[Creature/Being Lore] Nature Spirits

[Song Druid 1483]

 

 

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*~Nature Spirits~*

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The spirits of nature were stirred into existence by the imbalance of the world.  As time grew they became natural in themselves, a victim of an unnatural time.  These spirits had great strength, such whimsical and mischievous creatures.  The Druii of old crafted Bone Chimes to stave away the troublemakers, for they meant no real harm.  Still occasionally in their antics a child would die, or a house burn down, but more common would be missing valuables never to be seen again, or food found rotted in the pantry.  These spirits were abundant in the forest of Elandriel in the lands of Asulon, it is said that the forest once hosted a massive battle so fierce there cannot be a claimed victor.  The spirits rose from this, for the trees wept so bitterly at the blood that sustained their roots.  Some say that was why the forest grew to its massive size...

 

There have been angry nature spirits, whose home has been trespassed upon too often so they lash out at passersby, sometimes pushing them about or perhaps sending a tree root someone’s way, for these of course were beings, however the circumstances they were born, of the Aspects.  But then there were the nature spirits that had grown bitter, or tainted with vile magicks, and would cause great dismay to those who would violate their homes.  

 

The Bone Chimes, were baked, dried and hollowed bones that were carved and strung together.  Hanging them over a threshold would ensure most any nature spirit would be unable to enter the home.  If it were a powerful spirit, able to approach the ward, the clanking sound of the chimes would force it to reveal itself, even if cloaked, and would weaken it considerably.  The Bone Chime is a staple of Druidic craft, a teaching that was passed down for centuries.  Still, a nature spirit can only meet its end by entering into a fairy ring, where it returns abundantly to nature.  The rarity of fairy rings being what they are, and the inability to grow them at will for a Druid, makes it difficult, but an evil spirit of old would be provoked, and lured to the sacred grove, where the spirit would reveal itself from the bone chimes.  From there they would force it into the circle by means of the chimes, using its warding energies.

 

Some Druids would use ivy instead of string for the chimes, and imbue the ivy with their own energies to create stronger chimes.  A combined circle of chimes is enough to push back almost any evil nature spirit.

 

~The Drui’ithirn, Arcanum of Ancient Secrets

 

Nature Spirits are incorporeal beings formed when several inferior souls of nature are drawn into a fairy ring.  It results in a creature capable of intelligent thought, and in many ways blessed by the Aspects.  Nature spirits are most common where there is a fairy ring, but they do not have to stay there.

 

Personality:

A Nature Spirit by its nature is a mischievous, whimsical being, and while they keep to their territory they will occasionally play pranks on people, but really they don’t mean harm.  Occasionally someone will accidentally die from a Nature Spirit but they don’t inherently have ill intent.

 

When a Nature Spirit feels threatened, or their territory is trespassed upon, they can be quite irritating, pushing and whacking the person across the head with tree branches and so on.  Usually they can be appeased by making offerings in their territories, typical Aspect offerings suffice (see https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/136202-aspectism-a-guide-to-offerings/)

 

Appearance:  Nature Spirits vary in appearance, but are always humanoid in design.  They sometimes have animal features, even plantlike, varying upon the spirit itself.

 

Powers: Nature Spirits are beings of Druidic power.  Therefore they contain some abilities that the Druids possess, and a few they do not.  They can move the forest about them freely depending on the age and strength of the spirit in question, and disappear and reappear at will.  They can pass through most surfaces and do things like rot the food in a home or take physical items with them when they leave.  This is the extent of their physical pull on the world.

 

Weakness: A Nature Spirit can be easily weakened by creating a set of bone chimes.  These are Druidic decorations that are typically hung above a doorway or on a house.  They effectively ward off any Nature Spirit, and depending on the Druid who crafted it, they can be even stronger when imbued with Druidic energies.  However, even without using Druid powers a bone chime can be very effective.  Common folk can make them as well, but in days of old the Druids made them and taught their Dedicants to do so as well.

 

If invisible the sound of bone chimes will force the spirit to reveal itself.  And, if the spirit is strong enough to approach or pass the chime, they are still weakened considerably.  But, at this point the spirit could simply destroy the chimes.

 

In order to kill a Nature Spirit one would have to lure them back into a fairy ring, where they will return to nature.  Many people do this differently, by making offerings in the ring for them to accept, or chasing them there with bone chimes, et cetera.  Any destructive magic will also quickly dispatch a Nature Spirit.  A Nature Spirit has no concept of its mortality on its own.

 

Evil Nature Spirits: Occasionally if an area is blighted or tainted, or if dark magic has been applied to its mind a Dark or Evil Nature Spirit will arise.  It is malicious in nature and seeks to destroy.  Due to their corrupted nature their own natural connection is also corrupted, but they do not lose Druidic power.  Some known as Draoi use the Evil Nature Spirits as a catalyst to continue their own connections even after they have stopped serving the Aspects.  An Evil Nature Spirit can wither crops, cause infestation, call feral and rabid animals to its aid.  It has the same weaknesses as its tame brother.

