Dweomer and Druidism

kjames91

Hey there!

I wanted to see if anyone had more background on the hero Dweomer and how is he connected to CO? Looking to create a druid, perhaps in the same druid circle as Dweomer.

Thanks!

jonesing4

I'm sure @bulgarex will know, if anyone does (I don't). He almost always responds quickly to stuff posted in the pen & paper section, but can probably find/answer this one, too.

bulgarex

My ears are burning.

Dweomer is a "super-mage" based in Ireland, but often active internationally in cooperation with other mystic heroes, including Witchcraft of the Champions on several occasions. He's highly respected (or feared) within the occult community. Before Robert Caliburn ascended to the status of Archmage (premier mystic defender of Earth), Dweomer was considered one of the leading candidates to fill the office.

Per The Mystic World p. 58, Dweomer commands potent elemental magic drawing primarily on powers from the dimension of Faerie (home of the beings from myth and folklore). The faerie queen Mab even granted him increased power to battle the Fomorians. But according to Champions Universe: News Of The World p. 153, he also tricked the arch-demon Mephistopheles into giving him a potent magical grimoire; and as a reward for that feat, an unspecified agency from Elysium (i.e. "Heaven") granted him the ability to pronounce a special blessing on others. With gifts from three of the four "Parterres" (dimensions created out of mass human imagination), Dweomer was well on his way to fulfilling the requirements to be Archmage.

Unfortunately there's no further information given as to Dweomer's history, how he learned magic, nor whether he's part of any "circle" of similar mages. But if you wanted him to be your character's teacher in magic, that's not unreasonable. Learning magic by apprenticing oneself to a more experienced practitioner is a time-honored tradition among spell casters on Champions Earth, part of the background of a number of official NPCs. I might also be able to suggest other possible candidates from the setting, depending on what sort of powers you want your character to have.

Feel free to post followup questions.

kjames91

Thanks @Bulgarex! I wanted to create a D&D type druid that practices more nature like magic. Dweomer was the only one that came to my mind and how he was connected to CO.

Thanks!

bulgarex

You're welcome. If Dweomer will work for your purposes, great. But I can suggest one other possibility for your consideration. UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom p. 137 mentions that the first iteration of UNTIL's official superhero team, UNITY, was led by a British hero called Archdruid, who retired in 1995. No other information is provided about Archdruid, nor is likely to ever be; but with a name and profile like that he certainly sounds like someone who could provide an origin for your character. The advantage to using this NPC would be the freedom to embellish him as you need, with practically no fear of contradiction from an official source.

soulforger

bulgarex wrote: »

You're welcome. If Dweomer will work for your purposes, great. But I can suggest one other possibility for your consideration. UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom p. 137 mentions that the first iteration of UNTIL's official superhero team, UNITY, was led by a British hero called Archdruid, who retired in 1995. No other information is provided about Archdruid, nor is likely to ever be; but with a name and profile like that he certainly sounds like someone who could provide an origin for your character. The advantage to using this NPC would be the freedom to embellish him as you need, with practically no fear of contradiction from an official source.

That is true, if there is virtually no information on hi, you can basically make things up...as long as it makes some sense. Turning him into a demon god, for example, most likely wouldn't make sense.

bulgarex

soulforger wrote: »

That is true, if there is virtually no information on him, you can basically make things up...as long as it makes some sense. Turning him into a demon god, for example, most likely wouldn't make sense.

But you just know some CO blackredder would try it.

soulforger

bulgarex wrote: »

soulforger wrote: »

That is true, if there is virtually no information on him, you can basically make things up...as long as it makes some sense. Turning him into a demon god, for example, most likely wouldn't make sense.

But you just know some CO blackredder would try it.

Of course they will. Of course, the safest way to do that is to simply say that their Archdruid teacher person is from a different dimension/universe and not this one. Thus, that gives them even more free reign on the character.

bulgarex

Addressing druidism on Champions Earth more generally, the villainous Cairngorm (whom you've seen in CO as "Cairngorm Stoneblood") leads a cult based in England calling themselves the "Dark Druids." They worship pre-Christian "Old Gods" of earth and nature, and propitiate them with human sacrifice. Their magic has a nature/elemental motif. An heroic character could be a refugee from the Dark Druids, as Witchcraft is from the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. (Cairngorm's PnP write-up is in Champions Villains Vol. 3, but with a different appearance from CO, and still in possession of the Elemental Earth Gem, which in CO Robert Caliburn takes from him during the Vibora Bay Apocalypse.)

During past prehistoric eras of Champions Earth's history, when magic was strong and spell casting was much more common, orders of druids existed devoted to various nature gods. A PC could be made who discovered a lost trove of lore and/or artifacts from those eras, or even be a druid from the past who somehow survived to the present day, or was cast forward in time.

The periods I'm thinking of are the Turakian Age, between 73,000 and 65,000 BC, from whence Takofanes originated, which is deliberately reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons worlds; and the land of Tuala Morn, from 28,000 to 20,000 BC, based on Celtic mythology from across the British Isles. Those eras and lands are detailed in Hero Games source books, The Turakian Age and Tuala Morn.

markhawkman

I thought the Turakian age was inspired by Marvel's "Hyborian age"

bulgarex

I think you mean Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age.

Turakian Age, like every variation of the default Dungeons and Dragons settings, is most heavily inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth. That's a sub-genre of fantasy sometimes called "high fantasy" due to the epic scope of its stories and stakes. OTOH Howard's tales of Conan, Kull, and their ilk helped spur the evolution of the "sword and sorcery" sub-genre, featuring smaller, more personal, usually self-contained tales. Those in turn form the basis for another Hero Universe genre-based era (and source book), The Valdorian Age (50,000 - 33,000 BC).

markhawkman

and Tolkien was inspired by Scandinavian epic poetry.

bulgarex

Absolutely -- as well as Christian epic poetry, such as John Milton's Paradise Lost. Melkor, aka Morgoth Bauglir, is very much a Lucifer figure. Prof. Tolkien's characters embody a more pronounced moral dichotomy and conflict than the Norse poets ever thought of. That has carried through into D&D in its Alignment mechanic.

themightyzenith

Maybe off-topic, but an interesting read... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien's_influences