The Druids

The Druids of Ancient Locus: Echoes of a Lost Communion

 

A Concise Account of their Genesis, Practices, and Tragic Transformation

 

I. Of Primeval Communion and Nature's Embrace:

  In the dim and distant ages of Locus, long before the rise of God-Kings and the shadow of Empire, there existed a people set apart: the Druids. Know them not as rulers or conquerors, but as seekers, individuals drawn to the profound and verdant mysteries of the natural world. They were, in essence, the first philosophers and mystics of Locus, their wisdom rooted not in dusty tomes, but in the rustling leaves of ancient forests and the murmuring currents of pristine streams.   These Druids, in their primeval practice, sought a communion most profound with Nature itself. They believed the natural world to be imbued with a latent sentience, a vast and unknowable intelligence that whispered secrets to those who would but listen. Through secluded contemplation in sacred groves, through rituals performed under the watchful gaze of ancient stars, they sought to attune their minds to this cosmic harmony, to glean divine insight and guidance from the very heart of Locus itself.  

II. Of Intelligent Worship and a Perilous Innovation:

  In their pursuit of Nature's wisdom, the Druids inadvertently pioneered a path most perilous: intelligent worship. Unlike the later Symbologists, who would turn their reverence towards abstract ideals and inanimate forms, the Druids, in their early practices, directed their devotional currents towards beings they perceived as possessing a heightened sentience – though, in their nascent understanding, these beings were not yet mortal men, but rather the spirits and intelligences they discerned within the natural world.   This form of worship, though initially conceived as a means to deepen their connection with Nature, laid the groundwork for a fateful shift. For in venerating any intelligence, however ethereal or nature-bound, they unwittingly opened a conduit for power to flow not just from Nature, but through sentient beings.  

III. Of Transformation and the God-Kings' Ascendancy:

  Alas, as is oft the lamentable course of history, noble intentions may pave the road to unintended ruin. Over time, the focus of worship subtly shifted once more. The followers of the Druids, witnessing their leaders' apparent communion with the divine, their growing wisdom and subtle power, began to conflate the vessel with the source.   Devotion, initially directed towards the spirits of Nature through the Druids, began to be redirected towards the Druids themselves. They became not mere intermediaries, but objects of veneration in their own right. And as the currents of worship flowed towards them, so too did power accrue, transforming the Druids, gradually and irrevocably, into beings far removed from their humble origins.  

IV. Of Revolution and Erasure:

  Thus, did the Druids, through the unintended consequence of intelligent worship, ascend to the perilous heights of God-Kings. Yet, as we have chronicled, their reign was not to last. The Non-Believers, recognizing the inherent danger of such veneration, rose in revolt, and in the cataclysm of the Year of Dissolution, the God-Kings were cast down.   In the aftermath of this revolution, the Druids, and their perilous innovation of intelligent worship, were systematically erased from the annals of Locus. Their temples were dismantled, their histories suppressed, their very memory deemed a threat to the newly established order. The practice of followership itself, so central to their rise and fall, was proscribed, a stark warning against the dangers of misplaced devotion and the seductive allure of earthly divinity.   Thus, the tale of the Druids serves as a cautionary echo from the distant past, a testament to the subtle and often unforeseen consequences of even the most well-intentioned spiritual endeavors. Their legacy, though largely expunged from official histories, lingers still, a silent reminder of the perils of intelligent worship and the ever-present threat of tyranny, both divine and mortal.