 

Territory:  A Nature Spirit will claim an area, usually in a forest but it could be most anywhere, and take residence there.  They usually do not claim territory inside a city or village, but they will make them nearby from time to time, so they can play pranks on villagers.  Nature Spirits tend to never find another territory after choosing one.

 

Distinction:  Nature Spirits are not actual spirits.  They gained the name due to their appearance and actions, for commonfolk knew not the difference.

 

I’ve had this lore for several years now, but I hammered it out at last to post on the forums.  I’d primarily like to see these as an event style creature, though if somebody was dedicated to playing one in a certain territory I wouldn’t be upset about it.  We’ll work out whether they will be strictly ET or regulated.   For now we’ll say just ET.  We have some good events planned, revolving around nature spirits and dark spirits/draoi.

 

I look forward to hearing feedback.

[Dr. Boom/Dr. Bewm 29]

I really like this idea, i actully wanted to play something like what you stated. the part at the very end about the nature spirits being event ceartures or someone dedicated to playing playing one, i had a idea. event nature spirits could be considered one of the more powerful spirits while some people such as me would play a considerable weaker version.

[Song Druid 1483]

5 minutes ago, Boom_an_Bewm said:

I really like this idea, i actully wanted to play something like what you stated. the part at the very end about the nature spirits being event ceartures or someone dedicated to playing playing one, i had a idea. event nature spirits could be considered one of the more powerful spirits while some people such as me would play a considerable weaker version.

I don't have a problem with this.  Sounds like a good idea.  I'll work something out as far as regulation or keeping track of players playing it after the lore team looks over it.

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

I've got a few questions.

 

1. Can you go into detail on why bone chimes ward such a creature?
2. And you say it's the combination of several inferior souls, so something akin to an animal apparition I assume?
3. Why do the spirits like to play tricks on people? I get that you wish to create something for the creatures to do, but why would the souls of several animals want to play tricks instead of say, doing small feats of nature in front of others to try and bring a person closer to nature.
4. Can you go into more depth on the powers section? "They can move the forest about them freely depending on the age and strength of the spirit in question, and disappear and reappear at will." is rather vague and it's difficult to tell how strong they can be or if this is OP.
5. You say if one is strong enough, it can shatter bone chimes. What dictates a creature's strength?
6. And can you also go into more depth on the evil/corrupted version's powers? Can they wither a field at will? Call a large herd of feral animals? What're the limits?
7. Technically, if the origin of a nature spirit is several animal souls, is it not a spirit? Not a human spirit, but still a spectral entity. Unsure why you made the distinction.
8. And finally, how do these respond to clerics/paladins/shamans/other beings capable of purging stronger spirits?

 

[Song Druid 1483]

1: Not really, it's just a ward.  I don't think it needs much more explaining than that.  I don't like exhausting myself with explaining every nook and cranny of the lore :<  I think it's sufficient as is.

2: They can look like animals or people, the souls don't matter because they have been transformed by Druidic energy.

3: They don't exist to bring people closer to nature.  They're mischievous, and like to play jokes.  It amuses them.

4: They have power over Control of Nature and Communion.

5: I like the suggestion that Boom made, any regular player creature would have a certain amount of power and ET could play stronger ones. Otherwise I'd consider regular magic rules to apply.

6: Common sense magic rules apply to any creature with magic.  If it has an ability to do something it's ability gets stronger depending on its tier.  I don't understand the purpose of asking what determines that if that's already an established rule?  Evil spirits can depending on their strength do what you asked.  Druidism red lines apply to any creature with Druidism.

7: It is a creature of the Aspects.  They aren't actually spirits.  This should answer your 8th question as well.  I didn't want to actually contradict existing spirit lore and the lore for this is quite different, so these are not spirits and thus can't be purged or manipulated by Shamans, Paladins, etc.  They can be killed with magic or forced into a fairy ring as stated in the lore.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

I like anything that brings more depth to Aspect lore. +1

[chaotikal 2236]

Sounds like a good replacement for Bryophites.

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

13 minutes ago, Song Druid said:

1: Not really, it's just a ward.  I don't think it needs much more explaining than that.  I don't like exhausting myself with explaining every nook and cranny of the lore :<  I think it's sufficient as is.

2: They can look like animals or people, the souls don't matter because they have been transformed by Druidic energy.

3: They don't exist to bring people closer to nature.  They're mischievous, and like to play jokes.  It amuses them.

4: They have power over Control of Nature and Communion.

5: I like the suggestion that Boom made, any regular player creature would have a certain amount of power and ET could play stronger ones. Otherwise I'd consider regular magic rules to apply.

