Editing Treant (section)

==Black Treant==
Formally known as '''Lyrannikin''', the so-called "Black Treants" of [[Greyhawk]] are not a species as such, but rather are treants who have been spiritually corrupted and turned to the path of evil. his happens in a variety of ways: by magical change; the heart of a treant becoming rotted by blight; or in the case of very ancient treants, a festering hatred of those who destroy old forests, so that the treant becomes consumed by a desire for revenge that becomes indiscriminate. They are a subject of deep pity amongst true treants, who usually try to capture them and cure them of their wickedness where possible. Their rage turns them into savage killers, sleeping only in short snatches of restless slumber driven to constantly move, hunt, and kill.

Roughly 30% of all lyrannikin suffer some horrible blight that corrupts and twists their woody flesh; the bark rots from their hides, their limbs decay and hang limply, and [[fungus]] wells up from within their cracks, crevices and recesses. Blighted lyrannikin suffer greatly from their decay; their lifespans are shortened (though, admittedly, it tends to be elderly treants who most vulnerable to the blights in the first place - the official ratios for blighted lyrannikin are given as 20% of younger, 30% of middle-aged, and 50% of elder), their blows weakened, and their ability to photosynthesize impeded, forcing them to substitute by bathing their roots in the blood of slaughtered creatures. The only dubious benefit is that blighted lyrannikin don't suffer the traditional treant vulnerability to fire, as their diseased timber is too soaked with wet rot and mold to catch light easily. Such blights aren't incurable, but the effort isn't easy.

It seems highly likely that the [[Scarlet Brotherhood]] has captured treants and is experimenting with the use of blights that will turn the treants to evil while not affecting their health or combat ability (no reductions to damage dice rolls). These specially-bred lyrannikin may well be being placed within the Menowood to attack the defenders of Sunndi who spy in the eastern margin of that wood; there have been several reports of young lyrannikin (an unusual occurrence) from that wood during the years of the Greyhawk Wars.