[✗] Druidic Artifacts: Weather Stones

[Sky 0]

The Weather Stones

 

 

~

 

Within the old leather bound tomes that make up the library of the Druidic Order, there are stories and tales that have depicted druids wielding a power thought only to be controlled by the Aspects themselves, to bring forth the emotions of the very sky itself. The manipulation, and seemingly, the control of weather itself, something that has been talked about to of been seen in the days of Aegis but slowly began to fade into the shadows during the lands of Asulon.

 

However, in all the tales and stories told, there is always a certain aspect of the event that has been left out, whether purposefully left unwritten or mistakenly not written in, there is no word upon an artifact that was somehow a big part of the old forgotten blessing. A creamy white stone, one that always seems to emit a soft humming noise in the presence of the Aspects chosen, and in the presence of an elder, a naturally cool breeze begins to swirl around them.

 

After looking through many tomes, only miniscule amounts of information were able to be found about the mysterious stone, and when it was noted, it seemed to have an odd history. For a stone, barely bigger than the size of an elven head, it was strangely durable and seemed to disappear from the histories, until re-discovered by a pair of druids and, in this discovery found it in two and assumed to of broken during its unknown path. Thus, I name it; The Weather Stone of Aegis, an artifact broken in two, it’s powers split among the Snow Druid’s half and the Mist Druid’s half, both equal parts of the Aegis Weather Stone and equal weather stones in their own rights.

 

~

 

Not any druid is capable of simply grasping one of the two artifacts and willing forth different sorts of whimsical weather, it’d take one that would be considered a tier 5 by the old system in nature’s communion. One that’s well versed, and experience, someone who has a masterful intuition on the ways it’s done, and even then it’s not entirely the druid that’s behind such a feat but more so the artifact itself acting as a sort of transformer, for without the artifact it wouldn’t work.

 

What a druid would be able to do with the magic is completely creative, when it comes to functionality and purpose, however they do have limits and are not able to use it in a combative way (ie, lightening storm). Something that is within the realm of possibility would be to summon small weather disturbances, such as bringing a calming wind breeze through Laurelin, or a small area of rain to water crops, and such. When the two druids who have both artifacts in possession assist one another the only advantages that come would be a wider range of the ability, rather than the stronger strength, and regardless of powersharing the only way another druid could assist in the use of the blessing is if they are in possession of the other half.

 

The stones come with a couple passive aesthetics for the druid in possession, which I heavily would like to point out are in no way heavily impacting with combat, or any sort of non-aesthetic way. A gentle humming sound emits both artifacts, and produce a gentle breeze which swirls around the druid in possession, simply causing their clothes or hair to flow with it, and it’d react to the druid’s emotions, be it from being an erratic flow of breeze for anger, to the breeze stopping completely from shock. Again, I would like to heavily emphasize that it’s purely an aesthetic, as well as a negative that shows who is in possession.

 

The artifacts have already been broken once, for all intents and purposes, it broke due to being corrupted due to the onslaught of the Aegis undead epidemic and thus causing it to break into two parts, which means it is indeed susceptible to corrupting dark magics and it’d be up to the one who wields the artifact to keep it safe from such harm. What is considered corrupting is anything that is unnatural, such as necromatic magics to shade magics.

The stones hold no power themselves, when not in the possession of a strong druid, they are easily mistaken as normal rocks that do nothing and can easily be lost this way, as there is no way to track them down due to this. Think of them as a conversion of sorts, something that can convert a powerful druid’s ability with communion into what is needed to do such blessings, and due to a high tier’s nature influx of energies, it explains the passive abilities of the stones as well as not causing the druid much damage in regards to exhaustion. A less experienced druid, at best, would be able to produce the small passive effects but if attempted they would immediately feel sapped of energy and become easily susceptible to over exhaustion, or fatigue.

 

~

 

It has been known that in the past druidic magic encompassed weather control, be it naturally from their magic and was reserved to those who were skilled in the art, and were able to call forth large storms, which grew in size and strength when in a large group. Five months ago Ouity attempted to resubmit lore to return it into the server, and was denied for a multitude of reasons. I personally feel that re-adding the lore, but in a different way, would add an interesting flair and would be quite good. Now, allow me to respond to the points that helfiazz made in his end point.

