Druids

Nature Discipline

Overview

Druids are practitioners who learn to connect with the living world and work through that connection. Once strongly associated with the Ee'dornil and the old traditions surrounding Eonil, druids have become exceedingly rare in the Fifth Era.

The disappearance of the Ee'dornil and the destruction brought by the Age of Darkness caused much of the old druidic knowledge to be lost. What remains is often passed directly from one druid to an apprentice, preserving whatever fragments of the Discipline their teacher still knows.

Druids are therefore not an order with a single surviving body of knowledge. What one druid knows may differ considerably from what another was taught.

The Living Forest

At the heart of druidic teaching is the belief that a forest is more than a collection of separate plants and animals.

Druids describe it as a living, interconnected whole: trees, roots, fungi, animals and countless smaller forms of life together forming something resembling a shared awareness.

Learning to perceive and connect with this living presence is one of the defining aspects of druidry.

The experience is notoriously difficult to explain to someone who has never felt it. References to druids speaking with the forest or hearing the forest are therefore often misunderstood as conversations with individual trees or some unseen forest spirit.

A druid would describe it differently. The forest itself is listening.

Wood and Stewardship

Druids do not necessarily forbid the use of wood, but they believe it should be taken with care and balance.

During the Age of Light, towns, builders and shipwrights often sought druidic guidance before taking timber. A druid would commune with the forest to learn which trees could be used without harming the wider balance. Chosen trees could be lulled before cutting, and in some traditions their essence could be transferred into a seed to be planted elsewhere.

Since the Age of Darkness, much of this knowledge has faded. With the Ee’dornil withdrawn and druids now rare, most people no longer know that forests were once asked before wood was taken.

Typical Abilities

Druidic abilities vary between practitioners, both through natural aptitude and through what their own teacher was capable of passing down.

Communion with Nature

Through their connection with the living world, druids can sense and interact with nature in ways unavailable to most people.

This connection forms the foundation of much of their Discipline and allows a druid to recognise disturbances or imbalance within the natural world.

Speaking with Animals

Druids may learn to speak with animals.

This allows genuine communication rather than simple training or interpretation of behaviour. As with ordinary conversation, however, being able to speak does not mean the animal must listen, agree or cooperate.

Living Growth

Druids can influence living plants by communing with the living world and channelling their own energy into the response.

Roots, vines, branches, moss and other growth may be encouraged for many purposes, including restraint, protection, concealment or the shaping of the natural environment.

Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting is among the abilities most strongly associated with druids.

Animal forms are learned individually. A druid must become familiar with and learn to control each shape rather than simply possessing the ability to transform into any creature they choose.

Because of this, the forms used by a druid are highly personal. One may master several throughout their lifetime, while another may know only one.

Restoration and Cleansing

Druids can use their connection with nature to help restore balance where the natural world has been damaged.

This may include cleansing corrupted land or helping living places recover from unnatural harm. Such work can be difficult, particularly when the source of the disturbance remains.

Learning the Discipline

Druidry was once part of much larger living traditions, particularly among the Ee'dornil. Much of that knowledge disappeared during the Age of Darkness.

With so few druids remaining, formal teaching is uncommon. A druid may instead take an apprentice and teach them what they themselves know, passing the Discipline from one generation to the next.

This has allowed druidry to survive, but not unchanged.

Some knowledge has undoubtedly disappeared entirely, while other practices may now survive through only a handful of individuals. Two druids descended from different lines of teaching may therefore possess very different knowledge despite belonging to the same Discipline.

Druids in the Fifth Era

True druids are exceptionally rare.

The Ee'dornil, with whom druidry was historically most closely associated, have all but disappeared, and much of what was once common knowledge among their druids has been lost with them.

For many people in the Fifth Era, druids belong more readily to old stories than to everyday life. Those who do survive are often the inheritors of traditions carried through the Age of Darkness one apprentice at a time.

Eonil and the Druids

Druidry has ancient ties to Eonil, particularly through the Ee'dornil.

To follow Eonil is not quite the same as belonging to an organised faith. Eonil represents the world and the forces of nature themselves, and reverence for her is expressed through belief in and respect for that living natural world.

Historically, many druids were followers of Eonil, as were the Ee'dornil from whom much druidic tradition originated.

Following Eonil, however, is not what makes someone a druid.

Druidry is a Discipline that can be taught, and in the Fifth Era an apprentice need not come from the peoples or traditions that once practised it. What defines a druid is their connection to the living world and their ability to understand and work through it.