The young boy sat on the tuft of grass polishing a copper mask with a definite feminine form to it. Clad in rough cloth his tanned face was reflected in the gleaming metal. An older man walked slowly towards him a sleek black wolf trotting by his side.
"Finished boy?
The old man sat near by and pulled a chillum from within his brown robes, filled it with herb and lit the bowl. Drawing in the acrid smoke he ruffled the head of the wolf who had already laid down panting.
"Can you see your face in it?
The boy looked up, smiled and held the mask up so the old man could see his lined face reflected in it.
"Tell me Father, why this metal?
The old man drew some more of the smoke into his lungs and thought carefully about his reply.
"We respect Gia, not like the Dwarves, and respect Her form. We don't rip Her bones from Her body like them but use the waste She produces. In the mornings when Sun returns from its journey through the Underworld you have that dust in the corner of your eye and you brush it free, this metal is like that. Gia ejects it from Her body for us to use. It is Her gift.
The boy pondered on the old man's reply and noticed the spear at his side with its iron head.
"Surely Father the head of your spear and the nails in your shoes are made from iron, the bones of Gia?
Amused by the boy's question the old man tapped the ash from the chillum and pulled a belt knife from its sheath holding it in his hand.
"And this knife, boy. Gia provides iron without the need to rip it from Her body or tear down the trees to smelt it if you know where to look. In the Holy Pools nuggets of iron can be found growing on the peat. This is Her gift to us and we use it sparingly for tools and a few weapons to protect our Groves and Circles. Dwarves don't respect Gia and rip the bones of Her body from Her. They poison the water with their waste and uproot trees to smelt the bones to make iron for their armor and axes. They pretend to understand and honour the Earth but they are ignorant.
This is why we break the swords and axes of Dwarves and Men as sacrifice to Gia and return them to Her womb by throwing them into the Holy Pools. This is the way we maintain Balance and the Circle of Life is maintained.
"Why is this place sacred, Father?
"Full of questions today aren't you! But you are still young and the only way you'll learn is to ask the questions which confuse you. This circle of stone is placed at the crossroads of a Songline. These crisscross Gia and where they intersect form areas of great power. During the Holy Days we sing in these circles and the power flows back into the Songlines to invigorate Gia. You know a few of the sacred songs but you mustn't share them with strangers as they will spoil the song and try and twist the words to aid themselves.
"What will be my lot in life, Father?
"You will grow to be a great Warrior of the Wood of course! That is why I make you wrestle with Midnight here.
The old man smiled as the wolf lifted his head at the sound of his name.
"You will need to understand how to fight like the beast with tooth and claw for when you can change your form. Being male this is your role, only the women stay at the Groves, Pools and Circles. They have the honour of being the bearer's of life and are the most Holy. They lead us in Song and Dance and know the Laws. They deserve great respect. Of course a few women become Warriors and a few men become Tenders, like your uncle Llewellyn. But we don't talk of him...
"What is Evil, Father?
"Dwarves are evil. They have no respect for Gia. The Undead are evil as they unbalance the Circle of Life and Death, they are our greatest enemy and must be destroyed without mercy. Those who construct Golems are evil as they mock life and Gia with their abominations. Those who do not live in symbiosis with Gia must first be warned and their errors exposed. They must be educated and shown the true path to harmony and only then if they chose to ignore us shall we act. We may set free the animals that are kept in cages and sow wild seeds amongst their crops. Only in the extreme shall we take life in this instance.
"What is there to do here, Father?
"There is plenty to do, boy! You can forage for food, learn the ways of the beasts, practice fighting and the Art of Magic. During rest we sing and tell stories. We eat deer, squirrel, boar and fish. During the spring we eat flowers and blossoms and autumn nuts and fruits. Apples are a favourite of mine because we make scrumpy from them and before you ask you're too young for that! Those who live in the city think we are are primitive but they are fools. They confuse simple with primitive. City folk always want what they can't have, they are never happy. They toil all day for someone else for a few coins to buy old food and live in filthy shacks. We work for ourselves eat fresh food everyday and sleep in clean beds. Who do you think is happier? Fires burn down their dwellings, disease kills them and they are forever in the smell of their own s%&#. Nobody is kin and they're all strangers.
"Who rules us, Father?
"The Earth Mother speaks our Laws and our Laws come from Gia Herself. We don't have Kings, Kings are mad! Where is the sense of a ruler who is only there because of an accident of birth? Weak Kings are puppets and can lead to the downfall of a country. When we have our big festival during winter we elect our Earth Mother we all have a say in how we are ruled it isn't decided by a few. Gia's Laws tell us when we can and can't hunt animals or gather fruit, respect these Laws and everything will remain in harmony.
The old man pulled out his pouch of herb again and refilled his chillum. Lighting it with an ember he kept in a leather pouch packed with a fine white wool like substance he spoke again.
