Corpse tree

Field sketch believed to be made in the West of the Continent, an altogether mysterious and unexplored region. The scribe must have taken great risk for this study, perhaps enlisting help from local inhabitants. Attempts were recently made at pressing an attachment of visiting Druids for some explanation, as they hail from the area, though disclosures from the haughty folk were not forthcoming. There may be a link there worth investigating...

There are many odd things - some magical, others mundane - to be found in deep forests. Perhaps one of the most ghastly is the arborius cadaverous, or corpse tree.

They are an oddity, even for Lume's menagerie. An amalgamate of Flora and Undead, they occur when an old, sickly tree feeds from the bodies of the deceased; or the dying. Death is natural, particularly in the wild places, and it is common and right for bodies to break down to enrich the soil; but it takes more than a dead rodent or ailing vagabond to contaminate such a tree. The exposure must be more pronounced, the event more enduring; the site of a battle, massacre, or the location of repeated hangings. The roots of the soon-tainted tree learn to feed on the macabre nutrients, and the Anima contained within - much like a conventional, humanoid Undead - and in this way become Undead themselves.

Though a corpse tree can feed on a body for some time, being of slower metabolism than animalia, it must continue feeding lest it wither and die, the roots and vascular system being irreversibly adapted to a more ... specialised diet. If the newly enchanted tree survives, the morbid growth continues. It will store victims in its boughs, trunk, and roots, the bark and limbs distorting in the process. Given enough time, a corpse tree may become mobile.

It is unsure how the middling trees come by their prey, for no creature in its right mind would stray near one. At least, not of its own accord. Rumours claim the wild Fey maintain a sacrificial practice begun by the former school of Necromancy, though the contemporary Casters deny any association with the act, and a wild Fey is not likely to help demystify the matter. An alternate, and more likely explanation, suggests that the Faux Giants use certain trees to store their victims, much like a butcher bird. As approaching these maligned and bellicose ogres is perhaps even more dangerous than meeting a Fey, the matter is still unresolved.

A final note should be made regarding the disposition of these topiary aberrations. Unlike Bog fiends - Undead humanoids that eventually meld with their surroundings - these Undead, former trees cannot be reasoned with, being wholly hostile. The conditions required to support them are rare, and any extant examples are best avoided.