General Directory
Druids
Druidism.
Common
in Velitrium though steadily declining in the face of Mitra. Popular
with humans, Halflings, Elves and some Gnomes. Tolerant of most other
faiths.
Minimum age for
a human Druid is
23 For a Gnome it is 150.
Like
clerics, Druids have spent many, many years in training with other
Druids. During this time all their worldly needs are taken care of and
their only income is a meager allowance given by their Master. There is
no structured hierarchy to support Druids financially, they either live
off of gifts from the community, the product of a trade or craft, or
they raise their own food and make a living for themselves. Starting
money represents accumulated savings and gifts from the Faithful. The
new Druid will generally receive a small silver sickle, used for
ritually cutting mistletoe, holly and oak leaves, from his or her
teacher.
Starting Money =
$800
ABILITIES and
STATS
Base Cost = 26pts plus type
Druids are
+1 skill bonus
in casting Elemental Summoning spells. (5pts)
Druid
characters must have the advantage Mnemonic Memory level 1
minimum
(30pts) and the disadvantages Illiteracy (they do not receive any
bonuses for this), and Sense of Duty (+10pts)
Druids are +1 in
reaction
situations with Faithful, and all of the `common people' regardless of
faith. (5pts)
Druids are -1 to
reaction rolls
with clerics of Mitra or the Dark Lore and with most government
officials. (-5pts)
Druids
must have the
following skills. (11pts total)
Theology at IQ
Naturalist
at IQ
Druidic Law at IQ
Civil Law at IQ-1
Druidic History at IQ
Bard at IQ
Druids
may never use any scrolls, books or written materials. They may
never
learn to write or read and they may never commit any of their spells,
or religious knowledge to paper personally or through dictation.
Druids
learn their spells orally from one Druid to another. They will employ
memory aids on occasion, such as knotted strings and the like to assist
in learning.
Druids MAY NOT
employ axes,
flails, swords or any scrolls or written magic items, including
Grimoires. (+10pts)
Druids are
trained to fill one
of three roles in their society.
Guardians:
Guardian
Druids are vowed protect the faithful as well as the creatures of
nature that cannot protect themselves, plants, animals etc. Acts of
violence against their human followers or wanton cruelty and waste
against their animal and plant charges, require action on the part of a
Guardian Druid. If possible the activity must be halted or if that is
not possible, it must be avenged. Guardian Druids must have strong
combat abilities and attack spells, and skills like Tactics, Stealth,
Shadowing, Tracking and other skills that will aid in fulfilling their
role. Advantages like Combat Reflexes, Toughness, High Pain Threshold,
etc. are useful. They are not obligated to fight, if a peaceful
resolution and equitable solution is possible that is considered best.
However, Guardian Druids vow to lay down their lives if needed in the
defense of their charges. This is a +10pt vow.
Guardians may
not cast any
Healing spells of any kind.
Guardians gain
an additional +1
in casting spells to Summon, Create or Control Elementals. 5 points.
It costs
30points to be a
Guardian.
Historians/Judges:
These
Druids serve as the teachers, historians, law givers and judges of
their people. They are sworn and obligated to be impartial in all
matters, to be accurate and factual and to pass on their knowledge.
(This is a +5pt vow). The Historian/Judge, called `Memories' must
have
Eidetic Memory level II. (an extra 40pts) The advantage `Intuition' is
also valuable, but is not required. They must also have the following
skills. Druidic Law at IQ+2, Civil Law at IQ+2, Mitran Law at IQ,
Druidic History at IQ+2, General History at IQ+2, at least one History
Specialty at IQ, Diplomacy at IQ (40pts total). They must be Honest and
Truthful (+15pts) and they get an automatic +2 to Reputation, both with
Faithful and any who know what they are. It costs an additional 60pts
to be a Memory.
Healer
Druids:
These
Druids care for the health and welfare of their charges. They tend not
only the humans, but also animals and plants. The healer Druids, known
as `Caretakers' specialize in Healing spells and will have the
following skills. Diagnosis IQ+2, Physician IQ+2, Surgery IQ+2,
Veterinarian IQ+2, Botany IQ+2 (48pts). A Caretaker must also take a
vow of Vegetarianism (+5pts) and "Shall not Kill" (+15pts). A Caretaker
is +2 in casting Healing Spells including `Heal Plant' (10pts). Healer
Druids may never learn or cast `Resurrection'. Druids do not believe
that raising the dead is appropriate, it violates the natural order of
things. It costs an extra 33pts to be a Caretaker.
Note: Druids
often begin as
Guardians and later move on to be Caretakers or Memories.
Non-magical
abilities of all
Druids
Marriage: A Druid
can marry two mutually consenting
members of the
Faith. Male and female only!
