Category:Topiary Guardian

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

A topiary guardian is a a bush or shrub cut in the shape of an animal and then animated by magic. Topiary guardians emulate the abilities of the animals they're shaped as in their functions as guardians. Like a golem, a topiary guardian requires the creator to conjure and bind an elemental spirit. This act is viewed by druids as unnatural and therefore offensive. Topiary guardians can be frequently encountered in the gardens of kings and other wealthy nobility.^[1]

Descriptive Text

This section contains Homebrew non-canon info, created by fans

Magister Amward's estate was famous for its carefully tended gardens, and I was pleased to have a moment to look out over them as my host busied himself within. So captivating, even when viewed from the high window at nightfall, was the scene that it was some time before I noticed an odd discord in the scene. The gentle wind swayed the cypresses in time with its rhythms, but in the topiary garden the tree-forms seemed to be stirred by some other force out of step with the gusting wind.

When Magister Amward returned I pointed out the anomaly to him and voiced a concern that there might be trespassers in his garden; we had, after all, been told there were gypsies in the vicinity.

"Unlikely," he replied briefly, looking out. "I suppose it's time for a trim."

With which cryptic remark he led me away.

-Greenleaf, from Twelve More Tales of the Macabre, Jean LaFolie^[2]

References