Tree Folk

Lore

The Aldaecir are the communal Tree Folk of Reth - biological plant beings whose settlements are grown rather than built. Their civilization is rooted in the great western forest and organized around three major groves: Sunbough, Rootheart, and Stillwater.

They are distinct from the Druaecir, the solitary fey-plant spirits bound to individual Heart-Trees. Aldaecir raise young, govern territory, maintain trade, cultivate food, preserve water, and shape living architecture across generations. Druaecir instead inhabit the untamed forest between the groves, gathering loosely into Choirs according to shared purpose.

The Aldaecir are often described as the forest's shield - they protect its settlements, rootlines, water stores, and future generations, while the Druaecir Choir of Thorns serves as its more aggressive sword.

Aldaecir society values stewardship above wealth. Status is earned by tending something that must survive beyond the individual: a nursery, water source, trade path, living structure, firebreak, treaty, or damaged region of forest. An Aldaecir is not judged by what they own - they are judged by what remains healthy because they cared for it.

Growth Stages

Aldaecir growth stages represent age and biological development rather than character level.

Sproutling. A newly awakened Aldaecir kept within a specially crafted growth vessel, with limited mobility, dependent on Wardens for water, sunlight, protection, and travel. Sproutlings are generally not suitable as player characters.

Shrubling. A young Aldaecir capable of leaving its vessel and walking independently - usually Small, and still under some Warden supervision.

Treeling. A mature Aldaecir, most often Medium, with the developed bark, limbs, crown, roots, and foliage associated with Tree Folk. Most Aldaecir adventurers are Treelings.

Oaken One. An elder Aldaecir whose body has become broad, dense, and deeply rooted. Some appear physically Large, though player-character Oaken Ones are treated as Medium unless a feature states otherwise.

Appearance

Aldaecir bodies resemble many forms of woody plant life - oak, willow, birch, cedar, mangrove, fruit trees, flowering trees, or thorned growth. They may display bark in pale silver, red-brown, grey-green, charcoal, or black; branches resembling antlers, crowns, horns, or layered canopies; seasonal leaves, flowers, fruit, nuts, or seedpods; moss, vines, fungi, or lichen across the body; rootlike feet that grip soil; sap serving the role of blood; and eyes resembling amber, knots, seeds, glowing sap, or polished wood. Aldaecir often cultivate their bodies deliberately through pruning, grafting, moss shaping, flower training, bark carving, and guided branch growth - practices that serve roles similar to clothing, jewelry, hairstyles, and tattoos among other peoples.

Lifespan

Aldaecir may live for approximately one thousand years under healthy conditions. Their long lives shape their approach to politics, construction, and stewardship: they weigh not only whether a decision works now, but whether it will damage roots, soil, water, or future generations decades later. They act immediately when danger is clear - fire, poisoned water, blight, and threats to Sproutlings are answered without delay - but their patience appears most strongly when a choice would permanently alter the forest.

Society

Aldaecir society is communal but not without individuality; work is organized around the needs of the grove - raising and protecting Sproutlings, maintaining clean water, tending rootlines, cultivating fruit and medicine, shaping living structures, guarding boundaries, maintaining firebreaks, guiding outsiders, preserving seed lines, mediating with Druaecir, and watching for blight or soil corruption. They do not normally build private estates or hoard personal wealth; resources are directed toward whichever part of the grove needs them.

Government

Each major grove is governed by a Warden Circle responsible for local safety, access, resources, and stewardship. Matters affecting all Aldaecir are brought before the Elder Circle at Rootheart, which deliberates over territorial boundaries, ecological threats, trade agreements, relations with other peoples, and decisions that may affect the groves for generations. Rootheart does not rule Sunbough and Stillwater as subordinate provinces - it coordinates matters that no single grove can resolve alone.

The Warden System

Every Sproutling is placed under the protection of a Warden. Most Wardens are Aldaecir, but trusted elves, druids, or sworn wanderers may earn the responsibility. A Warden oversees water and sunlight, growth-vessel maintenance, safe travel, nursery access, education, emergency evacuation, protection from fire, poison, theft, and blight, introduction to outside peoples, and preparation for independent rooting. A non-Aldaecir Warden is not a hired caretaker - they have been entrusted with the continuation of the grove, and negligence resulting in harm to a Sproutling is remembered severely.

Architecture

Aldaecir settlements are grown from living trees, roots, fungi, moss, and guided vegetation - bough-halls, rootcellars, branch bridges, living council courts, potcourts, sheltered growth chambers, rain-catching leaf basins, fungal compost halls, water-storage hollows, firebreak clearings, rootline passages, and living boundary gates. A structure may take decades to mature, so Aldaecir architecture is planned for descendants who may not yet have awakened.

