As promised:
The Jade Realm
This kingdom without boundaries, without walls, is the land of the Shenlin a peaceful race of myconid-like creatures. The Realm itself is a collection of villages and monasteries, inhabited by the Shenlin. This race has cylindrical bodies, which finish in a rather big mushroom hat, of different colors depending on the population. Shenlins have thin arms and strong legs: their arms are not suited for hard work, of the kind needed to build big buildings or carry heavy objects around, hence their shelters are made of vegetation, or in natural caves, or under the heavy canopy of the heavily vegetated areas they inhabit. A typical village of Shenlins is made of a series of shacks with oriental design, displayed like a circle around a hole in the ground, covered with white thin root-like things. That something is the mother and father of all the Shenlins in that village, the Shun. The Shun is an undergrown fungi, whose rootling goes deep into the earth and spread as much as the village spreads. (Think of a witches ring). Shenlins depend on the Shun to feed themselves. They plunge their feet in the ground, and the hair-like connections in them, connect with the Shun, who nourish them through it. At the same time, the Shenlins collect dead organic matter from the plants, dead animals and all kind of derbies and pile them in the central hole. The decaying matter is used by the Shun as food.
The Shun and the Shenlins share their thoughts, something like a hive mind, but not as developed. The Shenlins feel a strong connection with their respective Shun, and the Shun is a protective parent as well. Both are able to communicate telepathically, and through the link with the Shun, the Shenlins are able to speak into the other Shenlins of the village.
Shenlins have cavities just below their hat, which resemble eyes and mouth, although they are not such things. Shenlins can perceive their surroundings by tremor sense and “eat” through their feet, and have no lungs to speak. They have a deep conection with the natural world around them, can hear the swinging of the trees, and whispers of the grass, as well as understand the animals and read the weather. Most of them are druids, although there are also monks who dedicate their lives to meditation and the purse of the path to enlighten. Most of these monks cut their links with their Shun and recluse in distant parts of the jungle, most of them in caves or mountains.
The druidic Shenlins live in the usual villages, most near waterfalls or caves.
Shenlin
Medium humanoid
Subtype: Plant, Fungi
Abilit scores: -2 Str -Cha +2 Wis +2 Con Shenlins are sturdy and wise, but they lack of expression and their arms are weak.
Traits: Plant traits (They need to “eat” through their feet, but don’t need sunlight.)
Special abilities: Shenlin Spores (The creatures adjacent to the Shenlin must succeed a Fort save or become sicken.)
Rooting (while rooted, the Shenlin regenerates 5, but is considered helpless)
The One and the Many is workshiped in the Shenlin monasteries and villages, and they give it many titles and names. They share the God’s mind in some extent, as to hear in their minds the voices of other plants and animals, or their lord’s commands, but unlike the other ant-minded creatures of the jungles, Shenlins are completely free willed, and although complied with the the other creatures, they retain certain individuality.
Titles: Fungan Shun (Great Shun), Shuns’ Seeder, The Spore, The Great Spawner, Jungle’s Spirit.
