Chapter 3: The Druidic Order

The druidic order--often simply called the Order--can be thought of as a federation of regional priesthoods that form a loosely organized worldwide faith, all of whose members worship Nature and follow a similar ethical philosophy.

Druids divide up their world into regions, here called domains. A domain is a well-defined geographic area bounded by mountain ranges, rivers, seas, or deserts-- druids normally divide a good-sized continent into three or four domains. Druidic regions do not rely on national borders, or on racial or ethnic groups; a domain can encompass several countries, races, and peoples.

For example, in a fantasy world based on our Earth, one European domain might include England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Channel Islands; a second could consist of Western Europe (west of the Rhine and north of the Alps and Pyrenees, bounded by the North Sea and the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the west); a third might contain Southern Europe (south of the Alps and bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and Danube River); another would include the Iberian peninsula.

North America could be divided into an Atlantic domain (east of the Mississippi River and south of the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes), a Pacific domain (west of the Rocky Mountains), a Central domain (between the two domains above, roughly south of the Missouri River), a Caribbean domain, a Southern domain (south of the Rio Grande and east of the Rockies), and a Northern domain (all of North America roughly north of the Missouri and Ohio rivers and east of the Rocky Mountains).

Table of Contents