Animism - Shamans and Druids

[Rubykuby]

Animism - Shamans and Druids

All right, this'll be a guide regarding the spiritual part of druids and shaman. Sadly, night elves don't do animism, they are more focused on the balance of nature. It should be noted that you don't have to be animist in order to obtain the powers that animism can offer. Night elves get the same result as tauren without actually being connected to the spirits. Some races are known to follow the ways of animism. I'll name them in a descending order regarding the likelihood a member of the race would practise animism:
-Tauren
-Orc
-Wildhammer Dwarf
-Darkspear Troll
-Draenei

"What is animism?"

A great question to start with. Animism is the belief that all contains a spirit, and these spirits should be treated with respect. Anyone who refuses to belief that spirits exist within the nature, only worsens her connection with the Earth Mother/earth. She'll lack the guidance of spirits and eventually become lost. But, there is hope, this guide will teach you how to correctly apply animism to your animistic character. Remembering that all contains a spirit is a great first step, but the irony wants animism to be a bit tougher. Before I'll teach you how to use animism, you'll have to understand it.

"Storm, earth and fire, heed my call!"

That's right! Spirits each have their own elements. But before we get to the elements, we'll need to skim the basics of animism. Within this belief, there are three main groups of spirits. Plant, nature and earth-spirits. Plant spirits are quite easy, all that looks like a tree or flower is contained in the plant-nature group. Within this group there are of course new splits. flower-spirits, tree-spirits, etcetera. Nature and earth-spirits are somewhat more sensitive. Nature-spirits is a group that contains all that lives. Animals, humanoids, elementals, etcetera. Of course, these groups are split as well. Tauren-spirits, dwarf-spirits, sum it up actually. Earth-spirits are the very lands, Thunder Bluff is a great example of this. It's a plateau that contains one earth-spirit that is greatly honoured by the tauren, and thus is a happy spirit. Thunder Bluff is also a great place to start for new shamans and druids. But here comes the trouble, water-spirits, where the fel do these belong? Well, actually, water doesn't live, and is not solid like earth is, but the irony wants it with the earth-spirits. Same goes for a rock-spirit. Last but not least, there is a spirit group that will never be used by animists, unless they're evil. Death-spirits, spirits that have suffered deeply, and still do. Damned lands are not earth-spirits, instead, they are death-spirits. All undead people contain a death-spirit.

"Elemental Spirits"

At long last, we're reaching the subject that destroys all that stands in our w- Wait what? No? Well, right, the elemental spirits aren't as destructive as you might think. Think about a small troll tribe that has had no water for days. This is where the shaman comes to the rescue, he calls upon water spirits for it to rain, even though these may be far away. It should be noted that it is harder to commune with spirits far away, but it is possible. Earth spirits also shouldn't be confused with earth-spirits. Every spirit is aligned with an element, some being more obvious than another. A fire mage's spirit is fire-aligned, a rock's spirit is earth-aligned. Sadly, somewhere around the Third War, the orcs discovered that shamanistic magic was a destructive one as well, especially the elements. Nature itself has always been stronger than civilisation, why not adapt nature to civilisation while you can? Well, you can't really do this. You must respect the spirits, and call upon them in order to gain their powers. You can't really abuse their powers, for they might take it away from you any time. Thus it is advised to act sensibly with animistic magic. Don't use it for your own sake, use it for the world's sake.

"So what about us druids?"

Don't worry, the spirits still love you, but shamanistic ways are just a bit more complex. A druid should always honour the earth-spirits, for they live on it. However, a feral druid might honour the nature spirits the very most, while a restoration druid should honour the plant-spirits. Balance druids do a bit of all, because the name indicates enough. Now how does a druid become a bear? Well, that's quite easy. Every time you kill a bear, you honour it as well as the Earth Mother for the sacrifice of nature. All that you have received from the bear should be used, its paws prove to be quite sharp, its flesh is nice meat, its head might fit your outfit, bones are great to build tents with. You get it. Hold on, let's go back a bit, did I just read "kill a bear"? Yes, you did. Druids do hunt, but they do it sensibly. Also, killing bears is not the only way to get aligned with some bear-spirits, not at all. A druid might enter the Dream, a realm of balance, where you can freely commune with all the wild.

