In the primitive forest of the Verdant Heights, live powerful green-clad senators, their heads in the Vault and their roots tickling the belly of Atys. In the Matis legend, these gigantic trees were created by the first and immortal Matis.
    The Ancient Dryads were part of the Great Mentor's grand creation. But before his will could be fulfilled on Atys, his immortal architects were corrupted by the goo and transformed into humble homins through crossbreeding and mutations.
    The first Matis emperors of homin descent made a pact with these powerful Dryads and used the sinister force of the ancient Dryads against their enemies. For this, these elders commanded an army of carnivorous plants that guarded the oldest groves and secrets of the Dryads.
    The pact was long neglected by the Matis, who were more occupied with court intrigues, and it dissolved over time. The elders have since attacked their progenitors. The ungrateful Dryads seek to destroy any life form that might slow their expansion on and under the bark of Atys. But since they are deeply rooted, they cannot transplant themselves. So their evil servants help their expansion by transplanting their Seeds and attacking anyone who tries to enter the groves of these new young trees.
    It is said that the ancients also possess immense power to control the mind of all intelligent life forms, dictating actions, and even turning Homins against each other.
    When a new Elder comes to germinate, his servants clear the grove for miles to give the tree room to grow and cross the bark of the planet. Their giant roots pump up resources, becoming the precious spring water that feeds the wonderful Matis Gardens and their secret botanical laboratories.
    Legend has it that deep within the bark of a grove of Ancients lies one of the many lost portals to the depository of the Celestial Seed, which contains the secret of Matis' Great Magic, their philosphal stone, as the Karavan obscurely refers to it (in fact the stone is only a concept for Atysians who have never seen one).