The Druids of Feyworld
The druids of Feyworld are traditionally a secretive cult who once thrived only in the hidden “backwaters” of the world. Even after the conclusion of the Second Anchorage, they are often incorrectly viewed as priests by the outside world and, though they do often officiate at religious ceremonies and provide spiritual support to their communities, they are also philosophers, scholars and judges. In Gaelish societies, high-ranking druids are often accorded the respect of a king or clan chieftain and may even serve in that capacity (though a druid-king tends to be rare). Druids tend to have a strong connection to the Otherworld as well, and druids count among their members the few mortals who can operate in the Otherworld as easily as they can in this world. As with most Gaels, the druids follow the traditions of the Tuatha de Dannan, or the Children of Danu, a group of deities who, unlike the Old Gods who created the world, attained deification by transcending their mortal bodies.
The tumultuous events of the last century forced the druids to consider moving out of the hinterlands and into territories that traditionally follow the Old Gods. Their path into the more “civilized” lands is fraught with danger, but the Land calls out to them in pain, seeking respite from the neglect of the Old Gods.
History of the Druids
The Revelation of Amairgen
The Druidic Order can be traced back over seven millennia, even beyond the Ascension of the Tuatha. Wise Amairgen, son of Golamh, a priest of the Old Gods who had become disaffected by the capriciousness with which they treated mortals, established the Order when he rejected his faith and began to wander the wilderness in search of Truth. For three nine years, he questioned the great Tree-Shepherds, the Treants in their forests older than time, he sat by the knee of the Rock-Singers, the Galeb Duhr who ruled the most frozen peaks, and he spoke to the Deep-Lords, those Tritons who swam the briny sea. Amairgen came to realize that Nature itself was not created by the Old Gods, but only given form by them. It was Nature from which the power of Existence sprang, from which even the Old Gods drew power and, if one listened, one could hear Nature calling to her mortal children.
When he had learned what he could, Amairgen returned to the cities of the Old Gods and brought this new wisdom with him. He did not proselytize, as the priests of the Old Gods did, or admonish the unenlightened, but he did teach those who sought instruction and did respond to those who sought to challenge him. In response to an apostle who encouraged him to actively preach his message, Amairgen replied:
I am Mountain,
I rise high into the sky
And am worn low by wind
Each in my own time.
I am Ocean,
I am driven back by the shore
And yet I also do consume it
Each in my own time.
I am Tree,
I am the sapling that clings lightly to the earth
And yet I become all in my grandeur
Each in my own time.
Because Amairgen taught secrets the Old Gods were jealous of, he was eventually branded a heretic and his followers pleaded with him to flee back into the wilderness. He bade them go forth and keep the search for Truth within them. All but one, Birog of the Silver Tresses, fled into the wilderness. It was from Birog’s account that we know that the priests of the Old Gods imprisoned Amairgen and commanded to deny the Truth. When Amairgen refused, they tried to tie him to a stake, but the wood bent like a rope and declined to support his weight. The priests then raised an iron post and lit a great fire beneath him, but the fire would not rise to consume his flesh. They pulled him down and placed heavy stones on his body. The stones denied their nature and instead rolled off of him. Finally, the priests pulled him from beneath the stones and threw him into a rushing river. Despite the weights tied to him, the river held him aloft and spirited Amairgen away from the priests of the Old Gods. The priests searched long for Amairgen and three of their number finally found him sleeping in a remote glen. Before he could rise, the three pounced upon him and clubbed him to death with their own hands. It is said that Balor, Cerebog and Maelochtar, the three priests who murdered Amairgen, were cursed that day to forever walk the earth unclean, because even Death refused to touch them.
The First Anchorage
The first disciples of Amairgen, who fled into the wilderness and became Anchorites, continued the search for Truth as they had promised and taught those few that they met the ways of the Order. The druids of this time found Nature a difficult mistress; while they learned how to move without disturbing plants and could weave some minor spells, they did not have the power of the priests or even the wizards of the ancient world. Some few were able to achieve a nearer understanding of Truth, and those few were looked to for leadership in the Order. The druids of this time became viewed as wild-men, dark protectors of the wilderness with no understanding of the civilized world. Those who met and learned from the druids came to understand that they knew the horrors of the “civilized” world all too well.
It was during this First Anchorage that the druids first encountered the elves, who had a greater understanding of Nature than most humans, but who were still wild and untamed. Like the druids, they too had been persecuted by the followers of the Old Gods and had fled into the wilderness to avoid the depredations of the world’s fickle and capricious deities. The druids recognized wisdom in the elven ways and the two groups became fast allies. In turn, the elves showed great interest in the wisdom of the Order and many even became druids themselves.