Burial: A Druid
MUST see to it that all members of the
Faith receive a
proper burial. Note: The spell “Final Rest” must be used with
this rite,
to
assure that the
deceased cannot be raised, animated, summoned or otherwise
disturbed.
Druids do not have consecrated graveyards.
Affirmation and
Dedication: Acceptance of a new member of
the
Faith at birth,
or as an adult.
Coming of Age
Ceremony: Performed on members of the
Faith, male or
female, at age 12 to reaffirm dedication
to
the Powers of
Life.
Initiation:
Acceptance of a member of the Faith into
training for Druid
hood.
Ordination:
Elevation of an Initiate to status of
Druid.
Power of
Judgment over the
Faithful and Keepers of the Law.
Memory Druids are obligated to serve as Judges in civil disputes and
minor criminal disputes amongst the Faithful. They also act as the
Keepers of the Law for their people. It is not uncommon for a Druid to
be asked to serve as an Advocate for a member of the Faith in trouble
either with the Druids, the Church of Mitra, or the Secular
authorities. A Memory Druid should be versed in all these matters.
NOTE: The Church of Mitra does not object to this as long as it does
not affect any members of their faith. The civil authorities do not
object to religious matters being so dealt with, but they have gotten
bent out of shape over Druids dealing with criminal issues and major
civil cases.
Druidic Spells
Druids are
limited to the following Colleges for spell selection.
Earth and
appropriate Elemental
spells
Water and
appropriate Elemental
spells
Weather
Air
Fire (except
fireball and
explosive fireball spells)
Plants
Animals
Food
Shape shifting
(Note: All
shape shifting is limited to natural forms, animals, plants, insects,
etc...)
Religious (as
per pgs 110-111 of
GURPS Religion) see list below.
Healing,
Caretakers only (Druids
may never learn or cast Resurrection.)
Judgment Spells,
Memory only
JUDGMENT
SPELLS
Sense Emotion
Aura
(Sen. Emotion)
Truthsayer (Aura)
Compel
Truth
(Truthsayer)
Mind
Reading
(Compel Truth)
Mind
Search (Mind
Reading)
RELIGIOUS SPELLS
(Common to all
Druids)
Aura
Divination
Lead Worship
Consecrate
Desecrate
Excommunicate
Final Rest
Oath
Bless
Summon Spirit
Reincarnation
Meditation
Druidic Clerical
Spells
(Found in GURPS Religion pgs 108-112)
Aura:
Works as described
Divination:
Uses Augury as
described in sidebar pg 110.
Lead
Worship: Works as described. Services are centered around a
period of
consciousness expanding meditation that is lead by the Druid.
The
Faithful become connected with the Whole and a ‘channel’ is opened
between the Faithful and Dia with the Druid as the conduit. Music
and
chanting are used to set the tone and ease the mind to allow the
transition.
Consecrate:
As described, Druids may not Consecrate weapons (in so far
as their
faith has no innate enemy to consecrate it against) But, see the
section on Other Spells.
Desecrate:
As described
Excommunicated:
As
described
Final
Rest: As described. Must be performed on members of the Faithful.
May
be combined with Lead Worship if members of the Faithful are present to
help bury the deceased. Family members present will give half
their
available ST.
Oath: As
described
Summon Allied
Entity: This
is NOT available to Druids, this is what the Elemental Summoning powers
are all about.
Summon
Spirit: This is a special form of the spell Summon Spirit. It may
only
be used to summon those of the Druidic faith and must be used within
three days of the subject's death. After three days the spirit
has
entered the natural cycle of reincarnation and cannot be contacted.
On
a failure the spirit cannot be summoned again. Modifiers -3 if
the
subjects full name is not known. Prerequisite: Final Rest
Reincarnation:
Brings back to life a dead person. The essence
of the dead person is
transferred to
another body,
possibly one very different to his former body.
The
dead person will be restored in the form of any sentient (or
semi-sentient) race at the GM's choice. The subject of this
spell
will recall the majority of his prior life but may have vastly
different
capabilities, skills and even personality. This spell will only work on
those of Druidic Faith and the new individual will be of the same faith.
Druids
are VERY reluctant to use this spell except in the most pressing of
circumstances, in that it thwarts the natural order of Birth, Death and
Rebirth.
The
Subject returns as an individual of age sufficent to handle the
memories. In essence the reincarnated person is at least 12 years old
(if a human) or a comparable degree of maturity in another race.
This
means that the body’s original soul has been evicted to make way for
the reincarnated soul.
It
makes no difference what state the subject’s body was in after death.
Even a totaly disintigrated subject may be reincarnated. However,
having the body, or a significant portion there of, adds 1 to the
caster’s skill. Further,the subject cannot have been dead
more then
three days. After three days the soul enters the natural
cycle of
reincarnation, memories are lost and the spirit cannot be diverted from
it’s course.