 

- Precedents don't count, especially if there's not been any lore for it. Controlling weather has never been in any druid guide.

 

Where precedents don’t count, I can certainly agree and understand that there’s been no actual lore behind it, however there has been role-play that involved it meaning that there is a way to place it as it happening due to magical artifacts, instead of the druid’s themselves.

 

- It's not established that druids communion extends beyond animal and plant control/change. The only spell that doesn't influence a living being directly is blight healing, and even that could be seen as plant healing in some way. The argument that weather is part of nature is pure nonsense; soil and rivers are part of nature and are necessary to life, but it would be ridiculous for Druids to control those.

 

I am unable to disagree once more, there is no actual establishment that says that the druids themselves are able to have a ‘spell’ that influences anything outside of what you explain. That is where this artifact comes into play, a conversion of sorts as I said before and that has a unique feel in my opinion.

 

- Your attitude is and has been piss-poor. This does matter.

 

This doesn’t really put part in the now, though I would like to apologise. Not just to you, hellfiazz, but to the entirety of the Lore Department (Team), and I would like to say that I do strive for a better work partnership between the druids, and the staff.

 

- Druidism is already is a very versatile and rich magic. It has a plethora of abilities, and there is no need for more.

 

- Shamanism can already manipulate the weather in this exact manner.

I put these two points together because I have a very similar answer for both, or more so response to both. This is where our opinions differ, I feel that there shouldn’t be a wall that stops the growth of something simply because it is considered rich, or versatile, because all magics are versatile in the right hands, and even all magic seems to step on others toes. For example, shamanism gets its toes stepped on (or it steps on toes, depending on perspective) to druidism and evocation, now I don’t mind this as it adds more and I don’t say this as a negative, simply explaining my thought process, as well as opinions.

 

~

 

What defines their power?

 

In terms of strength, the stones themselves hold no inherent power, however when it comes to what exactly they can do that would be somewhat simple. Imagine, if you will, a power converter (one of those cute little things you take to other countries to be able to charge your electronics) and this power converter is, well, a stone. Now what usually happens with communion simply only affects plants and animals around the druid, however in the hands of a strong druid (this I’ll get to below) it’ll convert the regular way a druid would commune with such, and turn it into a sort of ‘weather communion’. When it comes to range, no bigger than a ten by ten radius I would say on one’s own and with the other holder, perhaps an even twenty by twenty.

 

What (in this case) is the definition of a ‘strong druid’?

 

To keep it as simple as best, I would put the threshold up to a druid that’s held the magic for what the previous magic system called tier four (six months) and also constantly make use of their gifts, rather than a traveling druid magically reappearing.

 

Won't it be hogged by a single person, or persons, and never be used?

 

I’d like to say that it wouldn’t, mostly because the one that currently possesses the item actively uses it (albeit at a much less strong degree) at current state, however when it is passed down I cannot say that it will continually be used and given to the next coming of generation, I would like to believe that in the community that it has now, people would do so not because they feel it must be done but simply out of the kindness. That being said, it can easily be stolen and moved on in a small passerby event, if it becomes thrown in a chest to simply gather dust.

 

Don’t druids have an arsenal of (almost) unused tools, and won't this just add to that arsenal?

 

I will write this here on the original post so that people can have some sort of understanding, I could have subtitled this question as ‘Why is this lore written?’ and it’ll give the same response, however people have noted the above and to be honest, I cannot disagree that the druids as a whole have a lot of untapped potential with the magic that they currently have in store with them and that, albeit with fair reasoning, a lot of the subtypes have gone untouched (role-play reasons, on both teachers and druids side). Allow me to state that if this lore gets denied, I will not be irate about it and will accept it, because the druids do have a lot and I know that I am going to try my hardest to make amendments (and answer questions) where I can, to have it accepted.

 

Now, throughout my time as a druid (even as a dedicant), it’s known that Beth, the Snow Druid, had a weather stone that was able to create small changes to weather and have aesthetic changes to the one in possession. This item was created long ago for an event, which was making reference to the fact that druids were once able to control weather themselves without any other help. Everyone may, or may not, know this but most event items rarely have lore explaining it (and this isn’t me kicking at events with it, simply pointing out that this is indeed a trend that is around) and due to this, it’s been passed down in the generations of druids. Honestly I’m unsure how many hands it has passed down through, but it currently sits in the hands of a hierophant of the order and is quite a pretty item.

