Ausíren (aw-SIE-ren)

Ausíren are selected by Druí or the Drumohr when the Druí Roth Mohr has need for more Druí (which is often, at a minimum when Druí are lost to age or misfortune, but also when the circle is stretched thin.)

Candidates are considered at a young age. Usually between 11 and 14 years (by Bryndffolk meaurements, other peoples with different longevity will, of course have more or less years) with rare exceptions for younger or older children. Once selected, and if the assent is given by the candidate, their community or family, they are initiated, given the title Ærkakh, and apprenticed to a Druí or Drumohr.

To become an Ausíren, one must be capable of learning how to read and write, have connection with the spirits of nature, and a talent for magic. A prospective candidate should also have an eager, curious mind, but not so much experience as to limit their imagination as to what is possible. The demands of apprenticeship are great, and thus, a candidate needs to be healthy and hale enough to endure the long days of study, travel and service that is asked from them, while, once initiated remaining strong enough to pass the Trials of the Greenlife and the Hornking.

The Ausíren, should they be deemed suitable for candidacy, must also be affirmed by the Druí and Drumohr of the circle which discovered them. The circle of the Druí Roth Mohr will assess the young candidate, test them, and then convene amongst themselves, casting divinations and auguries of the spirits. Should they be satisfied, and unanimously choose to initiate the candidate, then the new Ærkakh is apprenticed to a mentor Druí.

When a candidate is chosen, they are subjected to a ritual beneath the first full moon which rises. During this ritual, they are bound to oaths, pledge loyalty to the Druí Roth Mohr, and must sever any bonds of family and community with their former life. They are formally adopted into the Druí Roth Mohr, who become their new family, even if they should fail to take, or pass the Trial of the Greenlife and Hornking. An Ausíren is forever treated as family among the Druí Roth Mohr. Finally, an Ausíren's mentor Drui, shaves their head clean and gives them the name that they will be known as until they become Druí themselves.

Ausíren have a unyeilding and demanding life. They are taught and tested nearly every waking hour of every day. Much of their early training is folded into serving the sacred stone circle and their elder Druí too aged or infirm to bear the constant travel their calling demands. The Ausíren do seemingly mundane chores, mending clothes, preparing food, cleaning and attending to their elders' needs, all these chores contain lessons about the skills and lore they will need to serve as a Druí themselves. During this period, the elder Druí are exacting and demanding, making their Ausíren repeat each service asked of them until they perform the task without flaw.

Ausíren rise each day before the elders, and will not find sleep until long after the elders rest. They have no free time, and in the scant hours after the elders have taken to sleep, the Ausíren is burdened with endless study, studies that they will be quizzed on when the elders rise again in the morning.

After an Ausíren's first year, if the elders consider them ready, their studies of druidic magic begin. They are taught simple spells, introduced to some of the more friendly spirits of the Land and the animals who live off it. Slowly, over the next two or three years, the focus of an Ausíren's training shifts from acting as a servant for the elders, to assisting in the rituals and magic of the circle. While the exacting demands remain acute, Ausíren during this time have come to understand the need to be careful with every detail since they are dealing directly with spirits and casting real magic.

After the Ausíren is deemed ready, they become apprenticed to their Druí mentor. As companion with their Druí mentor, they are allowed freedom and discretion in their studies. They travel with their mentor, attending them on their journey together as an assistant and companion. At the beginning of this apprenticeship, they continue to learn the skills they will need when they become Druí themselves. They serve their mentor by applying the skills and lore they learned in their time at the circle, seeing how what had been instruction and training is vital knowledge for survival for a life of travel. As they approach the time where they will be evaluated for their worthiness to take the Trial of the Greenlife and Hornking, Ausíren are regularly sent on tasks they are expected to accomplish on their own without their mentor's help. The relationship between mentor and Ærkakh at this stage is very similar to being comrades with only the obvious age difference identifying who is the Ærkakh and who is a Druí.

An Ausíren's responsibilities are very straightforward in principle. That being learn. There is lore, rites, diplomacy, names of people, places, spirits and gods, there is the secret language shared only among the Druí, survival skills, healing of people, animals, beasts, even the land itself. For their entire time as an Ausíren, they are constantly studying, learning and practicing. Preparing for the Trial of the Greenlife and Hornking they will face at the end of their training.