Questions about Leshies

[Rikaya Softclaw]

1) Approximately when did Leshies start to be created on Golarion? During the Age of Serpents? After Earthfall?
2) What's Leshy anatomy like? Do they have bones? Joints? Organs? Do they breathe in carbon dioxide and move it to all of their cells with a circulatory system? If they're wounded, what do they bleed? How baffled would somebody who's only worked on mammals feel upon trying to heal a Leshy's wounds?
3) Where do Nature Spirits come from, and what do they do when they aren't incarnated as Leshies (or Green Men)?
4) Are deities in general disinclined to grant them power since they have no "soul" that will go to them after death? Are they unable to sign Infernal Contracts?
5) From Leshy Familiar flavour we know that Nature Spirits vary considerably in power. Is this fixed, or can a Nature Spirit that can only animate a Familiar body eventually grow to animate the most powerful Leshy bodies?
6) What are the Rituals like to incarnate Leshies? The costs one must pay are probably known, but is it notably difficult to actually manage this?
7) If you wanted to talk to a Leshy to custom-build them a body to suit them, how would you achieve this?
8) If a Leshy was targeted with a Reincarnate Ritual, would they only become a plant creature of some sort? Or could they become a soulless Human or other Ancestry and then go back to being a Nature Spirit upon death?

Thank you for your time and consideration!

[TwilightKnight]

1 I don't see any Lore that indicates when it happened so this might require commentary from James Jacobs

2 they don't have an immunity to bleed or other similar so they have blood or some kind of equivalent. Whether its oxygen or CO2, they breath normally. For all intents and purposes they are a living creature like any other and react to conditions and such like any other unless they have a specific rule that says otherwise

3 probably the first world. It is generally viewed as the fey and (not "dead") spirit creature plane

4 I admit to not being an expert, but what makes you think they don't have souls? Does it say that somewhere?

Nethys wrote:

A leshy can be of any alignment, depending on what spirit inhabits their body, but their outlook often includes a neutral element. Religion is not particularly significant to most leshies. Those with a philosophical bent lean toward the Green Faith, and Gozreh is the most popular deity among faithful leshies. Some leshies also venerate green men, powerful spirits of nature that act as regional guardians.

They are sentient creatures so I would think they have souls and would be regarded by most deities like any other mortal creature

Nethys" wrote:

Guardians and emissaries of the environment, leshies are immortal spirits of nature temporarily granted a physical form

5 Like any other creature I don't see anything saying they cannot grow in power though the lore seems to indicate they exist in more of a caste where weaker spirits are what they are. So, this might be a GM decision or we need more info from Paizo

6 Not sure what kind of detail you are looking for. A ritual is what it is and is as difficult as it is described. Is is difficult to perform a resurrection ritual? Flavor-wise I would say that wresting a spirit from another plane and stuffing it into a plant body that you can command would certainly be a difficult thing to do. From a game mechanic perspective, its just another ritual.

7 Nothing in the rules I could see, but I presume it would just be some way to contact the nature spirit, discuss the issue, and then make it happen. Again, not sure what you are looking for here

8 again, I think you might be operating on the false idea that leshy don't have spirits. Assuming that is true, I would think it would reincarnate normally just like a human.

Nethys wrote:

Leshys who lose their physical form incorporate the changes they experienced in life into their spirit. Even though a leshy's spirit isn't the same as the soul of many ancestries, resurrection magic can still restore it to their most recent body. Should the ritual fail, it's usually because a leshy has shed too many of their memories and attachments, rather than due to Pharasma's judgment.

[Rikaya Softclaw]

TwilightKnight wrote:

4 I admit to not being an expert, but what makes you think they don't have souls? Does it say that somewhere?

From the Ancestry Guide: "Leshy spirits are beings of pure vital essence without any of the otherworldly quintessence known as spiritual essence." Also, "Leshys value their lives, but they don’t hold the same fear of death that plagues other ancestries; they know that once their bodies fall, their spirits will return to the natural world." Also, "Leshys who lose their physical form incorporate the changes they experienced in life into their spirit. Even though a leshy’s spirit isn’t the same as the soul of many ancestries, resurrection magic can still restore it to their most recent body. Should the ritual fail, it’s usually because a leshy has shed too many of their memories and attachments, rather than due to Pharasma’s judgment."

[TwilightKnight]

Its a weird dichotomy because on one hand they say they don't have a "spiritual essence", but also say they are "immortal spirits." They may not have a soul like other sentient creatures, but they still have, or are, some kind of spiritual entity that can inhabit a physical form. The question is how does Paizo differentiate between soul and spirit?

[Sibelius Eos Owm]

This is a thing that cropped up with the fleshing out of the 2e essences. Nature 'spirits' are non-physical entities made up entirely of vital essence. Though they are 'spirits' of a kind, they are not spirits, but they get called that because as far as 'non-physical entity that inhabits the world' is hard to find a usable alternative term for.

As for what the difference between more traditional spirits and souls, I can't say exactly but souls are made out of raw spirit ('unaligned potentiality' aka a form of quintessence) combined with an amount of positive energy and unknown choice other ingredients. They are grown on the positive energy plane.

[Gortle]

Rikaya Softclaw wrote:

2) What's Leshy anatomy like? Do they have bones? Joints? Organs? Do they breathe in carbon dioxide and move it to all of their cells with a circulatory system? If they're wounded, what do they bleed? How baffled would somebody who's only worked on mammals feel upon trying to heal a Leshy's wounds?

I don't have anything specific but you can work a lot out from the rules.

Leshies don't have bones, but they do have other support structures. They do have organs but their organs might be quite different from humanoid organs.

They breathe (because they have no immunity that says otherwise). Presumably both CO2 and O2 are involved as they do both photosynthesis and respiration.

They bleed (because they have no immunity to bleeding damage that says otherwise). Presumably some form of sap or other fluid and not blood. Choose a colour. Plant sap varies a fair bit.

They still need to drink, but not necessarily eat. There is no reason they can't have an opening and some sort of stomach structure like a pitcher plant does. Or they may choose to drink via a spray of mist or through their roots or via a combination of options..

For plants all types of gender occur. Both is most common, but none, either and highly unusual are possible. So choose if it seems relevant.

Don't forget that Leshies are Plants not Humanoids, except for those that are Fungi instead.

Obviously Fungi don't do photosynthesis, because fungi just don't, but also Fungi don't have the sunlight dependency of the other Leshy heritages. Don't forget to appreciate s!%$ a lot.