The Coming of the Tuatha
There is much dispute in druidic circles as to the nature of the Tuatha de Dannan prior to their ascension. Some claim that they were druids who followed Amairgen’s search for Truth to its ultimate extent. Others suggest that they were philosophers who came to understand Truth independent of Amairgen’s teachings. Regardless of the details of their mortal lives, Danu and her “children” discovered the Ultimate Truth: the Secret of Immortality. Though weaker than the Old Gods, the Tuatha had attained a divine transformation and transcended their mortality. Recognizing the danger that the Secret posed to Existence itself, the Tuatha began their long search for a people that could be trusted to respect the power that they had discovered.
They came first to the druids, who recognized that the Tuatha traveled the same path as they and welcomed them. The Tuatha taught the druids how to draw upon the power of Nature through them. In a sense, the Order became priests of the Tuatha. But unlike the priests of the Old Gods, Druidic Magic drew on the power of Nature through the Tuatha, instead of directly from their divine force. The Tuatha also revitalized the Order, which had become stagnant since Amairgen’s death. They taught that Truth was found not only in nature, but also in the world around them, in the lives of every mortal, in everything that carried the spark of Life and, thus, a part of Nature within them.
As the Tuatha continued their search for a people to impart their knowledge to, many mortals began to look to them for guidance. Since Amairgen’s time, humanity had become disaffected by the arrogant foibles of the Old Gods and their faith had waned. Where once the Old Gods were worshiped, they were instead propitiated in an attempt to mollify their dreadful wrath. The Tuatha, who had known what it was to be mortal, nurtured humanity, encouraged it to grow and thrive and not to serve. People flocked to the Tuatha and the hope that they represented. The Old Gods were at first enraged by the presumptuousness of the Tuatha, but even they eventually came to understand the crimes they had committed upon the world. Ancient temples closed their doors as the Old Gods withdrew in a self-imposed penance for their sins against Creation. Some few priests remained to carry on the traditions of the Old Gods, to prepare for their promised return, but the grand priesthoods crumbled.
The druids, as the conduits of the wisdom of the Tuatha, were looked to by humanity to fill the void left by the departure of the Old Gods. By this time, the druids had introduced the Tuatha to the elves and the long search of the Tuatha came to an end. The elves withdrew from mortal society as the Tuatha taught them the Secret of Immortality. The druids, ever contemptuous of those who would surrender themselves to jealousy, remained faithful to the Tuatha and upheld their responsibilities to both the people they gave guidance to as well as the Tuatha who in turn provided them with guidance.
Perhaps because the druids were not the champions of civilization that the priests were or perhaps because such things must come to pass, humanity’s great cities and monumental empires fell. Orcish hordes and the manipulations of the wily giants pulled society apart at its very seams. When the First Age of Man faced its twilight, the druids became one of the few to maintain the wisdom of ages past, laboriously memorizing their philosophy and knowledge. If it were not for the efforts of the druids to retain what had been learned, the story of humanity may well have ended in that dark time and would today be nothing more than a few tribes huddling in fear at he edges of the world.
But, with the help of the druids and the Tuatha, humanity did survive and even began to recover the grandeur that was lost. But with the return of that grandeur, also came the yearning, the greed and the dominion humans are so well known for.
The Heresy of Math Mathonwy
It took almost two millennia for humanity to shove off the yoke of its orcish oppressors and pull itself from the brink of extinction. By this time, Danu had chosen to step down as leader of the Tuatha and Oghma, the Bright, was elected to take her place by the other Tuatha. Oghma was a fair and wise ruler, a patron to the druids, but he was not well versed in the ways of war. Nor was he prepared for the betrayal to come.
Math Mathonwy, one of the original Tuatha, had long been a patron of humanity and had been the quickest to criticize the capriciousness of the Old Gods. Those few wizards who had retained their Hermetic secrets during the dark years after the fall of humanity were in service to him. Each of the Tuatha were in turn pained to see humanity suffer, but Math seemed to be troubled most. As the Second Age of Man dawned, Mathonwy accused his fellow Tuatha of becoming as complacent and jaded as the Old Gods had been and formally withdrew from the Tuatha. Threatening to give the Secret of Immortality to humans in an attempt to end their suffering, Math quickly began recruiting humans to his cause, forming first and army and then an empire unlike any the world had seen. He called his empire Llanyeon and made war upon the Tuatha. Even the Druidic Order was split on which side to champion and druid fought against druid, both in word and deed. For four centuries the war waged on and humanity thrived even as it sowed the seeds of its inevitable destruction.
