Suppose you are king and a group of druids enters your court...

Come to a mutually beneficial agreement - such as having a small contingent of druids come to a neutral location with a set of loggers, then just regrow the trees that get cut down to make a sustainable, compact wood farm that doesn't negatively impact the environment as a whole.

>haha how are druids real nigga just solve the mystery haha

Tell them I can tone it down a bit and I would appreciate it if they taught my people a way to be eco-friendly (like planting a new tree for each one they cut) but I can't just stop most of my mining and lumbering operations because I need those to keep the economy working and provide what my people need.
So yeah, if they have a viable alternative I'm all ears but if not I would rather anger some druids and risk a conflict with them than allow my kingdom to suffer a slow death.

>"If the destruction of the forests and the earth is necessary for the survival of your kingdom, we will have to destroy your kingdom."
Nice going, kingie.

You know in the sense of a dnd setting why wouldn't there be a 'druids school' state sponsored like a mages college. Or at least like a group of druids who train others. I mean they can double your harvests, Chat with the fey, Prevent (or cause) natural disaster. They keep the kingdom green and healthy. If a city is large enough maybe have a park overseen by a druid.

So it's either my kingdom dying out or getting destroyed by some autistic assholes who can't even bother to help me find an altermative? Well, bring it on, faggots, if my kingdom must go down then it will go down fighting.
And let's see what the other kingdoms think when they here that you go around ordering kings to allow their kingdoms to die or be destroyed. I'm sure they will be thrilled.

*when they hear

Man is as much an Animal as any other creature on this earth and should be judged as such even with our gifts of Intelligence and Comradery

Do you complain when Beavers work to together to make a dam after falling trees?

Do you scream to the heaven when Apes uses a tool?

I ask Wise Druids, What has Man done that another Animal with the same gifts would not do in it's place?

Hire a group of murderhobos like every other nobility with a problem that could be solved with violence.

they probably kick beaver dams apart because they're "unnatural"
druids are just assholes like that

Then compound it.

> And further. Do you claim innocence from such things?

> What of the clothes on your back? Are they natural? What of the language you speak? Shall you strip naked, disavow higher thought, and live in a hole, so that you may stay to your principles? Or shall you continue to smugly judge others while committing such transgressions yourself?

Oh I like that user

I didn't want something too long but that is GREAT!

Agree to a treaty where we formally recognize a large portion of wilderness as protected druid territory in exchange for them giving up claim to the rest of the lands. Meanwhile, subsidize merchants who import liquor and firearms to druid communities, and send missionaries who use the excuse of educating children to lead the next generation away from their druidic traditions and instill in them the religion of my kingdom. After a few decades, start unofficially allowing settlers to move into the borders of the now-weakened druid lands, and use the inevitable druid reprisal attacks on border towns as an excuse to declare them in breach of the treaty and mount a full military invasion that clears the forest and forces the druids onto an even smaller reservation.

Rinse and repeat for a few generations until the last few druids are basically reduced to a roadside attraction selling crafts to tourists.

>Shall you strip naked, disavow higher thought, and live in a hole, so that you may stay to your principles?
>The druids agree and destroy all civilization, worldwide.

If they are so powerful and such assholes why did they even bother coming to my court to talk with me?

This I like.

>So you wish to declare war on the world? With what? Magic, weapons, tools? Things that your mind has given you the power to use? Whether you win or are crushed, you will have still raped your own principles in the process.

>your own hounds tear your throat out after you say this

>Oh, but these beasts themselves come from co-evolution of humanity and a joint effort of community and civilization. They are, by means as akin to thought, products of humanity and civilization.

You sound like a pretty shit DM. That user is trying to talk down those druids by using pretty solid logic and all you can think of is "hehe u die"

>The druid's hand raises. The hounds start, but seem to hold themselves back.
>Those dogs? Are they wolves? Or creatures descended from years of human cultivation? They are not yours to command, for they are just as unnatural as everything else in this room, including yourselves.

I ask what the fuck am I paying them for if they're not overseeing my Kingdoms infrastructure like I told them to.

>Pretty solid logic

>The Druid turns to the King
>"We know the nature of man, our trappings are like yours, woven and wrought."
>"But the Nature of man is to understand, to learn, to grow."
>"Selfishness is never outrightly rewarded in the realm of man, it is seen as a sin, as a liability"
>" We could have slain your loggers, we could have buried your mines, but we stand here now, As men, engaging in Diplomacy, As men"

>"... engaging in Diplomacy, As men"

>Demands are not diplomacy

>and now that you ask instead of demand, we may deceide the best way to move forward

>now if there is a Magical or Supernatural reason you would like us to cut down less Trees? The local Fae upset or or a Forest Spirit angry?

