Song Druid

Howdy folks! I was trying to find some old screenshots and thought it'd be fun to start a thread where we shared memories of many years past. It's hard to believe it's been 7 years for some of us. Can you think of anything worse to waste your time on? Anyways, post your memories, and feel free to caption them! We'll start off with a few shitposts I have stored in my google drive. We had a glorious time in Aegis/Asulon where some of our artists would recreate memes with prominent members, let's not forget this gem - I don't remember the exact context of this meme, but I remember I laughed pretty hard at it. Tehlulu, I love you hoe don't even come at me for this 6 year old shade. You used to be able to lock your own threads. Fun! Speaking of Tehlulu, we roleplayed beneath the forest of Elandriel. The Druids reforming from the first ever circle split in the city of Solace, while some sort of robbery took place outside. I can't remember who specifically played him but one of the GMs would mobdisguise as an enderman and called himself Constable Enderman. We showed him around menocress. This is more recent, I'm digging across multiple image hosting sites here, gimme a break! It's The! Druids! Shots of the Oasis Grove, one of my top 3 favorite groves. Ethanriel, Mother Tree of Elandriel and wife of Arik. Racingbrother, or Wilting Druid Giovonni, made wonderful caricatures of the Druids! Arik fussing with his student Tippen. One of the Elder Trees of Anthos. Some images of the Druid's Grove in Anthos. Finally, the last one I could find, the attunement of Vi, the serpent Druid. The last attunement made in the Solace Grove. Post your favorite memories! I'd love to relive them with you! There are no guidelines! Just do it! If there's another thread like this out there, my damn bad but I did what I did.

I'll ask you what I've asked every other opponent of this change -- What benefit outside of being a secret is there to this magic staying secret? Is there some inherent issue with multiple users learning shapeshifting? Or are you perhaps drawn to the original aspect of the lore for it being a secret for secret's sake?

Everyone knows my opinion on this. I've seen no end of OOC conflict revolving around shifting. Furthermore, since they removed our ability to use mobdisguise in the past there's no mechanical advantage from the magic. I see no reason for it to be secret when more useful, powerful and easier to attain subsets of Druidism exist. I also hold hope that this can help heal some resentment among Druids.