Communication

Aldaecir speak Common and Aldaecir. Their language also incorporates physical and environmental signals - leaf movement, root pressure, branch posture, sap scent, tapping through wood, vibrations carried through shared soil, and changes in flowers or foliage - able to convey alarm, direction, recognition, pain, disturbance, and emotional state. They are not telepathic, and complex ideas still require speech.

Spiritual Beliefs

The Aldaecir have no single centralized church. Their spiritual life centers on clean water, healthy soil, protection of young growth, memory preserved in old trees, death returning nourishment to life, responsible harvest, controlled use of fire, Warden obligations, and continuity of the grove. The body of a deceased Aldaecir may become a memorial tree, nurse log, source of grafts, sacred soil, or part of a living structure - death is not treated as disappearance, but neither is it treated casually.

Law and Taboos

Open flame may not be brought into a grove without permission. Living growth may not be cut for convenience; pruning and harvesting require knowledge, purpose, and consent. Removing a Sproutling or its vessel from Warden oversight is among the gravest Aldaecir crimes. Introducing poison, corruption, alchemical runoff, or blight into Aldaecir soil is treated as an attack upon the grove, as is polluting or concealing contamination in water stores. Protected roots may not be severed, excavated, burned, or magically altered without permission.

Warfare

The Aldaecir keep no conventional standing armies; their defensive strength comes from the forest itself. Defenders close paths with living growth, raise root barriers, collapse crossings, restrain intruders, conceal settlements, redirect enemies into hostile terrain, evacuate young through hidden passages, coordinate with Druaecir Choirs, and deny access to water or safe ground. They prefer containment, attrition, and removal over open battle - but when Stillwater, a nursery, or a protected water source is threatened, they respond with decisive force.

History

The Aldaecir are among the oldest forest-born peoples of Reth; their groves were ancient when permanent roads first cut through the deep forests. During the First War they broadly aligned with the forest peoples and elves, but as the conflict damaged living territory many withdrew rather than let the forest be destroyed by the struggle. Afterward, the Tree Folk were among those dissatisfied with the Prime Council - one distant seat could not represent multiple groves and centuries of ecological responsibility. During the Great Peace, Aldaecir trade expanded: elven tools, growth vessels, and metalwork entered the groves while fruits, medicines, resins, and safe routes moved outward. During the Long Shadow the groves grew more guarded - Warden authority increased, outsider paths narrowed, and promises were judged against repeated action rather than spoken intent. The Aldaecir did not abandon the outside world; they stopped assuming that every visitor understood what their presence could damage.

Background Questions

Which grove raised you. Sunbough, Rootheart, or Stillwater?

Who served as your Warden, and where are they now?

What happened during your First Uprooting?

What fruit, flower, seed, or nut is unique to your family line?

What duty did you leave unfinished when you departed the groves?

What forest spirit first spoke your true name?

Connection Questions

Who in the party reminds you of your Warden?

Whose movement have you learned to recognize through the ground?

Who would you trust to carry a Sproutling's vessel?

Who acts without considering what their choices will leave behind?

Who has earned permission to tend your damaged bark or prune injured growth?

Homeland: The great western forest of Reth

Principal Groves. Sunbough, Rootheart, and Stillwater

Government: Warden Circles within each grove, coordinated by the Elder Circle at Rootheart

Society: Communal, elder-guided, stewardship-focused - organized around groves, rootlines, nurseries, and Warden responsibilities

Buildings: Living bough-halls, rootcellars, branch bridges, potcourts, growth chambers, rain basins, and structures shaped from living trees

Exports: Sacred fruits, berries, medicines, resins, seeds, living-wood craft, and forest guidance

Imports: Growth vessels, water containers, metal tools, armor, glass, and fire-resistant materials

Sustenance. Sunlight, water, soil nutrients, and symbiotic fungi

Allies: Forest elves, druids, Druaecir Choirs, and trusted Wardens

Enemies: Blight-cults, poachers, reckless clear-cutters, root-corrupting necromancers, and forces that poison soil, water, or living growth

Core Values. Stewardship, continuity, clean water, protection of young growth, long consequence, patient judgment, and responsible harvest

Greatest Taboos. Taking a Sproutling, unpermitted flame, poisoning soil, fouling water, severing rootlines, and cutting living growth without consent

Lore & Background

The Aldaecir are the communal Tree Folk of Reth, biological plant beings whose settlements are grown rather than built. Their civilization is rooted in the great western forest and organized around three major groves: Sunbough, Rootheart, and Stillwater.

