Druidism Magic Guide

[Birdwhisperer 1174]

Basic Understanding

Druidism is an ancient form of magic, tied to the most ancient of all Guilds of Aegis, the Druidic Order.  Centuries of guarding secret knowledge and protecting nature has been this Order’s calling, bringing balance through healing land and spreading verdure with their unique arts.

Druidism is controlled in such a way, and taught, through a clever process of training that is designed to “indoctrinate” the student into a certain way of thinking, opinion, etc.  That is not to say it is always successful, but it is a powerful tool of regulating who has access to these arts.

As with any training, these things occur in stages.  The most commonly known one is Dedicancy.  This stage is most common because it is the one newcomers enter the Order as.  During this time they are given tasks and lectures over a period of time that teach them the Order’s culture, and an appreciation for all things natural.

This process, cleverly designed, to open the mind of the Dedicant to the flow of nature, through meditation, assistance and an understanding of ways.   When the Dedicant has finally completed their tasks, and their Guide has deemed them ready, they are instructed to devise and complete their Grand Task, a milestone task for a Dedicant that shows they are ready to take on the full mantle of responsibility of being a Druid.

Upon completing this task the Guide takes the Dedicant to the Attunement Pool, an area within the grove high in natural Druidic Energies, and begins the Attunement Process.

This process involves the Guide invoking an ancient knowledge to forge a connection to Nature within the mind of the Dedicant.  ((Ideally at this stage the Dedicant should get an MA for basic Druidism.))  One could consider their initial training to be similar to opening a small hole to allow light to pass, and then the attunement process as using the small hole to bore a larger one, creating a ray of light-a connection.

Thus is the way one comes into Druidism.

The Arts:

Druidic Magic is broken down into several subtypes:

 

Nature’s Communion     Control of Nature

Nature's Healing      Shapeshifting            Blight Healing
 

Nature’s Communion:

This is the most basic of the Druidic abilities.  It is this that all other abilities are based off, therefore this must be trained as well when when raising other skills.  Additionally, it has its own strengths, regarding speaking with nature.  No Druid may advance any skill more than their current Communion tier.

Tier 1:

The Druid has been attuned.  They are very aware of an ebbing lifeflow of the world around them, but are unable to interact with it unless going into deep meditation.  At most they can exchange  simple images or thoughts, nothing sophisticated.

Tier 2:

The Druid has begun their training, and through many meditations they have gained a quicker ability to connect to nature.  Animals are somewhat receptive to the Druid, and their words hold some mystical weight when asking favors from them.

Tier 3:

The Druid has developed a respectable skill of being able to speak with the environment without need for meditation.  Animals comply with most requests, though aren’t hostile unless the Druid is attacked.

Tier 4:

The Druid has trained for decades now, they can feel the ebb of trees, speak to them and hear them back.  The Druid has the ear of most animals, and is at harmony with most things around them.

Tier 5:

The Druid has mastered every aspect of Communion.  This Druid has been said to have trained for a century to attain such prowess. They are at utter harmony with every part of nature they interact with.  No animal raises a claw to this Druid, even the most savage beast gives pause at the word of the Druid.

 

Control of Nature:

Control of Nature is a valuable skill that affords the Druid dominion over the world around them.  Shall they aid the growth of the grass and trees?  Shall they entangle their foe in vines?  Perhaps they will learn to grow saplings immediately as they touch the ground.

Tier 1:

The Druid has begun to emanate an aura of empowerment, things that would grow in years and months, after continuous meditation can grow in weeks and days.  Crops seem to yield slightly better quality harvest.

Tier 2:

The Druid is able to coax growth of a normal sized oak within an hour of concentration, and he has the ability to produce good quality crops from harvest.  

Tier 3:

The Druid can sow seeds and watch them spring to life before them in moments, and they can coax them into shapes, even convincing them to move.  Crops that this Druid blesses produce wonderful harvest.

Tier 4:

The Druid has the ability to raise a forest upon a whim around him!  Plants grow when he commands and crops that spring from his blessings are bountiful and great.

Tier 5:

The Druid has been an ally of nature for so long, flowers seem to spring from his feet as he walks.  He can grow even in the most infertile of land, and springing up trees that should not belong to grow mighty and strong.  The blessed crops of this Druid are legendary and no nation who hath been gifted such shall ever starve.

 

 

Blight Healing

Blight healing is a most noble ability of the Druids. Lands afflicted by blight, or plague, disease and death, decay or magical scarring are given new life, and in the place of the infertile soil there is verdure.

Tier 1:

The Druid begins to slowly bring fertility to the soil.  Plagued or diseased plants cannot be revived, but spread of the disease can be halted with concentration and meditation.

Tier 2:

The Druid is able to heal plagued and diseased plants, though magically harmed plants seem to be beyond their ability.

Tier 3:

The Druid can, with their ability to Control Nature, reseed the dead and decayed wood, plagued plants or diseased flora, and grow them back into the ground.  This is an interesting way to treat extra lumber!  It is easier to heal decay in a large area, and fertility can be added to land at a much quicker pace.

