wise. Only the strongest and most committed endure the decades of work it takes to become an apprentice, meaning that only the cream of the crop manage to become fully fledged mages. Because the Treekin don’t die of old age and only get wiser as they get older they can potentially accrue much higher levels of power and knowledge than than mortal mages.

The favored magic schools of the Dreaming Forest are nature, water, and wind magic. Nature magic is used to rapidly grow vegetation, both their own and mundane, command the beast of the forests like Hivers and wolves to attack and also to heal wounds. Water magic is used to directly counteract fire magic and can also be used offensively near bodies of water or on the high seas. Wind magic is favored by the Living Ships, who use it to maneuver themselves and blow their enemies of course.



The Empire’s navy is one of its great strengths, the Living Ships that are its backbone are a terrifying force on the oceans of the world. They can feel the currents and waves around them, effortless maneuvering through treacherous waters that would wreck normal ships. With their arm like branches and tentacle like vines they can physically assault enemy vesale all on their own ramming the constructed ships with its hardened bark body before tearing the crew to shreds or dismantling the ship board by board. Their Dryad crews who fight alongside them can take fula advantage of the cramped confines of ships to avoid getting ganged up on by their more numerous foes. THe ships can also easily sustain themselves and their crews on sunlight and water, the ship producing fruits for the crew to eat as they travel. The ship can also repair itself, growing to seal holes and breaches during a battle using magic or beaching itself to repair more substantial damage over time.

Perhaps more frightening than the standard ships are the monsters and mages. Monsters forgo the ability to carry crew or cargo to become dedicated weapons of terror, mighty leviathans out of myths and legend that can bite entire ships in half. Almost as rare as these are the mage ships, having gone through the 3 stage training process like their land based kin and are either formidable magical artillery platforms or capable of rapidly growing armies of Sprout Berzerkers in distant lands.



Conscripts: poor peasants and workers rounded up and ordered to march with the Empire to defend the realm. Generally armed and armored with mail, spears and shields left over from the former kingdom they form local militias and auxiliary forces for the empire. Generally used to bulk out the armies to prevent the Dreaming Forest forces from being outnumbered and overwhelmed they are really only expected to hold the line with a spear wall while the treekin warriors do the actual fighting and killing. How good they are at this job really depends on who and where they are fighting. When defending their homes from northern barbarians or eastern slavers they can generally be relied upon. If they are far from home and against the forces of their rightful Queen they give up the field easily or worse, change sides in the middle of the fight.

Deer Riders: Filling the light cavalry roll for the Empire are semi professional troops mounted on deer back. Before the kingdom was conquered they used an equal number of the continents ubiquitous horses and the local tradition of deer riding, but transitioned to primarily deer for their better maneuverability in the groves of the Dreaming Forest. Come the conquest the deer has remained the primary mount of the warrior because of how well it works with the Empire's favored terrain. Deer work surprisingly well against other carly, having been taught to butt heads with their horses enemies.

Friends of the Forest enforces: the enforces are effectively the provincial police force, but they can be called to war if the Empire needs them to. More often than not they act as officers for the conscripts, but they can be called up on mass to form their own units if so necessary, which is generally done when fighting the forces of the remnant of Shenra. They are loyal to the Empire, or rather loyal to the people profiting from the empire, and thus have much better moral than their conscript brothers. They tend to style themselves after the Dryads with hammer and mace usage, though they generally keep the traditional round shield of their people for safety.

In ages past a Primordial decide that they wanted to spend several hundred years as a tree. Why this is the case has been lost to time, but as a result of its time on the ever green Isles it’s pollen spread to many of the trees and it sired many children. As time passed it’s essences spread throughout the forests until, thanks to the magic they inherited, the primordial’s decedents made up most of the forests on the 13 islands. Unbeknownst to the island trees, some even spread to the mainland. As they conquered the lands a strange thing occurred, individual Trees began to link together stimulating the magic within each other till eventually a dull intelligence gradually emerged within them all, intelligence that was partially intertwined from the nature of its formation. For the most part these Trees did little but watch the seasons go by and philosophise among themselves for thousands of years. Those sentiments that did come to the islands found the thickly wooded forests filled with hostile wildlife poor land to settle and most left as soon as they were able.

