[hider=Nidhogan WIP]

[center][color=green][i]"Where there is life there's hope, and life is everywhere."[/i][/color][/center]

Name: Nidhogan, The Root that Marched Against the Flame

Appearance: 
[center][img]https://artfiles.alphacoders.com/388/388.png[/img][/center]


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Age:  339

Race: Veidish

Height:  12 feet at the shoulder, slumped on four legs usually.

Weight:  About 4000 lbs (Weight of a Tree)

Composition:  Its most common form is a creature that cannot be confused as anything else than a being composed of bark plates mixed with all manner of plant matter writhing underneath the bark like internal organs.  Everything only looks vaguely organic in shape but the wood can grow, be reabsorbed or shape itself at will, forming limbs and appendages.  Only the head seems to retain a shape for any stretch of time and it looks like a artistically modeled mask of twisted warpped wood that only slightly looks like a face but with near two dozen slots for eyes and no mouth.  Its mouth is actually a series of mandibles composed of grinding roots and snapping flytrap leaves.  Thankfully this is hidden underneath its' 'face'.  Generally the moss and leaves on its back supply it with nutrients and it will sit in water for drinking.  While it can grow edible fruit and seeds, it flatly refuses to eat them.  

When it uses another form, the bulk of its matter is left behind as a husk, appearing to be a heavy piece of wood sculpture.
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Personality:  A gentle giant.  Wise as it is childish.  Strong as it is fragile.  Destructive as it is innocent. 
 Approaching with hands open, the Nidhogan will claim you as a creature worthy of life and protection, tending to your needs for life.  Attack with the fires of rage and fear, and it will be as if the very earth itself will rise to snuff out the embers.  The Nidhogan is a creature of extremes, and it knows not of restraint, save for its infinite mercy and forgiveness for the ones who let their fury subside.  Indeed, the Nidhoggan has no memory of such grudges, instead indulging in the love and joys of life itself.  How it does so is potentially dangerous to those nearby.

The Nidhogan is completely alien to most other civilized species as it does not seem to have the same mannerisms, motivations, and cultural identity, more or less deciding things on a whim.

Additionally, the Nidhogan is unpredictable.  At times it seems distracted.  Other times it seems to talk to itself before wandering off on some errand.  It claims that it hears voices and knows the names of very prominent gods and demons but fails to grasp what they are exactly.  

[hider=Persona]
Quirks:

Gender: Fluid, it will take on the gender of its form and normally isn't concerned with what it's called.  Like most plants, it has male and female parts.  

Sexuality: Poly-amorous.  It is attracted to others by biochemical signals they unleash during emotional states.  Like sunshine, it is attracted to positive emotions.
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History:  The creature was not born.  It was made.  Maybe it was a tree given life and sentience.  Maybe it is alike an elemental.  Maybe it is but a golem of wood.  Who can say really other than Nidhogan itself.

What it believes happened was that something created it.  Its faded, but it was something with hair and two legs.  That's what it thinks.  And when its creator finished with it, the creator seemed to not really know whether Nidhogan was what it wanted, and so it continued to create, leaving Nidhogan more or less to its own.  At that time, it was more a beast.  It grazed, it hunted, it chewed on trees, and it swam in lakes.  It was an aimless monster, at many points running into the other civilized races and attacking them.

But then something happened, the creator came back, but it was different a little bit.  This thing with two legs had alot of hair and seemed to speak more gently.  It was followed by other things, things made of branches and leaves that played at its feet.  The Nidhogan found a peace with these creatures who frolic'd and played and approached it with chattering voices.  Through them, the Nidhogan learned to speak, and through them, the Nidhogan learned what it was.  A Veidish like them.

The Nidhogan followed this creator, learning her features, and her goals, and the Nidhogan became her servant.  She called upon it to grow things.  To sprout trees and fell dead ones, so that more can grow.  She sent it to villages of smaller creators, and carrying with it miracles that removed the blights that felled their crops.  In return, they worshipped its master.  Nidhogan was happy.

Then one day, the Creator was not there.  The Veidish that followed her stopped playing, and instead began to wander away.  The Nidhogan did the same.  It needed to creator to find purpose and worth.  And without her, it was just a beast again... well, now it wasn't.  It knew what it was, what it could do, but knew not what it was for.  It wandered, looking for its master.  It refused to believe it was abandoned.

Than the Nidhogan came upon a terrible sight.  A battle, an army, and fires of war had burned a forest, scorching the land in death.  It was a terrible thing that hurt the Nidhogan.  A great rage overtook it.  It bellowed, and with it, the forest itself marched.  

What the Nidhogan had stumbled upon was an army of the Lich King that had claimed a kingdom lost to history.  It was taken by one of the Lich King's inner circle, a priest turned to darkness for immortal life.  The Nidhogan ran through fields of bone, blood and fire.  Its wood burned, its bark lashed with blade, yet it fought like the elements have come alive in fury.  It fought with the forest behind it right into the heart of the army, right to the dark priest.  Their battle was a clash of titans, and at some point, the Nidhogan had received a terrible wound by the priest's enchanted staff jabbed into its neck but ultimately the giant felled him, crushing the priest's unholy body under its bulk.  The rage subsided as the fires were quenched.  It surveyed the battlefield and simply walked off.  This victory for the forces of light was also lost to history to the other civilized races.