They are distinct from the Druaecir, the solitary fey-plant spirits bound to individual Heart-Trees. Aldaecir raise young, govern territory, maintain trade, cultivate food, preserve water, and shape living architecture across generations. Druaecir instead inhabit the untamed forest between the groves, gathering loosely into Choirs according to shared purpose.

The Aldaecir are often described as the forest's shield. They protect its settlements, rootlines, water stores, and future generations. The Druaecir Choir of Thorns serves as its more aggressive sword.

Aldaecir society values stewardship above wealth. Status is earned by tending something that must survive beyond the individual: a nursery, water source, trade path, living structure, firebreak, treaty, or damaged region of forest.

An Aldaecir is not primarily judged by what they own.

They are judged by what remains healthy because they cared for it.

Appearance

Aldaecir bodies resemble many forms of woody plant life. Some bear the traits of oak, willow, birch, cedar, mangrove, fruit trees, flowering trees, or thorned growth.

Their bodies may display:

Bark in pale silver, red-brown, grey-green, charcoal, or black

Branches resembling antlers, crowns, horns, or layered canopies

Seasonal leaves, flowers, fruit, nuts, or seedpods

Moss, vines, fungi, or lichen growing across the body

Rootlike feet capable of gripping soil

Sap serving a role similar to blood

Eyes resembling amber, knots, seeds, glowing sap, or polished wood

Aldaecir often cultivate their bodies deliberately through pruning, grafting, moss shaping, flower training, bark carving, and guided branch growth. These practices serve roles similar to clothing, jewelry, hairstyles, and tattoos among other peoples.

Lifespan

Aldaecir may live for approximately one thousand years under healthy conditions.

Their long lives influence their approach to politics, construction, and ecological stewardship. They consider not only whether a decision works now, but whether it will damage roots, soil, water, or future generations decades later.

They are capable of immediate action when danger is clear. Fire, poisoned water, blight, and threats to Sproutlings are answered without delay.

Their patience appears most strongly when a choice would permanently alter the forest.

Society

Aldaecir society is communal but not without individuality. Work is organized according to the needs of the grove.

Common responsibilities include:

Raising and protecting Sproutlings

Maintaining clean water

Tending rootlines

Cultivating fruit and medicinal growth

Shaping living structures

Guarding boundaries

Maintaining firebreaks

Guiding outsiders

Preserving seed and family lines

Mediating with Druaecir

Watching for blight or soil corruption

Aldaecir do not normally build private estates or accumulate large stores of personal wealth. Resources are directed toward whichever part of the grove requires them.

Government

Each major grove is governed by a Warden Circle responsible for local safety, access, resources, and stewardship.

Matters affecting all Aldaecir are brought before the Elder Circle at Rootheart. The council deliberates over territorial boundaries, ecological threats, trade agreements, relations with other peoples, and decisions that may affect the groves for generations.

Rootheart does not rule Sunbough and Stillwater as subordinate provinces. It coordinates matters that cannot be resolved by one grove alone.

The Warden System

Every Sproutling is placed under the protection of a Warden.

Most Wardens are Aldaecir, but trusted elves, druids, or sworn wanderers may earn the responsibility.

A Warden oversees:

Water and sunlight

Growth-vessel maintenance

Safe travel

Nursery access

Education

Emergency evacuation

Protection from fire, poison, theft, and blight

Introduction to outside peoples and customs

Preparation for independent rooting

A non-Aldaecir Warden is not considered a hired caretaker. They have been entrusted with the continuation of the grove.

Negligence resulting in harm to a Sproutling is remembered severely.

Architecture

Aldaecir settlements are grown from living trees, roots, fungi, moss, and guided vegetation.

Common structures include:

Bough-halls

Rootcellars

Branch bridges

Living council courts

Potcourts

Sheltered growth chambers

Rain-catching leaf basins

Fungal compost halls

Water-storage hollows

Firebreak clearings

Rootline passages

Living boundary gates

A structure may take decades to mature. Aldaecir architecture is therefore planned for descendants who may not yet have awakened.

Trade

The Aldaecir rely primarily upon barter within their territory, though they understand and use foreign currency when necessary.

Their most important trade relationships support Sproutling survival and grove maintenance.

Exports

Farmed berries

Sacred fruits

Medicinal bark

Rare herbs

Resins

Seeds

Fungal medicines

Living-wood craft

Guided passage through the forest

Imports

Specialized Sproutling vessels

Water barrels

Metal tools

Armor and weapons

Glass

Irrigation fittings

Fire-resistant materials

Fine cutting and pruning tools

Forest elves are among their oldest trade partners, particularly for forged tools and vessels made from specialized lumber.