Then came the creatures riding their vessels made from corpses of their own kind. For the first time since the great fire the trees faced a threat to their existence, and it’s name was humanity. Due to the shear number of offspring produced by the primordial ancestor of The Trees, they have some of the least diluted ‘blood’ in the world and unfortunately the invaders had already discovered they could make enchantments from the wood of the trees and had come specifically to the islands for more magic wood. As their kin were cut down by the hundreds the Trees scrambled to find a solution to the problem. Initially lacking a leadership structure to organise their response, and the wild creatures proving insufficient to fight the humans, the trees eventually bowed to the ancient wisdom of Yaval. Under their guidance, the trees began to use magic to create and grow offspring to fight the invading lumberjacks. They resolved to create offspring more capable of fighting back than themselves, using their magic to mutate their seeds and using their own magic to increase the rate of their growth.

First they tried creating trees and saplings armed with grabbing arms and lashing vines that were rapidly grown at the edge of the woodsmen's territory, but the invaders brought in mages to hurl fireballs from a safe distance. The trees tried giving their creations legs, but the invaders bought in warriors who danced around their lumbering steps and used torches to light them aflame. At last, the trees took influence from their tormentors and the Dryads were born. As small as the humans and just as quick the dryads turned the skirmishing between the trees and the invaders into a full on war, as the humans finally caught onto the fact that it was the trees themselves that it was all the trees that were a danger, not just the few strange mutant ones. Thus began a war of extermination, the humans burning the forests down and magically salted the earth whenever they scored victory. Four islands were lost to the invaders, never to be reclaimed as their soil was left barren, till the trees made the innovation that won them the day.

The final creation of the war where ships of their own, trees that could survive drinking saltwater (a trick Yaval had learned long ago but was only now sharing) , catch the breeze with their leaves and carry the Dryads away from the islands to disrupt the supply lines of the invaders. After a few naval engagements it became clear that the living were stronger than the dead as the Tree ships tore the longships of the invaders to sunder, bringing peace to their fallen brethren. Cut off from supplies and reinforcements the humans were eventually defeated. From captives, the trees learned language and eventually, 50 years after the first Tree on the island was felled, an uneasy peace was forged between the Trees and the humans. It lasted for only 5 years.

During this time the trees fretted about what to do with their children, bred for war, now that here was peace. While their parents endlessly, and slwly, debated the Drayds formed a society that was, worryingly in the Tree’s opinions, based rather somewhat on the invader’s own. They set out into the world on their living ships and returned with tales and bounties of the vast world and it was through this travel that the Dryads gained their first desire. Before the explorers returned the Dryads had lived off of rather tasteless fruits provided by the Trees, but after their first expeditions the Dryads discovered the joy (and occasional dangers) of cooking. It was the lack of available farmland and tradable resources on the Tree covered islands that eventually sparked the second war as a crew of Dryads docked their ship next to a human village and began to extort them for food. The human military's responded and attempted to kick out the dryads. In response the Trees and Dryads sent reinforcements to defend their kin and so the second war was on.

Over the next 97 years, sporadic wars were fought and the Human kingdom slowly lost more and more land to the newly named Emerald Empire. While the Kingdom of Shenra did manage some victories against the invaders they never again managed to set foot on the Empire’s homeland. After a series of consecutive defeats during the year 142 AP it became clear the kingdom could no longer hope to oppose the empire. The Royal family and their court were forced to flee the Empire’s forces as they occupied most of the kingdom's territory. Over the past 300 years the empire has consolidated their holdings on the continent and have now turned their attentions further afield, both on land and across the waves.

(more recent history)

The Kingdom of Shenra: at war
Empire of Matatharan: tensions on the border are high, the land locked empire has had it’s sights on the ports of the southern Emerald lands for some time and it has not gone without notice that they have recently begun moving troops to the border between the two nation. The Dreaming Forest has responded in kind and tensions are brewing as the two empires prepare for the inevitable clash between expansionist powers.

