An artist's depiction of a W'thu'nier in the Ebonglade
Native to the Ebon Glade Forests, the W'thu'nier race of tree-like beings are fiercely territorial and kill travelers to feed the forest itself. They use a crude, yet powerful form of illusion magic to hide themselves among the forest and stalk unknowing victims.
Physiology[]
Born from the ebony hued trees of the Ebon Glade Forest that were possessed by the spirits of fallen warriors from the <insert ancient war/battle name>, they warped from the madness of the spirits and feeding on blood. Their branches form wildly, but all W'thu'neir have two large, club-like arms they use to attack with; they also tend to adorn or interweave metal and stone weapons into these arms. A cut down W'thu'neir will regrow if given time and their bark is highly resistant to fire like the normal trees of Ebon Glade. The easiest ways to prevent regrowth is to freeze them to the core.
Personality[]
Varies between individual W'thu'neir, but are commonly hostile to foreign intruders and their lack of a mouth makes interactions limited at best. The few people that have survived an encounter with them have had their minds bombarded with many voices telepathically eminating from the W'thu'neir. Many of the static trees suffer from multiple personalities that carries over to the more mobile brethren. Because of this, many W'thu'neir are immune to all forms of illusion and mind controlling magic.
Culture[]
The W'thu'neir are largely independent in action, but of like mind, gatherings are rare and last mere seconds. The most common form of interaction between each other is consumption, a sort of rivalry battle where the loser is beheaded and the head is incorperated into the winning W'thu'neir's body. Powerful W'thu'neir can look like a collection of wooden masks covering a tree, each 'face' adding another soul to the mix.
Once a year, for one week in the deep winter, all W'thu'neir root themselves into the ground and commune with the forest, sharing all thoughts between everyone and thing in the forest. Travelers are advised to leave the forest as the forest comes alive with every dead spirit and take a semi-physical form; as well as most living are afflicted by powerful hallucinations. The Wurxith in the area seem to have a resistance to these hallucinations, but still barricade themselves underground for the full week, refusing to let anyone in. During this time, the W'thu'neir themselves speak through the spirits and living alike, the screams and howls can be heard for miles outside the Ebon Glade Forest. It is unkown what language they speak in as every year sounds different.