OVERVIEW

Oreads are also known as "land nymphs". They are sculptors of the planet, building, eroding, carving, and shaping the land as they see fit. Their numbers are many, though they mostly go unnoticed because they spend much of their time deep underground. A single oread has little influence over the environment, but several working together can make dramatic changes--for better or worse. They may shift tectonic plates around and cause earthquakes, devastating nearby settlements.

Oreads are natural enemies to the world's miners and builders, who they believe are "making the planet ugly". Some governments consider these nymphs a hazardous menace and simply kill them, while others make efforts to compromise with them.

BIOLOGY

These creatures are diverse in shape and color, depending on the material they manifested from. Iron, copper, and crystal oreads are common. They will grow plates of these materials on their skin like armor, making some individuals much tougher than others.

Rather than a brain, they have a spherical object called a "verve core" in their skulls. Oreads are notoriously strong and hard to kill, but destroying this object will do the trick swiftly. The core is their only vital organ, responsible for every thought they have and every movement they make.

Oread skin is tough and their bones are tougher. The claws on their fingers and toes are nearly indestructible, which they use for utility and self-defense. If part of their body is destroyed, they can eat their respective element to regenerate it.

TERRAGLADIUS

Terragladia are hulking golems of stone and metal, forged by their sisters in times of great peril. Two or more oreads must sacrifice their cores to create them. After all the terragladius' pieces are forged, the cores are joined together and charged with magic. The combined power of the sacrifices assembles the pieces into an animated being.

The more verve cores it has, the stronger and more intelligent the terragladius becomes. At bare minimum they are dumb and clumsy things, fit only for violence and destruction. More sophisticated terragladia may help the oreads in shaping the land.

Swords and arrows are useless against these beasts. They may be melted down by extremely hot flame or broken apart by heavy siege equipment. They are too dense to swim but will never drown. Their cores remain exposed between their torso and pelvis, all of their pieces orbiting around it. The core is very durable but not indestructible, and should it be destroyed, the terragladius will fall apart.

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