Druid Roles/Archetypes/Tropes

[Tonguez]

Some I'm developing a Druid sect and I was thinking of the different aspects and roles which druids might take. I'm wanting to eventually tie them in to seasonal themes too. So any ideas

So far I've come up with

Midwife/Healer
Farmer
Conservationist - the pacifist treehugger
Hunter
Guardian - protector of nature
Militant - the one actively fighting against civilisation
Feral - the wild druid
Toxic Druid

any others?

 

[Mark CMG]

Sort of like the one fighting civilization, but maybe less agrressive, a Reclaimant (or Reclamationist, perhaps) might go around overgrowing ruins, cleaning up the telltale "footprints" of tourists, etc.

 

[Whisper72]

Well.. one of the most obvious ones seems missing, the priest of the god(dess) of nature...

Also, you can go a more 'Wicca' like road, and cast the druid as a type of wizard / sorceror who takes his/her power from the earth and nature spirits.

Another way is to use the five elements from the far east, where wood is also cast as an element (if I recall correctly), and have the druid sort of an elementalist wizard.

As far as seasonal themes, simply take the four seasons (or in the past, three)
- winter: druids who are all about cold, survival etc.
- spring: druids who are about life, births, love, planting etc.
- fall: druids who are all aboud death (the natural kind), harvesting of crops and souls and endings

Summer was traditionally not a season (again, if I remember my history correctly), and is also a bit tougher to 'cast' into a role.

Just some thoughts...

 

[saskganesh]

the farmer role is very interesting as it alone could encompass several philosophies and cultural practises, including permaculture, horticulture, biodynamics, wildfarming/wildcrafting and even slash & burn and no-till.

anyway, there's a lot of variety there if you want to how that row.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Park Ranger or Gardener - who maintains parks and natural spaces within urban regions, without necessarily being in conflict with civilization.

Weathermaker, Stormbringer, etc - whose focus is weather, rather than plants & animals

 

[Stoat]

The oracle, soothsayer or prophet.
The judge and lawgiver.

 

[Tonguez]

As far as seasonal themes, simply take the four seasons (or in the past, three)
- winter: druids who are all about cold, survival etc.
- spring: druids who are about life, births, love, planting etc.
- fall: druids who are all aboud death (the natural kind), harvesting of crops and souls and endings

Summer was traditionally not a season (again, if I remember my history correctly), and is also a bit tougher to 'cast' into a role.

Just some thoughts...

Yeah I did find 'summer' a bugger to deal with so Spring, Harvest and Winter work for me especially as the godess I was thinking of invoking is the Maiden-Mother-Crone Triumvate, three Seasons makes that even better!

(of course I was going to associate summer with Love, Union and Growth - but oh well)


The Priest is pretty much what I'm looking at developing (the 'roles' will determine different roles of the Druid priesthood) and the nature spirits 'wicca' iwill be linked to druidic magic.

I'm actually trying to design a "Dance of the Nymphs" as the initiation rite - ie the nymphs (nature spirits) surround the initiate and whichever nymph s/he chooses to dance with will determine his 'calling'


The five elements is an interesting idea too. According to wikipedia - wood (spring/sprouting), fire (summer/growth), metal (whithering/autumn), wate(rdormancy/winter?), stone (stability/ripeness)

Will need to add back wind/storm somehow (six elements?)

The Judge and Soothsayer are important roles I want to work in too (so what nature spirit represents Judges?)

the farmer role is very interesting as it alone could encompass several philosophies and cultural practises, including permaculture, horticulture, biodynamics, wildfarming/wildcrafting and even slash & burn and no-till.

anyway, there's a lot of variety there if you want to how that row.

One of the things I have toyed with in this sect is the role of blood in ritual and have a prayer covering four associations
"Blood of birth and Blood to heal, Blood of rage and Blood spilt to feed the Fields"

The last one 'Blood spilt to feed the feilds" comes from the use of Blood and Bone as a soil conditioner and lead to the idea of a Winter King - a human sacrifice each winter to maintain the fertility of the soil until the return of spring

So the Blood associations are
- birth
- healing
- Rage
- soil
- disease

any other thoughts?

 

[Whisper72]

Well, why not six elements. In most of my own campaigns, I use 6 elements, but using the traditional 4 plus positive and negative energy (yeah... I grew up with the Great Wheel...) cast as an additional two elements.

I sometimes add time and space as an additional 2 elements (for a total of 8 elements) with the Astral (time) and Ethereal (space) as the relevant planes.

This way, other 'domains' that could open up to elemental 'druids' would be the manipulation of time (ageing, stasis, travel etc.) and space (teleportation and similar powers).

 

[Wednesday Boy]

It could fall into one of the categories that you have already but druids who are destroyers of abominations against nature (abberations, undead, etc.).

 

[steeldragons]

Great thread.

Seems like you guys have this all covered.

The list of possible roles seems VERY complete, particularly with the addition of the judge and soothsayer...with kinda goes along with one of my only additional suggestions to include Astrologer.

I also was thinking, possibly, as a "balancing" role to the hunter to have a "Handler" or "Gameskeeper"...someone who is specifically attuned with the animals of the region.

Just an idea.

You've got the wiccan thing going, which I also incorporate into the druidic order in my world.

I also have incorporated the "elementalist" type specialization, but in the druidic order, they're a "balanced-all elements (or the cardinal 4)" specialist, not specifically a "fire-oriented druid" or an "earth-oriented druid." (as cool as I thought Avatar-the animated one, not the blue people

My only OTHER possible suggestion you MAY want to incorporate, which would work with your wiccan symbology and could easily be incorporated into the seasonal break up, would be a sun and moon split. A sect of the organization that is sun-based and one moon-based. They would still be part of the same order, of course, just certain druids who were attuned/assigned to the Moon-sect (and those things more associated thusly) and those assigned to the Sun-sect.

But that's a completely optional organizational thing for you to decide with your order. I don't do it in mine, but was a thematic thing I hadn't seen anyone suggest yet....So there it is.

Good luck and happy druiding.
--Steel Dragons