Dryad

Overview

Demi-male
he/him/his

The clan's depressive herbalist. He provides medicine for the rest of the clan and studies new plants/fungi brought to him by the coliseum team. His interest started when he found that plants could help heal the body and wandered if there's such a plant that could do the same for the mind.

He is still looking for the right materials to relieve his own symptoms. If nothing else, is soothes him and gives him purpose.

Physical Attributes

He always looks tired, exhausted by his own mind.

His colorful, almost parrot-like appearance is in direct conflict with his true disposition. More observant dragons will notice the bags under his eyes and the way he slumps over when he stands. Both anxiety and depression has taken a toll on him.

Particularly bad weeks will see him with grimy, unwashed feathers and sunken eyes.

He has heard comments that he'd be a nice looking drake if he took care of himself, but he just can't bring himself to care sometimes.

Social

His social life goes through stages that correspond to his mental state.

The others would see him as a confidant during his better moods, finding the plants in his space to be a further comfort. The initial questions ("what are your symptoms?") and relating with his own experience are what breaks the ice for his patients.

He begins to withdraw when his conditions worsen, so he avoids talking to anyone. The withdrawing exasperates his symptoms as he becomes lonely and worried about what they think of him. Which makes him not talk to anyone, which makes him lonely and worried, which makes him not talk to anyone, and it continues.

It's not until the "grimy stage", where he doesn't practice even basic self-care that they notice something is off. At this point, someone (usually Song) is assigned to help with the tasks he's too drained to complete on his own, such as making meals.

Though he sometimes feels as though he's a drag to be around, he's a good listener and can go on for hours about his research. One can see some life returning when he gets into "the zone". He's also a fan of very corny jokes, a sense of humor not everyone shares.

His familiar, Hydnellum or Hyde, is something of a living family heirloom. It has been passed down his family for generations. It doesn't do much besides grumble and growl. He claims that they're very close, but no one has noticed a difference in how Hyde acts towards him. Hyde seems to get particularly crabby when it hears "fun guy" puns, which is unfortunately one of Dryad's favorite things to say.

Lair

He space is something of a cave-dwelling greenhouse. It's almost like stepping into another land entirely, as his space has been highly modified to help keep the plants alive. Light runes for artificial sunlight and ice runes for temperature regulation (though the area will still be warm and humid), while foreign soil and some wildlife (such as worms) were gathered in order to grow them. The walls have notes and pictures carved into them, as paper tends to grow wet from the moisture and fall apart.

Rideback clan mates can sometimes be seen expanding the area. He hopes to someday house different biomes within the tunnels. For now, all he has are tropical plants and natives to the Ashfall Waste

The area is a nice break from the rest of the waste for most elements, but fire dragons find the space uncomfortably cold.

Tactics

Is not a fighter by any means. He can't even handle a verbal confrontation. Will run if able, curl up and wait for doom if not. Social conflict isn't handled much differently.