So far, I was looking at being a religious druid who is dedicated solely to his religion(nature-relate or that of vengeance) and maybe his house.
any thoughts

That's perfectly acceptable RP. No reason to make a topic about it - just do it.

Not entirely sure what you are asking here. Are you asking for advice on how to be a religious druid? Are you asking what religion this druid would be? And why Vengeance?

Otherwise, I'll answer to the best of my ability. The druid should be more of a spiritual guy rather than the fanatic zealot. The spirits are everywhere, Nature may flourish in the harshest of environments. So too must the druid. To religious druid, understanding of the cycles of Nature is enlightenment in itself. Nature is not one to be dominated, as it can never be dominated. Anywhere Nature is dominated, the cycle is halted and life withers. Therefore, any power the druid uses will be of the free will of Nature itself. To misuse these abilities will lead to a backlash in time. Simply put, you could go on about Nature being Nature and blah blah blah.

The druid has a pretty large choice of Orders to join in:
Melantha (Seasons, cycles of death and rebirth, rise of civilization and fall of cities, and so on)
Lupus (If you like hunting a bit more than a normal person ever should)
Neraeos (Though the God himself does not recognize himself as a Nature God, as far as I remember, He can still gather druidic worship rather easily)
Artemis (Connection to Nature seems like it would clash with various other deities a little, but somehow works. Mostly a warrior Order.)
Vastar (The connection via the Order is slim, but firmly there. The winds play a very large, visible part in Nature, and some other choice tidbits I'll let you find out IG.)
Thoth (God of death, everything dies, everything must die to bring forth new life, though I do question the Order allowing in necromancers and maybe occultists, probably the religious druid's worst enemy and somewhat hippocritical of the God of Death hating the undead)
Ourania (Cycles of the moons and so on)
Kastalia (Exploration, the lakes, and so on, it's a niche thing, though)
Agatheis (Five elements, fire, water, earth, air, spirit/life make up everything and so on)

I do not really understand why vengeance was included, really. Could you elaborate on that? Otherwise, the druid probably would not be seen helping Mhaldor or Babel unless it were somehow in Nature's intrest. If you are going to play twisted druid or something like that, do not ever claim you are doing it for Nature. Please, please, please, never, ever say something to the effect of "Babel is a friend of Nature!" or "The Twin Lords of Evil will never force me to harm Nature!", because it is both wrong and annoying to go through and disprove it. Instead, actively admit that you are indeed working against Nature, yet do so for it's benefit.

"I cull the weak that cannot escape the wyvern's claw so that the strong, swift, and hardy may flourish"
"It would be a blessing to Nature. It is the way of the Twin, that Nature and Chaos will come together. Now is that time."

Something like that. Otherwise, I could elaborate a bit more, but I do fear that I am going on a bit too much, and that I might have missed the mark. I do hope this helps, though.

Pardon me, Eurulis..but Babel and Nature are BFFs. Thank you.

So I suppose when Mordanyconus burned the Grotto of the Butterfly, it was just a love tap?

Is that why you can't get in aynmore? I sent the admins a msg about that asking if they had deleted it and they told me it was still there, so I spent like an hour trying to get in but never could.

HELP HOUSE DRUIDS

Why not be all naturey and vengeful? Follow Lady Artemis.

Born of a seed of Destruction within the temple of Gaia and Propasia, the
exiled spirit of the forest which once lay beneath Cyrene's cobblestone,
the personification of primal, violent nature has come in the form of
Artemis. She manifests within the raw force of the rumbling in the earth and
the heart of a volcano. She is nature at its cruelest, its most unrelenting
and fiercest. Like a building tremor in the earth She comes, raining down
upon those who do Her charge harm.

The Cataclysm is a dispassionate force, set apart from the ideals of 'Good'
and 'Evil'. There is only what 'is', and with nature in particular, that
'is' constantly redefines itself. Artemis embodies the unpredictable
ferocity of Nature and is a guiding force to those who seek to maintain the
natural balance with spear, sweat, and blood. She often appears as a fiery
jungle warrior, and Her Divine symbol is that of a yew tree, split by a bolt
of lightning. Like that bolt, the Cataclysm comes sudden and strong - She is
the Warrioress of Nature. Woe to the fool who crosses Her and invokes Her
wrath.

copied from HELP ARTEMIS

Cause she's dormant, right?

