Druid

Before the Malthusian Empire, the druids ruled the tribes of Northward as a nature cult, erecting ritual sites on the plazas on top of the mottes of the Motte-Men, tombs in the wild highlands of the Moor-Men, and great planar calendars on the steppes of Farland. The Jokastrians never were enraptured by the druids, and instead were worshippers of the weather and water, unknowingly worshipping Kord. The druids had a strict caste system based on age (elders were the leaders of their caste) and caste (gatherers were the lowest, then farmers, hunters, and then the druids themselves). This system was a product of elvish influence on the early tribes in prehistory, which was modified only slightly over the eons, and before the arrival of the Malthusians.

When the Malthusians came, being a druid was heavily discouraged. Many Northward natives dropped the druidic naming conventions and used their calling names instead and took up Malthusian worship. A hearty population of druids massed in the northern border of the Mottland Bay early on in imperial history, and only within the last half century of Malthusian rule were they routed to Vaskalia, the Island of the Druids. Some families, usually deep in the foothills of infradoms or along the Woodholds of elves, though some were freemen and nobles proud of their heritage, kept the druidic naming traditions, and even secretly practiced the spiritual aspects of druidic life.

By the time the empire fell, being druidic was unpopular enough that it made no widespread comeback in the absence of Malthusian templars, and even after being legalized during the Lancine Empire, a druid or an active worshiper is a rare encounter. Small sects throughout Northward have been sighted rebuilding old ritual sites, guarding the ancient sites of their groves, or demonstrating by conducting rituals in the holy site usurped by Pelorites.