Wood Woad

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The first wood woad was created by Huemutril. In a complex ritual, now known as Huemutrils Digits, she transferred a subject's energy into a tree. It was offered as a way to be reborn for those of broken body, near death, or those fanatical to the cause of the Covenant's nature commanders, Huemutril, Silvanus and for a time Melrith.

The ritual that created a wood woad consisted of removing the heart of a living person, planting a seed into it and placing it inside a cavity in a tree. The sacrificed creature's body was buried in the vicinity, and the tree was then bathed with the sacrifice's blood. After three days, a wood woad would sprout from the ground nearby, ready to receive its orders, which it would then follow forever or until otherwise relieved.[1]

After the Demon Spawn War (8972 GE - 9493 GE), mortal allies like wood woads were relieved of their duties. With no way of increasing their numbers naturally, their numbers dwindled with time. What they called the Long Winter, lasted a millennia.

Suprisingly enough, even though their numbers decreased greatly, 100,000 post-war, to a mere tenth of that a millennia later, they adapted to the hardship, becoming better, more lithe and shaped to near-perfection. The 12^th generation wood woads are what we have today.

- Springflower, regional report at a Glade Summit - "12th Evolution"

In the Lith-Crillion Era, researchers at the Pyramid of Life came into possession of Huemutril's famed spell book, Falling Leaves. Looking for allies in their battles with the eldritch giants of Gulfrek Hjard, the secrets of this book were shared with friendly druids, setting the stage for more wood woads.