Description

Appearance
Seed is, in many ways, still a normal TEF deer: about average in height and weight (he'd like to be sleeker), with a smooth, human-like face that, regardless of the pelt spell he has on, has gentle golden eyes with long-ish lashes. He doesn't tend towards extremes in his appearance, but does look a bit on the feminine side.

However, fairly large sections of his body are replaced with living wood a sort of pale brown in color -- ultimately, bits of his own wood. Where these are placed tends to vary with the pelt he's wearing, since both wood and pelt are magical. There's always some on his chest and legs, and usually some on or around the underbelly. With the kirin pelt, the most common one, the main chest-piece expands outward to two smaller pieces on the sides of his shoulders, where the kirin-pelt has its gems and Seed has a large teal flower for each side. The wood outlines the pelt's underrbelly and descends down his inner thighs to cover his hind legs. Over the tops of his hips is a patch of moss that is home to an ever-changing variety of small plants. He likes to pick little plants he finds in the forest and shelter them there for a while. His antlers are half-tree: specifically, trees with purple flowers, though these can be briefly shaken off or covered up by local forest plants or candles. They bloom and change frequently.

He wears the kirin pelt most often, since the green suits him, but is affected by magic, and can even briefly look completely unaltered for clone-time fun. He always wears the whistle mask. Seed is only a little bit affected by the seasons, since the changes within the forest are mild. If he went somewhere with more extreme weather, he'd be affected more powerfully.
That said, they are affected by something: his feelings and mood. While it's rare that a sudden jolt of emotion will change anything major, it can. More often, it's his general mood and outlook that, over time, adds up to the status of his branches. When he's happy, the flowers bud and bloom more rapidly, and sometimes, if he's really happy, even change size and shape. When he's sad, he'll shed flowers and his leaves will change colors, wilt, and fall. If he's depressed for extended periods, they'll fall off entirely -- a winter of the soul. He's rarely scared or sad enough to make a difference.

Reference Image

Personality
Seed is difficult to describe in a few words. On the surface, he's friendly, playful, and usually very chipper. He'll while away the hours in goofy play with seemingly as much ease as he spends lounging about with his friends (though he does like to clearly be doing something, either lounging or playing, as opposed to doing nothing). Most of that is, if not true, then what Seed would *like* to be true. He doesn't want people to worry or dislike him, and so he often tries and hides his worries and sorrows behind a friendly smile. He tends to be anxious behind that mask, and a sort of 'natural loneliness' and his poetic musings mean that he tends towards melancholy when left to his own devices, which happens more or less any time he's alone, and sometimes when he's with others. When he trusts someone, he'll let them into his *real* thoughts. Otherwise, he'll tell them not to worry and he's just being silly. Seed is very big on self-deprecation, and will generally blame everything on his faults, and then scold himself for "wasting time" by feeling sad.

His thoughtful bent, while sometimes self-destructive or sad, also opens him open to creativity, careful philosophical constructions and reflections, and deeply imagistic and heartfelt poetry. He writes as his craft and passion, focusing his efforts on connecting the beautiful and sometimes sad world around him with the warm, romantic, and often sad internal world, or to capture the internal worlds around him. He enjoys thought exercises and light debates with his friends, though not all of them are of a likewise bent – which is fine by him, since it takes him out of his head.

Seed spends a lot of time contemplating goodness and how to be a good person; he wants to be 'good enough' very fiercely, and will try and evaluate his actions in terms of ethical philosophy as well as in terms of his personal feelings.

Short version: Seed's essential strength is that he thinks too much. Seed's essential problem is that he thinks too much.


He is deeply emotionally-driven as well, and a true romantic and idealist. He feels his love for his friends and lovers deeply and irrevocably: no matter what they do, to him or to others, he will always love them, without possessiveness…But not without guilt. As a result, it is easy for his loved ones to wound or conflict his heart, which has happened many times in the past. He’s a lover, not a fighter -- he can be indecisive when conflicted, but can’t help but love what he loves. He is incapable of not loving someone he loves, so he sometimes try to guard the inner sanctum of his heart, and very shy about declaring someone a friend.

That said, he is happy to meet new people, and unless he’s suffering a moment of tunnel vision about a loved one, will greet every stranger as a would-be friend.

Roots

Family

• Scape: His sworn brother and dearest friend
  
• Payton: His long-lost first love Gone
  
• Complex: His daughter with Payton
  
• Lemon: His sister via adoption
  
• Aleit: His Nephew via Adoption
  
• Oisin: His Nephew Via Scape Absent
  
• Zerg: His Sister-in-Law via Scape
  
• Magnet: His brother via Scape
  
• Midnight: His god-daughter and niece via Scape
  
• Nevilly: His ex-wife. Still loves, but has moved on.
  
• Sage: His Current, and hopefully always, Love.
  
