Nature
There is only one religion in Arthea that has survived completely from before the Great Disaster. Druids, the clerics of Nature, had worshipped the world god for many thousands of years, but amongst humans that worship all but ended in the Disaster. Only among elves did the religion really endure, and was not a part of human culture until fifty or sixty years after the disaster.
As always seems to be the case, humans make better clerics than elves, they demonstrate better obedience and are more capable of focussing their minds to improve the work that they are doing. Post-Disaster, the human druids lifted the religion to new, greater heights than ever before.
Clerics of Nature believe that neither good nor evil should have hold over the other, but that they should be balanced. If good should finally overcome evil, or evil finally overcome good, then even the victor should cease to exist, for black without white has no shade to measure itself against. Nature also strives for a balance between order and chaos, the world is a wild place, but within it many growing things do so according to their own rules.
Nature has its order - all that lives is born, grows, and finally dies, before being re-born. This is the natural order. But Nature also its own chaotic potential, the power of weather can be immensely destructive, particularly when lightning and flood are involved, and there is seldom any notice of where such occurrences will strike. The balance sought between good and evil is different to the balance sought between order and chaos. Nature seeks to exist between good and evil, while it exists in both order and chaos.
Druids use the natural beauty of plant life as a source and a focus of power. Other sources they draw upon are the world itself, and the sun and the moon, which are linked. Each give some power to the Druid, but the most power comes from the moon which acts as a store of energy created by the world.
To help maintain the natural order, the Druid is allowed to wear only armour made of substances occurring naturally in his surroundings. Metal is not allowed as this interferes with the Druids power. This also restricts the weapons the Druid may select. Nature allows the Druid to act in defence, but not to kill without reason, this works against nature, who deems that all things will die when their time is up.
Druids have a particular hatred of Undead. These magically animated creatures exist outside of the natural cycle, they have no place in nature, and so the druid has no control over them. Whenever undead are encountered by a druid, they are duty-bound to return the body of the dead to its natural rest.
Druids do not worship at temples, as other gods require of their clerics. The druids establish shrines in natural locations, usually in woodland, but occasionally they do this in the open. These places of worship are known as groves, and are sacred to Druids; no undead may enter a grove. It is said that natural growth will never cease where a Druid has established his grove.
Holy Symbols
The holy symbol of the druid is mistletoe, a natural plant, unlike all other religions which rely up on meaningless carved or cast forms, but are all made from to copy some aspect of nature. To be effective, fresh mistletoe must be cut when the moon is full, with a ceremonial sickle made from silver (representing the moon) or gold (representing the sun).
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