>"Yes, we creatures known as men do have the nature to understand, learn, and grow.
>"Why is it that you choose to stay to your ways and refuse understanding, learning, and growth to the changes society is bringing?
>"If these are demands sent by some other entity than a human, then let them speak and not let the nature of man color their demands, lest you bring ruination to the very nature you exhort."

>Implying they're not

You really don't know much about Diplomacy do you.

A demand to stop something is usually a segway into a conversation onto Why and How that thing should be stopped.

Realistically, anything short of having them killed would send the message that you're a weak king.

>>" We could have slain your loggers, we could have buried your mines, but we stand here now, As men, engaging in Diplomacy, As men"

>And by your words you say the mines belong to me, I can demand your clothes off your back if they offend me?

Good King

Bad Kings

The King Understands the Druids are not here to cause problems, but to understand they are here to prevent a problem.

Simply trying to trade words with them instead of parrying aside their ego and coming to an agreement means you're making an enemy of the Druids as well as preventing them helping you stop the incoming disaster.

> they are here to prevent a problem
How do you know that? They haven't even mentioned something like that so far and from their wording this just sounds like your average "REEE industrialization is evil" druid autism.

Because if they were stupid enough to just be "Reee Industrialization is evil" they wouldn't go to the king, they'd just kill the industry.

I refuse with the argument that I will not make my people homeless for no reason.

I want to see their golden tree branches as proof of their identity and ask why they are spouting this luddite nonsense instead of presiding over the sacrifices and courts like all my other druids.

Ask them if they've paid their taxes then call for the royal accountant to pay them a visit. That'll get them sweating pretty hard when they realise they are about to have a royal audit and their demands will be pushed away to another day. Then continue to maintain the status quo and sock away gold in my stash and hand over the problem to the next king.

They're not getting to the heart of the problem and are instead insisting on terms unstable to the kingdom's economy and welfare.
If they were direct about why they wanted such implementations things would have gone better, instead of vague notions of "problems to come."
In essence, they have made themselves the foremost problem to my kingdom.
I, , am at least trying to get to a person/Fae who will speak more directly then a druid with only demands and no given room for compromise or alternatives.

That would take more time and effort than just having the king order for the mining and lumbering to stop.
And, again, as far the conversation goes they have been arguing about the nature of man, the importance of progress and such things with no mention of any disaster or supernatural threat. If there was such a thing I think they would have brought it up already instead of wasting everyone's time arguing about philosophy, unless they are really stupid.

>Try to engage in Philosphy with vague Spirit Worshiping wisemen instead of getting to the point
>Even going so far as to say "Well let the Spirits speak for themselves"
>Instead of just bowing your head slightly and cutting down their vagueness with a proposition of action.

Literally how to speak to Wizards and Clerics 101 people.

>Fae
>Speaking more directly
>LITERALLY INVITING THE FAE INTO YOUR COURT

That's stupid as fuck mang.

They are the ones who want something from me so it's up to them to make things clear for me.
I have better things to do than wasting my time trying to decipher what a bunch of tree-hugging autists want to tell me.

Reminder that druids are major cunts and should be killed to allow human progress.

>You really don't know much about Diplomacy do you.

And you passed your Foreign Service exam?

Demands are not an opening negotiating position. You'll notice that the diplomacy only bean AFTER the king talked the druids down from their demands.

>The Fae call a Wild Hunt and the Kingdom is ruined all because a King was too good to look past his ego at a bunch of Grumpy Forest Speakers.

Again, bad kings.

This right here.

Do I complain to the druids
every time a fox kills someone's chickens or a rabbit eats someone's herb garden?

I find in general that "why wouldn't" questions can end up being the basis for a really interesting world, I know there's probably pre-established lore for everything but if you take a lot of DnD lore to it's logical conclusion you end up with a vastly different setting than the popular image.

>kill the Fae and extract their essence, sell it on Ebay
What now?

Yes, let's... let's not have that war then.

Alright lads, time to learn how to make swords of small sharp shards of rock, how to sail on skiffs made of tanned leather, and how to build our own houses out of our own shit. Fucking bush pikey druids and their fucking imbecile backwards irresponsible yet overpowered bush gods, fuck all of it.

Depends on the court and setting, really. If its the Seelie court things might go well enough, to which I assume it sure isn't the Unseelie court considering they sent a druid.

