Matt, The Druid

"Look upon this world, look upon it and see the truth. There we see the 'invaders', bringing their technology and shunning the gods. Are they wrong? Have they not proven the merit of their ways via survival alone? A simple turn of your head and you'll face the magical 'masters' of this world. All safe and secure in their impossible city, the very laws of the world bending to their whim? Are they not the ultimate truth of this world by merit of their power?

Last, I ask you to look down and place your palm against the ground. Yes...you feel it don't you? Suffering, misery, but look deeper. Fear not, even here you'll find yourself safe to embrace the land fully. There, you feel it, what hides beneath all of this. Wrath. The land has a grudge against those fools who seek to destroy it, to control it, as it should. So ask yourself this, initiate, are we really the abominations that the other circles claim we are? Or are we simply the natural response of a world that is sick? Sick, and tired, or tolerating these....heretics..." -An elder druid of the Wargrove guiding an initiate in their studies.

## History

For centuries, Matheraugh Tor Dalkammin, or better known as Matt has existed as a member and often leader of the Circle Ouroboros in his multiple reincarnations. Each time he rose it was clear his role in the circle, to be a symbol of nature's wrath given flesh, to bring destruction and change to those that transgressed upon the natural world. Each passing in the cycle however revealed something to the druid. While his mind would be born anew his soul did touch upon the Umbral Wood again and again until finally he was drawn to seek it out. For years he walked upon those woods, hearing whispers and haunting temptations that would've driven a weaker willed man to insanity. But for Matt there was nothing so simple as madness, not the embrace of insanity, instead he began to stumble upon a truth that at first he could not accept, that no druid could accept, but as he moved from this twisted land and back it only became more obvious.

The cycle was not as simple as all were taught. There was life, there was death, there was rebirth, but now he had to accept the existence of undeath.

The truth had always been there but when viewed through the twisted, disgusted works of these 'necromancers' walking the world it was no wonder he had seen them with only hatred. Not that the hatred had faded in the least, for the truth being shown to him was found only by listening to the endless rage of nature itself. Even in the Umbral Wood he could feel his personal connection with nature and draw strength from it to carry on. Thus the young druid meditated, thus he trained and learned. As time passed his presence in the Umbral Wood drew the attention of both those who resided there and the Circle Ouroboros, some likewise finding and accepting the same truth that Matt had found and others becoming somewhat of an issue. But in the end the avatar of nature's wrath and those with him proved the stronger, surviving the strange conflict and claiming a section of the Umbral Wood for their own.

Once more the druid passed from this cycle, succumbing to wounds he'd taken in the conflict and not returning for dozens of years after in a rather unusual manner. Rather than born anew Matt had risen from the ground, his body that of a child for sure but able to stand and speak. His mind had not been cleaned, not entirely, for though his connection to nature had to begin anew he had retained his memory of the previous life and more importantly what he had experienced during the rebirth part of the cycle. Normally one would be alone for this but Matt had been, invited, by a rather unusual being. It was his embrace of undeath into the great cycle that had allowed Matt to commune with the first of the undead, Urgathoa, and over the course of those decades forge a pact that saw him reborn in service of the Pallid Princess. He did not hide his new loyalty from the Circle Ouroboros upon his rebirth, something that should have meant his immediate execution, however the Circle had been in the Umbral Wood for quite some time and had not only grown but embraced a number of interesting new deities into something of a pantheon. Urgathoa stood among others of the darker side of divinity, Zon-Kuthon and Vecna making up something of the highest trinity of those who held power in the Umbral Wood.

After once more growing to adulthood and once more establishing his connection with nature proper Matt left the Umbral Wood. He didn't request anyone follow, not that he had the strength at the time to demand it of anyone either, and when questioned where he was going he couldn't give a real answer. It was where the natural world wanted its wrath to be known, he couldn't hide in this realm any longer. However, when the time came, when the might of the Circle Ouroboros was needed to restore balance in the world, he would call, and he expected them to answer.

## Appearance

In his current reincarnation Matt is on the taller end of the human spectrum, standing six foot five and stacked with lean muscle from a life of living in the harsh conditions of the wild. Possibly as a result of his druidic practices he has some more beastial features such as short tusks protruding up past his bottom teeth and a fierce look in the eyes even at rest. Certainly as a result of many hunts, fights, and otherwise dangerous situations he had collected a number of scars around his body that are strangely easy to remember the story of how he came to have each. Out of a habit that seemed to have followed him through his incarnations Matt tends to keep his face shaven and black hair on his head cut short enough to not reach his shoulders.