At the close of the Second Age of Man, a hero rose among the ranks of the mortals who followed the Tuatha. An expert charioteer and spearman without match, Cuchulainn brought many victories to the Tuatha, despite having never lead an army. Instead of directing men, Cuchulainn instead preferred to wade into battle himself and often defeated Math’s wizards in single combat. When the final charge against Math was made in the Battle of the Black Moon, Cuchulainn was at the vanguard. He fought his way through Math’s troops, struck down his most powerful wizards and finally faced the Heretic God himself. The battle between god and man was said to have lasted nine days before Cuchulainn finally dealt Math the blow that defeated him. Cuchulainn lay dying, but Math’s power was crushed and the Tuatha were victorious. In thanks for his bravery and unwavering loyalty, the Tuatha accepted Cuchulainn into their ranks, showing him the Secret of Immortality. He would be the last human to Ascend.
The Second Anchorage
With the fall of Math Mathonwy, the Tuatha began to undo the damage the war had done. The Tuatha placed the Three Curses on humanity, more to ensure that humanity would never again come close to learning the Secret of Immortality than to punish them. The Curse of Ten Tongues was devised by Oghma; the Shining God created ten languages and taught them to ten different peoples. Only a few he left with memory of the ancient tongue, now known as Gael. The Curse of Four Quarters was devised by Boann, a consort of the Dagda and patron of the oceans, wherein great magical Barricades were constructed to divide the world into four sections…no magic barring that of the Gods themselves could pierce the Barricades, though mortals could walk through them. The Curse of the Veil locked away those other planes, from which Math’s wizards had summoned strange creatures to fight in their war. The druids forgave and welcomed their brothers who had fought with Math, but again began to remove themselves from the world, preferring to remain in regions untouched by Oghma’s Curse of Tongues.
With the fall of Math and the Three Curses, not to mention the resurgence of the giants under Bres, one of the few not destroyed by the Tuatha who had received the Secret of Immortality from Math, humanity again fell into a dark age. Whereas the First Age of Man had lasted two and a half millennia, the spark of the Second Age had died in four centuries.
The Recession of the Tuatha
During The Long Night, that dark time between the Second and Third Age of Man, the leadership of the Tuatha would shift several times. After the fall of the Second Age, Ogma stepped down as leader and the Dagda was elected to his seat. The druids during the Dagda’s reign were even more reclusive than they had been in ages past and their numbers dwindled. Even so, they were still looked to in primitive societies as bastions of knowledge and wisdom. The Dagda eventually disappeared and Nuada, the youngest of the original Tuatha, was elected to rule.
As the druids became more reclusive and focused on guiding those who had not fallen to the Curse of Ten Tongues, those few priests who had upheld the traditions of the Old Gods again became popular amongst the people. The Old Gods heard their pleas and slowly began to return. Fearing a return of the capriciousness of the First Age, Nuada led those who still followed the Tuatha against the Accursed (as those who had been cursed by Oghma came to be known) and their allies amongst the giants. Despite initial successes, as the priests of the Accursed became more and more powerful, Nuada found it more and more difficult to oppose them. The giants were defeated in the Battle of Moy Tura, but during this battle Nuada lost his left arm. Though Dian Cecht replaced his arm with a silver facilimile, Nuada could no longer rule as King of the Tuatha because he was unwhole and he abdicated. Bres the Beautiful, the half-giant who had been granted immortality by Math Mathowny, was elected King of the Tuatha in an effort to bring peace between the giants and humanity.
Bres proved to be a strong King and denounced his alliance with the Accursed, but did not have the generosity of his predecessors. The giants horribly oppressed humanity during Bres’ rule and many more flocked to the banner of the Old Gods than Bres’ army could slay in the battlefield. After almost two decades of his tyrannical rule, Nuada of the Silver Arm returned, his natural arm healed fully by Macht, son of Dian Cecht. Nuada defeated the half-giant god in the Second Battle of Moy Tura and the giants were scattered. Realizing the folly of warring against the Accursed, Nuada ordered his mortal armies to stand down. The Old Gods again held sway over most of humanity and Nuada was content to care for those few who still called upon the Tuatha for aid, including the druids and the reclusive elves.
Little more than two centuries after the Second Battle of Moy Tura and a thousand years after the fall of Math, the Dagda returned. The Dagda had wandered Existence and discovered the paths to Otherworld. After a brief meeting with Nuada, it was decided that the Tuatha would recede fully from the Firm World, so as to forever protect the Secret. By this time, the elves had their own gods and few still called upon the Tuatha for aid. Only the druids were allowed to maintain contact with the Tuatha after the Recession, and then only for the conduit that the Tuatha provided to Nature itself.
Druids in the Third Age of Man
At the dawn of the Third Age of Man, humanity had all but fully returned to the worship of the Old Gods, who appeared to have learned the lessons of the past. The Old Gods were no longer capricious and domineering, instead choosing to guide their mortal worshipers to fulfill their aims. When the Septiad founded the city of Zeth and thus started the Third Age, the druids and the Gaels had retreated to only five small regions of the world: Llanyeon in the far north of Aurea, Calmergh in southeastern Duria, Hageria in the remote southern reaches of Gallorea, Ludaeg in western Gallorea and among the Iceni in the extreme northwest of Duria.