(In
game terms the GM will take the reincarnated character and redistribute
50% of the characters points into new or different disadvantages and
skills (in some cases 50% of the points may go towards just paying the
base cost of the new race!). The individual will ‘awaken’ in the new
body, under what may be awkward circumstances depending on who or where
that body is and was. (GM’s Discretion!) Time to Cast: 1
hour
Cost: 200
Prerequisite:
Summon Spirit,
ALL Religous Spells
Meditation:
Religous Equivilant of Recover Strength
Druidic Theology
and Philosophy
To a
Druid all life is viewed as a Balance. Good and evil are but parts of
the whole, neither is intrinsically more important than the other. Each
has its place and its part to play
in the greater scheme of things. The Dark Lore is a necessary counter
to the Church of Mitra and both are merely manifestations of Nature.
Druids rarely take sides except to protect their charges or to redress
and correct what is perceived as an imbalance. This Neutrality makes
them unpopular with both the Church of Mitra, the followers of the Dark
Lore and to a certain extent with the Government. (Thus the negative
reaction adjustment.)
The Druids see the earth as a
living entity, all life, all
beings, objects and elements are manifestations of the life force of
this entity. Everything, from air, earth, fire and water, to the
plants, animals, humans, elves, goblins, demons and godlings are a part
of the whole. This Whole is known as “Dia.” Though the Druids do
not
personify the Whole, and it is regarded as basically formless and
sexless, a female gender is seen as more appropriate than male when
describing the Whole. Dia exists without prejudice or objectives,
as
humans comprehend them, its existence is its objective.
Though Dia is seen as the wellspring from which all of the earth flows,
it is itself but a small part of an even grander design that
encompasses all of the cosmos. In this grand scheme no one thing
is
intrinsically more important or valuable than any other thing.
All
things are interconnected and interdependent. The pattern of this
design is utterly incomprehensible to mere mortals, though it is
believed that of all mortals the Elves have a closer understanding of
this design than any others.
As
observed, all things are seen to be interconnected and interdependent.
From this perspective Mitra cannot exist without Blar and Blar
cannot
be without Mitra. For there to be Good, there must also exist
Evil.
The Druids see themselves as gardeners, tending a small plot in the
vast landscape that is the Whole. There is nothing wrong with
working
for the benefit of the Faithful, though not to the exclusion and
detriment of the greater Whole.
The
Druidic hierarchy is very unstructured. There are no ranks as
such,
but age, wisdom and experience are respected and generally deferred to.
Druids can and do come into conflict at times, but rarely is such
conflict violent or fatal, such an action would be detrimental to the
Whole.
Sacred
Groves
Generally the grove is one to five acres in area. Access is
restricted
by outer rings of Hawthorne and shielded by bands of Holly and
Evergreens. Towards the center are found larger and larger
specimens
of Ash and Oak and a few other species. Somewhere near the center
is
the Heart of the Grove, the Sacred Tree. This is usually an Oak,
but
not always, heavily bedecked with Mistletoe. Also in the Grove
will be
found a Spring and a large, flat, Altar Stone ringed with smaller white
stones. The smaller stones form parts of a celestial calendar and
also
serve as seating for select members of the Faithful during special
events. (The rest of the Faithful stand or kneel as appropriate in the
service.)
It is
common for Druidic groves to be guarded by animals. Usually bears,
mountain lions or wolves, though it is not unheard of for a family of
skunks to patrol the area either.
There
are seven Druidic Groves in Velitrium. These are major centers of
worship, roughly equal to a large Temple of Mitra in importance. The
most important of the Groves is in County Minfolin, near the Elves. The
Druid in charge of this one is the senior of all in the valley, he is a
Memory.
Druidic Sanctity
Sanctity is
normal throughout
all the land with the following exceptions:
High
Sanctity: In the Sacred Groves. Casting is at half normal
energy cost
and Druids regain fatigue at twice normal rate. If the Druid is
touching the Life Tree at the center of the Grove then he or she is in
the presence of Very High Sanctity. Casting has no cost while
touching.
Low
Sanctity: The cities, towns and villages are areas of Low
Sanctity.
The power of nature has been lessened by the development of man.
Casting requires twice normal energy cost and fatigue is
recovered at
half normal rate.
No
Sanctity: Inside a temple or shrine dedicated to another
religion.
Exception: Jhensari temples are areas of High Sanctity for
Druids, but
there is no access to Very High Sanctity.
Holy Days :
April 15:
Druidic
Planting Feast
June 21:
Summer Solstice.
The longest day.
