Druids

The Druids are the priests of the Inisfalli Religion. They are supported by donations from the people, patents, and inventions created by the Druidic scholars, payment for healing services, musical performances, and loot gained from the Greed Cleansings. They are the primary source of pure academia in the Inisfall Confederacy. The Druids stand for all that is their religion, as well as the well-being of the Confederacy.

They are subject to a trial of their peers as any Inisfalli citizen would be.

Temples are typically lush gardens with a large tree in the center of the building, and many chambers for study and training. Some live in the forest and commune with nature. Artificers tend to live underground, experimenting on the unique materials they find and creating smithies within the caverns.

## Organization

The Druids have multiple Orders within them, and specializations within the Orders. These Orders are not set in stone and fluctuate through the centuries. The newest specialized Druids are Artificers.

Current Orders are:

* Mind (History, Philosophy, Sciences)
* Body (Military research, gene engineering of plants and animals)
* Spirit (Sacrifice, Divination, Political/Religious manipulation)
* Art (Poetry, Music, Ceramics)
* Artifice (Engineering)

The Druids are also split into two large castes: The Highborn (went through the Initiation Ceremony) and The Outsiders (those who joined after the appropriate age, usually ex-Collective drones).

A High Druid is democratically elected by the Druids and serves until their death, whereupon a new High Druid is elected. The High Druid has no powers other than to arbitrate on issues that the Druids are torn on. The first time this was ever needed was during the Collective controversy.

## Initiation and Children

During the winter solstice, all children who have undergone their tenth Spin (a reference to the Seasonal Axis) are brought to a private ceremony with the children and a Druid of each Order. Children who have shown an aptitude for druidic talents are taken away for the Initiation. During the Initiation, the initiates are fed plants and breathe in incense that wipe their memories and heighten their awareness. This is known as "teaching them to see with druid eyes". The initiate no longer retains memory of anything before they were Chosen, and is taught under a Druid for many years until they demonstrate maturity and proficiency.

An Initiate becomes a full Druid after they complete the final ceremony. This involves being led blindfolded to the end of a cavern, and then navigating through the pitch darkness back to the entrance. Escaping the cave requires solving puzzles and reading Hekos script inscribed on the walls using their hands.

### Marriage and Offspring

Druids are prohibited from marrying non-Druids, or bearing non-Druidic offspring. In order to prevent genetic defects from Druidic pairings among close genetic family, Druids have an archive of all of their individual genealogies.

The children of Druids are given to the populace (usually the poor) and are considered a great blessing on the family that accepts them.

## Funding

As a means of indirect tax, Druid scholars collect information on science and technology and sell it back to the community. As a religious duty, some members are dedicated to fields that would keep the Druids free of debt. This duty encompasses their entire lives. In a limited capacity, Druids also offer goods and services.

Druids have also been known to extort wealthy families, threatening to take away their children if a sufficient offering isn't given. Druids sometimes also 'sell' Druidic offspring rather than give them to families that need intellectual infusion.

## Druids and the Outside World

The Inisfall Confederacy is nearly entirely comprised of free-thinking individualists that loathe even the most mild form of governmental power. The Druids have always known that such a relationship will naturally break; even the most tentative alliance would shatter given time. For this the Druids sought out a means to keep the Inisfalli people united. Global studies determined that the Goran, Tallet  and Circle as the most totalitarian states in the world.

### Gor

The Goran are ideologically monsters to the Inisfallans. However, they are too far away to be a viable threat. The Druids keep a close eye on the civilization, but Gorans are more of a legend than something that really exists.

### Tallet Empire

The Tallet are a real and viable threat to the Inisfalli. The citizens of Inisfall are most fearful of the Tallet, but the Druids purposefully manipulate the population to keep tensions to a minimum. Direct attacks against the Tallet may result in the loss of their entire civilization, and so the Druids avoid raising public outcry to not attract the attention of the Inisfalli to the Tallet legions.

### The Circle/"Collective"

The Circle is not known to expand with violent means like the Goran or Tallet, rather via the use of propaganda. This unique form of conquest was noticed by the Druids early on, but they were unsure of how to deal with this threat. Years of arguments tore apart the Druids, these debates secret from the rest of the Inisfalli - save for the Skathak hired to conduct espionage on the Circle. Some Druids, having studied the Circle so much and intrigued by their ways, left to join the Circle. As a response to this, other Druids hired Skathak to assassinate the traitors to ensure that no Inisfalli information fell into the hands of the enemy. This behavior provoked more leaving, more assassinations, turning into a shadow war. Eventually, the High Druid made a final decision to end this conflict.

The official position became that collectivism ruled by a small group was slavery. Exclusively calling the Circle the Collective, the Druids created a straw man for the public to face. Not only did the ideology of anti-collectivism protect Inisfall from future indoctrination by the Circle, it created a sense of nationalism and reinvigorated the peoples' religious zeal. They all had an enemy to hate.

### The Family Hearth

Over the years the Druids found they were not alone. When the Family Hearth and the Circle began the Trade War, Inisfalli nationals became harbingers of the cause. The Wild Ones saw it is as their religious duty to help the Family Hearth to safeguard the freedom of the world.

### Exildun and the Establishment of the Liberation Force

Years after the establishment of the Family city of Exildun, the Druids discovered a new means to enhance the Confederacy. The Druids noticed that the Family Hearth was already accepting emigrants from the Circle, and so they encouraged a mass immigration of Inisfalli to Exildun. After the first wave of immigrants, they installed a proper Druidic council to directly oversee and tend to the growth of the city.

Establishing the Liberation Force served two purposes. The obvious, and public, reason being that Collective drones could be taken and utilized for the good of the Confederacy. But what is not said outside the hallowed halls of a Druidic temple, is that the most fervent, zealous Inisfalli needed to be removed from the main city-states to maintain public order and stability. The Inisfalli that comprise the population of Exildun are the most radical that the people have to offer - and so live far, far away from the city-states of their origin.

Over the course of many years the Druids of Exildun have used the majority of their funding to create a system of immigration that was functionally identical to the Inisfalli ward of the state. This system would take care of the “drones” but not give them the luxuries of the capitalist world. Inisfalli were encouraged by the Order to adopt skilled drones as apprentices and to have them transported back to an Inisfalli city-state.

However, a drone discovered with a high intelligence and aptitude for the sciences was never given such a privilege. These scientific drones were captured by the order and transported deep into the groves of the Druids. Here, using a variety of mind-altering techniques, they would reeducate the drones to produce new science, technology, and inform the Druids of everything they know of the Collective.