The Order of Derwyddon

Being Named
One child of the goddess is named each year on Midsummer's Eve at the end of the five-day festival that honors the victory of the Goddess over Adam.

The named is consecrated as a bard or an ovydd after they journey to their new home at the fortress of Druid’s Oath. The bards memorize the sacred poetry and song of the Goddess singing and reciting her grace far and wide. While the ovydds study the arts of herbology and augury to become traveling healers and seers that bring prosperity to her children across many lands.

On the final eve of the festival the named are called to the stone altar to say their vows and shed their blood, binding themselves to the Goddess. In return for their vows, they are given the gift of song or the gift of sight.

The Joining
At indeterminate times one of the named is selected to undergo the joining in addition to their vows.

The joining is an ancient sacred ceremony where the named binds his/her soul to the earth itself extending its life so long as the earth itself exists. It is the same ceremony that the Fist of the Goddess underwent in the first age.

The named drinks the “tears of the mother” a primordial elixir of the soul, gathered from the well of souls in the Temple of the Mother. The tears are the same elixir that the Oracle uses to commune with the Goddess.

The tears retain the memories and essence of those who have not yet been born or reborn unto the world. Each drop of the elixir contains an individual soul. Thus the named must sift through the thousands of voices in the trance and select a soul companion who acts as the druid’s link to the Goddess. This can have an adverse effect on the named if a soul that is corrupted should take root. If a corrupted soul attaches to the named, he or she must be destroyed to prevent the awakening of Tiamat the embodiment of chaos, destruction, and corruption that darkened the world in the First Age.