Communication

Aldaecir speak Common and Aldaecir.

Their language also incorporates physical and environmental signals:

Leaf movement, appears as leaves blowing in the wind

Root pressure

Branch posture

Sap scent

Tapping through wood

Vibrations carried through shared soil

Changes in flowers or foliage

These signals can communicate alarm, direction, recognition, pain, environmental disturbance, and emotional state.

They are not telepathic, and complex ideas still require speech.

Spiritual Beliefs

The Aldaecir do not possess a single confirmed centralized church.

Their spiritual life centers upon:

Clean water

Healthy soil

Protection of young growth

Memory preserved in old trees

Death returning nourishment to life

Responsible harvest

Controlled use of fire

Warden obligations

Continuity of the grove

The body of a deceased Aldaecir may become a memorial tree, nurse log, source of grafts, sacred soil, or part of a living structure.

Death is not treated as disappearance, but neither is it treated casually.

Law and Taboos

Unpermitted Flame

Open flame may not be brought into an Aldaecir grove without permission.

Unlawful Cutting

Living growth may not be cut for convenience. Pruning and harvesting require knowledge, purpose, and consent.

Taking a Sproutling

Removing a Sproutling or its growth vessel from Warden oversight is among the gravest Aldaecir crimes.

Poisoning the Soil

Introducing poison, corruption, alchemical runoff, blight, or diseased matter into Aldaecir soil is treated as an attack upon the grove.

Fouling Water

Polluting or concealing contamination in water stores, springs, or rain basins is treated as a direct threat to Aldaecir life.

Rootline Violation

Protected roots may not be severed, excavated, burned, or magically altered without permission.

Warfare

The Aldaecir do not maintain conventional standing armies.

Their defensive strength comes from the forest itself.

Aldaecir defenders may:

Close paths with living growth

Raise root barriers

Collapse crossings

Restrain intruders

Conceal settlements

Redirect enemies into hostile terrain

Evacuate young through hidden passages

Coordinate with Druaecir Choirs

Deny access to water or safe ground

They prefer containment, attrition, and removal over open battle.

When Stillwater, a Sproutling nursery, or a protected water source is threatened, they respond with decisive force.

History

The Aldaecir are among the oldest forest-born peoples of Reth. Their groves were already ancient when permanent roads began cutting through the deep forests.

During the First War, they broadly aligned with the forest peoples and elves. As the conflict increasingly damaged living territory, many Aldaecir withdrew rather than allow the forest itself to be destroyed by the struggle.

Following the war, the Tree Folk were among the peoples dissatisfied with the political structure of the Prime Council. One distant seat could not meaningfully represent multiple groves, centuries of ecological responsibility, and decisions rooted in living territory.

During the Great Peace, Aldaecir trade expanded. Elven tools, growth vessels, water-storage systems, and metalwork entered the groves, while Aldaecir fruits, medicines, resins, and safe forest routes moved outward.

During the Long Shadow, the groves became more guarded. Warden authority increased, outsider paths narrowed, and political promises were judged against repeated action rather than spoken intent.

The Aldaecir did not abandon the outside world.

They stopped assuming that every visitor understood what their presence could damage.

Homeland: The great western forest of Reth

Principal Groves:

Sunbough Grove

Rootheart Grove

Stillwater Grove

Government: Warden Circles within each grove, coordinated by the Elder Circle at Rootheart

Society: Communal, elder-guided, stewardship-focused, and organized around groves, rootlines, nurseries, and Warden responsibilities

Buildings: Living bough-halls, rootcellars, branch bridges, potcourts, growth chambers, rain basins, and structures shaped from living trees

Exports: Sacred fruits, berries, medicines, resins, seeds, living-wood craft, and forest guidance

Imports: Growth vessels, water containers, metal tools, armor, glass, and fire-resistant materials

Sustenance. Sunlight, water, soil nutrients, and symbiotic fungi

Allies: Forest elves, druids, Druaecir Choirs, and trusted Wardens

Enemies: Blight-cults, poachers, reckless clear-cutters, root-corrupting necromancers, and forces that poison soil, water, or living growth

Core Values. Stewardship, continuity, clean water, protection of young growth, long consequence, patient judgment, and responsible harvest

Greatest Taboos. Taking a Sproutling, unpermitted flame, poisoning soil, fouling water, severing rootlines, and cutting living growth without consent