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General Tabletop Discussion
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Good, Evil, Nature, and Druids
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<blockquote data-quote="VelvetViolet" data-source="post: 7623808" data-attributes="member: 6686357"><p>In general I find D&D alignment to be nonsensical and druids are just another manifestation of that. D&D never had a particularly well-constructed theology. It wasn't until 4e that primal spirits were mentioned as the source of druid powers, and they seem to have been largely forgotten as of 5e.</p><p></p><p>If I had to make sense of things, then I'd use a model based on reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology and Moorcock's law/chaos theology. These are the primary inspirations for D&D anyway, so it makes the most sense to go back to the basics.</p><p></p><p>A number of Indo-European religions posit a series of wars between the gods, such as titans versus primordials, gods versus titans, giants versus gods, jotun versus aesir, aesir versus vanir, tuatha de dannan versus fomorians, tuatha de dannan versus firbolg, and asura versus daeva. Sometimes there are multiple wars in sequence between different generations of gods.</p><p></p><p>Moorcock's law/chaos mythos mentions that there are beast lords, elemental lords and plant lords, but these were rarely detailed. IIRC, the RPG explained they were nominally aligned with neutrality (which is essentially a form of law but that's a discussion for another time).</p><p></p><p>It would be easy enough to equate Moorcock's nature lords with the deposed or assimilated nature deities from some strands of Indo-European mythology, like the aesir and the firbolg. The easiest way to slot in "druids" as a distinct concept from "clerics" is to make them the remaining followers of the old gods and nature gods that were left abandoned when the new gods took over. The <em>Scarred Lands</em> campaign setting took this route.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="VelvetViolet, post: 7623808, member: 6686357"] In general I find D&D alignment to be nonsensical and druids are just another manifestation of that. D&D never had a particularly well-constructed theology. It wasn't until 4e that primal spirits were mentioned as the source of druid powers, and they seem to have been largely forgotten as of 5e. If I had to make sense of things, then I'd use a model based on reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology and Moorcock's law/chaos theology. These are the primary inspirations for D&D anyway, so it makes the most sense to go back to the basics. A number of Indo-European religions posit a series of wars between the gods, such as titans versus primordials, gods versus titans, giants versus gods, jotun versus aesir, aesir versus vanir, tuatha de dannan versus fomorians, tuatha de dannan versus firbolg, and asura versus daeva. Sometimes there are multiple wars in sequence between different generations of gods. Moorcock's law/chaos mythos mentions that there are beast lords, elemental lords and plant lords, but these were rarely detailed. IIRC, the RPG explained they were nominally aligned with neutrality (which is essentially a form of law but that's a discussion for another time). It would be easy enough to equate Moorcock's nature lords with the deposed or assimilated nature deities from some strands of Indo-European mythology, like the aesir and the firbolg. The easiest way to slot in "druids" as a distinct concept from "clerics" is to make them the remaining followers of the old gods and nature gods that were left abandoned when the new gods took over. The [I]Scarred Lands[/I] campaign setting took this route. [/QUOTE]
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