The kingdom is, or was, ruled via a feudal system, with the Queen/King as it’s head and a series of lords who served as local governors over arios estates, bound to their king by various treaties, obligations and agreements. Most of this is gone now as the Empire has conquered most of the Kingdoms lands, what remains of its governance is the court of Queen Rosabella the Third. She and the few surviving noble families rule over the various mountain towns and monasteries found in the frozen cliff region. For the most part, each town is independently governed by a mayor or head priest and they are obliged to supply soldiers and food to the court. In return the court organises the small but skilled army protecting the region, keeping the emerald empire out as well as dealing with the various local monsters and hostile native races

The Kingdom controls a series of villages and monasteries on the south side of the Frozen Cliffs. Spread around in various hidden valleys and isolated peaks situated on the backs of the 3 massive mountains of the region. The capital is a fortress monastery, called the holy summit, that hosts the court and it’s forces. Sat atop a particular inhospitable peak, it looms high above the various villages and lesser religious installations that feed it.

The land itself is unnaturally cold for the region even when the altitude of the area is taken into account. Glaciers slumber against the sides of the mountains, howling snowstorms make traveling difficult and the sky is perpetually shrouded in cloud. Life is only possile thanks to a nuber of cravases and vallys taht shelter those within from the worst of the weather, and in which farming is possible.

The peoples of the remains of the kingdom are primarily farmers, goat herders and priests, they have little time for anything that does not involve survival or god and the two are intertwined heavily in the region. Those that do not harvest food or pray join the ranks of the kingdoms army as soldiers fighting for the restoration of the monarchy and human dominance in the region. The only ones not in these three professions are the Queen and her nobles, who are often away from the region, where they travel to foreign lands to beseech others for assistance in casting out the empire from the lands that are rightfully theirs.



Allied with the kingdom but not nominally part of it are the harpies. Natives to the region, they have a thorny history with their allies due and the reduction of prey available caused by the humans arrival and the subsequent poaching of the humans livestock by harpies. The emergence of the Empire has forced the two groups together, as neither wish to live as servants to uppity firewood. The harpies live in high altitude tribal villages they call roosts, where they are ruled by a council of elders. Contrary to the common belief among the humans that Harpies do not have menfolk, or that they don’t let them leave the roosts, the truth is that they are simply incapable of telling the two sexes apart.

Royal Lion Guards the elite of the kingdom's forces are the personal bodyguard of the Queen. Armed with halberds that are just as often used as axes as they are spears, these warriors must prove their worthiness to join the Guard by gaining the traditional Snow Lion head headdress of the guard. This can be done either by slaying one of the beast or claiming one belonging to an existing member, either through a dual or being judged worthy by the holder to have it handed down by a guard who wishes to retire

Human Infantry clad in thick clothes, plate and mail, the mainstay of the Kingdom's armies fight much the same way as their conquered relatives to the north. The warriors heavily favor two handed axes, both for their simplicity to make and their effectiveness vs their wooden foes, whereas the humble spear is almost entirely absent from their arsenal. Swords are used, but primarily as status symbols of officers and lords rather than as main weapons. Any shields used are predominantly light wooden ovoid shields used to protect from arrows.

Harpy auxiliaries The harpies of the frozen cliffs generally wear light leather armor and are traditionally armed with two handed swords and axes. Some have recently begun carrying light crossbows to harass foes with before or after a charge. The heavy metal bolts, assisted by gravity, are one of the few handheld ranged weapons effective VS the Dreaming Forest, capable of crippling limbs or heads with their heavy impacts. All these choices are made with their flight in mind, metal armor and bulky shields reduce their prized mobility, while two handed weapons are extra effective when gravity is used to add extra forces to the blow. They act as a kind of light cavalry for the most part, a roll that is difficult for traditional horsemen to fill in their mountainous homeland.

Snow Witch(Cryomancers) Magic is rare up in the mountains but there are some who have tapped into the frozen heart of the place and have learned to do terrible damage with the already dangerous elements. Just as often as they are spearing invaders with shafts of Ice they are worsening the already terrible weather, shattering an army’s will to fight before they even reach the battlefield. Both humans and Harpies have members skilled in this art and while there are some other types of mages in the mountains, the wielders of ice and snow are the most common.