## Personality

Druids in general don't come off as the warmest sorts to outsider and Matt is a perfect example of this. To most he simply looks down upon them, eyes holding something between disgust and disinterest while with the druids of other circles it might be softened to simply a look of disappointment. While tolerating the presence of others is simply a matter of exercising patience there are a rare few times when the druid actually comes to 'like' someone, even treating a few as friends or at the very least comrades. These individuals tend to have a similarly screwed up sense of humor as Matt himself, dry and often leading towards the darker end of comedy, with no end of sarcasm directed to those who have made the mistake of rousing the druid's ire.

## Loves

One should not assume such a vicious product of nature is without love for anything in the world. In fact, it is the world that is his first love. It had been the pain and anger he felt from the natural world that brought Matt down a path that many would call damnation. He however, can't imagine having ever chosen another path.

## Fears

Just as his love in this world goes to the world he serves, it has also become in his greatest and perhaps only fear. Seeing such destruction brought upon nature there would be no druid that wouldn't have even the smallest thought of what would happen should the world be damaged beyond repair. Such a thing would take a truly horrifying amount of time and effort...but it was a possibility. A possibility that Matt refuses to allow even if it means his ultimate destruction or worse.

## Hobbies

Though Matt considers his task in the world to be one of greatest importance he is not such a fool as to believe his work must be constant and tireless. There are always times when one must be patient, to wait for the right time and place, and his most time consuming task of hunting for food being child's play for a druid certain hobbies started to form. As a most basic of hobbies the druid has taken to carving simple figures form wood, finding the act oddly calming when done with hand and knife instead of his magic. He never keeps any of the products of this work, simply leaving them behind in whatever state he had gotten it to when the need to move on came around. While more of a vice than a hobby the druid is quite the avid drinker and is often far more polite to the staff of bars and taverns than he is practically anyone else.

## Family

Those of the Circle Ouroboros are treated as family, or at least as much of a family as a druid circle tends to be. But when out in the dangerous wilds or fighting against the many heretics in the land it is more than a small comfort to know that there are some druids out there he can trust to have his back.

## Enemies

Currently alot, though most won't know it.

## Aspirations

At the moment Matt's aspirations are rather simple. He wishes to check the advance of those who would destroy nature for their own benefit and, eventually, take back that which they had 'claimed' before giving them their just fate for such a crime. But that would be some time, Matt not one to underestimate what he's up against.

## The Circle Ouroboros

Among the many and varied druid circles in the land there are few more avoided, or even outright shunned by the other circles, as the Circle Ouroboros. Those of the circle are known to be some of the most abrasive towards other circles, seeing them as weak and cowardly in their ways, which considering the Ouroboros' strangely strong bond with nature it is hard if not impossible to argue with the druids. Those circles that do interact with them on a regular basis are often taught just to 'let' the Ouroboros assume their superior stance as it made all other interactions strangely civil. To outsiders the Circle Ouroboros were often seen as rather rude, though generally non-hostile unless they were first attacked or witnessed a crime against nature.

Since the majority of the circle made base in the Umbral wood their stance has somewhat changed. While interactions with other druid circles have become far more strained it is still rare that the Ouroboros begins any hostilities with them. With outsiders however they have become far more of a threat, at times treating small groups going through the woods as game to be hunted. Though for the time being these vicious encounters are restricted to those areas near the edge of the Umbral Wood.

Despite what changes may have taken to the circle they still hold to the three pillars that have defined them since their creation. Evolution, dominance and unity. The first pillar, evolution, refers to a constant need to advance and improve. This often leads to Ouroboros members delving into areas that other circles deem dangerous or even insane such as the tapping into of laylines that the more powerful of the Ouroboros have seemed to perfected for various uses. The pillar of dominance refers to the circle's belief that nature is ruled by the strong, changed by the strong, and if they wish to embrace nature truly then they must always seek to be the alpha predator of wherever they go. Lastly, the pillar of unity refers to the belief that the pursuit evolution and dominance is best when one embraces the pack mentality so often seen in nature. Such a union can only occur when absolute trust is given, thus never is does the pillar of unity extend outside the Circle Ouroboros