Druidism / The Great Circle

Druids often find themselves at odds with the established religious orders, in that the animistic nature of druidic beliefs places much greater concern on the welfare of nature, over that of any concerns over afterlife, morality, or even the concepts of good and evil.

To be clear, druids of Azgaarnoth who follow the path of druidism are not clerics of a nature or agricultural god--they are devotees to the Great Circle of Life, which sees all of nature existing in harmonious conflict: creatures are born, some to be predators and some to be prey, and they all die in time, sometimes as food for a predator, sometimes to rivals of their own species, and sometimes of old age. Trees compete for sunlight, storms rage and lightning starts fires--but all of this is in balance with the rest of nature, and for every moment that nature rages, nature also provides equal moments of peace. Predators hunt because they hunger, not for sport. Without predators, prey would overpopulate, starve, grow sick, and the species would die out. And so on.

For this reason, druids of Azgaarnoth are not unfamiliar with death, nor are they unafraid to embrace it when the time comes. While life is a precious thing, to be sure, they do not believe that all life is sacred, as lives that unbalance the Circle threaten not just the creatures within the immeidate radius, but all life everywhere if the Circle grows too unbalanced.

Druids are also not intrinsically opposed to mortals' existence, as mortals are just as much a part of the natural order of things as any other creature. Mortals use their particular gifts to influence their surroundings, just as many animals do--a druid cannot be angry at a farmer for raising a barn any more than the druid could blame a beaver for making a dam. A druid can be just as much "at home" in a city setting, advising the city leaders on how best to coexist with nature, and periodically guiding storms away from--or towards, if the rain is needed--the city. To a druid, the Circle is everything, and embraces everything in nature.

Recently, druids have become more prevalent and popular among the Hordes, as that group comes to terms with its own violent history and its struggles to eke out an existence that is more sustainable than an infinite cycle of war. Out of the seed of the handful of druids that found a home within Yithi (and Zhi, to a lesser extent) grew a religous wave. Hordish druids now move throughout Tragekia and even the Ulmhorde lands, spreading the message that the Hordes have their place within the Circle. Unfortunately, the fact that this view is finding roots in the minds of the Hordes means that druids within Liria and particularly Al'Uma are finding some religions or political leaders to claim that druidism is now the "religion of the Hordes" and inflaming opinion against druids for "betraying mortal lives to the Hordes".

Within Bedian lands, druids are extremely common, owing to the vast wilderness of Northern Bedia, and their efforts to help settlers find sustainable homes there has led to an upsurge of favorable outlook on druidism and the Circle. This has also spilled over into more of the settled Western lands, such that druidic Circlism is commonly found in Bagonbia and Travesimia. The vast battleground that is Chidia generally is not particularly hospitable to druids, but many druids find themselves called there, believing that it is in Chidia where the Circle is most out of balance.

Dradehalia, meanwhile, has a great number of druids, but they tend to lay very low within communities inside of the Dread Empire, as the suggestion that anything is more important than the survial of the nation or the Dread Emperor is often not a long-term survivability tactic within those borders.

Shamans and spirits

Most druids (and rangers) find themselves very comfortable in the presence of shamans, particularly those whose calling takes them to a more "natural" bent. It is not uncommon for druids and rangers to pair up with shamans for some period of time.