Since when does a divine have to be active to be worshipped?

No, it's still there. Only novices ca get there, though, if that helps you any.

They don't but it makes it a - ton better. Also I think RPing someone who is worshiping someone who isn't even there is sort of a waste of time and RP

EDIT: Unless your Divine was active and you've been in His/Her order for a while and then they suddenly go dormant, then that just sucks

Tell me about it.

Yeah I mean, look at all those Babelonians who wasted all that time on following a dormant deity.

I always hated the word "Babelonian." /nitpick

On topic, yes, that sounds fine. Better than fine, really; it addresses a deficit in Druid roleplaying. The Druids are theoretically the most mystically inclined forestal class, and I'd love to see a bit of zealotry infused into the mix. Don't be afraid to follow Artemis, but bear in mind that until someone steps up to play the currently abandoned role, almost all of that RP is going to be initiated by yourself and your (probably scant) fellow Order members.

Feel free to contact me in-game for preachy stuff, but make your in-role reasoning for the interaction something feasible. I'm not a follower of Artemis, but I am preachy.

I've decided to try out Achaea also and start fresh, so dropped my existing class and joined the Druid class. I am a bit puzzled at how to roleplay a druid yet with some religious undertones (and currently a Troll so that should be fun).

Want to take the game seriously this time and get something out of it, that doesn't really involve bashing or fighting. Even though I tend to hate the Druid class in all RPG type games cause they get all the good stuff, I decided why not play what I'm uncomfortable with.

They sky's the limit, right? Now just have to read some documentation again on God or I can just make up my own (hey, I am a Troll, imaginary Gods are possible).

I was going to start a thread just about this and glad you did first, thanks!

I hate this thought pattern. Worshipping a god is about faith. Faith is the belief in something without physical proof. Christians don't worship God because He regularly comes down to say "Hello, My children, go raid Mecca." The Greeks didn't worship the Pantheon because they were guaranteed personal interaction with each of them.

Faith is all about your own personal beliefs. Pick a God or Goddess that embodies what you believe in, and follow them. You don't even need the order to do that, let alone an active Divine. You just need to find someone who is in the order, or find a book or library that can tell you about Him/Her, to make sure you have your facts straight.

And don't be surprised if your profound faith ends up in materialisation of the said deity, who will then be able to zap you if you misbehave, and give favours for egghunts and dead goblins you bring them.

I could be just me, but I think this is a horrible comparison. Achaea religion and Divine =/= RL religion and Divine. IRL there is no proof of Gods/Deities/whatever. In Achaea there is no denying the existence of Divine, they personally run cities, go to war on each other, come from the heavens and walk around on mortal grounds, punish people, and bless people.

Anyways, back to the discussion at hand, I suppose if the Divine fits with your character's set up, or you really like the philosophy behind a certain Divine's realm there's no harm in playing it, more power to you for playing through that. I think in nearly every case though that active Divine and their orders are insanely more fun, satisfying, and gives you more to do and work with, as opposed to inactive Divine and their orders.

RL gods and mythology are attempt to explain reality, in Achaea, gods are reality. You can, however, conceive something like the Vertani All, but don't expect people to roleplay for you.

How did you manage to say what I was trying to say in like... under a quarter of the amount of words?

I disagree. Don't forget Achaea is a game, not a mimicry of life. We know that Gods and Goddesses are players, and we know that active Gods and Goddesses are more likely to have RP events associated with their order. There's no reason to go off and privately worship Kastalia, for instance, when you can join a more popular order with a far more active divine, and spend time interacting and roleplaying with other players. One of the things Achaea suffers from is a surplus of small organizations. The de facto consolidation of some of that through the dormancy of various gods will help.

For example, I don't think they should bring back Mithraea and her order. Just like Shaitan and Apollyon divide Evil into the two basic spheres (violence and scholarship), Pentharian and Lorielan can do that just as well. Mithraea's Order was the odd one out - a mix of fighting and scholarship that basically harmed the structural integrity of all three of the Orders by sapping potential membership. Other gods and organizations could use killing off, too. Forcing the greater variety of viewpoints under fewer roofs creates organizational drama and drives the political aspect of the game.

You can get something out if it without bashing or fighting??
I mean, there are other things, but to avoid bashing and fighting is to miss out on a whole dimension of the game itself!

