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what are druids?
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9255193" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Druids <em>embody</em> nature. Where other classes that speak for the Primal submit to it, or manifest it around them like a cloak, or speak for it as its heralds, Druids truly go whole-hog and <em>become</em> animals, plants, even elementals.</p><p></p><p>Most societies on Earth have a concept of shapeshifters, though often more integrated into a broader understanding of "magic." E.g. in Greece, deities and their half-human children often had the ability to transform into other shapes. Zeus made frequent use of these powers, but all of them had the ability to transform in various ways.</p><p></p><p>For my Jewel of the Desert Dungeon World game, which is Arabian Nights styled, I made Druids one half of the "Kahina," those who channel the spirits of the land and nature. Druids are Kahina of the "living" spirits, which doesn't actually mean "spirits of living things" per se, but rather spirits in and through the regular world in the Tarrakhuna region, rather than the spirit world. Elementals, animals, plants, geographic features, the weather--these are the things that Druids speak to and for. "All that is, is alive" is a decent summary of how Druids view the world; <em>everything</em> has a spirit, but it might be very very weak, especially for relatively recent man-made objects/places. Old places, that have "lived" a long time and etched a place in the spirit world, definitely do develop spirits of their own though--and spirits integrate upward in a semi-hierarchical way. That is, every tree has a spirit because it's a living thing; but when you have enough trees together for a long enough time, they start to manifest a higher-order spirit, the spirit of a <em>forest</em>, which is simultaneously made of the spirits of all those trees, but also distinct in itself. And then the spirit of that forest integrates into the spirit of a region or territory, and <em>that</em> spirit integrates into the great spirits, like the spirit of the whole earth, the spirit of all winds, the spirit of all waters, etc.</p><p></p><p>The "other side of the coin" for Kahina is the Shaman: those who truck with the "dead" spirits. Again, an inaccurate term, <em>some</em> spirits in the Spirit World are dead, others are just native residents that represent somewhat more abstract archetypes, like the mid-tier Spirit of Owl, or the relatively powerful Mudaris (a named spirit of sediment, and growing from that, of memory, tradition, and knowledge), or the ancient and powerful World-Serpent or Spirit of the First Oak. (One of the major differences between "living" and "dead" spirits is that, in general, "living" spirits don't really <em>speak</em> so much as empathically <em>emote</em> at people, whereas "dead" spirits other than those coming from actual dead animals and such almost always have the capacity for speech.) Shaman negotiate with these spirits, binding their powers to totems and invoking their names, their power, in the physical world. As a result, Shaman tend to be somewhat more contemplative or even philosophical than their Druid brethren, who tend toward more practical or even radical behavior. That doesn't mean you never see a contemplative Druid nor a radical Shaman, but it's rather rarer.</p><p></p><p>A Druid of the Tarrakhuna studies the land, air, and water, and from that knowledge, gains power over those things. They study the flora, the fauna, and the flame, and through that knowledge, learn to <em>become</em> them.</p><p></p><p>A Shaman of the Tarrakhuna learns the spirits themselves, their names, their habits, their needs, and from that knowledge, learns to call upon their aid. They delve deep into what it means to be a creature, a place, a status, even an <em>idea</em>, and through that wisdom, learn to bind and channel such power. No cleric practices such devotion.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9255193, member: 6790260"] Druids [I]embody[/I] nature. Where other classes that speak for the Primal submit to it, or manifest it around them like a cloak, or speak for it as its heralds, Druids truly go whole-hog and [I]become[/I] animals, plants, even elementals. Most societies on Earth have a concept of shapeshifters, though often more integrated into a broader understanding of "magic." E.g. in Greece, deities and their half-human children often had the ability to transform into other shapes. Zeus made frequent use of these powers, but all of them had the ability to transform in various ways. For my Jewel of the Desert Dungeon World game, which is Arabian Nights styled, I made Druids one half of the "Kahina," those who channel the spirits of the land and nature. Druids are Kahina of the "living" spirits, which doesn't actually mean "spirits of living things" per se, but rather spirits in and through the regular world in the Tarrakhuna region, rather than the spirit world. Elementals, animals, plants, geographic features, the weather--these are the things that Druids speak to and for. "All that is, is alive" is a decent summary of how Druids view the world; [I]everything[/I] has a spirit, but it might be very very weak, especially for relatively recent man-made objects/places. Old places, that have "lived" a long time and etched a place in the spirit world, definitely do develop spirits of their own though--and spirits integrate upward in a semi-hierarchical way. That is, every tree has a spirit because it's a living thing; but when you have enough trees together for a long enough time, they start to manifest a higher-order spirit, the spirit of a [I]forest[/I], which is simultaneously made of the spirits of all those trees, but also distinct in itself. And then the spirit of that forest integrates into the spirit of a region or territory, and [I]that[/I] spirit integrates into the great spirits, like the spirit of the whole earth, the spirit of all winds, the spirit of all waters, etc. The "other side of the coin" for Kahina is the Shaman: those who truck with the "dead" spirits. Again, an inaccurate term, [I]some[/I] spirits in the Spirit World are dead, others are just native residents that represent somewhat more abstract archetypes, like the mid-tier Spirit of Owl, or the relatively powerful Mudaris (a named spirit of sediment, and growing from that, of memory, tradition, and knowledge), or the ancient and powerful World-Serpent or Spirit of the First Oak. (One of the major differences between "living" and "dead" spirits is that, in general, "living" spirits don't really [I]speak[/I] so much as empathically [I]emote[/I] at people, whereas "dead" spirits other than those coming from actual dead animals and such almost always have the capacity for speech.) Shaman negotiate with these spirits, binding their powers to totems and invoking their names, their power, in the physical world. As a result, Shaman tend to be somewhat more contemplative or even philosophical than their Druid brethren, who tend toward more practical or even radical behavior. That doesn't mean you never see a contemplative Druid nor a radical Shaman, but it's rather rarer. A Druid of the Tarrakhuna studies the land, air, and water, and from that knowledge, gains power over those things. They study the flora, the fauna, and the flame, and through that knowledge, learn to [I]become[/I] them. A Shaman of the Tarrakhuna learns the spirits themselves, their names, their habits, their needs, and from that knowledge, learns to call upon their aid. They delve deep into what it means to be a creature, a place, a status, even an [I]idea[/I], and through that wisdom, learn to bind and channel such power. No cleric practices such devotion. [/QUOTE]
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