Pianta

Physical Description:  Piantas are the largest of the races native to Ede Rame.  A sentient plant-man, the Pianta stand eight to eight-and-a-half feet tall and are extremely strong.  Pianta are a light green in complexion and the top of their heads are covered with a long grass that is often treated like hair.  Female Pianta have a number of bright flowers that grow in this hair.  Piantas are incredibly strong and have a fibrous body which bullets often pass through without causing much damage.  As such, traditional Pianta melee is fought with heavy weapons or metal boomerangs which can sheer off Pianta limbs.

Pianta Society:  Piantas are generally a peaceful people that keep to themselves.  Lacking a homeland of their own, Pianta make their homes across Ede Rame.  Many Pianta establish farming communities in many of the nations of the continent and a large number of Pianta have established the “Plant-Man Quarter” in the various cities of the continent and engage in industrial work.  Many nationalist groups have complained about their presence, blaming them for “stealing jobs,” however most people in xenophobic Ede Rame are quite comfortable with the presence of the Piantas in their homelands.  Many nations make use of mercenary corps of Pianta, relying on their great strength for battle or transport.  The Pianta, however, also create some religious questions.  There is no mention of the Pianta in the religious texts of either the Unitarians or the Universalists and as such a religious debate rages over the nature of the Pianta.  The Unitarian Church claims that the Pianta are a product of the world and without souls and thus cannot receive the blessing of Naggarium.  Some more radical aspects of the Unitarian Church claim that the Pianta are a creation of the God-Trees of the Laterni and thus wicked incarnate, although this is a small, radical opinion.  Generally, Pianta are considered a harmless, but soulless, creation of Nature.  Universalists believe that the Pianta can be converted and have established many missions amongst the Pianta and have worked, generally successfully, to convert the whole Pianta population of Ede Rame to Miran's loving embrace.  As such, in Unitarian nations, the Pianta are generally seen as good-natured but in service to a wicked god and thus there are mixed reactions to their presence.  Oddly, Unitarian nations see pagan Pianta as far more preferable.