Wyldwood

See also: The Wild

The Wyldwood church believe they are the oldest religion. They believe in a world consciousness that is mostly at odds with the efforts of individualistic creatures and cultures that try to overcome and conquer the land rather than live within it.

They are the only formal religion on the North Island that specifically and directly speaks of the Elves existence before the Age of Chaos. A time when, according to the Druids, the first of the Elves defied the Gods of Saratan and were tempted by the Dark Spirits' whisperings of power.

In the eyes of the Wyld, all manifestations of power are suspect, and the gathering of mass strength is considered to be evil. While balance and moderation are most often the guide of the church, their anger has been known to hurl the powers of the earth at their enemies with a bestial ferocity that rivals the fury of the Dragons.

Wyldwood: Blessings and Salvation come from maintaining the balance between the needs of society and nature. There is no single supreme being that is worshipped, although there is a central figure (similar to Gaia) that is regarded as the bringer of life and tends to feature in any religious ceremony.,Worship tends to be directed to the world as a whole - with facets determined by situation. E.g. during harvest period, Wyldwood worshippers will often be directing their prayers to the sky, looking for good weather, for nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes animal totems feature highly, in more "civilised" settled societies the focus will be more on agricultural cycles.

Worshippers are found throughout the North Island and across all races with even a few Elves and Dark Elves coming around to the Druids' balanced approach to life. The church acknowledges no leader, choosing instead to share the responsibility and power equally amongst the faithful.

If the Wyldwood has a formal militaristic arm, it is represented by the Centaurs

There is an old theory once held by a small faction in the Church, their belief that the Elves were the true guardians of nature and the balance

## Religious Overview

### Generally Accepted Origins of the Faith

The oldest religion (or so it is claimed) on the North Island, Wyldwood is a worship of nature and the world itself (not quite Gaia), with a strong totemistic streak. Since the time of Chaos the religion has retrenched somewhat, becoming more and more introverted and isolationist. Whilst this should not be considered as weakness it does raise questions amongst non-worshippers (and even some of the faithful) as to whether the religion has a future.

### Worshipper Notes

Wyldwood worshippers are taught early on to focus heavily on self-reliance, civilization is an artificial construct that allows the weak to prosper, eventually sealing it’s own doom. That is not to say that Wyldwood will not cooperate with others, but such cooperation is on the understanding this is temporary. Of course to Wyldwood, “temporary” can cover a long timespan, for instance Wyldwood has been tolerating and cooperating with the Universal church for over 50 years in an ongoing campaign to contain and eventually eliminate the undead powers corrupting the North East of the island.

## Father

We now speculate (Day 101) if the Wyldwood deity may be bound to/living in the current The White Tree - see Quercuis' theories.

## Council and leaders

According to Bez Drock, the **Wyldwood** council is based in Stormhaven and Tobar – will now be mobilising for war.

There is a Guardian who is the equivalent of the First Sword of Shanah. Onwen was granted that honour in order for him to be able to hold together the unweaving of the GSOV.

Uil Treesoar is a troubleshooting druid for **Wyldwood** - he sits on the main council but as a non-voting member.

## Onwen's concerns

I do wonder what is happening within my church though, the Priests will be suspicious of the Druids simply because of the actions of a few idealistic fools, what is worse – in holding the Great Spell together – many of the Priests and Druids will not be aware of the root cause of this distrust. The schism could be dangerous, particularly when the Great Spell breaks down.

## Destruction of Far Haven Shrine

See: Shanah attack on Wyldwood Shrine

According to Bez Drock, the **Wyldwood** council approved the attack on the shrine.

It was 26 years ago that the First Sword of Shanah led an assault upon the Wyldwood Church, it took two days before the inner shrine was finally breached and with it fell all of the Priests and acolytes.

The site was reconsecrated to Shanah and named the “Temple of the Book”, and Shanah has been the dominant religion on Far Haven ever since. It is believed that some of the old library still exists, but the Shanah priesthood have to date refused entry to anyone.