FireBrands(Pyromancers): While the local tradition is mastery of the cold, the nature of the kingdoms hated enemies mean that fire magic is the second most common type of spellcraft in the land. Firebrands are almost always loyal to the kingdom above all, as opposed to the witches who are more lil to associate primarily with their local community if they aren't recluses. Fireballs and gouts of flame are the most common of their tactics, but some have been known to empower the weapons of themselves and allies with burning coatings of flame instead.

A Shenran guide to fighting treekin:

Queen Rosabella the Third: Rightful of the lands now held by the Emerald empire, the Queen seeks to reclaim the throne that is rightfully hers. Riding atop the back of a snow lion named Sanja she has raised since they both were young, she often personally leads her armies from atop her steed against the hated Empire. In battle she wields the Treecapitator, a witch bane axe that draws strength from killing those of Primordial blood. In her case, this means the Trees and their children. (how did you get such a fine weapon?)

She took the throne after the death of her parents at the battle of mt Sethren at the age of 14 and in the 8 years since she has shown herself to be shrewd diplomat and skilful warrior, having bdefeeted an atempted invasaion by the empire and having made an proper alliance with the Harpies, to replace their previous vague enemy of my enemy agreement they had previously, that has held up for 6 years. Charismatic if a bit headstrong, she fully believes she can succeed in her task, of only she can get the proper foreign assistance.

Hajnal the Frozen angel: Greatest of the Ice Witches, Hajnal is a 4 winged mutant of the Harpy race. Such individuals are believed to be touched by the divine by his people, which has given his considerable influence among the various harpy tribes. He acts as the closest thing the harpy tribes have to a leader or spokesperson for their collective interests. It was between a friendship formed between him and the young Queen that the humans and harpies were brought together for the first time in a formal alliance since humans arrived in the mountains. There have been whispering among the Tribes about a possible royal marriage to cement the alliance, a line of planing hampered somewhat by the fact that the humans don’t realize Hajnal is male.

Faizya the Phoenix: A former Ice witch who has devoted herself fully to the art of the firebrand since the alliance between the harpies and the humans was forged. This rejection of tradition has alienated her somewhat from her kin, and the harpy has effectively joined the joined the royal court as a result. The young Firebrand is known to dote on Hajnal, much to their annoyance and the confusion of the court.

The Kingdom of Shenra once occupied most of the lands that now make up the Emerald Empire’s continental Provenances but, after a series of wars fought over the course of 50 years The empire slowly forced the Kingdom to ceded more and more land until eventually a final invasion was launched to take the remaining territory of the Kingdom, that was now 40% of it’s original size. After a series of battles, the kingdom's forces were left in ruin and the current king was forced to flee. The king, his family and a few surviving noble families eventually found themselves chased into the Frozen cliffs, but loyal locals gave them refuge. The Dryads following them quickly grew sick of the weather and gorilla attacks made by the locals and abandoned the chase.

The royals and nobles ended up setting up court in the holy summit monastery, from which they began to plan to reclaim the rest of the kingdom. Subsequent attempts by the Empire to oust the court failed due to repeated underestimation as to how difficult such a task would be. By the time the Empire learned their lessons the court had managed to organise a proper military that narrowly defeated the invasion force in a pitched battle thanks to a flanking maneuver performed thanks to local knowledge. Since then there has been a stalemate, with both sides failing to make serious headway in breaking into the other’s territory.

Emerald Empire: at war
Empire of Matatharan: with the war between the Emerald and Matatharan empires looking inevitable, the kingdom has been in talks with Matatharan over a joint campaign against the Dreaming Forest’s southern holding. Matathran wants the Southern coast, but they do not care about anything up North. Once the annexation is over, they have promised to not invade the mountains, to set up favorable trade accommodations and the right to a share of the spoils. Once the port is claimed, Matathran would then support future military endeavors on the kingdom’s part to reclaim the Northern regions.