Druidic Paganism

Belief structure

Druids and Bards are wandering Priests to the Pagan communities and towns that scatter the south. Pagans believe in a pantheon of Gods and collection of stories that make up Druidic Paganism. Different places will have importance placed on different Gods of the pantheon and have shrines and temples tended by priests who look to the Druids and Bards for leadership and news.

Church structure

The formal Church structure is made up of the Druid Council who sits in Separdishe, they are made up of the eleven oldest and wisest Druids and eight oldest Bards. The Merlin who ratifies the decisions of the council heads the Council.

Below them are the wandering Druids and Bards. Druids are priest to the All-Father (below) as well as spokesmen for all gods (full description of powers and beliefs under the All-father), Bards are Priests to Althours, God of boundaries and limits (below) but spread the stories of all gods and Paganism (full description of powers and beliefs under Althours)

Then are the Settled Druids and Bards, priests who have given up travel and oversee ceremonies in one area.

Lastly come the temple priests who oversee one temple and one God. Their powers and beliefs will be listed under each God.

Pagan stories of Creation and Times to come

These are the basic stories of the Pagans, like Norse, Greek, and Celtic pantheons there are many more stories but these for the core beliefs.

The First Age, the Age of Gods

In the beginning was formless void and fourteen beings with no knowledge of their world or themselves, then came another and as it touched each being it gained knowledge of the being and it self, and another was formed, so the oldest came into being.

The Oldest are the Changer, or the All-father, god of magic and change, and wisdom.

Granish, Wasteland, God of hardship and starvation,

The Horned God, King of the wild places and Lord of all Hunters,

Althours, God of Boundaries and edges, prince of stories and possibilities,

Lorial Cloud Goddess of the Skies and rains,

Whahish Wind, Lord of Travel and controller of the four winds,

Xanch, Wraith, Goddess of Angry and wanton destruction,

Lobhanth Greed, Goddess of desire and want,

Morp, Insanity, Goddess of Delirium and Madness,

Dampsie-Drime Pride, God of arrogance and Hubris,

The unnamed God of Chaos, God of unrestrained possibility,

Slash Pain, Goddess of hurt and folly,

Chronos Time, God of what will be and the passage of the ages,

Magrid, Lord of the other realm, watcher of the unborn and the dead,

Illanden Star, Goddess of the night skies and secrets,

Tran, Forest, God of Woods and Jungle,

Courex, Goddess of the Earth and fertility

N’joral Thunder, chosen son of the All-father,

Shramest Ocean, God of the endless seas,

Seig War, God of conflict and violence,

Smithal Metal, God of Ore and metal work,

Lusturia, Queen of the Moon, patron of thieves and lovers,

The Dragon, King of all fires and reptiles,

Thosite Wisdom, God of what can be known and what is forgotten,

Soliurs, God of the Sun,

The three faced Goddess of Destiny, and

Artuim, Death, the only God who can step beyond what Althours lies down.

Also at this time from a combination of Chaos and Time came the first offspring of the Gods, Tobius-Loch Trickster and as the first he was loved by all and became blood brother to the All-Father.

As each God and Goddess came into form so did there element of influence and all was alive and full of energy.

The gods walked the earth and where the earth, they felt for the first time and many feel in love, from the first pairings came the Second Gods,

Soliurs and Slash produced Heconate, the Blind Goddess of justice, and Horhelm God of Honor.

Shramest and Courex produced Lilth the river Goddess.

The unnamed God and Lusturia produced the blind God of Love, Entrell.

Smithal and Lobhanth produced the God of Wealth Misare, who looked to his mother for guidance.

Tran and Granish produced Steepe, God of the Plaines

[Death tricked]

Tobius-Loch stole Artuim’s face, leaving Artuim with just a skull and eyes, and fashioned them into Art-Loch with some of his blood. Art-Loch can pass anywhere as Artuim and became God of Shadows and Messenger of the Gods.

The Second Age, the Age of Life.

[Creation of life]

Then the Three-Faced Goddess revealed a great secret and with The Horned God produced the first non-Gods to walk the earth, they where the Tuatha De Danann, the First houses of the Fey made up of the Daoine Shidhe, the Formori, the Gwragedd Annwn, and the Oisin Shide. And these creatures where immortal and beautiful to the eye but the Three-Faces Goddess called for balance and with Chronos created the Furies to play out the span of all living creatures.

The Furies created the Banshee and the Sirens to help them in their tasks.

The Horned God created all the wild animals that stalk the earth.

Tran created the plants that grow on the earth

[The first Demons]

Xanch, Lobhanth, Morp, Dampsie-Drime, The unnamed God, and Slash were so thrilled by these non-gods that they all begin creating with little rhyme or reason.

For eons the Fey and the Demons lived together in peace.

