HIGH DRUIDS
Order of the Osiris

                                   The Druids were the Priests - Magicians - of the Celtic people
They were Priests

      The word "Druidae" is of Celtic origin. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, 23/24-79
A.D.) believed it to be a cognate with the Greek work "drus," meaning "an oak." "Dru-wid" combines the word
roots "oak" and "knowledge" ("wid" means "to know" or "to see" - as in the Sanskrit "vid"). The oak
(together with the Rowan and hazel) was an important sacred tree to the Druids. In the Celtic social system,
Druid was a title given to learned men and women possessing "oak knowledge" (or "oak wisdom").

         The Druids emerged from the ancient Celtic tribes, at a time when the people had to live close to nature to
survive. By the light of the storyteller's fire, and with the play of the harp, the Druids dreamed magic for their
people. In the deep woods they would gather, bringing together their mysticism and philosophy, their insight and
learning. Their spirit emerged from the  tides of the sea, the light of the sun, the wind in the Oak, the cry of the
deer. In this way, they created an institution that inspired, frightened, and uplifted their world.

       Druids filled the roles of judge, doctor, diviner, mage, mystic, and clerical scholar - they were the religious
intelligensia of their culture.

      To become a Druid, students assembled in large groups for instruction and training, for a period of up to
twenty years.

      Their education was so rigourous that at the end of it they were virtually walking encycopaedias. A good word
for them would seem to be "priests", yet I am reluctant to use it for two reasons: The Romans never used it, and
because Druids didn't minister to congregations as priests do.

      Rather, they had a clientele, like a lawyer, a consultant, a mystic, or a shaman would have.

      Caesar and his historians never referred to them as priests, but perhaps they could not recognise them as
priests since the Roman priesthood, officiating over an essentially political religion, were primarily teachers and
judges, with less emphasis on being seers or diviners, whereas the Druids appeared to have both legal and
magical powers and responsabilities.

      Some scholars have argued that Druids originally belonged to a pre-Celtic ('non-Aryan') population in Britain
and Ireland (from where they spread to Gaul), noting that there is no trace of Druidism among Celts elsewhere -
in Cisalpine Italy, Spain, or Galatia (modern Turkey). Others, however, believe that Druids were an indigenous
Celtic intelligentsia to be found among all Celtic peoples, but were known by other names.

      "Anything growing on those trees [oaks] they regard as sent from heaven and a sign that this tree has been
chosen by the gods themselves. Mistletoe is, however, very rarely found, and when found, it is gathered with
great ceremony and especially on the sixth day of the moon... They prepare a ritual sacrifice and feast under the
tree, and lead up two white bulls whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest attired in a
white vestment ascends the tree and with a golden pruning hook cuts the mistletoe which is caught in a white
cloth. Then next they sacrifice the victims praying that the gods will make their gifts propitious to those to whom
they have given it. They believe that if given in drink the mistletoe will give fecundity to any barren animal, and
that it is predominant against all poisons."

      The order of Osiris was created
when druidic knowledge gathering
expeditions to the east encountered the
barbaric nations of Palestine and
Babylon invading the fledgling nation of
Israel.  Over the next 100 years parties
were sent all over the world to gather
knowledge on different martial arts.  
After this hundred year period was up
the druids returned home and began
teaching these martial forms to a new
order of druids.

  And so a new Order was born the
Order of the Osiris, an elite group of
battle druids who would defend their
people with their lives.  A group of
warriors so fierce that they were feared
for many generations, because of their
ferocity in combat and a love for all
nature.

NAME:
ISCHARRI THE GREYWULFE

AGE: 22
HIGHT: 6'4"
WEIGHT: 160 LBS
MASTERIES:
BLADED WEAPONS
THROWING WEAPONS
STAVES
CROSSBOW

RANK:
HIGH DRUID

FEAT FOR RANK  ATTAINMENT:
COMPLETION OF
DRUIDIC BATTLE STAFF

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