**Note** *Despite the last comment, the Far Haven Factsheet goes on to say: "Once a Wyldwood temple, library and college, a while back it was sacked by the Shanah since when it has been a temple of the war god. Wyldwood worshippers are strictly forbidden any access to the temple although **others religions are allowed access to visit the old library** (or what is left of it)."*

According to Apana: *"I guess’n its common knowledge that for some reas’n or other Bez decided to trash their temple in Far Haven. He always was efficient, cleared it out and killed everyone there….. then a week later announces he is standing down as First Sword because he had failed in his mission. Kinda curious I guess, but’n I never have got to the bottom of what he meant by that.”*

According to Golderod: *“Now Shan and I have often discussed what happened at Far Haven, and have never really managed to achieve any insight into the reasons behind the conflict. However Shan did let slip one evening that he understood there to be a Wyldwood Priest, name of Ownen who was at the side of the First Sword and betrayed his fellow Priests. If the name is correct, then by coincidence – or possibly not – one of the head researchers at Far Haven was also known as Ownen.”*

Golderod also said: *"Bez Drock lost his position about 6 months after the attack. Current whereabouts unknown. Ownen’s situation is similarly unknown – he was an acolyte at the time of the pogrom so would be in late middle-age now.""*. This conflicts with Apana's account of Drock standing down a week after the attack - but maybe this could be explained by Apana having 'inside' knowledge of the Shanah First Sword, whereas Golderod only has 'public' knowledge.

## Relationship with The Wild

The Wild and **Wyldwood** appear to be distinct (but related) forces/religions.

The engraved stones in the Defiance appear to show figures turning away from the symbol representing the Wild (though with one figure looking back), and then the figures surrounding the symbol represent Wyldwood - the Oak tree.

The Spell of Voids appears to affect the Wild, but not Wyldwood.

The Brooch made Wyldwood druids feel 'uncomfortable' before it lost its potency (Avatar?) - in the same way that any other Avatar-containing symbol would be Cleric of an opposing religion feel uncomfortable.

## Orcish followers

According to Terfel: *"There are a couple of small Orcish Nomad tribes, and before you ask – they aren’t hostile no matter what people say. A couple of the Orcs I know are more devout **Wyldwood** followers than many centaurs. But they keep themselves to themselves."*

## Elven view of Wyldwood

Rasten is encouraging the **Wyldwood** to strengthen its presence within the city and has been making diplomatic overtures to nearby clans. Thus far these have been rebuffed;

A not very illuminating tract entitled Followers Of The Wild Wood was discovered during Research (Week 3).

A more revealing note is found in Council Record Fragment 2: *Of particular concern to myself is the degenerate sect being known as ‘Wyldwood’, I am hearing rumours of elements within our citizenry following this belief to the detriment of the glory of Hashandara.*

## The Wyldwood Pilgrimage

Many priests of the Wyldwood opt to undertake a pilgrimage across the Island to the key centres of worship. The key shrines in order of visitation are:

* Stormhaven – Shrine of Life
* Northlake – Shrine of Defiance
* Norport – Shrine of Morn
* Tobar – Shrine of Change
* Larston – Shrine of Evening
* Starport – Shrine of Dust
* The White Tree – Sacred Shrine (Assumed to be/have been at Far Haven

Of course, since only the upper echelons of the Wyldwood priesthood know where the White Tree is to be found, few priest complete this pilgrimage. For some reason it is regarded as very bad form to only complete five of the seven pilgrimages, although again why this should be so is known only to the high priests.

Uil Treesoar did admit that high level **Wyldwood**'s can transfer between the main temple sites (including unimportant secondary sites like Far Haven!) using “the trees” so Q. is of the view that there is some form of functioning shrine down there which can still be remotely accessed. However, the cover story is what we can expect from senior management and it might be better for us to stick with this in public.

There are stories that the Shrine at Far Haven petitioned to be included within the Wyldwood pilgrimage route, but these are probably false.

Explanation from Centaurs:

*“Only those who have completed six of the seven shrines will ever know where the White tree is situated, and those who have visited it will never reveal where it is. That is why completing only five of the shrines is regarded as ill omen, it implies that you never wanted to know where the White tree is – or that is how I understand it anyhow."*

For a description of the Northlake shrine, see Defiance.

### New Shrine in White Beach

According to Phinon from Day 103 - Open the box or take the money: “I am convinced that this tree is destined to replace one of the **Wyldwood** shrines. Somebody foresaw the destruction of one of the existing pilgrimage sites and the Church has obviously been preparing a replacement. Already the Oak is gaining in intelligence, and since none of us are on the Wyldwood pilgrimage it is not exactly being cooperative. I do wonder why it wants a sapling taken away though. No it isn’t the White Tree, but it is extremely powerful, so I would suggest that taking a branch might not be a good idea, unless you are willing to pay the price it asked, and given that the tree is developing a sense of humour…..of a sort….. well I would be careful about messing with it.”

