The Caoi Dulra is the way of the Druids of Scosglen.
Refresh your memory:
Caoi Dulra is a way of thinking that holds harmony with the natural elements of the world, its plants and animals, as the heart of its most intrinsic beliefs, for they are the personification of the very world that the Druids have sworn to protect. Not only was Caoi Dulra the basis for their system of values, but through its study and practice, the Druids learned to bond with the natural entities of Sanctuary. This bonding was so absolute that eventually they discovered how to talk to the plants and animals, and these beings taught them all the secrets of the natural world. They taught them methods to call animals from far away, how to summon sentient plants from the earth, ways to change their own forms to share the strengths of their animal cousins, even, to a limited extent, techniques to control the weather.At the Tur Dulra, the greatest of the Druid Colleges, stands the magnificent oak Glor-an-Fhaidha. This tree is the most revered source of the Druid guidance and teachings. Under its branches, for centuries, the Druids of Scosglen have been honing not only their powerful arsenal of natural magic, but also the martial skills they have retained from their Barbarian forefathers. They have done this because they believe themselves to be the world's last line of defense when the time of the great conflict comes, a time they believe is at hand. Lashing out in fury at the recent insurgence of denizens of the Burning Hells, and at the Leathdhiabhala, demonic corruptions of the very creatures they have vowed to defend, the Druids have, at last, emerged from their forests, marching toward their final stand against the minions of Chaos. Traits and Abilities: The Druids shun the use of traditional magic, or Dubhdroiacht, as they call it. They instead practice a form of magic based in their close bond to nature. Through this intimate kinship with the world of Sanctuary, a Druid has the power to command fire, earth, and the winds. He is a friend to the animals of the wilds and can call upon them to aid in his struggle. He can also use his heightened rapport with the animals to change the shape of his own body, drawing on the strengths and abilities of his woodland companions to better serve their cause.
Long ago, the Druids confided in prayer their sacred charge to the supreme spirits of Nature. The spirits were moved by their plight and answered the Druids' call for help. Over the many years since then, the spirits have contributed in many ways to the Druids' cause, even offering up soldiers to serve in their campaign. A Druid educated in the language of the Natural spirits can appeal to them, and they will provide him with valuable companions. These companions fall into three groups: spirit animals, sentient vines, and minor spirits of Nature.
My question: How do the Spirits of the natural world (Sanctuary) relate to Trag'Oul?
Druids can talk to animals and plants and even commune with the supreme Spirits of Nature. I would really like someone such as Knaak to write a book based on the Druids and the Spirits of Sanctuary. They must be similar to Trag'Oul - created with Sanctuary and likely unknown to the High Heavens or Burning Hells. Trag'Oul is the sentient guardian of Sanctuary, so he must be in league with the Spirits too. But are the spirits below, equal or of higher power than him? Trag'Oul actually seems kind of weak. Well, powerful in his own realm, but it takes so much of his strength to interfere with Sanctuary. Does this mean that the Spirits have their own realm of existence too? And how do the spirits relate to the Worldstone? Surely they must have something to say about it.
In the past I thought that the Druids must be connected to Trag'Oul just like the Necromancers are, but then I realised that they have these Spirits of Nature, which seem to be similar to Trag'Oul but not quite the same.
Its also interesting to note that Priests of Rathma are able to commune with spirits of all the people and even creatures who have died in the area, but are unable to commune with the spirits of animals and plants. Clearly there is a distinct difference between spirits of nature and spirits of deceased creatures. Though I fail to see what that difference is, exactly.
I really just want to know more about these Spirits of Nature, and either Diablo III or a nice novel will help me with that.
I would love to see Trag'Oul and these Spirits in a Diablo cinematic/movie too. That would be so awesomely epic.
WoW, a quite massive post indeed, and a tough question to boot. I hope this will turn into an interesting discussion.
Reading your post, one thing came to my mind. A lot of Diablo relates to balance and opposites. The fight between Heaven and Hell is a tenuous balance the necromancers try to keep, the humans of Sanctuary are the offspring of two opposite beings, which in turn create some form of equality. Wouldn't it be possible for Trag'Oul to have a some sort of a polar opposite as well?
Necromancers can speak to dead people and dead animals, but not to living animals. Could it be so then that Trag'Oul represents the dead spirits, and the Druids Spirits represent the living? They do not have to be in hte same shape as Trag'Oul; seeing as the latter deals with the dead, it seems fitting he's not in the world among the living.
