Dryad

Dryads, also known as eerie wives by humans and Aen Woedbeanna in Elder Speech, are the female inhabitants and guardians of the Brokilon forest. They are sometimes also referred to as nymphs. Born through sexual contacts with other races or transformed by Water of Blokilon they are exclusively female and their descendants remain so for many generations even without drinking the Water.

Appearance
Dryads tend to have a slender and small build. It is generally impossible to distinguish a naturally born dryad from the transformed one; only older girls who became dryads after 10 or up can be recognized due to lack of distinct dryad sweat which smells like willow's leafs.

It's never actually stated what color their skin is. In some versions, it's believed their skin tones are the same as humans, though can take on tints of olive, chestnut, or green. In some cases they've been depicted with entirely green skin instead. The only certain thing is that dryads and hamadryads can be mistaken with humans at certain occasions, and the other way around.

Born dryads rarely have blond hair or blue eyes, but these can be inherited only from human or elven fathers.

Scouts and sentinels wear clothes patched up out of their natural surroundings, like leaves and twigs, making them blend in with the forest. However their queen, Eithné, has been show to wear fanciful dresses.

Skills
They are known for their amazing archery skills and can easily kill a human from the distance of 200 feet without the person ever knowing they were there. They use this ability extensively to mark their border: if an arrow lands at one's feet or in a nearby tree, that's as far as the intruder is allowed to travel alive as the next shot, should they not heed the warning, will kill them. To prevent the decay of bodies from filling the air, the dryads tend to mark their border by the rivers so the bodies can be washed away with the current.

Dryads are also proficient in treating wounds. When Geralt was wounded in a fight with Vilgefortz, he had cracked ribs, a broken leg, and a concussion but, upon arriving in Brokilon, he was treated with expert care and was well enough to move when the bard Dandelion came to see him. They also did a similar feat with Freixenet, who was nearly dead from their attacks but, after being found by Geralt, the dryads patched him up to the point he was able to sit up and talk for a bit when the witcher rejoined him several days later.

Being dryads, they have a love for the trees, forest, and music and have learned to master abilities to shape trees to their will while not harming the tree itself. As fire is also forbidden in the forest, they instead create makeshift glowsticks by stimulating certain fungi and crafting a wreath out of the plant to make a light source.

Procreation
Dryads are exclusively female and use males of other races only for mating purposes, taking strong ones to pass their traits onto their children. While some, like Freixenet, viewed this as a pleasant enough punishment, Geralt had to explain dryads take mating very seriously: if touched without permission, they'd kill the man, and not to try and smile, woo them, or treat it as any kind of pleasurable encounter, as they're simply using the male to father a child. As such, when Geralt, a witcher, is encountered by the dryads, a number of them grumble about it as, being sterile, he's no good to them.

However, having sex isn't the only way dryads are made. If any young girls should wander into their forest, whether it be a peasant's child or even a princess, they give them what's known as the Water of Brokilon to drink, which erases all their previous memories and contains mutagens so they can then be raised as dryads. However, these girls never gain all the skills that real dryads have.

Notable dryads

 * Eithné
 * Aglaïs
 * Braenn
 * Morénn