However, several things happened at once that day.  Dozens of Veidish had answered the Nidhogan's call.  They seemed to look to it now.  They were like it, in need of purpose.  Nidhogan thought back on the battle, the emotions it felt and how it reacted.  It didn't like it, but it was curious to what other kinds of sensations it was capable of.  It remembered serving its master, doing things that grew the land and changed the colors of the seasons.  It liked that.  No it loved it.

It suddenly had a great idea.  The Veidish should make a great forest!  A great place where they can grow and grow and grow.  And then they'll make friends.  And those friends will make friends.  And everything will be good and happy and fun.  The Veidish all loved this idea.  They needed somewhere safe though.  They didn't want to fight like they did that day again.  And so they all agreed to search for a home.

They split up, traveling all corners of the world.  Most Veidish in their innocence forgot what they were looking for, but Nidhogan, it was different.  Even in the long years of searching, getting very little out of scarred people as the lumber tree tried to talk to them, it could hear voices.

The priests staff still lodged in its neck was a conduit for divine voices.  All of them knew the capabilities of such a simple and powerful being, and so many spoke to it.  Nidhogan, being gullible and eager to help and to feel new sensations followed the words, believing they were the words of its master guiding it.  Sometimes it meant that the Nidhogan did bad things, and sometimes good, and most of the time, things that didn't make any sense.  It spoke of things it never knew before, and knew of great disasters before they happened, and sometimes it spoke of several conflicting things as the voices in its head argued with eachother.

Still it kept Nidhogan's mind sharp, stimulated, and full of memories.  It didnt forget its goal.  Find a safe place to build a home.

Magic:
Elemental Wood:  Master
To the Nidhogan, the Element of Wood, the Element of Life is its purview and domain.  Reacting more as instinct than actual spell casting, Nidhogan can make nearly anything happen as it portains to plants.  Trees will swing their branches, thorn bushes grow in a moments notice, before bursting in a shower of thorns.  Fungus will grow to incredible sizes and shower the land in noxious and coughing spores.  Roots entangle.  Moss devours.  Grass slices.  Herbs tangle themselves as living bandages.  The list goes on, and its more than welcome to teach the Element of Life to prospective students.

Elemental Earth:  Novice
As the Earth is so tied to the life of plants, The Nidhogan has slowly learned some of the spells that effect the earth.  This is very limited, cracking the ground, pushing it up, smoothing it out.  It uses this more for landscaping than anything considered attacks or defenses, but it does have its utilitarian uses.  Shaping stoneworks for one.

Manipulation: Limited
Not really magic, but more of a way of interaction.  The Nidhogan can take on multiple forms.  All of these forms are limited to something inherently plantlike, either looking to be made of leaves, vines, wood, flowers, or some combination of the plant matter.  Invariably these forms are mimicry of something else the Nidhogan wishes to embody.  Out of its body of wood, a blossom will emerge and step out.  While the husk remains inert, the blossom will unfurl into the form the Nidhogan wishes to interact as.  This form is further enhanced by a type of pollen or spores which have a slight hallucinogenic effect as well as pheramonal.  It allows those afflicted to perceive the plant as something more approachable.  For example, the forms below,
[hider=Female Elf]
[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/2d/bb/4e/2dbb4eba5c7c9b8ad8e454f7f9a0bf28.jpg[/img][/center]
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[hider=Male Human]
[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9b/5d/ca/9b5dca9787b60abd33c2468764a2e398.jpg[/img][/center]
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-will be more easily accepted as what it is trying to mimic, giving its form a more accepted quality, maybe even a semblance of beauty.  Nidhogan uses this to interact with other creatures.  It can only change when stepping back into its bulky husk.

Conjuration: Unique
While the Nidhogan has absolute control over plants, causing them to grow, bend, and act at its will, something rather extraordinary happens when the Nidhogan is grounded in a place long enough.  Materials that it works on, a process described as both garden, cultivating, and pruning gain a semblance of sentience.  The Nidhogan has been known to surround itself with creatures that are not quite Veidish and act more like elementals of wood and earth with their own goals, will, power, demeanor, and even intelligence.  It is currently ever curious about what it can create, and has claimed that it has 'grown' or 'birthed' other Veidish in its life.  With a below however it can summon these creatures, beasts, and other spirits of the forest to its service.  It has only done so in times of war and great jubilation.

Skills: 
Gardening, Cultivating, Wood Carving, Stonework, Medicine, Basket Weaving, Topiary, Farming, Cooking, Sewing
The Nidhogan seems a creature that hungers for the skills and talents that create.  It has been asked to grow homes and build furniture with admirable gusto.  It will sit itself down in sewing circles.  It has constructed statues and seeded farmland.  The creature is fascinated with what happens with life, love, and some other bits and bobs come together

Extra:
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