Druid Lore
Druid Lore
Greetings. I must warn you, do not drink the water from that pool, or it will be your death. That spring and all the lands around are tainted, blighted by the touch of Darkness. I see you bear weapons, and you look ready for a battle. Do you seek Lanscorr the Black Wizard, that vile Shade who serves the whim of Darkness? Be at ease, for I am not he. Your errand is ended before it begins, I'm afraid, for I have driven him from yonder tower. Last night the children of the Green Mother fought back against his perversions of the Balance: the beasts, trees, and very stones rose up against him, marshaled by my call. For I am a Druid, and could not stand to see this vale corrupted any longer. The fight was dear, and alas, the victory is a hollow one. For Lanscorr will walk the World again, no doubt, and it will be many many years before this spring flows pure again, and all the life has left this soil.
Life. It is everywhere, all around us, and yet most folk are so preoccupied with their own small portion that they cannot see the ocean of life that teems around them. If they did, they would remember that the food they eat, the grass they tread on, even the very earth they till and air that they breathe is alive. Most folk of the world venerate the All-Father, but they forget that they had a mother too: Braialla, the Green Mother of the World. Some have not forgotten. Far from the sprawling cities, we Druids still sing their ancient hymns, and venerate the Mother of All Life. Our ways are the Old Ways, that hearken back to a time before fields and plows, before kingdoms, before even the first daylight. In his folly the All-Father crafted Man to stand apart from nature, as Her masters. But how then can we stand apart when our bodies are nourished by the fruits of the land and the flesh of its beasts? We are of this world, and only by living in harmony with all things in nature can any being achieve true enlightenment, and understand his place in the Great Balance.
You have no reason to fear me. I've heard the frightful tales the village folk tell of Druids. They say we are not truly men at all, but elfspawn flaunting our Elvish blood, and that we steal babies in the dead of night like the Fey of the Enchanted Wood, and that our pagan rites involve human sacrifice. These are the delusions of the simple, the lies of the frightened. We are not godless Pagans - we revere the All-Father's name, praising Him as the Consort to the Green Mother, the Bringer of Spring, but we do not venerate Him before all others. Do not fear us. Leave us be, or help us, for we seek only to heal and rejuvenate the World and restore the Cycle.
Life, Death, and Transformation: the Great Cycle which defines the movement of Spirit through the universe and serves as the foundation of the world and all of Braialla's bounties. Since the dark day of the Turning, this eternal cycle has been disrupted and all Balance has been lost. There is still life and death, but now there is no transformation, no movement of the spirits of the dead through the cycles of being. At first, the souls of the dead were twisted into undead abominations, the enemies of all Life. We Druids turned the tide of that darkness: it was we who discovered how to use the Trees of Life so that the dead are clothed in new flesh, provided that their names are carved into the Tree. The undead threat is thus diminished, but the Cycle is still undone. Alas, this solution is no solution at all, for our enemies are eternally reborn also, and a new age of bloodlust and savagery has begun. The unenlightened revel in these dark times, thinking that Death itself has died, that they can do whatever they like, kill whatever they like, despoil whatever they like. But I ask you, how long can the World endure if the spirits of the dead are not allowed to move upward into higher forms? How long will the Dark that lies Outside lie quiet without the spirits of the deceased to feed its hunger? The circle is broken, and Doom draws ever closer.
But these grim matters are none of your concern. I ask you to leave this place, and tell all you meet to let this valley lie quiet, for its healing will be long in coming. Go now, and I assure you that no beast will hinder you, and fair weather shall follow you home. If you doubt me, go to yonder tower and see for yourself - the Wizard is gone. Go find his Tree of Life if you wish, before he leeches the Life from another valley. If you can do so, I will be in your debt.