A large roll of parchment hangs and is upon several Druid’s desks and boards, covered in a flowing script. “My Bretheren. I am heartbroken. Long has it been since I have wept for anything, perhaps upon the demise of my dear Aren’iril, and now more than ever do the tears readily flow. I know many of you have little care for what I have to say, and maybe rightly so. Even by my race’s standards I am old. I have for quite a while engaged in various wanderings about the world, upon occasion returning to visit and live upon my Druii family. I have long garnered a reputation for causing disruptions, and for good reason. The Order must remain vigilant lest it fall to weak leadership and crumbling values. Our values cannot be changed. We are above all servants of nature and the Aspects. We cannot pick and choose when our duty can be performed. It must be done indiscriminately. This has not been the case for many years. While it is easy to vilify myself as the supreme meddler, the truth of the matter is that very little involvement on my part has caused some of the worst, and most toxic conflict I have ever seen within the Order. When observing and watching, giving input over many years, a pattern becomes noticeable. A pattern of failing leadership. It is this failing in leadership that caused such outrage where Toren’s unattunement was concerned. Indeed, many Druid’s confirmed that there was a need to remove him of his gifts after many chances, but took issue with how it was performed. Anger, outrage and scorn is thrown at those who performed this task but the fundamental question continues to go unanswered. “Why was this necessary?” The simple answer is, such acts of “vigilanteism” would be the only way a just punishment would be issued. Because we have fallen to supporting family over the sanctity of our ways, our traditions and most importantly the will of the Aspects to preserve the balance of nature. People often believe that with such harsh words I deny all fault. I am not blameless in the state of the Order. But we are called to act, and so I act. It is regrettable that I must find enemies with my honesty so often. But I am not duplicitous in my ways. My agenda has always been to better the order. And every generation of elder sees me vindicated in my words as they come to understand my attempts at guidance. And yet, I feel that I write too much on what I have done good. I have also impacted the order in severely negative ways. What is the purpose of this notice? I wish to dispel the lies. The duplicity that the one known as Renn would engage in to achieve her means and those of her kin. The blatant favoritism and self-servitude, self-congratulatory antics that are utterly unbefitting for one of her age and experience. Lies. These are the power she carries over me. And they are powerful indeed. A Druid who has convinced many that I act quickly without knowing that which I speak, but still has the audacity to make strong accusations towards members of the Naelurir circle, without letting this circle investigate and offer punishment. Allowing Elswyen to avoid her punishment decided at her trial, of which she refused to acknowledge the dangers she posed until nearly every Druid present had to shout her down. A Druid who knew she could not within our traditions eject and punish the Wolf Druid from Archdruidship, and so when the challenge issued by an objective Elder was made that would result in an unfavorable outcome broke tradition and unlawfully removed an Archdruid from his station. But the duplicity goes deeper, and does not stop there. Several Druii brought in connection with the Azalea Druid’s unattunement had their memory wiped before questioning. Several Druids that I hold in high regard and respect are connected and I weep for this. Why all the secrecy? Why all the lies? If the Azalea Druid were worthy of unattunement, then stand up for your actions! Why is it this way? And I realize the hypocrisy, my hypocrisy. This Order has long kept secrets, and I have held many for the Order in my long lifetime. The time comes now that I see that if the Order is to heal, if it is to grow, even at the expense of my own life and the trust of my friends, I must divulge the secrets of the Order. Let there be no secret from this day forth. As many suspect, it is all true. The Shadow Circle has existed since Aegis, and many prominent Druii have lead it at one point or another. The Wayward Druid, the Dusk Druid, the Dragon Druid, the Dawn Druid, The Wolf Druid and Myself have all taken part in it. Its tenets were designed to continue the balance by performing tasks for the third Aspect, Nemiisae. Unlike the perverted Shadow Druid Victivus this circle was intended to undermine progress that could harm nature in ways most Druids were not capable of doing. If you doubt the existence of three Aspects you need only look to the Aspect stones, of which there are three. One for each. When a Druid reaches a point of esteem and honor, they can be presented with an option to prove their loyalty to the Aspects. By growing a seed through their body with all of their energy at once, the Druid kills their earthly body, but their spirit remains trapped within the tree if the Aspects deem them worthy. From that point on as long as that tree lives the Druid cannot die, by blade, disease or age. Likewise, when a Druid has reached a point that they are an esteemed elder they can undergo trials to learn to take the form of an animal of their choosing. If successful in their trials a Druid may transform themselves at will for a certain amount of time. This is the secret that Toren betrayed. He betrayed the identities of those who can take shapes. And those people were hunted and nearly killed as a result of his spite. Many of you may regard me further with disgust, your suspicions of me confirmed. No matter. I have never concerned myself with the public opinion of me. I seek now to grow a circle that will adhere to the tenets of balance and servitude, and sacrificing the self. Renn, I have reflected upon my anger. I am outraged and heartbroken, but I will not challenge you. I will not and have not ever challenged another Druid. I will move forward with no ill intent and hope that you one day see what I see. Perhaps I will see what you see as well. Should you forgive my transgressions I shall forgive yours. To you and all the Druids, may we grow to be close as brothers and sisters once more. In truth, Song A note is pinned beneath: Soon, I will be approaching each head of the 2 circles with one of each of the trials required to learn to change shape. Druids will be required to cooperate together in order to achieve this gift.

Rain beats down upon the canopy overhead, pelting the leaves and branches with its intense pitter-patter. With each splash there grows an ever larger wind, rustling the leaves opposite the downpour. From within the hollow of the massive tree, in stark contrast to the dark night outside, an orange light glows, flickering, threatening to give with each passing moment. A pitiful candle, barely upright on the holder contained therein, next to which sits a lanky and unkempt elf. Loose green robes cling over his shoulders, caked with grass, mud and leaves, tatters fraying here and there. Cross legged in stance, he smacks his lips in anticipation as he lifts a bowl of cold mushroom soup to his lips. Eyes closed, he takes a long draught. Swallowing hard, his eyes flicker open, narrowed as his brow knits together, and his breath draws in a short gasp. Setting the bowl down he closes his eyes, working his mouth for several moments. Finally, after several long minutes, he opens his eyes once more. As the life of the candle flickers out, amidst the din of the falling rain, he utters a single syllable. "Good."