Llanyeon and the Three Kingdoms
Llanyeon, which ironically was the remnants of the empire Math Mathonwy had founded, quickly fell to civil war after Math’s defeat. After decades of bloody strife, Cunedda Gwynedd defeated the various factions and was proclaimed King of the Gaels (the people of Llanyeon assumed they were the only ones not affected by the Curse of Ten Tongues). Cunedda and his descendants ruled relatively peacefully for about fifteen hundred years, during which time the Llanyeons became peaceful farmers.
Around 500 years after the foundation of Zeth, while the Zetians were embroiled in the Gabinian War on the northern coast of the Aurean Sea, the first Danic dragon-ships appeared in the coastal waters near Llanyeon and began raiding the coastline. The raids were, at first, bloody and brutal but rare. Eventually, however, the Danic people realized what easy prey the Llanyeons were and their attacks began to increase in frequency. The people of Llanyeon became panicked and fearful, particularly when the Danic people established a base from which to raid the mountains of northern Llanyeon.
When Riwallon ascended to the Oaken Throne of Llanyeon, he quickly began to organize his people against the Danic threat. He formed the Warriors of the Cudgel, a semi-druidic group whose main objective was to defeat the Danes and drive them back into the sea. For the most pat, the Warriors were extremely successful, mainly because the Danes were forced to defend territory, something they were not accustomed to. In the Battle of Greysea Mountain, the Danic fort was breached and destroyed, the Danic troops who survived escaped into the mountains and eventually became part of the culture there.
Unfortunately, Riwallon gave his own life in that final battle and had no clear heir to assume the Oaken Throne. The Warriors of the Cudgel appealed to the druids for guidance and they decided to divide Llanyeon into three separate kingdoms: the mountainous Caledon, the heavily-forested Ywys and the plains of Donnagh. Each kingdom would, when dealing with an exterior threat like the Danes, unify under a High King, who held his position for life. When a High King died, his heir would choose one of the other two Kings to become the new High King. Eventually, the throne of the Caledonii lay empty and that land now is dominated by isolated clans with no central rulership. Until relatively recently the seat of the High King switched only between Ywys and Donnagh.
The Three Kingdoms continued for centuries living in relatively obscurity. They had limited, but friendly contact with the Dracians to the south, sometimes found themselves in conflict with the Mitarians and still suffered the periodic Danish raid from the south. The eastern territories were threatened by the orcs of Tazgrat, but natural barriers there kept all but the most persistent orcish raiders out of Donnagh. When the Great Empire conquered Dracia over a millennia later, few in the Three Kingdoms were concerned, particularly since relations with the Dracian nobility didn’t really change.
Eventually, however, the Great Empire looked to conquer the Three Kingdoms, starting with Donnagh. The King of Donnagh, Dwywg ap Gruffydd, turned to a dark cult of witches who worshiped Queen Mab, mistress of the Unseelie Fey, for support against the Empire. After ten long years of conflict an Imperial assassin murdered King Dwywg in his own bed. His Queen, Cartimandua, took the reigns of power and galvanized Donnagh to her banner. Rumored to be one of the Mabean Witches herself, she fought against the Empire for another twenty years before finally falling to Imperial forces in the Battle of Storms. It is said that, rather than let her favored witch fall to the Empire, Queen Mab herself sent a bolt of lightning down into the battle and spirited Cartimandua away to Otherworld.
For over a decade, Donnagh, which was renamed the Mabean Marches by her conquerors, remained under Imperial rule. For a time, the Empire turned her attention to Ywys, but under the leadership of King Dafydd Dda, Ywys resisted Imperial aggression. Eventually, the Empire bored of its wars in the north and, under the clandestine direction of the Mage-King of Lun Dorak, signed a treaty with Ywys and sent its armies eastward into Koramia. When Lucas “the Heretic” became Emperor and was eventually defeated, the Great Empire quickly fell into its Fourth Succession war. Taking advantage of the distraction, an Imperial trained Mabean by the name of Tancorix took the reigns of power in the Mabean Marches. The druids crowned him as King of Donnagh, successor to Cartimandua (despite Tancorix having no known blood relation to the dead Queen).
Calmergh
Hageria
Ludaeg
Icenia
Druids in the Dark Times
In the Three Kingdoms, Old King Dafydd and young King Tancorix became fast friends and very close allies. There are still some raids on the Three Kingdoms by the Danes, but since they began the conquest of Mitaria, the raids on the southern Kingdoms have decreased in frequency, if not in their brutality.
