Druids are a special group who use aether through communing with nature and the world, access all forms of aether, combining them, and drawing forth incredible powers therefrom. They commune with the world in places of aetherial power, such as deep caves or forests, and from this communion, they have access to aetherial powers ranging from animal forms to summoning storms. Some female druids prefer the term bandrui for themselves.

Communion:
To commune with nature, a druid must find a peaceful place with natural aetherial energy, a place as devoid of person-made objects as possible (hence why some druids commune naked if they must), and there meditate. In their meditative journey, they must speak with the aetherial energies in the place. If a spirit or elemental is present, the druid might have to bargain a price for communion, but if the place is merely a location of power with no will behind it, the druid can simply let the aether into themselves to gain access. The cost of this varies by type of aether, but usually involves protecting the location of meditation, and thus many druids become associated with specific locations.

Sacrifice:
Sacrifices are sometimes used by druids in times of great need to offset the price of communion. Usually this means an animal being stabbed by a dagger of pure metal and burned to release its aetherial energy and create an aetherial protector for the location out of said animal. Greater forms of sacrifice include killing a person for this purpose via burning in a wicker man construct (Earthpower, Greenlight, White Tiger, and Rubedian) or by subjecting them to threefold death, using methods that invoke three kinds of aether (usually drowning for Currents, hanging for Winds, and burning for Rubedian). Willing sacrifices or people guilty of crimes against nature are preferred, but anyone will do.

Staves:
Most druids use a staff made of some elemental kind of wood to channel aetherial power through. These must be crafted in aetherial places with pure aetherial power and tools (flint knives, for instance). An appropriate staff can add points ot the aetherial output.

Powers:
The powers a druid gains depends on the aether present when they commune and the amount of aether or the power of the elemental they commune with and the length of time they commune or the price they pay. In general, an hour of communion means 1 point of aetherial energy. One day of protecting a place adds another 6 points. Stronger elementals range from 1 extra point and up, with a logos or nephesh, for instance, giving nearly infinite points if the druid can manage it (almost impossible without Divine intervention) and a basic elemental giving 3 extra points.

Because using their powers means using up the aether, druids are not limited to the usual 1-25 scale, but rather use it as a spending system. How many points they can have at once varies by druid and circumstance, species, age, experience, willpower, and so on.

Power	Price	Aether	Description
Viridian fire	10+	Rubedian, various	A viridian-colored flame that is imbued with the powers of other aethers, True Viridian Flame is all aethers at once
Forest shield	19+	Greenlight, Bestial, various	Drawing on the forest around you to attack your enemies or defend you
Healing loam	13+	Greenlight, Earthpower	Imbuing healing properties from medicinal plants into dirt and rubbing it on someone to cure or heal them
Stunning touch	10+	Pattern, Fundamental	Making your hand a conduit for electricity and stunning people with it. Stronger shocks can kill the user if used poorly
Tough skin	7+	Various	Mixing aethers to make the skin stronger. Stoneskin, Barkskin, Metalskin, etc.
Orniscopy	10+	Bestial, Winds	Predicting events by the flight of birds
Flight	13+	Winds, Fundamental, Lunar, Astral, etc.	Some combination of antigravity and wind power to allow the user to fly
Animal form	16+	Bestial, Fundamental	Taking the form of an animal; can include other aethers if the animal is relevant
Waterbreathing	7+	Currents, Winds	The ability to breathe underwater
Mist form	16+	Pattern, Fundamental	Turning into mist
Boiling mud	10+	Earthpower, Rubedian, Currents	Turning the ground into boiling mud by planting your staff into it
Breath weapons	13+	Winds, various	Using your breath to create storms (Pattern), push gales (Winds), petrify (Earthpower), turn to flame (Rubedian), etc.
Summon storms	19+	Pattern, Winds, Currents, Fundamental	Whirling your staff above your head and singing ancient songs to bring together a storm around you

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Song: communing through song with powerful elementals

grow to enormous size

He wore a hornless bull-hide and a bird mask, and flew in a machine called the roth rámach, the "oared wheel". He had an ox-driven chariot in which night was as bright as day, a star-speckled black shield with a silver rim, and a stone which could turn into a poisonous eel when thrown in water.

The ritual of oak and mistletoe is a Celtic religious ceremony, in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak, cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two white bulls and used the mistletoe to make an elixir to cure infertility and the effects of poison