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"There was a time when man lived together in harmony with nature, they harnessed natural energy around them thanks to the tutelage of the Toad Monks. With that power, humans became Toad Sages powerful beings with a unique blend of magic. For 4000 years, the Toad Monks and Men co-existed with one another. Building monasteries all across the world."

-Ekon Larkin Professor of History at the College of Elbion

History

It is not known where the Toad Monks originated from, some historians say that the Toad Monks were the descendants of Bullywags their who grew disgusted of how they treated nature and left to start their own clan. Nor how they discovered their unique form of magic. According to legend: Riku the wisest of the Toad Monks mediated under a tree for 50 days and 50 nights, until he discovered something that compelled him to make a pact with the humans. It is lost to history what he discovered but Riku made a push for peace between the Toad Monk and the humans.

For 4,000 years, the Toad Monks and humans became great friends exchanging knowledge and wisdom with one another. As a gift for their friendship, the Toad Monks taught the humans the sage arts: The ability to harness the power of the Toad Monk through nature and balance, it was there that the first Toad Sages were born protectors of nature. It is unclear what the humans gave to the monks in return but scholars speculated it was the humans who built many monasteries for them. Including Hikigaerumaunten built near the place where Riku gained the answer to make peace with the humans. The peace would come to an end with the conflict known as the Toad Wars. When the Bullywags first arrived at the temples, the humans and Toad Monks welcomed them with open arms.

However, the Bullywags began to take over the temples in their need to consume and show their might. Thus the Toad War between the humans/toads and the Bullywags began. While the Toad Monks and Toad Sages were powerful, the Bullywags were more numerous making it a war of attrition which lasted a decade. The Toad Sages began to fall to the Bullywags and the temples became abandoned as the humans and Toad Monks constantly retreated due to the Bullywags overwhelming numbers. The war ended with the slaughter of Hikigaerumaunten, where the Toad Sages and Monks made their final stand and fell. After the war, all temples and records of their pact with the Toad Monks were lost. For thousands of years, it was believed that the Toad Monks were extinct until rumors of their seeing walking toads performing nature magic were spotted near the Woodlands.

Life as a Toad Monk

Once there were hundreds of thousands of monasteries dedicated to the Toad Monks. Today approximately 25 temples are active scattered across the globe with 2 Temples being known to scholars. Despite being nearly extinct, life as a Toad Monk remains exactly the same as it was thousands of years ago. Their daily lives consist of meditating using telepathy to communicate with the other toad monks around the world. Toad Monks take care of the forest and mountains around them using their nature magic from curing blights that start to go out of control to burning away brushes when it gets too clogged and creating new trees and gardens. When they see a tree that is dead or dying, Toad Monks would cut them down and turn the trees into Leshens. From there the tree lives a second life as a guardian of the forest.

Toad Monks can live up to 250 years, upon death the Toad Monks bury their dead where the ground swallows them up and converts them into energy. The Toad Monks believe that their magical energy is actually the spirits of their kin and the toad sages who passed away. Toad Monks stand about the same size as a regular Toad but can be bipedal. They use their powerful magic only as a last resort and are very nimble, jumping 8 times their regular size. Toad Warriors stand about 8 feet tall and have the task of guarding the remaining temples. They wield Katanas, spears and sometimes shields.

Aside from having the same magical abilities as Toad Monks, Toad Warriors have the ability to grow 4 times their height enabling them to serve as giant units if necessary. Toad Warriors tend to be looser than the strict Toad Monks and are often more aggressive and smoke pipeweed much to the dismay of the Toad Monks. Toad Monks and Warriors wear simple robes, happi vests and live off the field, eating grass, fruits, and vegetables.

Toad Sage

To transform into Toad Sage, the user must mediate and balance the nature magic with their body. The user needs to find their "chi" in order to achieve the power of the sage. Too much or too little and the transformation will not work. When one goes into sage mode then: They gain enhanced strength, speed, senses, and durability as well as access to spells unique to Toad Sages. The user is aware of their surroundings enabling them to dodge or block attacks before they see them. Toad Sages have access to a unique form of magic from spitting out special oil or to fire poison darts. They also employ frog hand to hand combat: a graceful fighting form that requires speed and strength.

People who struggle to maintain a balance with their nature magic become known as Imperfect Toad Sages. They tend to have frog-like characteristics such as warts, a large nose, pointed teeth, a deep voice, and webbed toes and feet. In some cases, the Imperfect Toad Sage has a toad posture which improved mobility. It takes years of practice in order to get rid of the physical characteristics of an Imperfect Toad Sage. Once the user as their nature magic perfectly balanced, they become Perfect Toad Sages. Perfect Toad Sages are those who eliminated the Frog traits shown in Imperfect Sages only spotting the yellow, toad-like irises. Perfect Toad Sages are ones who mastered the ability to balance the natural magic within them and they have access to the most powerful Toad Spells.

Becoming a Toad Sage is not easy first, the person must seek the Toad Monks out which is presents a big challenge since their temples are guarded by Leshens, Toad Warriors, and natural defenses of the mountain they reside in. If the person is able to get to the monastery, then the Toad Monks put them through a test. The person must go to the waterfall and face their reflection. The reflection comes to life thanks to the Toad Monks magic and the person must fight themselves. If the person wins, then the Toad Monk gets to train them, if they lose, then the person finds themselves in the middle of the forest with no memory of meeting the Toad Monks.

Weakness

There are major drawbacks in using the ability as well. The user can only maintain the form for a short while. Imperfect Sages can access it for an average of 3-5 minutes without assistance while Perfect Sages can maintain it for 30 minutes to an hour and a half. When out of Sage Mode, the user experiences extreme exhaustion to the point where in some cases they are unable to move due to their bodies expending an absorbent amount of energy and must meditate or eat in order to recover. During this period user can't enter Sage mode again for 24 hours. To compensate, Toad Monks can fuse with Toad Sages to act as a battery for them. The duration of the toad sage is then tripled and the Toad Monk can assist with the Toad Sage in combat.

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