Council of Holly

Somewhat at odds with the Acorn Lodge and often allied with the Order of the Seven Stars the Council oh Holly sees its purpose as defending the wild places of the world from encroachment by the humanoid races who seek to tame, subjugate or exploit it. To this end its members seek to block the building of new settlements and the expansion of existing ones. Recognizing the Sisyphean nature of this task, they focus their attention on places of great natural beauty, or places where the first world is very close.

Structure

The council is divided into loidse, each of which will have up to twenty-four members though nine to twelve is the average. The lowest ranking members are the sìol, these are the new initiates into the council. Above the sìol are the freumh who make up most of the membership and do most of the work of the council and their loidse. Above the freumh are the meur who generally are charged with training the sìol and freumh. Above the meur are the duilleachact as advisors to the head of each loidse, who is known as a dearcag. From the ranks of the dearcag are chosen thirteen to form the comhairle deigh. The comhairle deigh is responsible for running the whole of the council and coordinating between loidse. Each is assisted by a number of duilleachact who serve as messengers and in some cases spies and even assassins. The members of the comhairle deigh serve for life or until they choose to retire, they choose one of their number to be the rìgh sneachda (if male) or banrìgh sneachda (if female) who is the head of the council. The rìgh sneachda serves for nine years before stepping down and a new one being chosen.

Culture

The Council holds that most humanoid races are a blight on the natural world. Civilization is an evil, though members debate whether it is a necessary evil. The unnecessary evil adherents point to the blight spreading through the Old Kingdoms as proof that civilization is unnecessary and should be opposed at all costs. The necessary evil faction holds that it is impossible to stop the spread of civilization altogether and that the council should focus on keeping settlements from being too close to places of profound natural beauty or where the first world is particularly close. Both factions are united in their antipathy towards the uncivilized humanoids, including orcs, goblinoids, and most races of giants. To members of the council nature, unsullied nature is all important.

Public Agenda

The public agenda of the Council is to preserve and protect the natural world from the encroachment of those races who would destroy, or “tame” it. Most members view both taming nature and destroying it to be synonymous. To this end they strive to prevent the creation of new settlements or at the very least to steer them away from sacred spots. Most commoners view them as a sort of bogeyman who cause all sorts of problems for new settlements. These problems include scattering livestock, burning houses, mixing weed seeds with grain seeds, and other mischief.

Assets

While the council doesn’t have much in the way of material wealth, though they could amass quite a bit if they were willing to exploit nature (mine, harvest farm, etc.) However, its members are all quite skilled at living off the land (a prerequisite for membership) so they have little need for material wealth. They command the forces of nature, knowing powerful magics and being skilled at handling the beasts of the wild.

History

The Council of Holly was founded a couple of years before the largescale settlement of the Frontier Lands began by a group of druids who had been living in and tending those lands. Appalled by the way the New Kingdoms had been settled from coast to mountains with little of the land left in its natural state, they vowed to prevent it from happening in the Frontier Lands. Gathering like-minded individuals from among the humans and elves who already dwelt in the lands they set about planning how to prevent civilization from spreading. The council soon split into two factions those who wanted to prevent humanoid settlements entirely and those who took the more pragmatic approach of excluding settlements from select areas.

It soon became apparent that the faction that proposed choosing their battles was the more pragmatic, as the council hadn’t sufficient numbers to prevent all settlements. For every settlement the council was able to stop five more were founded and throve. Nevertheless, the council continued to oppose settlements in any way they could. Initially the new settlers had no idea what was happening, and rumors began to spread. The ill fortune was blamed on angry gods, malicious fae, and plain bad luck amongst other causes. After a few years settlers became aware of who was truly behind the troubles and the Council became enemies if most of the civilized lands.

To this day the Council of Holly is generally reviled by the civilized races in the Frontier Lands. This dislike is nothing compared to the hatred felt by the uncivilized races. It is the Council’s opposition to the evil races such as orcs and goblinoids that prevents the good races from seeking to wipe out the council altogether.

Ethics

• Nature is the mother of all and must be revered
• Civilization is a blight on the natural world
• Defend nature with every tool at your disposal
• Let your beauty shine within even in times of dormancy
• Rule the day, and let your generosity be your legacy
• The energy of life is ever-present

Founding Date

536

Type

Druidic Circle

Demonym

Hollyites

Deities

• Eresu
• Meri
• Metsäst
• Mu
• Ukkonen

Location

Frontier Lands

Related Species

• Elf
• Humans