### GroundTall's comments

Groundtall: "Y'now most people think that the pilgimage is simply a case of go from here to there, demonstrate your faith and the white tree will be revealed. If that were the case we would be up to our bloody necks in arch druids and high priests.... and in trying to force a balance we would undoubtedly break it."

Groundtall: "The one hint I can give you is that you should not simply set out on your own. Wyldwood will have noted your companions, whatever their faiths, beliefs and prejudices and they will be taken account of. Everything has a purpose....well apart from that bloody patch of nettles over there, been trying to grub that out for years. Beginning to think it is my personal challenge from the gods."

Groundtall: "Good luck.... there is no time limit...."

## Wyldwood Signs and Symbols

The Holy symbol of Wydwood is the Oak Tree.

On Day 103, Phinon reported back on the bard's Legend Lore on Onwen's destroyed mithril symbol:: *“In the normally encountered Wyldwood holy symbols the central tree is entwined with Ivy that then extents out into a circle around the symbol. Forming the familiar brooch shape. Now if you look closely, in this symbol the ivy has been replaced with a wild or climbing rose, and the forming of the symbol has gone so far as to simulate the thorns on the rose with little nicks that make the entwining vegetation quite rough to the touch, you might say prickly!”*

All shrines have a similar stone in them: *"An ancient stone, standing about 4’ tall in the depths of a dense patch of scrub. On the stone are inscribed figures of what would appear to be an Eagle, a Lion, a Snake, two Human(oid)s, and a Centaur surrounding a stylised Oak tree."*
 According to Q’Ran: *“The creatures on the stone, oh that is easy…. They represent the Ariel, the Maratasen, the Lizardmen, the Giants, the Trolls and obviously us."* He refers to these as the 'Elder Races'.

According to Uil Treesoar: *there are stories of some clans of all of the elder races staying with the Wild (not just some giants) through the schism. Q. - the Dark Hoof Centaurs tend to support this, therefore there will probably be Wild ariel, lizardmen, maratasen etc – something to look forward to.*

Golderod: “To be honest, I am not certain as to how long the stone you refer to has been here, it is certainly very old. Each of the 7 pilgrimage sites has a similar stone with identical engravings, although the one at The White Tree is noticeable older than the others. All are allowed to worship at the shrines although only the truly faithful are allowed entry to the inner sanctums, and so only followers of Wyldwood can complete the pilgrimage.”

...

Golderod leads you back to that central stone, then carefully he begins lifting away the moss and grass at its base. The stone obviously is taller that it first appears, just the base has become overgrown. There is another carving at the base of the stone, which shows a similar sign to that of the Brooch, there is also a repeat of the same figures all facing away from the sign, although one of the humanoids (the Giant) could appear to be **looking back**.

Golderod: “Strange isn’t it? I have no idea what this means, although I have always interpreted it as the animals and people rejecting whatever the sign means in favour of the Oak Tree, symbol of Wyldwood. If I am right then this brooch has some religious meaning, and I would be very cautious.”

## Druids and the Wyldwood

Many druids across the North Island are naturally drawn towards worshipping Wyldwood, and can rise within the church hierarchy. However, they are to an extent seen as supporters of the Priesthood and as such not the real power within the church. Some Druids are known to have switched over to becoming Priests, and the ceremony for this is known to be facilitated at the Shrine of Change.

The reason for this tension between Druids and the Priests is unclear, but it is believed to stem from an underlying difference in outlook. Whilst Druids focus on the preservation of nature in the face of the encroachment by “civilised” society, Wyldwoods focus seems to shift slightly towards maintaining a balance between political entities as much as protecting the environment.

## Wyldwood: Worshipper specific introduction

The Centaur hesitated, sniffing the air with sudden suspicion. Something was wrong. Ahead of him through the trees he could catch glimpse of his destination, though none but his kind would see anything ahead other than more of the tangled forest through which he had been trekking. But he could also see a large number of Centaurs, unexpected company, guards by their look, weapons drawn, wary.

Or at least, with truth-sight he could see them as Centaurs. But whatever had brought them there had to be serious, ***for several of them had been touched by the Wild***, imbued with its primal force. Even he could barely make them out, as they seemed to shift and change even as he looked at them, one second crouched and poised as a wild cat, the next coiled and stretched into something more resembling a dragon, then this form too gone, even as it formed, a ceaseless, ephemeral shifting of form and substance.

