((Processing a previous day's action))
While the meal cooked, Jack ripped chunks of the large mushroom off the log, and alternated between feeding it to mama, and taking bites out himself, while idly looking through the book on druidic magic he had borrowed, but not had time to properly read. Mama was sitting on the ground beside him, on the side furthest from the fire, as he leaned against the trunk of the tree, doing his best to read in the dim firelight... The mood was light, and he was curious to see if it would be as amusing as he thought it would be.
Druidic Magic: A Journey into the HighlandsThe book is an autobiographical account of an Imperial Mage and his experiences with the highland druids. An accomplished mage in the Academy, he sought to expand his academic prowess with some field experience and decided to venture onto the Highlands, a relatively untouched land which had yet to be fully explored by the kingdom’s surveyors.
The main residents, and practitioners of magic, in the region were Druids. They were popularly caricatured in fantastical tales back home, but there is little known about them which was grounded in fact.
The author travelled further and further north alone. Although met with suspicion at first he was gradually accepted into a prominent Druid Circle as a respected observer. The author places emphasis on the rituals and customs employed by the Druids, and maintained that the respect accorded to him was upheld only because of his own mutual respect and adherence to their Druidic rituals.
The Druids were divided into clans, called Circles. In most Circles every member of the village (and in very few cases, towns) was considered a Druid, down to spouses and children. In some only practicing mages were called Druids. There was little outright aggression and competition between the Circles for the most part, mostly due to the historical necessity for the Circles to band together against the many attempted invasions of their homeland over time. Circles could be best defined as a loosely agreed upon doctrine among a group of Druids. Although Druids agreed upon some core tenets of Druidry, there was significant difference in detail among the great many Circles found in the highlands (by the author’s estimation, there may have been as many as 500 Circles in the Highlands).
The base belief of the Druids was: to uphold the strength of nature, maintaining the purity of the natural order, and in retaining neutrality in matters outside of their borders. These beliefs were at difficult to fully adopt at times, largely due to the invasions mentioned previously, and as such a degree of flexibility had been tempered into Druids over generations. Although they care greatly about custom, they are not obstinate to the point of foolishness, and could be versatile when needed.
The hermit-like, reclusive image of the Druids propagated elsewhere in the kingdom was largely due to the practice of "forest shepherding", as practiced by almost every Circle. Every 10 years or so, a Druid would be chosen by their Circle and relegated to a faraway land, to a forest or woodland and would be appointed as its resident caretaker. Some may reside in that place their entire life, while others may choose to return at a later date, or have a replacement sent to take over their duties. Druids would be left to their own devices as to how best service the forest under their keep. Some Druids would choose to isolate themselves, believing limited access to people better favoured their strengths in protecting the forest. There were others however who would engage with people openly, and even partake in trade of wild honey, forest fruits, furs, and other bounties that their forest might afford them. Some of them would operate closer in manner to religious missionaries, preaching and educating a local populace in the ways of the Druids and the methods they could employ to protect and preserve the forest, and thus getting out of it what they put in. Once again, due to the scarcity of such encounters in written literature and the extreme isolation of the frontiers from which these accounts have been collected, the standard views of Druid ways is greatly muddled, and the author has attempted his best to recreate an accurate picture based on his conversation with the Druids, both those who have only ever dwelled locally and those who have travelled to the outside and later returned.
The lessons in the book are not structured in a straight-forward manner. They are described in detail, according to when the author observed them, and with a great deal of annotations and references to other rituals and magicks mentioned elsewhere in the book making it easier for outsiders to understand. Though the mode of magic practice may seem opaque and esoteric to the outsider, the author insists that Druidic strength comes from a wholly faithful adherence to these rituals. Druidry is likened to a contract with nature itself, and when you uphold your end of the contract in manners prescribed the entirety of its rewards are yours to gain. There is no gaming the system by intending to "trick" nature by using Druid magic overwhelmingly for your gain, for if used for purposes which repeatedly harm nature, or disregard neutrality, it will weaken on its own if not becoming impotent overnight.
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Topic: Mystville [Game Thread] (Read 120088 times)