• Many Friends, Gone and Still Around

History

Seed began his existence as a young tree growing in a distant stretch of forest, surrounded by and coated in purple flowers. He was very loney, and decided to go forth to ask the gods to turn him into a deer.The story of this adventure can be found here.
Eventually, his wish was granted. Because of the differences in the thoughts of a deer and the thoughts of a tree, he did not recall his own nature for a long time -- by that time, he had earned friends and family, and even a romance with Payton, a doe who'd come and go, in and out of Seed's life. The Twin Gods even used their hearts and magic to give them a daughter, Complex.

However, eventually, Payton came to the truth that this time, she would not return. She set Seed free then, and he pined after her for a long time. He eventually met Nevilly, and cautiously fell in love with her and was married, even reconciling with his past as a tree. However, eventually, Nevilly needed things that the asexual Seed couldn't offer her the way she wished, and left him to start a family with another stag.

Seed despaired for a long time, only recovering after meeting new friends and almost a year of healing...Of course, he wasn't healed long before he faced a new challenge: a giant fire beetle. It killed him, and he had to recuperate as a tree. This healing process left him with tree-like features...
...His story is ongoing.

Art

Writing by Seed:

• His Poetry Index
  
  Art by Me:
  
  
• His old profile art
  
• Seed and Payton
  
• Seed and Scape Eating some Berries
  
• Seed and Walter as bunnies, talking about love (don't ask)
  
• Pixel-Seed dreaming of Pixel Payton
  
• My Tiny Clay Seed
  
• Seed Comics
  
• Seed confesses to Nevilly
  
• The Earliest Seed Sketches, Part 1|Part 2
  
  
• Seed, Scape, and Zerg...Just like the Good ol' Days
  
• A little comic
  
• A small comic series, hopefully to be completed
  
  
  Writing by Me:
  
• A Forest Fairytale
  
• Seed's Story
  
• The Gods Smiled (Seed's Confession to Sage)
  
  Art By Others:
  
  New Form:
  
• Seed in a Christmas Image by Pega
  
• By Wingeddeer
  
• By Scythe
  
• Seed and his new pen-bracelet, by Mis (and the bracelet by Verve)
  
• Seed pixel art by Springbird, requested for me by Waning-Sun
  
• Unfirmation's Art of Seed
  
  Old Form:
  
• Seed in a sketchdump by Pega
  
• Alas, Poor Skull Deer; a doodle by Pega
  
  
• An adorable comic response to the reader-response section of "This Story" by Pega:
  Part 1|Part 2|Part 3|Part 4
  
  
• A Lovely pair of speedpaints by Pega
  
• Seed at the birth of Midnight by Pega
  
• A picture inspired by Seed's backstory by Pega
  
• "Race" by Pega
  
• Seed and some friends by Pega
  
• Seed as part of a christmas gift set by Pega
  
  
• Seed's Lightbringer Pic (Uhhh...I forget who did these. Help?)
  
• Seed's Lightbringer Badge (And who did these? Doe?)
  
  
• A gorgeous Seed picture by Terrant
  
• Seed as the King of Hearts by Trigger_Mortis
  
• A scribbler drawing of Seed by Liëka
  
• A Birthday Gift by Rouda
  
• An adorable drawing by Redkora
  
• A christmas gift by Kaoori
  
• Teeny Chibi by Kaoori
  
• Some Seed art by Redkora, too!
  
  Writing by Others:
  
• "Seed- The Lyracist of Romance" by AnimaSoul
  
• Seed's chapter in "Unraveling the Wirewood" by Quad
  
• An art and writing response to the reader-response section of "Seed's Story" by Ephra
  

Miscellaneous

• Facts
  
  
• Seed adores fireflies, water, things that are strange, long walks and talks, bunnies, and interesting activities.
  
• Seed dislikes real fighting, internal conflict over loyalty and love, being ignored, and the devout pelt (but he'll wear it for tag)
  
• Seed's kirin pelt is somewhat reflective -- hence the nickname 'firefly.'
  
• Seed is capable of speaking to, and being heard by, trees. However, he is reluctant to so publicly.
  
• No one knows yet if the flowers that grow from Seed will bear fruit or not -- as a result, whether Seed is hermaphroditic, male, or infertile all-together in a plant sense is unknown. In a deer sense, he's sexless but can father children magically.
  
• Seed is always IC, even for things like software glitches. He writes wordy, but infrequent, diaries.
  
• For such a deep-seated romantic, Seed is sometimes very oblivous to his own romantic feelings.
  
• Seed cannot be touched without his (subconcious) permission; The Forest is, after all, a place where you can walk through a deer, rock, hill, or tree, and Seed arises from The Forest. So if something makes contact with him or hurts him is a matter of his state-of-mind. However, this also makes him a very poor attacker or defender of others, since he can be walked through.
  
  Possessions
  
• Packs of Tea from Radish: One package remaining
  
• A wood bowl, Likewise from Radish
  
• A Bracelet-mounted quill pen from Verve
  
• His Lightbringer Badge
  
• A series of rocks for making inks or prepping bark for writing poems.
  
• A Dried Poppy as a mento of Payton