"You are young and can not bear much reality. Respect age. Respect women and the totems of the hearth. Respect the secrets which are too dangerous for you know. Listen before you talk. Speak only when spoken to and do not raise your voice. Sit only when invited. Treat everyone and everything with respect. Share everything you have and take everything that you need. That is our Law. Hunt and gather only what you need. Beware of young women who invite you to sleep at their hearth!
The old man stood up, gave a whistle and Midnight followed him. The pair walked away from the boy the old man singing
"My Country is my Spirit
I feel it with my body, with my blood.
Feeling for all these plants...all this Country
When Keraun comes, the Monsoon Wind,
When she comes you can feel it.
Same for Country...you feel it.
Songlines...always you feel it.
You can look, but feeling...that makes you.
Feeling makes you, out here in open space.
She is coming through your body.
Look while Gia is near and feel with your body...."
This is the little handout I have given to the Druid player in Savage Tide. Its meant as a primer for the Druid's "code" and tries to explain some of the fluff associated with Druids. It hasn't been designed as a complete "this is the way you should do it" document but I hope it inspires others to come up with something similar.
The white wool like substance is found here
The inspiration for Songlines can be found here
They don't talk about uncle Llewellyn because he joined the predominatly female section of the Cult. Think about the shock people have when people of opposite genders take a perceived gender specific job. Or the disbelief of a pornstar playing RPGs...
Thanks needs to be given to Greg Stafford and Runequest which has inspired my gaming on so many levels.
They don't talk about uncle Llewellyn because he joined the predominatly female section of the Cult. Think about the shock people have when people of opposite genders take a perceived gender specific job. Or the disbelief of a pornstar playing RPGs...Thanks needs to be given to Greg Stafford and Runequest which has inspired my gaming on so many levels.
Very nice stuff, definitely reminiscent of the "What the Chieftain taught me" essays and Cults of Prax. i still remember being introduced to Runequest and being blown away by the mythopoesis of Stafford and the other creators of Glorantha.
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Not a comment exactly on topic, but related:
When I first read the Druid weapon proficiencies back in 3.0, I didn't understand them. It seemed so arbitrary - spear yes, long spear no; scimitar yes, longsword/shortsword no. So I read the list again, and looked at the weapons, trying to figure out "why these and not the rest"?
It wasn't a "balance" issue, as Druids either wild shaped and used their natural weapons, or were casting spells (or, most commonly, both). Also, there's not a whole lot of mechanical difference between the longsword and scimitar. The weapon choices seemed so arbitrary.
Then I figured it out - their natural. The spear is like a scorpions tail or bee's sting. The club is a bear's paw. The scimitar is a tiger's claw. That's the theme; it's not a matter of power, its a matter of flavor - the axe, the sword, the bow are weapons of man, forged by man to suit man's needs and no one elses. The spear, the scimitar, the sling mirror the weapons of nature, and need only what nature provides to be crafted.
The list makes sense to me now.
They don't talk about uncle Llewellyn because he joined the predominatly female section of the Cult. Think about the shock people have when people of opposite genders take a perceived gender specific job. Or the disbelief of a pornstar playing RPGs...
Well, given that we have real world examples of people in simple societies who were cross-gendered and regarded as magic men/women of great power, I don't think the shock was nearly as great as you might imagine.
I think homophobia, such as we see it today, largely has to do with our cultural history.
Its not a shock to me at all.
Its a shock to the old man in the story...
I also think that the term "code" is questionable for the druid. As the initiates understand nature and their role in it, it seems more histories and intuition rather than some written code.
I never wrote it as a "Code". The term has been used to make it more user friendly on the boards.
It is written as a history/intuition. It isn't a list of do's and don'ts.The emphasis is on story telling.
I notices what you were doing, ie histories, traditions....
Codes are manmade bunk not for druids and rangers.
As history/intitution each PC defines exactly what it means to be a druid or ranger....
That is one reason that druids can have so many different alignments and still overall be druids....
I enjoyed RPing my TN druid for a couple of years.......
By the way i did enjoy the story!
Thankyou.
I agree that histories and tradition are important. I hope the story gave enough latitude to be used as a basis for Druids of any alignment.The "What the Paladin said" story might ruffle more feathers though!
Don't worry about the paladin crew I am one of those as well in fact I am a hearty proponent of the paladin as judge/jury/executioner.....
Right now however it is about one of my other favorite PC classes the druid.
There is another thread around here somewhere about someone wanting to learn the druid language.
I suggested that druidic attributes the god responsible for the creation of the material into the language making it impossible to speak druidic w/o rendering praise to that god also attracting the attention of that power.
I'll look for it. The description was better.
I saw that thread and they all got it wrong.
You see the Druid language comes from the songs sung on the Songlines to channel energy back to Gia. That's the REAL secret :)