Tier 4:

The Druid can now heal a large area of land quickly.  They can bring even the sickest ancient oaks back, grow a tree from a stump even.  

Tier 5:

The Druid has become a master of bringing life from the brink of total death.  If the Druid meditates for a long period of time it is said that they can grow a tree even from stone.

 

Healing:

Druids are renowned for their healing prowess.  If it be a leafy patchup or a life-saving antidote, it is said that save for the monks or magical clerics, their natural remedies are unmatched.  This art is so interesting as it combines with the practice of Druidic herbalism with their natural magic.

Tier 1:

The Druid knows basic herbology. They spend great amounts of time meditating and preparing plants to release their juices and enhance healing properties.

Tier 2:

The Druid finds powerful herbs with properties of healing (such as pennywort, calendula, marshmallow, gotu kola, chamomile, echinacea, etc) and meditate with them before preparing salves or poltices with them.  They will boost the inherent properties of the plants.  Sadly this augmentation fades with time, but it’s still a noticeable increase.  Wounds can heal about a third  the amount of time it would take normally to heal.

Tier 3:

The Druid can combine their bandages with herbs and plants that they have enhanced with magical properties to offer quicker healing to the patient.  A Druid can give tea that will soothe a cold, even cure it with its enhancements to the leaves.  The applications are endless!

Tier 4:

The Druid can enhance poultices without meditating with the plants.  They can heal wounds in less than a day depending on severity.

 

Tier 5:

The Druid has mastered the art of healing, and can heal most wounds within an hour or two.  Leafy stalks tend to grow from their finished work!

 

Shapeshifting:

 

Important Note: Shapeshifting is a closely guarded secret of the Order, that even many Archdruids are never entrusted with. As such, it is metagaming to have any knowledge of these abilities if your character did not discover them through roleplay. For more information on shapeshifting, refer to: 

http://wiki.lordofthecraft.net/Shapeshifting+Magic

 

Tier 1:

The Druid must meditate for an extended period of time, and remains in their beast form for a short period of time.

 

Tier 2:

The Druid must meditate for a moderate period of time, and remains in their beast form for a moderate period of time.

 

Tier 3:

The Druid must meditate for a short period of time, and remains in their beast form for an extended period of time.

 

Tier 4:

The Druid transforms into the beast for a long period of time.

 

Tier 5:

The Druid can maintain beast form for an incredibly long period of time.

 

Red Lines:

• You must be an attuned druid to utilize druidic magic.

• Animal companions cannot be used to metagame or break established server rules. This means that if you are killed, your woodland friends cannot tell you how you died or who killed you.

• You cannot force an animal to act against its nature. A high tier druid would be very convincing, however even at Tier 5 you cannot make an animal that is passive by nature attack a heavily armed foe.

• In the same vein, you cannot make someone’s pet turn against them, if that pet is truly loyal. A high tier druid could convince the pet to not attack the druid, but that is the extent of it.

• Nature’s Healing does not use life-force.

• Blight Healing cannot be used on animals or people.

• Nature’s Communion does not work on Kharajyr or other animal-like races. Essentially, if it’s a ‘person’ you cannot commune with it.

• Nature’s Communion is not animal-telepathy or mind control. At best it is animal-empathy, and the ability to understand animal ‘speech’ and be understood by animals in your natural tongue. (Druids do not make animal noises.)

 

 

Magic Applications

Each Druid is required to have an accepted Magic Application to roleplay these powers. Without an accepted MA, they are simply a druid with a connection to nature. Essentially Tier 0 in Communion, they can sense the ebb and flow of life but cannot truly interact or communicate with the life around them. It is not required for Guides to be have an accepted Teacher’s Application in order to attune new druids, however that means that they cannot help new druids progress.

 

Power Sharing

Groups of druids can pool their power to perform greater feats than one would be capable of alone. For example, one Tier 3 druid might take several months to grow a very large tree on their own. However, if he is joined by others working in unison they could potentially perform the task in a few hours. The same principle applies to Blight Healing - the more druids at work, the larger swathe of land they can heal at once. You still need a magic application to do this.

 

Attunement and Unattunement

Because of magic application rules, no character under the age of 16 may be attuned. Attunement must be learned in-character before it can be performed. To unattune a druid and thereby sever their connection to nature and ability to perform druidism, three druids capable of attunement (with at least one of them having learned the unattunement process) are required. The druid being unattunened must also be present. To re-attune a druid that had been unattunement you will also need three druids capable of attuning and unattuning.

 

Druids and Other Magic

If a druid begins to learn Arcane magic of any kind they cannot progress any higher than their current tiers in druidism. Prolonged usage will result in a gradual corruption of their connection to the Aspects and nature. They are also required to OOCly notify at least one Archdruid or (active) Hierophant and whichever Druid performed their attunement, as a courtesy.

 

~~~

 

Druidism is a unique and rewarding magic to learn. Happy roleplaying!

[Jygg 330]

Za'Kabar approves.

[DISCOLIQUID 2702]

• Nature’s Healing does not use life-force.

​Disco smiles upon this day.

[Rig 17580]

Wonderful guide.

[Tsuyose 3285]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.