October 30, 31
and November 1:
Celebration of the harvest
On
these days Casting is at half cost and fatigue is recovered at twice
the normal rate. Sanctity levels increase by one across the land,
except in areas of no sanctity.
December 21:
Winter
Solstice. The shortest day.
On this
day energy costs
are doubled and recovery of fatigue is doubled. Sanctity levels
are reduced by one.
Sacred Objects
Unlike
Mitraen Clerics, Druids do not have a large panolopy of robes,
symbols, beads and other gewgaws and gimmicks. The few objects that are
part of their rituals are as follows.
Silver or Gold
Sickle:
A
small sickle used to ritually harvest various leaves, berries and
herbs. Usually the senior most Druids have sickles of gold,
though
there is no significant difference between one of silver and one of
gold. The sickles cannot be used as weapons, if they are, or for
any
other profane use, like cutting cheese, they loose their sanctity and
must be remade and re-consecrated.
Harvest Cloth:
Several square feet of clean, unbleached linen used to catch the
harvested leaves, berries, etc. These may not be permitted to
fall to
the earth.
Staff:
A
Druid's staff is a very important item. Made from either oak, ash
or
holly, the wood must be harvested, seasoned and prepared by the Druid.
It is carved, by the Druid, with representations of various
plants and
animals. Artistic skill is unimportant as long as the Druid knows
what
he or she carved. The staff is Consecrated, which must be done in
a
Grove, and if the Druid wishes, it can be prepared as a Sacred Vessel.
(per pg105 of GURPS Religion.) A Druid may have only one staff at
a
time, though he or she may go through many in a lifetime. The
Staff is
the only object that a Druid can use as a Sacred Vessel. It will
also
function as per the Magic Enchantment “Staff” spell, serving to extend
the Druid's touch.
Silver Ewer:
Used
for gathering water from sacred springs, found in all groves and in a
few other places. Sacred Water is an essential part of a variety
of
rituals and effects.
Holly
Berries and leaves, Oak leaves, acorns, Mistletoe and assorted other
herbs and plants, along with pure water, milk, honey and rarely, blood,
are the principal components of a variety of spells, devices and
effects that Druids have available to them.
“Magical” Items
& Effects
Though not
magical in the
conventional sense, they are perceived as such by the common folk.
Utilizing
Healing Grass and making Wound Mud are now Skills available to Druids.
There is no prohibition against teaching others the skill
associated
with Healing Grass. (The grass is not magical per say, just a
manifestation of Nature.) Wound Mud does require the maker to be
a
Druid.
Though there is nothing wrong with a Druid producing these substances
to sell, it is forbidden to charge the Faithful (though they are
expected to make a gift of some kind in return) and it is forbidden to
use the Healing Grass raised in the Grove for such profane purposes as
mere profit.
Healing Grass
(MA)
Found naturally,
though rarely
throughout the Valley, it is cultivated in the Groves for use by the
Faithful.
Tea
made from the grass will cure 1d+1 hits from wounds once per day.
The
tea must be made from grass picked within the hour. Once made the
tea
can be bottled and preserved. This requires Sacred Water and a
Skill
roll or Alchemy roll.
Chewing freshly picked grass and spitting out the blades while
swallowing the juice will heal 1d hits once per day. This does
not
require any skill roll.
The
grass can be dried and smoked for 1d-1 healing once per day. This
requires either a Skill roll or a Naturalist or Agronomy roll.
Wound Mud
(MH)
When
applied to the edges of the wound the Mud gives the victim +3 to rolls
to prevent infection, or fight off poison. And, the victim gets
two
natural recovery rolls per day, each at +1. The Mud also soothes
the
wound's pain as long as the victim does not exert himself.
Each
wound requires 1 ounce of Mud which must be replaced daily. To
create
a supply of Mud requires two consecutive days, one to gather the
ingredients and prepare them, and a second day to allow them to
ferment. On the second day the Druid must invest the Mud with
three
points of energy and roll vs. IQ. Success yields 3d ounces of Mud.
Druidism and
Lycanthropy
The
druidic philosophy does not hold with lycanthropy as the heinous curse
that the Mitraen faith sees it. To the druids it is an affliction if it
is unwanted and uncontrollable, but it can be a benefit as well.
Through special mnemonic training and discipline a druid, or anyone
else with lycanthropy, can learn to control the change and retain
control of their actions while changed. It is a MVH skill that requires
much practice to learn.
The
major disadvantage of lycanthropy, to a druid, is that the ability
precludes ever being a Caretaker or Healer, since it is impossible to
sustain the vows of vegetarian and ‘shall not kill,’ while in the form
of a wolf or bear. It is possible to refrain from slaughtering every
living thing you meet, but the innate urge of the predator cannot be
denied, only directed.
