Phytonide

The Phytonide have not always been as the residents of Aelion now know them to be. Having come from their home world of Koch, they were a technologically advanced humanoid civilization in ancient times. They were able to tap into the ether and get energy out of it and in doing so learned how to control the forces that some worlds called magic and other worlds psionics.

Origins:
Interestingly, the touch of magic to technology in their society not only gave them massive momentum to their development, but had also nearly ruined it. Instead of trying to combine these two great powers, the mages of Koch tried to subdue the sects of society prone to technology. This led to a long and bloody civil war. Mages and their supporters won, thanks in part to the appearance of their first immortals. The mages however were faced with the dire consequences of their war: monstrous pollution, dangerous anomalies, contaminated air, and a variety of deadly diseases - were just a few of the them. The population had rapidly declined, and with it melted the immortal's strength.

The story of intelligent life on Koch would have ended there if not for one of the first immortal mages - Tonzar. Tonzar was the main ideologist of the war and had found a way out of their disastrous situation. With ether he planned to change the very biology of race, to adapt it to the changes occurring on the planet. He wanted to transform his race into a plant like species that could adapt and survive on the poisoned planet's surface.

The first successful results of his experiments were extremely impressive. Tonzar managed to introduce into the bodies of volunteers a fundamentally different mechanism of power, based on photosynthesis. It seemed the perfect solution to the problem of the hunger that resulted after the war. Tonzar received the approval and assistance of his colleagues, and continued to develop his success while gradually becoming a more and more significant figure to their new society. Since not all mages who participated in the war were immortal, Tonzar and a few of his colleagues were eventually the only witnesses to the pre-war past. For them, it was easy to reshape history to fit their needs, and with it the whole of society.

Techniques had changed which in turn allowed to create real miracles. Many centuries had passed and the previous race remained only a memory of Tonzar. Koch now home to a new kind of race. They are capable of rebuilding their body into the required configuration with just their minds. However, this process takes a long time - from months to centuries and leads to irreversible changes of the consciousness. The progeny of the Phytonide are born being already fully adapted to their new bodily functions.

Such, for example, the Triffids, in which there is nothing humanoid left in them. These creatures are fully covered by plants and now reproduce by means of seeds. However, even they have present a simple form of the mind and its ability to strengthen a team of their own kind. Due to the numerous amounts of Triffids and similar creatures, faith was in plentiful amounts for the Phytonide Great God.

Humanoid Phytonide, like the Dryads, are far removed from their own humanoid ancestors. They, as well as more complex creatures like Entids, are mostly made of hermaphrodites as asexuality reproduction being the most effective method for the modified race. In addition, some higher forms of the Phytonide are capable of creating simplified copies of themselves via seeds. These creatures are primarily use to quickly increase the combat power of their invading armies. These higher Phytonide themselves have become the backbone and support of this civilization. Also having strong will and reason, they perform complex orders for the great god and grant him the main source of faith.

Over the past century the Phytonide managed to completely clean their planet of pollution. Now it looks like a blooming world in which lives a lot of amazing creatures and all of which are plants of varying degrees of intelligence.

Already being a senior god Tonzar realized the connection of his power to the number of his followers. To increase his strength, he raised beings, capable of moving in space, and for several centuries mastered the surrounding worlds. The growing number of believers brought Tonzar enough power to become the Phytonide great god, Machavann.

Prior to his arrival to Aelion, the Phytonide had only colonized uninhabited worlds. Having not expected inhabitants his ships were easily destroyed by the inhabitants of Aelion. Machavann remembered the war on Koch as he watched his ships be destroyed. His conscious having changed so much over the centuries, the site of the technological advanced Aeliens had disgusted him. So instead of trying to make more peaceful ships meant for colonizing uninhabited worlds, he created ships and rapidly reproducing armies to invade the technologically advanced enemies. This army, in case of enemy victory, could all be reborn in stages on their ships and go on to destroy the world of Aelion again with their unwavering loyalty to Machavann.

About six centuries ago, this new army arrived at Aelion, and ever since then Machavann has not stopped in his relentless attempts to put his ship's roots into Aelion's soil. Over the past century he has accumulated a large sum of strength, and intends to overcome the resistance of the Aelion defenders.

Do not assume that Machavann is a monster devoid of reason. He is a great God, which is a bitter opponent of technological civilizations. He saw what it had led to his world and other worlds. Machavann is fully convinced that the technological development of civilizations will inevitably end with a devastating war in which civilization and their world die. In this sense, technology it considered too dangerous and must be destroyed at all cost. Even if it cost the deaths of millions or even billions of to destroy technology. Machavann does not care for the Great Gods or the people of these technological worlds as for him, this is just the natural circle of life.

Bestiary:

 * Triffids
 * Diones
 * Dryads
 * Entids

Encounters:

 * Antirius's Cave
 * Alakur Island