I hope this is an epic troll that I just fell for..because if not, this is the worst advice I've ever heard. You should choose to follow whichever Deity makes sense per your character's RP - your decision shouldn't be based on a popularity contest. That would lead to a very boring game. It is an awesome goal to find a few other dedicated followers of a dormant Deity and to bring that Deity back, because I assure you that if you spend enough time, RP, and get enough followers..the Administration -will- notice.

This is true, but a God doesn't cease to exist when they go dormant, unless its Eris-style, and the Divine actually does cease to exist. As far as we mortals know, that God or Goddess is just paying attention to a different realm for a while, or is watching us to see what we do. I have a harder take on RP than most, but I hate folks who switch religions and orders like they do outfits. The 'RP' decision of "Well, my Lord X went dormant, I guess I'll forget everything he taught me and go worship Neraeos, like all the other cool kids" is shamefully shallow in my eyes.


I have to disagree in return. Achaea is a game, but it is also a mimicry of life, complete with religion, politics, war, differing cultures, and personal relationships. This depth and realism of a living, breathing world is what keeps us engaged and addicted. Yes, we know that active Gods will have more events within their order. We also know that Mhaldor and Shallam will never truly destroy each other, but this is an OOC knowledge, and we should not allow that to affect our characters' decisions.

If your character loves and lives the philosophies of Kastalia, he should go off and worship her, active or not. It's that depth of devotion to our characters' RP that makes Achaea interesting. Intentionally joining an order just because it has an active divine is an in-game decision legitimized by OOC justifications, like switching from Mhaldor to Shallam and back again so you can stay on the 'winning' side. I think that detracts from Achaea, not adds to it.

lol

Or you could just bring back Glacius.

According to Delphinus, we already have Glacius.

The only instance of this ever happening also took over six real life years. It is irresponsible to hold the majority of the playerbase to standards like that. RPing into an empty room with no one to see it is silly in a community game, and as far as most of us are concerned, the administration notices little to nothing lately. Diversity of RP is good, but we also have to acknowledge as players that three hundred people all following slightly different paths weakens all the associated organizations. The basis of Achaea has always been organizational, not personal.

What do you think the reason for Mithraea dismissing all her loyal followers from her order and giving them explicit permission to follow other gods was? It was clearly to let them join other active Orders and swell their ranks, and enhance the experience of everyone there.

@Aerek: Actually, Pentharian once posted that the Garden had considered the destruction of Shallam several times. So it is actually possible, though more unlikely now with the Caliphate and the Te'Serran theocracy.

Druids and Babelonians -could- be BFFs. I mean, what's more natural that things coming to an end. Some crazy druid should RP this.

Still does not mean it has to happen. It is up to each player to choose whether they want to worship a diety or not. Just as each player may chhose not to join a house or city. Sure they want the organizations to strive but they have no real way to force that upon anyone. As a matter of fact A few weeks back I ran into someone preaching about thier faith based around Lady Maya in the middle of shallam. This is first and foremost a Role Playing Game. everything else in it should be a distant second to that fact. Yes Lady Mithraea dismissed her order and gave them exolicit permission to follow others however that does not mean all of them did or will.

Awesome, cause I really like the Babel stuff (just wish I was around when Babel returned). If you say it is possible, I believe you (you are a Babel expert, to say the least).

Are you still active?

Yeah, I'm still active. Though first week of classes starting back I haven't been on much this week. However, starting Saturday probably I'll be back around my usual times (which is mostly at night).

No, Des..just no. Don't encourage people to fall into the popular Order with the sacrifice of proper RP. The best thing about RP is that it doesn't NEED to be hardcoded. I've looked over the logs of some of the old Babel rituals, and they would be a blast to have been a part of. I agree that it is nice to have a Deity that logs in, TFs you, congratulates or criticizes you, and then leaves..but it is certainly not pertinent to a proper gaming experience.

When I first came back and elected to follow Caspian instead of Neraeos, I was told it was terrible RP and to stop

It would not be bad RP if done properly. For example, there exist several denizen cults that worship Caspian. However, for an adventurer to do that would be the height of folly.

In hindsight I am happier now anyway; it was probably for the best.

Just out of intrest, what are the most popular Orders?

Saying this as a completely unbiased observer, of course.