Myriani

Myriani are like ents, but they're on fire. From the inside. A sepulchral glow ranging from angry red to hot blue creeps out from their hollow eyes and gaping mouths, casting eerie shadows on the land in front of them. They are an old race, older than the Kualani, who are infants in comparison. Myriani eyes have watched mountains rise and fall, conquerors invade kingdoms, and the rise and fall of entire civilizations. Time is entirely irrelevant to the Myriani, who if unimpeded will continue to grow until time runs out. Myriani cannot die from old age but some of them, somewhere in their deep, slow minds, become tired of living and plant themselves in groves or around the planet, losing all sentience and becoming simply trees again. However, Myriani trees are special because their heart fire still burns until they are cut down or the end of time is reached. Keeping their heart fired stoked is like humans shedding skin: they grow at a rate where they can feed the fire within them and also accelerate upwards and outwards. A Myriani does not have to, but sometimes may choose to eat to reduce strain on their bodies while keeping their fire stoked. Normally Myriani move very slowly or not at all, being content to watch grass grow around them. Adventuring Myriani are known to drag huge quantities of flammable materials with them to give them the ability to move quickly and continuously while maintaining the careful growth around their heart fire.

Myriani reproduce through a highly sacred ritual. The parent tree takes its seed to a summoned council of Venerable Ancients and offers it to them. As soon as the seed is taken by an Ancient, the parent must dig a shallow hole and await the seed being passed back to them. For their part, the Venerable Ancients each place the seed into their heartfire and pass it to the next Ancient while it's still on fire. The fire grows with each heartfire the seed passes through, and the parent's fire is the last heartfire the seed collects. From there, the seed is planted and the Venerable Ancients disperse. The parent waits there, protecting the seed from predation of any kind, until the seed sprouts and a tiny seedling emerges from the ground. The parent will guard and nurture the sapling and teach it everything the parent knows until the sapling is aged half a millennium and can survive on its own, at which time the sapling leaves to grow and mature and the parent leaves to either repeat the cycle or to watch nature grow around them.

Physical Description: Adult Myriani are enormous, slow, gentle creatures that look like walking somewhat humanoid trees. That are on fire. On the inside. They can be saplings (0-600 years of age), adults (601-2999 years of age), or Venerable Ancients, who have been alive and sentient for over three thousand years. Myriani foliage is sparse, but they have been known to sprout leaves and occasionally flower around the back and shoulders. The flame that drives a Myriani can be red, orange, yellow, or blue naturally, but younger Myriani sometimes choose to consume copper to make their flame momentarily burn green or magnesium to make their flame white hot or even lithium to make it burn momentarily lilac. Every several months, a Myriani will have to clean the fire inside it, removing ash and debris.

Society: Myriani are mostly solitary, but they are born knowing that the Venerable Ancients are to be venerated and respected. Myriani saplings normally stay with their parent until they're around 500 years old. Some races refer to the Venerable Ancients as kings, but they are as much kings as the CEO of the Golden Arches is a manager to every one of his company's employees: they exist, but they have little contact or control over the rest of the employees.

Relations: Seeing the pillar of smoke rising off a Myriani somewhere in the wilderness is a normal occurrence, but seeing an actual Myriani is a rarity and an honor. Myriani are treated with kindness and respect on the rare occasion that they venture into town.

Names: Cherry, Alder, Hickory, Oak, Oakson, Oaksire, Eldersire, Elder, Cedarson, Cedar, Pine, Pinesire