Fallen Empire: Religion - Druids

Druids

While the Church of Belin (and its evil opposition among the cults of the Fallen) ascribe divinity to ethereal spirits divorced from, but holding authority over, the mundane world, those who follow the druidic teachings see the divine in the very elements of the world: the sun, the sky, the water, the earth, the trees and the other elements of the natural world. The Church of Belin calls their deity the Increate and Pancreator, asserting that Belin existed before all other things, and created everything else in existence, while the core tenet of the druids maintains that existence itself predates everything in the form of a universal world-spirit identified as the Grym. Druids consider the various spiritual beings honored by other faiths (including the Church of Belin) simply to be subordinate manifestations of the Grym. Although most common among elven communities, where it is the dominant faith, the druidic tradition has adherents of all races, mostly humans, halflings, and dwarves, but also including giants, gnomes, goblins, and orcs among others.

According to the druids, only by unlocking the secrets hidden in the mountains, forests, and rivers can true understanding be gained. Like the devotees of the Church of Belin, druids believe that prophecy can be found in the movements of the stars, but they also believe that omens and portents can be found in the sounds of the wind, the fall of rocks from a mountain, the shape of a tree, the currents in a lake, and the rising and setting of the sun and moon. Druid shrines are typically sacred groves, hidden pools, natural springs, or rock formations, but adherents to this faith also erect henges, dolmens, menhirs, and other arrangements of standing stones to mark important holy sites. Detailing all of the druid’s beliefs is impossible, since they share so few universal tenets, and many druid circles oppose one another; in rare cases, opposing circles have been known to settle their differences via bloodshed.

Common druidic belief holds that a number of religious rites must be performed to honor the Grym, and if done incorrectly will spell disaster. Druids lead and direct these rituals, which constitute an important part of daily life in druidic communities, usually involving complex invocations. These rites are learned during the long years of training and while performing them, a druid typically must fast, wear the correct clothing, and follow a variety of other specific taboos. Unlike the Church of Belin, there is only a loose governing authority over the druids, and the rites vary from place to place, and some druid circles have dark and sometimes frightening interpretations of the appetites they attribute to the Grym. Druidic practices come in a variety of forms: because the Grym is an all-encompassing entity, circles can be found that variously espouse the divinity of the orderly, random, benevolent, or even malevolent nature of the world power. To attempt to describe the overall theology and practices of the druidic faith in more detail than given here would be impossible, as these tenets can vary wildly from place to place, and from circle to circle.

Druids are far less organized than the Church of Belin. Each druid begins his career as a member of a druid circle (and unless he becomes a hierophant, may stay one), a loose collection of like-minded druids connected by ties of family, clan, tribe, philosophy, or merely locality. Some druid circles are tied to a particular location, and thus they may have many members located in a single area; others may be devoted to a particular belief or philosophy, and thus be composed of a handful of members scattered across a vast area. Once in a while, a druid finds that his beliefs conflict with those of his circle, and in such cases a druid might seek out a new circle to join or, rarely, establish a new circle. While details of practice and tenets of belief vary from circle to circle, the similarities generally outnumber the differences, a condition probably attributable to the overarching authority of the hierophants, an overarching council of powerful druids who theoretically have authority over all of the various circles. Within druid circles, there are generally four ranks of members. Although these ranks roughly correspond to the druid class level of the member (due to the requirements of the ordeals), the correlation is not exact, and some junior members of druid circles may not even be members of the druid class at all – adepts, bards, and rangers are the most common non-druid members. The ranks are:

• Initiate: Initiate are those members studying to enter the ranks of druids and become ovates. They spend much of his time studying under more experienced members of the druidic order. They are not considered full druids until they complete their basic studies and undergo the ovedic ordeal, at which they must demonstrate their skills and learning. Before an initiate may attempt the ovedic ordeal, he must spend at least seven years in study, but some circle members remain initiates throughout their careers, for example, a ranger who is a member of a druid circle might remain an initiate his entire life.


• Ovate: Ovates are members of the first level of a druidic circle that is actually composed of individuals who are considered priests of the druidic faith. An ovate has learned all of the legends, stories, histories and myths that make up the religious foundation of the druidic faith, and has mastered the ability to tap into the power of the Grym and wield power as a result. Ovates are usually members of the druid class, but on occasion, a powerful adept, bard, or ranger might pass the test and become an ovate.


• Ollave: An ovate who has trained for fourteen years may undertake the ollave ordeal. An ollave is regarded as a full priest, and accorded significant authority in druid circles. Authority does not come without responsibility, and an ollave is expected to act as a judge, counselor, mediator, or diviner if requested. Ollaves are expected to lead community rituals, and interpret omens, dreams, and signs. Ollaves are almost always members of the druid class, the requirements of the ollave ordeal virtually preclude members of any other class from passing the test.


• Druid: While ovates and ollaves are accorded the rank of priests in the druid circle, and thus are technically druids, only the highest ranking priests within a circle bear the title druid. An ollave who have trained for at least seven more years (for a total of twenty-one years of training) may attempt to become a full druid. This requires yet another, more difficult ordeal and the assent of the other members of the circle. All members of a circle of druid rank are members of the druid class, and are usually significantly powerful members as well. Full druids are responsible for the governance of their circle, and charged with overseeing the most important issues confronting the circle. Druids are the judges of last resort, the diviners and soothsayers of the most important portents, and so forth.


• Hierophant: While a druid is the most senior rank within a druid circle, the hierophants transcend circles, forming a kind of supernuminary council that resolves issues between druid circles or determine overarching questions of religious import. A druid who has served in that rank for at least seven years has the option of leaving his circle to pursue his own path and become a hierophant. To the extent druidism has any kind of overall governing body, it is the loose collection of heirophants, all of whom pursue their own inquiries into the nature of reality and divinity. Although heirophants have no formal authority, they are greatly respected and most druid circles carefully consider their advice, in many cases taking the pronouncements and suggestions made by hierophants as binding judgments. On rare occassions, when matters of dire import are in the offing, groups of heirophants will gather together to perform great divinations and seek guidance from the divine world spirit.

Home     Fallen Empire