These spirits then could live within sacntuary, completely unaware of Trag'Oul. He, however, must reasonably be aware of them, since any knowledge possessed in life he could have access to in death.
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Those are good points, Phrozen. So the Spirits of Nature are the opposite of Trag'Oul. But not opposite as in good and evil, opposite as in one is the life of Sanctuary and one is the afterlife of Sanctuary, and each on the opposite ends of the Great Cycle of Being. I like that.
There is also the 'others' to consider too. Remember that part of The Sin War when Trag'Oul tries to interfere by revealing himself to the High Heavens, but he is stopped by the other sentients of other worlds. I don't particularly like the idea of 'other worlds', but it seems reasonable to think that the Supreme Spirits of Nature have something to do with the others too.
It seems that there are many "supreme spirits of Nature", but how many we do not know.
Although, Trag'Oul is said to be the ultimate guardian of Sanctuary. I suppose that whoever said this was unaware of the spirits of nature, so it is possible that there is more than one entity that guards Sanctuary.
I really want to mention this to Knaak lol, though its probably unnecessary.
I don't really see a difference between Nature Druids and Wild Druids, because the desert, jungles and snow is nature lol. I definitely agree with your last suggestion though, cause it fits in with my own character who is a cross between Druids and Necromancers. So I guess you could say that I have knowledge in both/all sides of the Great Cycle of Being, not just the afterlife part and not just the natural living part (like summoning the spirits of dead trees and forming them into a type of golem/minion lol - referring to creature in my sig).
The Druids already are kind of split into three anyway, with their Weather/Earth/Fire manipulators, Transformers and Summoners.
Those are good points, Phrozen. So the Spirits of Nature are the opposite of Trag'Oul. But not opposite as in good and evil, opposite as in one is the life of Sanctuary and one is the afterlife of Sanctuary, and each on the opposite ends of the Great Cycle of Being. I like that.
Right. Both would be concerned with a balance of sorts. Life and death directly, and the precarious situation that Sanctuary is in indirectly.
Quote from "Atrumentis" »
There is also the 'others' to consider too. Remember that part of The Sin War when Trag'Oul tries to interfere by revealing himself to the High Heavens, but he is stopped by the other sentients of other worlds. I don't particularly like the idea of 'other worlds', but it seems reasonable to think that the Supreme Spirits of Nature have something to do with the others too.
This is probably something that won't be expanded upon anytime soon, at least not in the games. But we can always hope. All worlds possibly have their own Trag'Oul and nature spirts.
Quote from "Atrumentis" »
Although, Trag'Oul is said to be the ultimate guardian of Sanctuary. I suppose that whoever said this was unaware of the spirits of nature, so it is possible that there is more than one entity that guards Sanctuary.
Or their relation to eachother is not how I describet it. Or it can be tied in to what I say. Death comes after life, so Trag'Oul wound possess everything that life had and death on top of that. makes it more natural for him to be the supreme guardian.
I'm probably wrong though. There's not a whole lot to specualte on here
Quote from "Atrumentis" »
I really want to mention this to Knaak lol, though its probably unnecessary.
Next time Medieval asks us to give questions to Knaak...
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
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Hmm, yeah, that could be why Trag'Oul is the ultimate guardian. Because, as the Necromancers say, in order to understand death you must also understand life. But not vice versa?
I could email Knaak directly. I've done it before when I asked him about the Diablo Archive, and he replied fairly quickly. We even had a bit of a conversation about it consisting of 5 emails in total lol. So he's not too hard to contact, I just don't want to seem like I'm bothering him. It also depends on how much power he has on deciding what to write about, we don't know how the system works.
So he's not too hard to contact, I just don't want to seem like I'm bothering him. It also depends on how much power he has on deciding what to write about, we don't know how the system works.
Well, there's one easy way to find out you know
If I was Knaak, I don't think I would mind it so muc as long as the e-mail as well formulated and not offensive in any way. I don't think you would have a problem with either of those categories.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
Awesome topic Atrumentis, I'd love to have a more constructive idea to suggest, but the ones formulated here seem so much better than any I had before.
And what really interests me most is the idea of what role exactly this fourth type of beings (these supreme spirits - nature and dragons) would play in relation to the Balance. Sure they observe it and they try to inform humans of how to look after it, but that seems to be just too small taking into account their complexity and their number. Also the Balance mentioned was only considered in relation to good/evil. It is strange they do not worry about the death/life point of view.
Anyway, in case you email Knaak, we'll be waiting for his answer anxiously.