6: Common sense magic rules apply to any creature with magic.  If it has an ability to do something it's ability gets stronger depending on its tier.  I don't understand the purpose of asking what determines that if that's already an established rule?  Evil spirits can depending on their strength do what you asked.  Druidism red lines apply to any creature with Druidism.

7: It is a creature of the Aspects.  They aren't actually spirits.  This should answer your 8th question as well.  I didn't want to actually contradict existing spirit lore and the lore for this is quite different, so these are not spirits and thus can't be purged or manipulated by Shamans, Paladins, etc.  They can be killed with magic or forced into a fairy ring as stated in the lore.

 

1. Vagueness is sin, but alright.

2. You should probably explain that in the lore.

3. That's an overused mentality for creatures of this sort. Things like Draoichta and sprites (pre-removal) all have the mindset of being "mischievous". I simply wanted an explanation as to why another creature is popping up with this mentality. What distinguishes the RP provided by these creatures from other things? I ask because a lot of lore is denied for being similar to other lore pieces.

4/5/6/ I see nothing regarding progression or who will be teaching a spirit as it advances through the tiers of control of nature and communion. Do they start off at tier one and then overtime just slowly progress with OOC guidance?

7/8. You need to clarify that in the lore piece. I understand now that these have been imbued and warped by the Aspects, but from glancing over the lore as it is right now, one might not come to that conclusion.

 

The current issues I see is the shallowness of the personality (cliche tricks and for the evil side, need to destroy everything) along with how you're going to handle magic.

[zaezae 1097]

2 minutes ago, The Pink Lion said:

 

 

 

The current issues I see is the shallowness of the personality 

Yeah but...if I saw some nature fairy with a deep and sophisticated personality I would call bullshit.

[Song Druid 1483]

2: I'll make the change to the lore.

3: Like I said in my conclusion this has been something that I've had since Asulon (along with the bone chimes).  I never filed the lore and so here it is.  I can't for the life of me think of a reason why they are compelled to do so, it's just their nature.  Cliche or no.

4-6: After being approved to practice the magic a new spirit would start off as tier 1 and progress over time.  A Nature Spirit that exists for an entire IRL year for instance could be tier 3, an ET one can be at tier 4-5 in their magic.  There isn't much other than OOC guidance they naturally have the ability to practice the magic and do not need to get "lessons".  They will follow the timeline and red lines for magic.

7-8:  The lore piece is intentionally wrong.  They cannot tell the difference in character.  It is very likely we'll get a shaman to come purge a spirit who will then say "I can't do anything here".  

[Anawkin 247]

I would enjoy if a detailed guide of sorts for there appearance was added into the lore, I enjoy the concept of these and believe they could string a few event chains together for certain races.  Here are my questions;

1. Are they humanoid? What other forms can they take on?

2. Is there form definite? Can they alter it should they wish?

3. Does the composition of there spirit depend on where they mark their territory? (A sand spirit in uruk lands perhaps.)

[Song Druid 1483]

I didn't do a detailed one, haha.  It's pretty vague.  Humanoid, it's really up to the player otherwise.  As far as altering that's an interesting question I'll have to think it over.  If a fairy ring found its way into Orc lands perhaps.

[KarmaDelta 968]

To be perfectly blunt here, the only few people that would probably play this kind of creature is a Druid on an alt account, which is understandable to a degree. 

 

I'm all for things to try and brighten the server, but when it comes to these kinds of cliche and highly focused things I am not gonna lie, I think it's pretty cool and neat that you want to try and use this to expand RP and have fun with friends, but it would eventually just die like the many creatures/magics on the server that tried to be new, "hip", or cool and would eventually be forgotten within a month or two aside from those two or three players who play them religiously and try to defend them with their every waking breathe.

 

I'm sure you know this too since you seem like a pretty smart guy that would have this kind of foresight.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

49 minutes ago, Valkorion said:

To be perfectly blunt here, the only few people that would probably play this kind of creature is a Druid on an alt account, which is understandable to a degree. 

 

I'm all for things to try and brighten the server, but when it comes to these kinds of cliche and highly focused things I am not gonna lie, I think it's pretty cool and neat that you want to try and use this to expand RP and have fun with friends, but it would eventually just die like the many creatures/magics on the server that tried to be new, "hip", or cool and would eventually be forgotten within a month or two aside from those two or three players who play them religiously and try to defend them with their every waking breathe.

 

I'm sure you know this too since you seem like a pretty smart guy that would have this kind of foresight.

As the proginator of contemporary wood elf culture, I believe this lore would have some long term effects which adds depth to our culture which will affect a whole lot of people.

[Space 2333]

Gah, new forums suck

 

I can't wait to see this arbitrarily removed!