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Rjurik » Oaken Grove of Erik

					Oaken Grove Ruler Archdruid, Günther Brandt Alignment Neutral Good Government Oligarchy Court Level 5

Alignment: Neutral Good.

Status: Recommended

It is also possible to play the Archdruid of a single realm, using only the GB and RP from the holdings of the Oaken Grove in that realm. Of course, in this case the Archdruid is not an independent regent, but the representative of the whole of the Oaken Grove in that realm. Such a regent may be called on to undertake adventures or deliver GB or RP for the needs of another realm as the Archdruid of the Oaken Grove directs.

[edit] Regent

Günther Brandt is a Brecht immigrant bearing the blood of Reynir, and living proof that there is no fanatic like a convert. Raised where the faith of Sera was normative and that of Erik somewhat obscure, Günther experienced a real conversion when he moved to Dhoesone with his parents three decades ago. He embraced the faith of Erik and took vows as a druid. He arrived at a critical time in the faith for Erik, as the Church of Sera was a rising force in Anuire and even, among the guilders and craftsmen, in Rjurik. Few could offer the criticism of the Seramite position that a Brecht who grew up with the faith could. Able to lead the defense of the Oaken Grove in his home country of Dhoesone, where the Northern Reformed Church of Sarimie was making inroads, Günther Brandt rose in the hierarchy, and now has become the Archdruid of one of the most powerful churches in Cerilia.

[edit] Teaching and Doctrine

[edit] Politics

Though the Rjurik cling to the notion that there is just one unified faith in Erik, there are in fact two friendly sects. The Oaken Grove is the progressive wing of Erik's druidical organization. The Oaken Grove contends that the Rjurik people have always retained their essential Rjurik character in the face of trade, interaction, and exchange with other peoples. Furthermore, change is a natural phenomena, and the Rjurik people must change over time while preserving their reverence for Erik. Progress in accord with Erik's teachings is not only possible, but its desirable and even necessary. Despite the bounty of the land, hunting in the traditional style cannot support the growing populations of Rjurik people. Yet there are grains and animals which take well to human mastery. As good stewards of the lands and its creatures, people may prosper by farming.

The Oaken Grove tends to support stronger kings and a more centralized state than the Emerald Spiral advocates. The activity of conservationist guilders who tend to the land as careful husbandmen are welcomed by the Oaken Grove. Consideration of new ideas and new solutions to old problems, whether from Rjurik scholars or rulers, or from foreign learning does not offend the Oaken Grove. Rather, they consider each new idea in light of Erik's teachings and weigh its merits. The Grove does not directly challenge the Emerald Spiral for holdings, but rather tends to prosper where the kings are strong and the guilders are active. The Grove tends to be weak where the people remain nomadic and the guilds are excluded.

[edit] History

The Oaken Grove has a tradition as old as the Emerald Spiral, but its institutional history is much younger. There have always been more progressive druids, and they have always communicated with each other, formed associations, and from time to time gathered together. As the Rjurik people began to settle and form permanent towns, some druids objected to this way of life as turning back on tradition. Other druids, the forerunners of the Oaken Grove, declared that settlement was acceptable to Erik as long as nature was not abused by the settled folk. This division did not become institutional until the towns began to grow large and began to lose touch with the wilderness outside the town. It was then than some druids began to reason that it would be a better service of the Rjurik people to form a temple in the town and teach the faith and doctrine of Erik there, to keep the people connected to the spirit of Erik.

Over time the druids in the towns, indeed one might begin to call them clerics, though many maintained circles in the wilderness for meditation, prayers, and personal communion with Erik, began to feel that the hierarchy and organization of the Emerald Spiral was not able to offer the advise, assistance, and support that a town-dwelling priesthood of Erik required. At first the Oaken Grove was an organization within the Spiral, but over time members of the Grove began to interact more and more only with one another, and the cooperation between the two seemed more like an alliance of two different domains, than one single domain. Because of the different needs of each group, they amicably formed distinct, generally non-competing domains.

[edit] Major Centers of Worship

[edit] Important NPCs

See Also: Keeper of the Grove (ShadowMoon)