How dangerous should waved creatures be?

[robkelk]

The driads are taking over fenspace...

Let's see if we can get some basic driad biomod rules:

-There are no "driad trees" than eat people; it is an acutal biomod with noth a person and a tree (usually oak); those evil tree than started the idea do not actually exist (but they may -wait, it is Marduk, they will- appear in every tale told to tourists)

-Driads are female. Males which try that procedure become Ents (either sex can turn into the opposite, but it comes with a sex change, in standard fen tradition)

-The driad tree can move its limbs (not as fast as an animal) but cannot walk; it must remain uprooted. It may be able to crawl in soft ground, like sand or mud, but that has not been tried yet.

-The tree has no eyes or ears. But it somehow still sees and hears everything in her surroundings -the distance is about the same as when it was human.

-The tree will grow one special fruit. It will look like a greenish and willowy (and usually beautiful) version of the original biomod. It can walk, speak and other human actions, but can only move about one mile form the tree.

-There is a ritual, in wich the driad creates an amulet with handwavium, pure water, soil and a seed from the driad tree. It lets the driad walk further than this one mile -about twenty miles or so- but the amulet only lasts a few hours (maybe one day?), and it can onle be made under the tree; this lets the driad walk around the forest/station where her tree is.

-In both cases, when the driad goes further then the limit (she will know when she approaches the limit) the driad tuns into a statue, but she does not die: the conscience returns to the tree. She will need to gow a new fruit before she can walk out again.

-The driadification can only be done in fertile soil, with a tree big enough to hide the woman inside; outside Earth, there are only a handful of places, like Marduk and Kandor, or some of the biggest Unreal State (Ravenmoon in L5 had the second Driad biomond, soon after they news of the first spread)

-The tree can be moved, but only as you would transplant a real tree, so the soil around its roots needs to turn into unreal state, and will need a source of water and light while it is moving (unles it is for short periods)

-After Oscar Vykos and The Jason (he was called as soon as the acidental biomod happened) spent hours examining the first driad and her husband, they have decided than a driad and an Ent may have children. They have not given details of the procedure, but the one time someone dared to ask the first driad (who needs a name) about it, they were told than her marital life with her husband was perfectly satisfactory. No one has been brave enough to ask for further details yet.

We should not forget than driads will be incredibly rare biomods: Only three, and one ent, have been confirmed in the discusion: The original accident and her husband, the HARDES botanist, and the one I just pulled from my hat for Ravenmoon (because let's face it, if driads appear the wiccans would be the first to go for it). And the one place were there is plenty of huge forests and enviromentalists is old Earth, so who knows what may be found there?

Until Driads start producing little saplings, each driad is an individual biomod, so there are differences in abilities and quirks. Some of then may be: The ability to reanimate and control normal trees, to merge with the ground or/and a tree, the abikity to "see" form the trees on her forest, needs for a specific soil, being unable to stp touching the ground, and so on.

--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012