Please do not take anything I say personally - it can come off as crass and rude and I would simply say that I am passionate about Druid lore, and am therefore incredibly critical of it. Alright. This is a negative from me. As far as endgames go, I don't care one way or the other. I love ideas for this sort of thing and the concept itself I think is super interesting and not far off from what Ouity was thinking a year or two ago. But I take issue with several parts of this lore and its direction. In no particular order: The Aspects could care less what goes on in the mortal world between people. The Aspects were never designed to interact with players directly in any way. This is less of a jab at this lore, but previous precedents missed the mark in that regard. We hear from the Aspects about as much as we hear from God in the real world. To suggest that a person would be denied re-entry because of actions on the earthly plane is to fundamentally not understand the nature of the Aspects (no pun intended). I hate this. I'm sorry. I love the idea, an ancient Druidic Spirit bestowing powers to a lesser Druid as a boon, that's ******* awesome. But these powers for one thing I think are paltry and silly in many regards, and wholly unnecessary. Furthermore these abilities aren't in line with the Druid's own strengths either. I get that you want to add more abilities, but instead of doing that I would suggest allowing them to go beyond tier 5 in abilities, and bestow that strength to other druids, or even remove certain red lines from existing abilities in these heightened states. No need to continue re-inventing the wheel. As I said earlier, unattunement after everything you have established with this lore would most definitely be impossible. Some have argued with me that because their soul is still attuned it can still be severed. But to that I say that at that point it would be far beyond the power of the Druids to sever such a connection. It would simply be too strong for their own abilities to touch. Furthermore I think it would take a very large amount of powerful Druids to permanently banish the spirit. Perhaps a few druids could banish the spirit back to the fae, and then if enough tier 5 Druids gathered they could permanently do it if at the original guardian circle? Finally I can't help but think this simply is an echo of Soul Trees that add extra powers. I mean here are TL;DR versions of both Soul trees and Guardian Spirits in their most simplistic forms: Old Druids sacrifice their life to transfer their soul If killed, cannot return for some time Druid is immortal now unless unattuned etc All that said, I like the concept, and I also really enjoy the writing! You did a good job writing the lore, but to me I don't think it's something overall that is not suited for the Druids. With a direction rework it would be a great boon though. And since you can't complain without offering solutions, here are my own suggestions here. Rework the Unattunement portion Undo most of the abilities to interact with the world physically. Let the sacrifice of body mean something. Let them manifest in spirit form, let them even use their powers but limit their activities. That would give the ability to grant power to other Druids even more significance. On the subject of powers, don't kill yourself trying to come up with new powers. Let it enhance past tier 5, and even remove certain red lines for a temporary span of time. Remove the bit about the Aspects barring them from re-entering for engaging in political stuff. I apologize for the disrespect, but that's really dumb. Expand on the corruption section, a villain spirit would be most interesting. Don't make the corrupted spirit die after a certain period of time, it undermines how devastating a corrupted spirit has the potential to be. Make it so they must be banished back to the Fae in order to be restored or something. EDIT: Spirit manifestation - I really don't see any reason to allow them to manifest as whatever they want. It should be as they left the world, my own personal opinion.

Is there a tl;dr version of this? Also, the format makes the text a little too small for me to read, personally. Since it's so long I was wondering if you could do something about that so I can peruse it. As someone said before though, No me gusta on unattuning one (regardless of what else I think). If the idea is getting rid of one, consider a "banishment" or something similar that would remove the spirit. It is simply impossible to unattune something that is essentially a coalescence of Druidic energy. If they were a living body, yeah I get it. But at that point the Druid would have transcended the need for the body, and effectively "unattuned" their entire souls from their body and then we get back around to it simply isn't possible.

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