"Vision Quest"

This part is probably the most awesome part, the vision quest. They are basically only used by tauren and orcs, but worth mentioning. Vision quests represent the future of the said tribe member, and take her from one stage to another. To take this vision quest, the seeker leaves her tribe to venture a natural place that feels sacred to her. The seeker leaves all signs of civilisation behind, including clothes. Before leaving, the tribe's shaman gives the seeker a bunch of herbs to eat at the sacred place. When there, the seeker is to remain there for a few days, usually four to six. Once there, the seeker mostly feels a great urge to leave the area, which she must resist. Once the urge to leave passes, the seeker feels a sense of buoyancy. She seems to float out of her body and see the land spread out beneath her. She examines her body and, in doing so, comes to understand her soul. Each physical feature reminds the vision seeker of past experiences, her ancestors or her race. Not soon later, a spirit animal visits the seeker. This animal represents the seeker's spirit. A fierce warrior may see a lion or a bear. The seeker feels an instant bond with the animal. In rare occasions, the animal leads the seeker to a place of power, to fulfil another test, usually something dangerous. These tests are mostly done by seekers who later become a shaman. Might the seeker fail her test, she may try again once she and her shaman feel ready.

"To put it in a nutshell"

Everything contains a spirit. Honour the plant, earth and nature-spirits, they might reward you their powers. Death-spirits are a no-no. Each spirit has an elemental alignment. Druids have little to do with elemental spirits, unless they're willing to call upon the spirits for a hurricane. Shamans have little to do with animal-spirits, unless they want to become a wolf. The Dream is a great place to be for druids. Elements were originally not meant to be destructive, but were meant to aid. There are rarely any draenei shamans. Vision quests are done naked. The spirit animal of said quest represents the seeker's spirit. Marr > All.

Enjoy!

[Diethe]

Take note that the Darkspears I believe never practiced the elemental kind of shamanism. They still got their powers from the loa, and as orcs and trolls mingled they sort of shared their powers. Anyway, yeah. It means there is that aspect of shamanism that might pertain not to the elements. A spec if you will.

Other than that, it deserves a Kanye West intrusion. Well done!

[Rubykuby]

Hence the trolls are somewhere down there on the list of likelihood. A few trolls out there might practise it, while draenei even have a lower amount of shamans. Draenei still have a strong connection to the Light, and there must be a miracle for them to happen to switch to shamanism.

[Dilly]

Ooh, me likes eet! Tauron Druids, omnomnomnom. Thankye, Sapphire!

Angus > Marr and everybody else

[Hawk]

Great guide! But a quick question: Do Tauren enter the Dream like Tauren do to learn shiz?

[Rubykuby]

Great guide! But a quick question: Do Tauren enter the Dream like Tauren do to learn shiz?

To my knowledge, tauren do enter the dream to learn shizzle. Although I could be wrong.

[Hawk]

Thankye! I'll keep on eye on this thread to see if anyone else has anything else to say.

[MoonlightBlossom]

Actually, most Draenei Shamans don't "switch" from Light to the Spirits.
Not unlike other Shamans; some simply don't hold that innate connection to the Light as the majority of them do - because of this, many of them are disregarded, and treated as different beings, solely because they can see things that Lightbearers can not - and not often in the good way.

[Rubykuby]

Actually, most Draenei Shamans don't "switch" from Light to the Spirits.
Not unlike other Shamans; some simply don't hold that innate connection to the Light as the majority of them do - because of this, many of them are disregarded, and treated as different beings, solely because they can see things that Lightbearers can not - and not often in the good way.

I am aware of this, but I've just horribly stated it wrong.

[Rubykuby]

Hooray! New part added!

The part that I like most that is, the vision quest ^^