The Brinebound
The Brinebound is an ancient and secretive druidic order that dwells in communion with the tides, storms, and abyssal currents of the sea. Formed in reverence to Thal’Azar, the Titan of Water, this circle views the oceans not merely as ecosystems, but as the veins and memory of the world—sacred, sentient, and ever-hungering. Bound to salt and soul, the druids of this order call the deep their cathedral and the surf their scripture.
Unlike other druidic circles, the Brinebound do not root themselves in forests or groves. Instead, they live among coral bastions, drifting kelp cities, and storm-scarred cliffs that disappear beneath the tide. Their sanctums are etched into barnacle-cloaked ruins beneath the waves, lit by bioluminescent algae and guarded by sentient sea creatures who heed Thal’Azar’s will.
The druids of the Brinebound wield magic shaped by tide and tempest. They call forth maelstroms with whispered prayers, commune with leviathans, and shape-shift into creatures of both reef and trench. Each member of the circle bears a Tidebrand, a swirling salt-etched mark upon their skin, gifted through an underwater rite of passage where one must survive the pull of a deep-sea vortex and emerge changed.
Though often mistaken for isolationists, the Brinebound are stewards of balance between land and sea. They view overfishing, pollution, and desecration of coastal places as unforgivable crimes. When provoked, their retribution comes as hurricanes guided by song, sea beasts drawn from the trenches, and tidal waves that speak with the voice of Thal’Azar himself.
The Circle reveres Thal’Azar not as a kind God, but as an eternal force—patient, crushing, infinite. They interpret his moods through the behavior of currents and the language of waves. To them, every flood is a reminder that the ocean reclaims what the land forgets.
Only those who have drowned and returned, who have been embraced by the cold quiet of the deep, may become full druids of the Brinebound. To the rest of Amoxis, they remain half-myth—strange sea-priests who walk with barnacles in their hair and salt in their blood, whispering ancient truths learned in the dark stillness below.
