By the coast, before Cowell's Temple of Nature.
Captain of the guard Nash had not deceived Li Wei and the others. A rather unusual ritual was indeed being conducted here at this moment.
A druid initiation ceremony.
Under normal circumstances, according to ancient tradition, those seeking to become druids had to venture out on their own, learning the knowledge and powers of flora and fauna, experiencing both nature's gifts and its mercilessness, and thereby gaining the power to command nature.
Druids could command raging storms, the gentle power of the rising sun, nimble foxes, mighty bears, and such things.
Yet unlike those who lived in city-states and boasted extravagantly, believing themselves to be nature's masters, druids gained nature's power by becoming one with it.
It was merely that on Moonshadow Island, the awakening of their druidic class remained somewhat primitive.
Unlike on the mainland, where many druids worshipped gods of nature—such as Silvanus, Father of Oaks; Eldath, goddess of springs and peace; Mielikki, goddess of forests and Rangers; or Shiallia, goddess of new buds—and thus gained the ability to commune with nature and were granted the corresponding divine spells.
The Ffolk of Moonshadow Island worshipped only Chauntea, the Earth Mother—or rather, they worshipped Chauntea's most ancient Way of Nature.
At times, they would find the lingering spirits of animals or plants whose bodies had died but whose souls still wandered. Through a meditation known as Nature Communion, druids could communicate with these animal and plant spirits and thus obtain the corresponding powers of nature.
It was a shortcut born of expedience, but the Ffolk believed it to be nature's gift to them, and they likewise repaid nature through their actions.
Yet such opportunities could only be encountered by chance, never sought, so the number of Ffolk druids had always grown