Order of the Sacred Bough

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The Order of the Sacred Bough is the dominant druidic order in the Duchy. Their true name is "Ord� Croibhe", but nobody speaks the old tongue except the druids anymore. The Order of the Sacred Bough counts approximately 280 druids in their brotherhood, with 190 of them in the Duchy.

Druidic organization
Structure
Culture
Worship
History
Politics
- Relations with other groups
Notable persons

Druidic organization

Druids in (world) divide the continent into regions, which they refer to as their "domains". These domains generally hold little congruence to normal political boundaries, more commonly divided along mountain ranges, or in two cases, centered on locations of massive natural magic. Each domain is the home to a circle of druids, and members of a circle hold themselves responsible for the well-being of the wilderness in their area, and the pursuit of balance between humanity and nature.

Some circles are more authoritative than others, but even the strictest of circles tends to be maddeningly informal to the priests of most organized religions. No matter how authoritative they are, however, the druids will work towards the the best interest of the circle they belong to (and thus, the best interests of the land in their realm).

A single Great Druid leads each circle. Under the Great Druid are four Archdruids, and sixteen Druids (capital D, different from small-d druids), then varying numbers of Initiates below them. Each druid will know the name of the Great Druid of their order, most of the Archdruids, and the Druid that they are blooded too. Beyond that, they rarely know or operate with the other Initiates, except in their immediate area, or at Moots.

Moots are grand gatherings of all the druids of a circle, and the locations and times of them are kept secret from all that are not in the circle, although in some cases delegations from the elves, rangers, or other fey will be invited. At a Moot, all the druids can discuss issues of concern and happenings in their domains, and decisions are made for the circle as a whole.

The circle that is present in the Grand Duchy of Haukmoor is the Order of the Sacred Bough, and their domain covers the Grand Duchy, the Elven lands and the Earldom to the west, the Barbarian lands to the north, and nominally to the eastern mountain ranges. Their practical influence does not extend much further than the western shores of the Tramnicht River, due to losses suffered at the hands of the unmen and certain mysterious allies of theirs.

Structure

Druidic circles are conceptually structured in terms of concentric circles - at the center is the Great Council, surrounted by the Druidic Circle. Outside that is the Inner Circle, then the Middle Circle, then the Outer Circle, then the Fringelings.

Great Council

The Great Council is the center of power, headed by the Great Druid and comprised of the Great Druid and the Archdruids.

Druidic Circle

Sixteen Druids hold the positions of the Druidic Circle, and they oversee the initiations of new members, and concern themselves with the function of the Order itself. They all will have Sanctums located in places of great power near ley lines or the intersections of them, and despite the fact they almost never travel, they are amazingly well-informed of happenings in their areas and in constant communication with their bretheren.

When they are stirred to action, their influence is massive indeed, with their levels of 16 or higher granting them powers to shape the environment around them to their will.

The sixteen are ranked between each other as well. TODO: decide on ranking

Inner Circle

Members of the Inner Circle are generally fairly high level - 11th to 15th level or higher. They travel infrequently, and tend to have sanctums in an area of virgin wilderness that they spend much of their time at. When they do travel, it is to meet with political rulers of the area to exercise their influence, or to go to the Moot. Not all spend the bulk of their time at their sanctums, but they will return there whenever they can to contemplate nature, to escape from the demands of humanity, or to protect the area that the sanctum is in.

Middle Circle

Those of the Middle Circle are middling level - 6th to 10th level, or thereabouts. Often, they are responsible for and protectors of small geographic areas (a set of hills, a river valley, a swamp, a section of forest, etc). They act as intermediaries between the Inner and Outer circles, and travel their areas regularly. These are the most powerful druids that most people and minor nobles will ever see.

Outer Circle

The Outer Circle is the lower level, initiates and newcomers. They either rarely travel (hedge druids), or travel constantly (adventuring, or questing druids). Hedge druids can be found most often near a human habitation, watching over it and guiding their steps to be more in tune with nature. They will often serve the habitations as veterinarians, gardeners, herbalists, etc. Since they are responsible for that area, they usually do not travel except to the Moot.

Questing druids seek out imbalance and look to right it, either on their own drive or at the behest of the councils. When they arrive at human habitations, they can act as travelling doctors or advisors, or else help the local hedge druid.

Fringelings

Fringelings are those not ordained in the Order, but who worship the nature gods, and are kin to the Order. One could think of them as an auxiliiary.

Culture

The Druidic orders prize the balance of nature - life and death, winter and summer, hunter and prey. Accordingly, they usually comport themselves in moderation, taking the view that hasty actions are likely to be imbalancing more often than not, and waiting to act until a measured, calculated decision can be made.

The Order of the Sacred Bough trys very hard to walk the balanced line, even between the Unmen and the Men. Truly, many of them don't believe there is a distinction between the two - both are simply different sides in a political struggle, and neither the Unmen or the Men should be favored. History makes this harder to practice, however, as the Unmen have been known to be even more destructive in their raping of the lands when they conquer, and have never been known to leave druids alone when putting populations to the sword.

Worship

Most druids worship Old Savvin, god of nature and forests, although some do worship others.

Those who worship Draga, goddess of seasons, are known as Cyclicals, and often have a tattoo of a four-part circle on their forehead or forearms.

Solarites worship Tethin, God of the Sun. They are almost always involved in the construction of stoneworks to track the sun.

Yvainites worship Yvain, God of the Moon. As Yvain is widely viewed as evil, they are regarded with distaste and distrust, tolerated only because of the balance they achieve against the Solarites.

There are also some who are viewed in a semi-heretical fashion, who refuse to worship Old Savvin and instead claim to worship nature directly as a force.

Regardless of the exact flavor of their worship, the druids tend to be fairly informal in their beliefs. There are no long liturgies, lengthy sacred texts, or recitals of prayers, just common chants, praises, and sacrifices. The most complex and formal proceedings that they have are for midsummer and midwinter, and the solstices. These are the ceremonies where druids gather according to ranks in their regions, and perform the ancient rites, handed down through the ages.

History

Politics

Most in the Duchy believe that the Order is on their side, which is not entirely correct. The Order is on the side of Nature and Balance, and from three hundred years past until now, the prevailing opinion has been that the best way to mitigate the impact of Man on Nature is to work closely with the Duchy to guide it's steps.

The growth of the industrial center of Guthmannshausen? is starting to cause many of the Order to doubt this, or to doubt that they have enough influence. Some feel that the Duchy should be left to fend for itself, while others think that even closer ties will get the influence and control that is needed to stop the spread of pollution, and a very small few say in quiet, hushed tones that perhaps the Unmen would be better partners....

The Great Council is currently publically in favor of the Duchy, but rumors abound that it may be looking to gather more information from all sides at this time.