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

Original article: 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

Original article: 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

Original article: 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

Original article: 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

Original article: 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.