[The Prophecies]

Then the Three-Faced Goddess proclaimed that only two races would live forever dieing only by violence, The Fey being the first and Second yet to come. Also the race of the Changer shall have three kings and those three kings will set the bounds and ways for all.

[The First Rift]

Xanch, Lobhanth, Morp, Dampsie-Drime, The unnamed God, and Slash where appalled and claimed that their children would live forever in the flesh of the other Gods creations and left for Stormbrill with the Demon Kind at their heels.

Despite the leaving of Xanch, Lobhanth, Morp, Dampsie-Drime, The unnamed God, and Slash, now called the lords and Ladies of Stormbrill. The other gods where pleased and all wanted to be the creator of the other immortal race.

Courex created the Dwarves.

Granish created the Orcs and the Goblins.

The Dragon created others in his image, but even these dragons where not immortal but had lives onto the centuries. So The Dragon created the Elder to fill the gap between Dragons and other creatures.

Shramest created the Kraken, and the fish of the oceans and rivers, and lakes.

The All-Father created Man, but while they would set the boundaries they where not immortal,

Steepe and Lilth produced Aryn, goddess of Lakes.

The All-Father and Thosite took two humans and placed in their lines the seeds of the Merlin and the Three Kings.

Then Illanden and the Dragon created the second Immortal race, the Elves and charged them to protect the bounds set by the three Kings and hold back Demon kind.

The Third Age, The Age of Heroes

As the races spread over the world Strombrill spread on to the world in the growing chaos. Needing a way to bring forth the first King Aryn took an Elvin lover and created the Lady of the Sword who would know the Kings and Arm them.

[The great betrayal]

Tobius-Loch tricked the All-Father into creating the monsters that crawl the dark places of the earth, and was punished [Death’s revenge]. From this betrayal little pockets of Strombrill remain upon the land.

Entrell and Illanden had two children, Myros, Goddess of Lust, and Eros, Goddess of Romance.

The Kraken created the Merrow, and the Sea Serpents.

Lusturia took a human lover and the son stole fire from the Dragon and gave it to the world.

Seig took a human lover and Hurcal god of Strength was born.

Tran took a dwarven lover and the first Gnomes and Halflings where born.

Smithal took an orcish lover and the first Ogres where born.

Steepe took a human lover and the horse lord was born, and the first Centaurs where born.

[The Second Rift]

In the thickening chaos Orcs, Ogres, and Goblins split and started to war.

Soon the Fey also split, as did the Elves and Dwarves.

[The First King}

As all looked lost the Lady of the Sword armed the First King and he lead his armies over the earth setting things right, in the war fare the Formori, the Gwragedd Annwn, and the Oisin Shide where destroyed of driven from the earth as where the Demons.

Orcs, Goblins and Ogres where put in the wastelands.

Elves where placed in the forests.

Dwarves where placed under the mountains.

Fey where placed under lakes and hills.

Gnomes where placed in the forests.

Halflings where placed on the plains.

Demons where pushed back to Stormbrill.

The Gods where sent to Shanal.

And peace reigned

The Fourth Age, The Age of Gold.

[The Third Rift]

Thing progressed in peace and prosperity but the small holes to Stormbrill allowed the Lords of Strombrill access to the world and the Gods could only talk through Priests and Druids.

Slowly the Lords of Strombrill pushed man into dangerous knowledge that allowed the Demons hold on the minds of mankind.

[The Second King]

The second King was armed but instead of listening to his Merlin and finding the Caulk of Creation and blocking Strombrill from the earth he allowed more knowledge to seep through.

The Fifth age, The Age of Bronze.

[The Great Rift]

For this age the non-human races dwindled and where nearly forgotten in the human’s race for evil knowledge. In their pride they build massive fortress to their greed and evil where they thought the gods could no longer see them and Strombrill increased it’s hold with demons coming into the bodies of the living and the monsters in the dark started to stir again.

To stop the world being dragged into Stormbrill the gods unleashed the power of the Dragon to whip the world clean.

The Sixth Age, The Age of Fire.

[The Cleansing]

Through this age man hide and the other races ascended. Stormbrill toke a hold but was contained.

[Lore of the Skies]

The power of the Dragon is unleashed and with Lorial and Illanden vow that only creatures with wings will be allowed in the skies and any demon engine will be struck down.

The Seventh Age, The Age Of Iron.

The current age, where people fight off Stormbrill and hope for the Final King to follow the advice of the Merlin’s and heal the world for all time.

Gm notes

For each child, creation, and sentence there will be an entire story, this is the way of the druids. Have them made up by players but keep the overall themes and remember that the next Great King is coming.

Elves and the other races and religions do not share these beliefs. In fact the elves are totally amused by this new religion and how defines an elvin history that none of the elves happen to remember.

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