Drinal

They who have heard of the Unkempt Druid, think us nothing but zealots, but their ignorance transcends the planes, even in Ethernere, our new home, forever under the shade of the Lord of Graves.The worst of them is Wegadas, for he is their leader, their father. I will follow him closely as he spews his drivel to those who would call themselves the Augurs of her. They must see the light in death. The ways of the Unkempt Warders has no place here. I will see to it.

Cardin Ward is upon us. These Wayward act comfortable within its walls, but I see the worry in their faces. Drinal’s Harrowing Horde has been released upon them, as was required. Ethernere is becoming overcrowded with this Wayward plague who must be eradicated.Wegadas has promised them protection. I laugh as they fall for his ranting, as though his Writ of the Wild and Tunare can protect them from Drinal. Do they not see? They are bound within Ethernere! If they would accept that fact, accept Drinal, then he would embrace them, and call back the Horde.

I know where I stand. The Harrowing Horde do not frighten me. They pass me by and feast only upon their intended prey. I have shown this to the Wayward in Cardin Ward, particularly those who now follow Wegadas. Most are blind, but to a few I have proved that to follow Wegadas is to follow a life of a runaway. A nomad with no home, not even a temporary one.Even camped outside the safety of Cardin Ward they cannot feel safe. My section of camp has not lost a single among us. The Augurs of Ulter, both those that recently converted and Wegadas’s original followers, have taken notice. They will soon choose right from wrong. And when they do, I will accept them.

My followers grow while the number of Augurs wane. Wegadas is beginning to feel threatened by my presence, fueled by the ever-increasing threat of the Harrowing Horde. Now a new threat, at least to the Augurs, is upon them. The Gehein have emerged. I have heard of their kind. Those who volunteered their souls for the Horde.It is a calling similar to mine own, but Drinal will see that unlike the Gehein, I seek to spread his will to others through my teachings of the Unkempt Druids. I have continued to update this philosophy, molded it to Ethernere, to death and chaos.

When we reached the camp of Wayward erudites, Wegadas fell sick. It was a turning point for many of his followers. Through our journey, so many of them were taken by the Harrowing Horde, yet none had that followed my path of the Unkempt Druids.And now they see their leader sick and nearly dying. We have all eaten the same foods, drank from the same waters, yet he is the only one. It must be Drinal. He is watching. He has sensed a blasphemer in his realm and has punished this would-be prophet!

The erudite have cared for him. In their battles with the Gehein and their pathetic attempt to restore the Ulteran spires, they somehow brought Wegadas back to health. I had hoped his remaining disciples would see him succumb to an illness no one else among us acquire. I !mow that Wegadas cannot truly die in Ethernere…or can he? I have heard a man in camp speaking to others about his visit within the walls of Harrow’s End. I confronted this Augur of Ulter.Indeed, he claims. He has been to see Drinal himself. With great need the path became clear to him. That is how he entered. One-for-one he says. A deal for a deal. That is how he was able to leave. Those that choose a deal for no deal are chained within Harrow’s End for an eternity. I will speak with this man further about this. I wish to speak with my god personally.

I now lead these people. Wegadas has been left a follower himself, along with but a dozen or so that still cling to his side. He should see his cause is lost, yet he clings to us. For safety, for the hope to bring us all back to the ways of the Unkempt Warders, I do not know, nor do I care.I should just destroy him. Be rid of this pestilence from our presence once and for all, but I have decided to show him what it means to be an Unkempt Druid. He will soon be converted, and the last of the Augurs of Ulter will be wiped from Ethernere forever.

Several powerful divine spirits are worshiped similarly to deities by Norrath’s more primitive. They are different than the deities of Power, Influence, and Nature as they do not exist to rule or be ruled by a plane of existence nor are they tied to mortal beliefs. They are divine creatures imbued in the physical and spiritual world of Norrath itself. Shamans and beast-lords, especially agnostic ones, draw their power from and form bonds with the spirits of animals and nature. These spirit deities are the most powerful examples of such spirits.

Drinal, The Silver Reaper

Very few beings know of The Silver Reaper, associated with the gray moon seen from Norrath on all nights – Drinal. This moon was named after the spirit deity of night, destruction, and death by a humanoid tribe of nomads before the era of great cities and civilizations. Drinal, although representing that which is dark, is a neutral deity who represents the necessary end of the cycle of life. He does not maintain his watch over death out of malevolence, but out of the necessity for it to occur in order to fulfill the cycle of life. His Lujien followers personify Drinal as an upright white wolf whose paws, tail, and maw are midnight black. It is said that Drinal wields a silver sickle, the symbol of the crescent moon that is most sacred to Drinal and his bestial worshipers.

Ehayae, Matron of The Baton

Very few beings know of Ehayae and even fewer pay homage to her in reverence and worship. To those that do know this name and follow her guidance, she is the deity that maintains the cycle of birth, rebirth, and creation and is strongly tied to Drinal, who completes this cycle. The dawn and twilight are symbols associated with this goddess and are hours that her worshippers revere as sacred. Ehayae, although representing that which is considered to be good by many of the races of Norrath, is indeed a neutral goddess. Her neutrality comes in that she does not maintain her half of the cycle of life out of benevolence, but out of necessity. Her Gihjna followers personify Ehayae as a golden-skinned humanoid female bearing the face and head of an ivory-beaked hawk and golden wings in place of arms. She is often depicted as holding a halfcircle at the tips of her wings in representation of the rising and setting sun.

Sahteb Mahlni, The Feral Spirit

Sahteb Mahlni is the most powerful of the known animal spirits and is believed to be the embodiment and source of animal instincts. Followers of Sahteb Mahlni are exclusively Vah Shir who believe true wisdom and power come from understanding and controlling the primal inner spirit within all living creatures. The opposites of life and death, predator and prey, and physical and spiritual are the primal balances of existence, and upon death all things return to a spiritual state until reborn into the new flesh. Only through praise, reverence, and devotion to Sahteb Mahlni – the greatest of the ancestor spirits and the balance of life and death – can enlightenment be achieved. Vah Shir of all dispositions, from the peaceful contemplative shaman to the fierce, bloodthirsty beastlord hear the calling of Sahteb Mahlni. As an embodiment of the primal balance, Sahteb Mahlni is neutral. When the Feral Spirit is described in the physical form, it is as an ever-changing composite creature made from all Norrath’s animals.