Growing in these forests are innumerable heart trees, each of which serves as a dryad’s home and soul. To the casual eye, a heart tree looks like any other tree of its species, but a practiced observer can tell the difference between it and a mundane tree at a glance. Heart trees are slightly smaller than average, and they never show signs of pest infestation or disease. So long as a heart tree stands, its dryad can’t permanently be stopped by death’s cold embrace.

There are no settlements as mortals reckon them in the fey homelands, but the dryads whose trees stand inside the boundaries of a forest consider themselves to be of the same community. They further divide themselves into neighborhoods based on the species of their tree, rather than geographic proximity.

A ternion, formed of the oldest adult, the youngest adult, and the median members of the neighborhood oversee all matters related to their species of dryad. There is little movement of the oldest member of each ternion, but the other two members change often enough to keep the body from becoming stagnant. Each ternion of a forest meets regularly, once every century or two, to discuss matters important to the larger dryad community.

Most dryads spend their immortal existences either alone or with other members of their neighborhood. Dryad adventurers are considered to be thrill seekers and daredevils by their communities, and they are urged to go out into the mortal world to vent their exhilaration, lest their emotions infect others. These venturers are keen to move among the shorter-lived races and experience the pace of their lives and the rapid shifts of their emotions.