Evo

The Evo are the native inhabitants once found in many of the settled regions of Avalon. They are believed to be sapient, but it is not known for sure that they are the only native sapients on Avalon, nor has it ever been possible to communicate with them.

Physical Description

Like Tomato Men, the Evo appear to be at least partly (if not fully) plant-based lifeforms. As a species they have no uniform appearance: some move about quadrupedally, while others have a humanoid body plan, and some fly with great leafy wings and still others are little more than slithering vines.

Regardless of however else their body plans work out, all Evo have one to four "eyestalk" growths emerging from their "heads," which are little more than flower stems that end in light-sensitive buds. All Evo do also possess a "mouth" that looks something like a venus flytrap -- which is what they use when they consume animal flesh. Most Evo will also have at least one set of limbs that are capable of manipulating tools and objects (excepting the slithering vine-like Evo; they usually reserve the ends of their "tails" for manipulative purposes).

Biology

While it is suspected that the Evo are at least partly photosynthetic autotrophs, they are known to hunt animals in the forests -- historically inclusive of any settlers who've strayed too far into their territory.

They are not anymore prolific (in terms of reproduction) than are humans; in fact, like humans, Evo reproduce sexually and give live birth, as "pregnant" mothers experience a swelling growth of their fruting bodies, which "hatch" after a gestation of about ten months into a newborn Evo. It's not known for sure if Evo have definite genders, or if they possess both male and female reproductive parts like true seed plants do.

Society

Evo appear to possess sapient-level intelligence, and they live with others of their kind in what appears to be a tribal structure. While many individuals have highly effective natural weapons (claws, thorn-like projectiles, toxic pollen clouds, strangling vines, etc), the Evo do have a rudimentary tool industry, using stone, wood and bone to fashion spears, bows, hatchets and clubs.

History

The Evo were once an existential threat to the colonists on Avalon, until the colonists devised a powerful herbicide that allowed them to force the plant-men to a safe distance away from the settlements. Now an uneasy truce exists between the men of the colonies and the Evo of the wilds.