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Silvergates: Navigator (Book 2 complete)
Appendix: The Magics of Northworld - Druidry (non-story)

Appendix: The Magics of Northworld - Druidry (non-story)

Druidry, or Life Magic, is the colloquial term used for one of the eight spheres of magic made available to some users of a Silvergate.

It uses a specific vital stat, Life Force, labeled as “Lifeforce” on the Interface. As with all magic, the stat is not visible until you obtain a Skill that uses it.

Druids are the quintessential healers of Northworld. They possess the largest arsenal of buffs, self-buffs, regenerations, and outright exchange of vitals.

Druid Skills are typically associated with the same stats as Necromancy: Strength, Resilience, Fortitude, and Presence; few Skills are found outside those stats. In addition to being able to heal if they have the right Skills, the number of self-buffs available make them extremely potent fighters despite the relative lack of enemy-targeting Skills.

Some Druid Skills require having access to other magical vitals. Those Skills have never been acquired in the lottery if the vital was not previously unlocked, but at least two examples of people using a Skill Stone have unlocked the required vital despite not having any other skill. No Druid Skill involving Death Residue has been found, even if known Necromancer Druids exist without the help of Skill Stones.

The specific “flavor” of Druids comes from its regeneration mechanics. Like its common counterpart, Necromancy or “death” magic, which shares the same stats, it has a relatively low regeneration rate.

Druids’ baseline regeneration rate is increased by exposure to large plants, notably trees. Each Druid has a range based on their level, and each tree species within that range increases their regeneration rate based on the size of the tree. For that reason, Druids excel in outdoor situations but labor at a significant disadvantage in indoor dungeon areas unless directly located under a forest. There are known potions, all brewed from specific Northworld tree bark and leaves, that increase the Lifeforce regeneration, but they tend to be toxic and have secondary effects that are not desirable in critical circumstances.

Tree Rings (“groves”) are special tree areas. A Tree Ring is easy to recognize, even for non-Druids. They consist of a near-perfectly circular row of 24 near-identical trees, with the inner circle having no vegetation outside of grasses and fern analogs and a surrounding ring of a dozen meters wide having nothing larger than bushes.

In a Tree Ring, multiple trees count as different, even if they all appear to be of a single species. Tree Rings are divided into minor groves with only 12 “species” and major groves with all 24 trees registering as “different species”. This applies only to Druids inside the ring. From an outside perspective, the 24 trees appear as a single species.

Many Northworld Druids have created “personal groves” by planting as many tree species as possible near their home. Since plants and seeds get killed/sterilized by transit through a Silvergate, this is limited to the ecology of Northworld. Despite the fast-growing nature of local plant life, most of those “groves” have relatively little effect, as the trees still require a significant number of years to grow to meaningful size.

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Lifeforce Vital cap is relatively high and front-loaded:

Vital cap = 500 + Level×5 + Presence×3 + Resilience×3 + Strength×2 + Fortitude×2

The baseline for regeneration is also low:

Rate = (Strength / 50) per second

The range for tree regeneration is as follows:

Range = (100-75×0.99level)m

For each different tree species within that range, the rate of regeneration is increased by the tallest tree of that species:

Rate = +50%×Log10(tree height-druid height, in cm)

(example: A 3m-tall “oak” will add 106% regeneration to a 170cm-tall druid)

Any Skill or piece of gear that affects Strength will increase that base rate, but to not much effect. There is a specific Meditation skill that can be used to improve that significantly:

Meditation on Life

Tier 4 Resilience

Action

Life is what you are.

Lifeforce energy recharges at an accelerated rate while you are meditating. You gain a bonus to your Lifeforce skills for a short time. Meditation is interrupted if you move or take an action.

Maximum meditation period: (skill) sec

Cooldown: (600×0.99skill) sec

Lifeforce recovery: (Strength/2) per second

Bonus skill: +1.01skill to all Lifeforce skills for (10×1.01skill) sec

Other, more generic Meditations also greatly increase your regeneration rates for Lifeforce, but all Meditation skills are incredibly rare (see “Fanduk”).

Typical Druid skills:

Hold Breath (tier 5 Fortitude): suspend stamina expenditures.

Burning Need (tier 4 Resilience): swap stamina for health.

Ironbark Skin (tier 3 Strength): toughen skin.

Infuse Vitality (tier 2 Presence; most sought): add to target’s health.

Grove Refuge (tier 1 Perception): locate the nearest grove.

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Special section on Locational Interference – Project Cartographers Only

Locational interference for the Druidic skills is well established. Every Tree Ring contains one interference locus for one specific Druid Skill. False or “personal” groves do not – the real test for an actual location is whether or not the trees of the ring count as different when they are of the same species.

Different Tree Rings can provide the same Skill. More common Skills might appear in more Tree Rings than rarer Skills (to be confirmed).

Locational interference is also subject to additional restrictions.

You must not have a full amount of Lifeforce. Any attempt at the lottery while having capped your Lifeforce will result in a normal lottery pick. This is a non-trivial requirement within a Tree Ring, as the regeneration rates are extremely high.

You must not have obtained a Skill based on the same stat as the current Tree Ring Skill as your previous Skill. If your previous Skill obtained was, for example, a Dexterity Skill, you cannot obtain a Skill in any Tree Ring that grants a Dexterity-based Skill.

The following maps copied from the general cartography section highlight unknown (not tested), unconfirmed (single Skill pick), and confirmed Tree Rings.

Note: Focus must be on unknown Groves if possible.