 

Sitting back, I wondered about Ouity’s weather control lore being denied, and in a conversation with the player who held the item, came to an interesting idea. What if, instead of the druids suddenly losing an innate ability of weather control, that instead the entire time it was this stone and when it fragmented, was when the ability was lost because they couldn’t find the stone as the two fragments were lost. Then, in the event long forgotten, in the event that Beth obtained one of the two fragments and once again, druids were able to use it as a means to do so.

 

This was my intention, to add lore to an already in game item that has been in circulation and also give a reason as to why druids suddenly stopped being able to learn to control weather on their own. Yes, there are two fragments and, yes I do explain what would happen if the two possessors were to help one another, however if the second piece isn’t found or, if it’s lost (as well as the current piece) then they’re lost.

Thank you.

[Sky 0]

 

Now, I am unable to find out who made the original lore as it seems that, well, there was no original lore. So, I will give credit to those that inspired me to push this through and help me.

 

Ouity, for the piece of amendment that he wrote that gave me a good outline.

 

Jamie, for inspiring me with his other large pieces of contributions towards the druidic community.

 

Corvoo, for keeping me motivated with the writing, ideas, and pushing for bringing more excitement to all.

 

Sorry if your name isn’t plastered, I love you all and you all, truly inspire me to try to make the server a better place, be it through my role-play or, through lore pieces. Thank you.

 

So, please. Give me feedback, and critiques, so that I can see the holes that I have missed and may amend them, where seen fit.

[Starfelt 1323]

I fully support this! Seems rather cool, and would be a fun interesting thing to bring back.
 

[Zindran 322]

Let's make Druids gr8 again.

 

 

+1

[Jygg 330]

I definitely support this! +1

[excited 10833]

As long as they don't make thunder call downs or hale then I legitimately don't give a ****. 

[Zindran 322]

Just now, aerialkebab said:

As long as they don't make thunder call downs or hale then I legitimately don't give a ****. 

If they do that then I'm gonna cringeee

[DrakeHaze. 2479]

The world could always use more rain.

[Tsuyose 3282]

I'd suggest defining their power and the definition of 'strong druid', otherwise I can't see myself supporting this lore; additionally, whilst it's all fun and games for creativity within magic, there certainly does need to be a limit. i.e. myself not re-introducing the entirety of the Paladinism magic, because the current magic is suitable and provides flavour; druidism is utterly in-depth when it comes to creativity, you're able to do so much already. Why introduce more? I'm mixed on this lore, I can't find myself to agree with the ideal of weather stones. 

[CosmicWhaleShark 2484]

This just seems like another artifact for the druids to sit on and then eventually claim is super powerful. Your subtype is already able to make humans immortal, shapeshift, in some cases from what I've seen almost instantly commune with nature to use it as a weapon, make impervious wooden structures, giant trees pop out of the ground, so on so forth. 

 

You have a range of abilities that extend beyond the capabilities of many magics and cover what capabilities those magics do apply to, as well.

 

Ultimately I think it would be more prudent and fair for Druids to actually work with the plethora of things they have now. I don't feel they've harnessed their true potential. This would just add more toys to the pile that seemingly never get used.

 

The final point you make about shamans kind of reinforces this as well. Their magic is harnessed through prepared rituals, physical sacrifices, and years of building relations to the spirits - certain ones at that, not every single one. It's a very different magic, with different capabilities, methods, and purposes. Making Druidism like it, as far as what it can accomplish, is just cheesy considering everything else Druids have access to and are capable of. 

 

The other point of clarity is that farseers would be the most keen for weather geared rituals, elementalists arguably afterward depending on what kind of spirit they have a pact with. The witchdoctor stuff going on right now isn't weather, it's taint.

 

Point being you would have every druid be capable of such a feat in some capacity with these stones. Only a specific subtype of the magic you reference is capable of influencing the weather, and currently there's only one living farseer. That doesn't mean you should make the entire order capable of it, in response.

 

Stop trying to make Druidism a swiss army knife. Use the tools available instead of making even more new ones.

[𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖚𝖘𝖍 2236]

-1

[Sky 0]

15 minutes ago, CosmicWhaleShark said:

This just seems like another artifact for the druids to sit on and then eventually claim is super powerful. Your subtype is already able to make humans immortal, shapeshift, in some cases from what I've seen almost instantly commune with nature to use it as a weapon, make impervious wooden structures, giant trees pop out of the ground, so on so forth. 

 

You have a range of abilities that extend beyond the capabilities of many magics and cover what capabilities those magics do apply to, as well.

 

Ultimately I think it would be more prudent and fair for Druids to actually work with the plethora of things they have now. I don't feel they've harnessed their true potential. This would just add more toys to the pile that seemingly never get used.

 

The final point you make about shamans kind of reinforces this as well. Their magic is harnessed through prepared rituals, physical sacrifices, and years of building relations to the spirits - certain ones at that, not every single one. It's a very different magic, with different capabilities, methods, and purposes. Making Druidism like it, as far as what it can accomplish, is just cheesy considering everything else Druids have access to and are capable of. 

 

The other point of clarity is that farseers would be the most keen for weather geared rituals, elementalists arguably afterward depending on what kind of spirit they have a pact with. The witchdoctor stuff going on right now isn't weather, it's taint.

 

Point being you would have every druid be capable of such a feat in some capacity with these stones. Only a specific subtype of the magic you reference is capable of influencing the weather, and currently there's only one living farseer. That doesn't mean you should make the entire order capable of it, in response.

 

Stop trying to make Druidism a swiss army knife. Use the tools available instead of making even more new ones.

Ultimately I agree with most of what you wrote, despite not having a full grasp on what you meant with shamanism in general but it's not really my strong point, and I'm not going to argue against it, as that would be foolish. I know there are some tools in the druidic arsenal that are unused by the majority, be it the characters don't know it exists for one reason or another, they don't want to learn, or it's a secret tool kept from the public, but yes the entire tool list isn't completely active.

 

That being said, this isn't lore to simply add what some fear would be an unused tool to the wall of other tools, there is already an artifact that's been in circulation within the Druidic Order since as long as it can be remembered. However, due to the weather controlling lore got denied (Ouity's one), the one in possession often feels scared to role-play it's effects out, as it may cause people to become irate at the aesthetics it causes and demand the lore, thus destroying an artifact that has been passed down for generations.

 

I, personally, hold no ire at the lore being denied (Ouity's) and wont if this gets denied, I will still do my best to amend certain aspects and try to have it put through with an accepted, but if it does get denied, then it'll be set in stone. I don't intend to make druidism a swiss army knife, this isn't lore that's randomly appearing, more so lore that is wanting to re-appear because there are things within the world that need explaining and role-play that needs explaining, because druids did once have it and now they don't, the stones can explain that.

 

1 minute ago, Humanistic said:

-1

A man of few words I take it, but perhaps you could be more vocal onto why you remove support you don't give? I mean, if you don't want to repeat what others have said then I don't blame you, but simply posting a '-1' does nothing but give a sour taste and gives others the feeling that you are against it for other reasons. I don't believe you do, you're a genuine person and I wouldn't take that away from you, however others may. So please, could you elaborate?

 

Also, I am intending to make amendments, just wanted to respond to the two above. All being written in a google document that will be edited within the next day.

 

Thank you.

[Space 2332]

-1

[Sky 0]

Just now, Space said:

-1

 

57 minutes ago, Sky said:

A man of few words I take it, but perhaps you could be more vocal onto why you remove support you don't give? I mean, if you don't want to repeat what others have said then I don't blame you, but simply posting a '-1' does nothing but give a sour taste and gives others the feeling that you are against it for other reasons. I don't believe you do, you're a genuine person and I wouldn't take that away from you, however others may. So please, could you elaborate?

Space, the same could be said to you in some regard. I wont go into more detail, but please elaborate upon this, else I'll be unable to make appropriate changes.

[E__V__O 1984]

As I have had access to the library of the druids website and google documents, I must say I cannot recal reading about these weather stones...

 

Though upon reading this, it seems to be a sorry excuse to try and get "Weather control" back into druidism even though that idea was denied for the druid arc magic. So then we have this lore with artifacts doing the exact same thing.

 

I will just say this, that the druids should keep out of hand with weather and leave it for another potential magic group to grasp it. As stated above Shamanism depending what subclass you specify in can already do this.