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Druids
#11
RE: Druids
Druids can be handy in a fight at higher levels, as they can shape-change into animals... but at lower levels they really aren't much help. The party is better off with a Ranger and a Cleric when the Orc raiding party attacks.
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#12
RE: Druids
Are we referring to Neverwinter or is this a common thing in rpgs?
.
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#13
RE: Druids
I was referencing D&D... but Neverwinter is a D&D game, so...

Yes?
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#14
RE: Druids
When I first saw this story my initial reaction was that the Brits were being goofy again. Then, I saw the method in the madness.

This will really piss off the muslims and anything that accomplishes that can't be all bad.
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#15
RE: Druids
(October 2, 2010 at 9:44 am)Paul the Human Wrote: I was referencing D&D... but Neverwinter is a D&D game, so...

Yes?
I prefer my balance druids from wow...
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#16
RE: Druids
(October 2, 2010 at 7:35 am)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: honouring of nature and 'respect for all beings, including the environment'. I'm pretty sure that's not a new idea.
No it isn't, but we don't know what the ancient druids added to it to turn it into a religion. Gods to be worshipped, rituals to be followed, etc.
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#17
RE: Druids
Quote:No it isn't, but we don't know what the ancient druids added to it to turn it into a religion.


Apparently, human sacrifice, but WTF....that was then and this is now.

http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articl...idism.html

Quote:There are several descriptions of Druidic human sacrifices. They were performed within a religious and spiritual sense. Many were performed publicly among the Celtic people especially at the celebration of Beltain. There were also private human sacrifices. If a leader of warriors was defeated in battle, in disgrace, he would often turn his sword upon himself. The reverse was also true, a petition to the gods, was sometimes accompanied by self-sacrifice.

Behind Druidical performance of human sacrifice laid the Druidic belief in an after life. Again Caesar emphatically states it, "Doctrinally...the most important Druid belief was that after death the soul passes from one to another -- hence the Celts' bravery in battle." This belief in reincarnation was not just in the transmigration of the soul from one human form to another, but to other life forms as well. This is evident in the Irish epic 'Tain Bo Cuailnge,' "The Cattle Raid of Cooley." In it two magical bulls possessing human reasoning, initially originating as two swineherds of the Lord of the Otherworld, pass through a long series of metamorphoses -- they become ravens, stages, warriors, water monsters, demons and aquatic worms. The evidence from archaeology, the classic writings, and vernacular tradition to the present reinforces Caesar's assertion. In tombs have been found remains of lavish amounts of food, hearty mead, equipment that would seem to indicate the belief the soul would need these things in the Otherworld.
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#18
RE: Druids
I've known a few neo-pagans of a couple different stripes - most of them seem to believe in an unbroken line of "secret" paganism and get their information from DJ Conway or Robert Graves, not by studying historical sources.

I'm sure there are a few druids (or other pagans) well-versed in the actual history of their chosen religion, just as there's a group in every "woo" area that has a somewhat educated grasp on themselves, but I've yet to encounter one.

But hey, I understand the attraction. Like Eddie Izzard said about the pagans - "They were into sex, death and religion, in an interesting night-time telly type of way."

I also seem to remember some podcast or radio talk show mentioning that Britian had a large number of Jedi roaming its population. Once Lucas dies, that'll become the next officially recognized religion.
[Image: Untitled2_zpswaosccbr.png]
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#19
RE: Druids
(October 7, 2010 at 5:42 am)thesummerqueen Wrote: I've known a few neo-pagans of a couple different stripes - most of them seem to believe in an unbroken line of "secret" paganism and get their information from DJ Conway or Robert Graves, not by studying historical sources.

I'm sure there are a few druids (or other pagans) well-versed in the actual history of their chosen religion, just as there's a group in every "woo" area that has a somewhat educated grasp on themselves, but I've yet to encounter one.

Actually, there are and the number is growing. A lot of it is a backlash against the various Wiccan traditions that for so long espoused such a belief in an unbroken Witchcraft Tradition like what Gardner claimed to have been initiated into. Reconstructionists are the prime example. The majority of them acknowledge they cannot fully know what the ancients thought, believed, or practiced, but do their best to approximate it and adapt it to the modern world. Many of them study historical and archaeological sources (primary sources being preferred) to try and "reconstruct" the practices as much as possible.

For example, Hellenic Reconstructionists study Homer, Aristotle, Plato, Hesiod, and the like (as a scholar would) as well as the work of historical scholars in their field of study. You won't find a true Reconstructionist who literally believes in the myths nor truly believes they are practicing just as the ancients did, but they do believe they are doing the best they can with the knowledge available at this time.

They also tend to hate the neo/fluffy authors running rampant in the Pagan community at the moment. Big Grin
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