[PENDING REWRITE] The Nature People - A Guide to Druids and Druidism

[Dilly]

c:

Welp! The Moonkin, the Owlbear, the Owlbeast and the Wildkin most likely derive from the same species. According to the popular Night Elven belief, the ancestors of the sub-races were created by Elune for reasons I cannot recall. ._. Anyways, I know I read it somewhere, so I'll probably hit the nice red edit button once I've found 'em. I also remember them being classified as Elune's messengers/bodyguards at some point, but I really don't know. :/ Yeah, there's not much lore on 'em.

They're also kinda respected by the Night Elves, the Priestesses thinking that they were touched by their Elune and whatnot. As for Druids, I've seen discussion going on. While the Druids do view the Moonkin as an "ally" race, protectors of nature and whatnot, and it might seem possible for them to learn to turn into one... I just dunno. It may be just my stupidity showing off again, but I've never seen any official -lore- saying that Druids would be able to shapeshift into Moonkin. And if they could, I'd personally assign them to Druids of the Grove, but that's all speculation. Y'know, since there is little to know information on both of 'em.

So yeah, I don't really know what else to say. Weird owl things that ate their lore for breakfast, methinks.

Oh, and if you wanna read some stuff on WowWiki, here's the Wildkin article which links to the pages for the other species too.

[Edgar]

Thanks. :3

[Kenert]

Do druids change theirselves into animals or just change how their body looks to look like an animal?
If he just changes the looks, then:

Druids in animal form can only speak the tongue of the respective creature. Seeing as they do get more and more feral if they walk around as animals for a long time, it's quite possible that they would lose the ability to talk in their "humanoid languages", just like they lose memories over time. Anyways, thanks! I'll also add the stuff to the original post when I have time. :3

Couldn't they just shapeshift their throat to be able to talk his "humanoid language" in an animal form?

[Piroska]

Regardless of how it is done, druids assume the form of a totemic animal. These aren't just arbitrary animals; they're specific species that have a specific patron (or multiple patrons!). Druids not only change form, but they also physically become those animals. As a result, they are unable to selectively shift specific parts of their body and then choose to leave the rest behind.

Offhand (and this is all conjecture), even if it were possible I doubt that a druid would do so. It would seem almost like a perversion to try to selectively transform into a beast while retaining various other parts of their normal bodies. It wouldn't be embracing nature. It's all or nothing.

[simianthief]

Regarding Tauren...just conjecture but they commune with their ancestors. Would it be feasible to assume that their ancestors would guide them in The Dreaming? This might explain their accelerated learning.

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[Kaghuros]

Tauren Druids don't Dream as far as I'm aware. The sources I read say only that the Night Elves were given immortality and tasked with being the Dream's protectors for their whole lives.

[Piroska]

The requirement of entering the Dream for a period of time in exchange for their powers was the result of a pact made between Malfurion Stormrage and Ysera during the War of the Ancients. At the time, the only druids were men of kal'dorei descent, making them the only ones required to enter the Emerald Dream at the time. However, as the millennia have passed, non-male non-kal'dorei individuals have become druids as well. It would make sense that they, too, be required to spend some time in the Dream.

From the WoWWiki article on the Emerald Dream:

As part of an ancient pact made between Ysera and Malfurion Stormrage, the druids are required to spend long periods of time sleeping in the Emerald Dream in exchange for their powers over the forces of nature, presumably so that they will better appreciate that which they have pledged themselves to preserve. Recently, strange events have been transpiring within the Emerald Dream and it appears that Malfurion himself may be trapped within its confines

Note that the requirement isn't of night elf druids, but just druids. This would include elven druids (which potentially include high elven, half-elven, and maybe even blood elven druids), tauren, furlbog, and any other race that has ever or could ever result in a druid.

Entering the Emerald Dream does a number of things for a druid:

• It helps sustain the Dream, as required by the pact
  
• It bolsters his power
  
• It allows him to monitor the ebb and flow of life on Azeroth

It is also important to note that druids are not the only individuals capable of entering the Dream. Nor do they necessarily require extensive training to do so. Druids are able to easily enter the Emerald Dream due to their connection to Nature; however, there have been stories of individuals entering the Dream as a result of conventional magic, but I would assume that this wouldn't be a favorable choice in the eyes of the realm's denizens.

Furthermore, dreamers occasionally find themselves in the Emerald Dream. They inadvertently "wake" within the Dream while they are sleeping.

[simianthief]

Well that answers the long posed question: "Do dreamers dream?"

[taregan]

While I realize this post has been silent for some time, I hope that I might shed some light upon the question of the Moonkin/wildkin. You are welcome to take the information with a grain (or a block) of salt (mmm. Salt.) this is what I've been able to divine from both wanderings through the Warcraft universe and various sourcebooks.

The moonkin are, apparently, favoured of Elune, according to several quests that lead the Alliance through Winterspring.. They were created to attempt to give her some of her own guardians of her spaces. The moonkin and wyldkin alike were created for this fashion, and in some cases (according to WoWwiki) could talk (See their commentary on the wildkin page regarding the 'watchers').

If such is true, where druidic power seems to come from Elune, it is entirely possible that a devotion, and study of the balance of nature might result in learning the favoured form, along with its own limitations against specific varieties of magic, actions, or simple requirements to bring balance into the powers of nature in areas, removing or repairing those things out of balance.

Again, mostly speculation. Many of the Wildkin went mad when the Burning Crusade Burning Legion stormed through Felwood and left their corruption, and it was increased apparently by concentrating the corruption in the new World tree, Teldrassil.

Difficult to say on most things, really, but it would tend to explain the balance druid's ability to gain the form.

It's similar at that point to the bear druid forms coming from Ursol/Ursoc, the raven forms from Aviana. There is apparently a great deal left out of the current lore, and a lot of gaps to fill in.

[FlyingSquirrel]

It's not being silent, it's being dead.

Please, try not to resurrect dead topics. If people need it, they got it as this was probably still on the front page.