The Druids
Mythology
Druids, unlike priests and clerics, do not worship deities.
Their belief is that the world has a single large entity, Nature.
Nature in turn, consists of an infinite amount of Spirits that
form every fabric of material in the world. Druids, due to their
close relationship with nature as a whole, are said to be able to
communicate with these spirits, - and to ask favours of them.
In turn, druids nurture their surroundings in an effort to keep
the spirits healthy, so that nature remains clean and balanced.
Spirits range from small primitive spirits found in droplets of
water or a pebble, to large evolved spirits found in animals and
mankind. The most evolved spirits are called sentient spirits,
and are said to exist with an awareness of their own, and the power
to affect other spirits with their very presence. The druids look
upon all the deities, major and minor, as the oldest and most
evolved of these sentient spirits.
The different sentient spirits affect their neighbouring “lesser”
spirits in different ways. Some of them, like Tharandil and Dualdin,
do so in a way that is generally accepted by druids. Others have lost
their way, and have become egocentric and greedy. Instead of living in
coexistence with other spirits, they manipulate them, and abuse their
favours. Some druids are known to also judge magicians this way.
One sentient spirit, Bhaal, became so obsessed with the powers he had,
that he went from manipulating other spirits, to enslaving them, using
their favours until their death. In so doing, he created unlife, which
Bhaal fuelled with his own powers stolen from living spirits. As a
consequence of this, all undead beings and followers of Bhaal inanely
draw their energy from living spirits, surrounding themselves with death.
Needless to say, the undead, and followers of Bhaal are a druids’ archenemy.
Non-druids have discussed what this nature entity could be, and speculations
point in the direction that the Druids might worship AO himself. However,
druids dismiss this claim
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