Druids - mlichtenstein/13thAgeSK GitHub Wiki

They're a cult! Druids are ruthless and competitive. When two druids meet they must fight, or find another way to establish who's dominant.

Druids abandon all former ties in their lives, eschewing any previous loyalties or identities to serve the High Druid. As a result, many aspiring druids starve alone in the wild, or are mauled by an offended druid, which is considered proper. Others are recruited directly by a charismatic, typically into cults which emphasize recruitment over teaching and meditation.

Druidic cults organize themselves into two complementary and coexistent camps:

• Sun Druids embrace the fiery cycle of creation and destruction laid forth by the Archon of Life. They're simply drawn to power. Most druidic charismatics are of this kind. Most serve the Summer Court and therefore [the Elf Queen]], but a distressing minority venerate [the Sun Beneath the Earth and other diabolic epithets.
• Moon Druids are drawn to mysteries and secrets, particularly those of the grave. A number of the Fishermen are initiated in these ways, and can identify promising candidates. Otherwise, the Winter Court deigns to retain some number of druids already tainted by mortality, for certain tasks.

Any given druidic Circle venerates one of the Elf Queen, the Diabolist, or the Broken One as the real High Druid. But none of these icons is particularly feasible to challenge, nor have they yet determined amongst themselves which is the stronger.

Therefore, druids of different Circles will at any meeting contest which of their respective masters should really win. Hypothetically. Wrong answers in these debates are occasionally fatal.

Sea Druids maintain their own dichotomy:

• Star Druids serve the Broken One unwillingly, but are outcasts otherwise. They receive their orders through the cyclical crossings of stars, pantomiming pivotal mortals, across the Astral River. Insects monitor their progress, and offer clarifications.
• Sky Druids serve the Broken One willingly, out of mutual hatred for draconics or the undead. Their raids are reliably confined to the overworld, perhaps because their tactics don't translate to flat ground.

There is exactly one Circle of Sea Druids.