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Refresh your memory:
My question: How do the Spirits of the natural world (Sanctuary) relate to Trag'Oul?
Druids can talk to animals and plants and even commune with the supreme Spirits of Nature. I would really like someone such as Knaak to write a book based on the Druids and the Spirits of Sanctuary. They must be similar to Trag'Oul - created with Sanctuary and likely unknown to the High Heavens or Burning Hells. Trag'Oul is the sentient guardian of Sanctuary, so he must be in league with the Spirits too. But are the spirits below, equal or of higher power than him? Trag'Oul actually seems kind of weak. Well, powerful in his own realm, but it takes so much of his strength to interfere with Sanctuary. Does this mean that the Spirits have their own realm of existence too? And how do the spirits relate to the Worldstone? Surely they must have something to say about it.
In the past I thought that the Druids must be connected to Trag'Oul just like the Necromancers are, but then I realised that they have these Spirits of Nature, which seem to be similar to Trag'Oul but not quite the same.
Its also interesting to note that Priests of Rathma are able to commune with spirits of all the people and even creatures who have died in the area, but are unable to commune with the spirits of animals and plants. Clearly there is a distinct difference between spirits of nature and spirits of deceased creatures. Though I fail to see what that difference is, exactly.
I really just want to know more about these Spirits of Nature, and either Diablo III or a nice novel will help me with that.
I would love to see Trag'Oul and these Spirits in a Diablo cinematic/movie too. That would be so awesomely epic.
Druids need more love!
I need to read a little more before I'd attempt to posit their relation to Trag'Oul, though.
Nice subject, Atru.
Reading your post, one thing came to my mind. A lot of Diablo relates to balance and opposites. The fight between Heaven and Hell is a tenuous balance the necromancers try to keep, the humans of Sanctuary are the offspring of two opposite beings, which in turn create some form of equality. Wouldn't it be possible for Trag'Oul to have a some sort of a polar opposite as well?
Necromancers can speak to dead people and dead animals, but not to living animals. Could it be so then that Trag'Oul represents the dead spirits, and the Druids Spirits represent the living? They do not have to be in hte same shape as Trag'Oul; seeing as the latter deals with the dead, it seems fitting he's not in the world among the living.
These spirits then could live within sacntuary, completely unaware of Trag'Oul. He, however, must reasonably be aware of them, since any knowledge possessed in life he could have access to in death.
There is also the 'others' to consider too. Remember that part of The Sin War when Trag'Oul tries to interfere by revealing himself to the High Heavens, but he is stopped by the other sentients of other worlds. I don't particularly like the idea of 'other worlds', but it seems reasonable to think that the Supreme Spirits of Nature have something to do with the others too.
It seems that there are many "supreme spirits of Nature", but how many we do not know.
Although, Trag'Oul is said to be the ultimate guardian of Sanctuary. I suppose that whoever said this was unaware of the spirits of nature, so it is possible that there is more than one entity that guards Sanctuary.
I really want to mention this to Knaak lol, though its probably unnecessary.
The Druids already are kind of split into three anyway, with their Weather/Earth/Fire manipulators, Transformers and Summoners.
This is probably something that won't be expanded upon anytime soon, at least not in the games. But we can always hope. All worlds possibly have their own Trag'Oul and nature spirts.
Or their relation to eachother is not how I describet it. Or it can be tied in to what I say. Death comes after life, so Trag'Oul wound possess everything that life had and death on top of that. makes it more natural for him to be the supreme guardian.
I'm probably wrong though. There's not a whole lot to specualte on here
Next time Medieval asks us to give questions to Knaak...
I could email Knaak directly. I've done it before when I asked him about the Diablo Archive, and he replied fairly quickly. We even had a bit of a conversation about it consisting of 5 emails in total lol. So he's not too hard to contact, I just don't want to seem like I'm bothering him. It also depends on how much power he has on deciding what to write about, we don't know how the system works.
If I was Knaak, I don't think I would mind it so muc as long as the e-mail as well formulated and not offensive in any way. I don't think you would have a problem with either of those categories.
And what really interests me most is the idea of what role exactly this fourth type of beings (these supreme spirits - nature and dragons) would play in relation to the Balance. Sure they observe it and they try to inform humans of how to look after it, but that seems to be just too small taking into account their complexity and their number. Also the Balance mentioned was only considered in relation to good/evil. It is strange they do not worry about the death/life point of view.
Anyway, in case you email Knaak, we'll be waiting for his answer anxiously.