The largest tree on Aqualon is the Vaenndrasil of Druith, located in the Glade of Druith. Ever since the creation of the grand glade by the first schamani Erknaz Jôtison the sappling of Vaenndrasil has been carefully tended and infused with schamani magic, making it grow larger and larger each year, until it eventually outgrew even the gemed trees of the Brammenwoods. Today it is home to the largest settlement of Druith, and regular rites and festivals are held in its honor and in honor of Erknaz.The people of Druith used to be of the same ilk as the Kaltani, who descended from those Jötun and Midgardians who sided with the Old Gods during the War that shaped the World. However, while most Kaltani tribes carved out their meager existence along the coniferous forests just below the Snowzone, raising forts and villages, warring among each other and raiding the southerners relentlessly, those who would become the people of Druith ventured westward and discovered the fertile lands north of the great lake Glazglubin. Here, they settled into a nomadic lifestyle, traveling between the lake and the Snowzone.
Purpose / Function
The great tree Venndrasil is the gathering place of all Druithi tribes. Each year, they meet there once to pay homage to the Great Schamani, and, from time to time, elect a new one from their ranks.
But the purpose of the tree is more than symbolic: It's roots spread throughout the land and carry with them the soul fragments of all past Great Schamani. They nourish the land and ensure its perpetual fertility. Fruit grows throughout the Glade year round, and the animals that inhabit it are often many times larger than their counterparts beyond the wall of trees, all thanks the the roots of Vennrasil.
History
As the Druithi began becoming more and more set in their ways, their traditions became more esoteric and druidic as the centuries passed by.
Ironically, only Kaltani mages ever called themselves "druid", which was meant as an allusion to Druith, the height of northern animancy.
Animancers of Druith, instead, were called schamani.
The first Great Schamani, who could exert significant power over animals and vegetation, was Erknaz Jôtison, leader of the Clearwater tribe. During his time, the seven- to nine-hundreds of the First Age, naming traditions of the Druithi were still closer to that of their ancestors, though in contemporary Druithi oral tradition, he is often referred to by the name "He-Who-Planted-The-Seed".
That seed was the seed of the tree Venndrasil. though none are quite sure what species the tree itself is, the stories say that Erknaz received an acorn of the Odentree from Freyja herself. He planted it in the southern reaches of Druith and placed a piece of his soul inside, making it grow tall and strong.
With the planting of the tree, he also began the Growing of the Glade, a task which would be picked up by his successors, until the lands of Druith were ringed with a wall of animantic trees. Each Great Schamani also fed part of his soul into the Venndrasil, and the tree's roots now stretch below all corners of Druithi land.