As well he was expected, he reflected, otherwise there would be trouble.

‘Halt, who goes,’ came the traditional challenge. And he was just about to call out, when another shout arose, harsh with immediacy. ‘Ambush.’

He charged forwards to help, only to find himself brought up short, slamming into some unseen force, an invisible wall, he realised, blocking his path. Both a blessing and a curse. The force wall lent those within security, but left him trapped outside with whomever - or whatever - was the cause of alarm. Dancing round in awkward circle, he saw large numbers of zombies throwing themselves against the barrier, which appeared to extend about the entire perimeter of the sacred site, their repeated impacts causing rotting limbs to break from their staggering forms, showering not blood but maggots onto the forest floor.

The meet could wait. Would have to wait. He knew his friends within would be safe; they would be gone, and their guards with them, slipping away on the wings of magic before whoever was commanding the zombies thought to call them off and dispel the walls. As for him, it seemed that he had not yet been spotted; perhaps there was yet time to flee.

But even as the thought arose, first one then another of the zombies turned in his direction, gazing at him sightlessly with eyes white with dried and crusted rheum, else long-since burst, yet nevertheless moving unerringly in his direction. Slow as they were, he could out-run them. For a time at least. Yet they were inexhaustible, whilst even with his constitution he should have to rest eventually, and when he did they would surely catch him. No. Better to fight now, with limbs still fresh, than face them exhausted after a day's canter. His arrows would be no use against such a foe, who cared not if his shafts penetrated the long-since still caverns of their hearts, or punctured already airless lungs, and instead he drew twin curved scimitars. Let them see if they could fight so well with no limbs. If it were written that this were his time to fall, well, then that was the way of it. But by the forest, his life would not be cheaply spent.”

## Wyldewood Paladins

The schism between Wyldwood and the Wild created an issue within the Wyldwood doctrine in that in rejecting the Wild, the Wyldwood were seen by many at the time as rejecting violence. Whereas in fact the main difference in beliefs between the two religions is that Wyldwood believes in a balance between civilisation and nature, the Wild simply sees civilisation as a stain upon the natural world.

A paladin of Wyldwood is expected to demonstrate to the world, that nature even in harmony with civilisation – has teeth. They are identified from a young age, normally by priests or shamans and after initial teachings in the beliefs of the church, sent out into the world to make their own way, learn and observe. Should the Paladin survive to reach 9th level, he will feel a calling to present himself to the High Priest who will formally confirm the Paladin as a champion of Wyldwood.

Before ‘confirmation’, a Paladin is expected to be racially and religiously tolerant, with the exception of the undead and worshippers of Dekatur. This tolerance is not so much open acceptance, but more in the nature of developing an understanding of the world and others in it. In particular understand how things can be manipulated to ensure that civilisation never achieves dominance over nature. This might, in fact probably will, require the Paladin to develop significant diplomatic skills – in order to influence political events and prevent single empires becoming pre-eminent.

## Relgious requirements

* Alignment: Non Lawful
* Races: Any
* Specials: Wisdom used for experience bonus and required to be a cleric: Wisdom used for spell bonuses

1. ↑ Day 14-20 – The first week in Northlake
2. ↑ Day 35-41 – The fourth week in Northlake
3. ↑ Zoom session 18th March – Meeting Bez Drock
4. ↑ Days 87-94 (10-17 May)
5. ↑ Email 20201-02-06 14:54
6. ↑ Great Spell Onwen Notes 1
7. ↑ Zoom session 18th March – Meeting Bez Drock
8. ↑ Far Haven
9. ↑ A Conversation with Apana
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Day 28-34 – The third week in Northlake
11. ↑ Zoom 2020-11-06 21:00
12. ↑ Road Reconnaissance – Day 4: The aftermath
13. ↑ Road Reconnaissance – Day 6: The Bridge
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Day 49-57 – Centaurs
15. ↑ Elven Politics - Wilston
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Email 20201-02-06 14:54
17. ↑ Far Haven Factsheet
18. ↑ Day 103: Legends and Lore
19. ↑ Day 49-57 – Centaurs
20. ↑ Zoom 2020-12-03 21:00
21. ↑ Day 35-41 – The fourth week in Northlake
22. ↑ c.f. Elven comment "unless those fairy stories about the wild wood are true" from Days 11 - 13