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Continuing the discussion I was having yesterday with some fellow saplings in here, I put some thought into the life cycle of /uuu/'s inhabitants. Let me know what you guys think.
We'll start with our normal, baseline humans;
> Humans come to the forest for a variety of reasons. Some are drawn by the natural beauty of the region, or the allure of a harmonious lifestyle promised by the legends. Others are exiles and refugees, cast out from their homes and clamoring for the safety Mother Nature is said to provide. Regardless of their reasoning, most pilgrims come to the forest alone or in groups no larger than four, though larger waves of immigration are not unheard of.
> Those who arrive at the forest either found new homesteads or join a pre-existing village. These human settlements are almost always established near the forest's edge, so as not to disturb the inner wilderness and maintain proximity to trade routes.
> Human communities share a common focus on communalism, agrarianism, and harmony with nature. Subsistence agriculture is ubiquitous, with every settlement consisting of several gardens and smallholds maintained collectively by the inhabitants. Small-scale industry is not uncommon, however, with most communities having at least one artisan workshop. Carpenters, tailors, and smithies produce goods for both local consumption and trade with the outside world. Manufacturing techniques are intentionally limited out of concern for the environment, meaning craftsmen are incapable of manufacturing anything more advanced than iron tools and simple machinery.
> Roughly a quarter of all pilgrims who settle in /uuu/ leave after about a year, unwilling to adapt to the local culture. Those who remain soon progress to the first stage of metamorphosis.
> A human who spends over a year living within the forest of /uuu/ will inevitably begin developing plant-like mutations, marking their transformation into a Faunatic.
> Scholars are divided as to what causes a human to transform into a Faunatic. The most common academic consensus is that the area of /uuu/ is suffused (or contaminated) by an ambient magical radiation that renders human physiology mutable, yet the variable that causes such specific and uniform mutations remains the subject of constant debate. For what it's worth, the Faunatics themselves believe these changes are "gifts" or "blessings" granted by Mother Nature as a reward for living in harmony with the wilderness.
> These mutations begin to occur within a year spent within /uuu/, and fully develop over the course of five years. While removing a Faunatic from its adopted home may halt the progress of mutation in theory, there is no known way of undoing these changes.
> Faunatic mutations are varied. No two Faunatics are exactly alike. Some have their hair replaced by leafy vines. Skin might become a shade of green, or take on a rough texture similar to tree bark. Flowers, thorns, or fungus may begin to sprout from their limbs. These changes are mostly superficial.
> The more radical mutations occur on an unseen level. The Faunatic digestive system is altered, along with their teeth, to prepare the body for a wholly herbivorous diet. Psychologically, Faunatics generally grow more gregarious, passive, and devoted to Mother Nature. The body's native reproductive system effectively shuts down, rendering the Faunatics infertile in the context of human reproduction.
> Fully metamorphized Faunatics retains the same personality, physique, and yeoman lifestyle as they did before their transformation. However, Faunatics demonstrate a greater willingness to linger in the deeper parts of the forest than their human neighbors, believing themselves to be close enough to nature that their presence would not be considered an affront to Fauna.
> Faunatics tend to have a lifespan of about seventy years on average, beginning to "wilt" as their natural death approaches. At this time, a Faunatic will be drawn into the depths of /uuu/, where they might "return to nature" and begin the next stage of their life cycle.
(cont.)