If the grounds of the Druid only stands on spirit worship then I have no need to meet his demands for no proof they they are not actually speaking for themselves. For all I know this druid was paid for by a neighboring kingdom to get my industry to slow down. The Greeks bribed the oracles all the time to play politics. Can I guarantee this is different?

The Wild Hunt happens no matter what and it varies what actions are actually taken during it. Sometimes they pass right over kingdoms, sometimes they accept people to hunt with them, and others times they do slaughter. But if the druid is speaking for the Wild Hunt then then there's more at play then just my industry.

If its 3.PF, we're basically fucked

Nah, fuck you.
I did try reasoning with them and pointing out why their demands can't be met but I'm not going to bow down to a bunch of idiots who won't bother to explain that they want me to ruin my kingdom's economy to prevent a bigger disaster.
Sorry, druidfag, not everyone must kneel in front of your "muh nature" autism and do everything you say just because.
Good luck when the rest of the continent finds out what you did and gangs up on you to stop you from destroying their nations because you suck at diplomacy.

> What of the clothes on your back? Are they natural? What of the language you speak? Shall you strip naked, disavow higher thought, and live in a hole, so that you may stay to your principles? Or shall you continue to smugly judge others while committing such transgressions yourself?

Nice try, but this is a world where forest animals regularly put on clothes, talk, walk around on two legs, and live in quaint little forest cottages.

The druids aren't mad because logging is "unnatural". They're here to advocate on behalf of their subjects who are being driven from their ancestral homes. Mr. Fox's family had lived in that forest for 1000 years until you butchered him and clearcut the land.

Druids should be a voice for the Nature Spirits or Fae when they have a problem with people, and the guardians of natural magical places

Druids shouldn't show up about one tree

I argue that furryfags are a plague in any setting and that genociding them all is the rightful thing to do.

...if you know any cowgirls we can perhaps make a deal.

I pull a Rome

and if you have proof of such an aweful unlawful deed I would love to see it for my Men had strict orders to not bother the animal folk of the forest and to only log in the places they did not live

Just like the "it's to prevent a disaster" thing, this makes the druids fucking retarded because they didn't even imply this was about their subjects till now.

And what does that have to do with me stoping the majority of my mining and lumbering operations? Are they all located in furry territory?

ever since I posted as the Wise Old Kingthey've been really trying to make us look like the bad guys

Lorax get out

What is this a reference to?

well I do think a Druid would warn people about over logging a forest

man that was a great book, the Lorax admits he doesn't have all the answers and can't do anything about the people who would lose their job

The king and the land are one and the same. They prosper and fall together. One cannot fall into ruin without the other following. This is the way of old.

>demanding that you stop the majority of your lumber and mining operations.
I ask them to talk to my Minister of Resources, and to come up with an appropriate plan for selected renewable resource harvest that can be beneficial for both of us.

As Druids, I'm sure theyre well aware with the natural disturbance regimes and seral cycles of the surrounding land, so if we were to develop proper harvest management and regulations based upon emulating those natural processes, I'm sure it could be beneficial for both of us.

That wil help with the lumber part, especially if we can cordone certain areas as lumber ranches. As for mining and mineral extraction? The answer is to simply place more intuative restrictions and appoint overseers to mining operations to ensure theyre doin everything they can to prevent runoff and excessive damage to the adjacent ecoregions.

I also suggest that, in order to avoid furter confusions, that the Druids get together and write some proper almanacs, journals, and treatises detailing their ecological knowledge and understanding, so that it can be made more easily understood for the right people and to standardize their interactions with the kingdom.

>tfw the druids are stunned that the King is an up and coming Nature Wizard

Fine! We'll sacrifice 12 virgins!

People who don't pay taxes are outlaws. I have no authority over them and no protection obligated to them.

they do pay taxes, what do you think all those dead rodents left on your doorstep were?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemain

Local cats doing their job, not that of foxes which are to provide furs and meats for the families of farmers and hunters. Their deaths are taxes and are sufficient enough to staunch any more influx of logging, but will not cease that which is currently in progress.
Everything dies everything lives, it is the cycle. We will not break it.

You think any man in this Kingdom could kill Mr. Fox?

He's older then the Hills, the Trees and the River that flows through it

He's stole the Moon from the Sky along with the Stars, He's stole Wisdom from the Wise and Bravery from the Brave, and then He gave it all back with a smile

youtube.com/watch?v=796bHaAtlkE

never seen that before

cool

I ask the druids why they have a problem with mining. The logging I can understand, but what's so bad about extracting rare metals from the ground? I suppose quarries could make a mess of the landscape, but they're also fairly small and localised, and can be reclaimed by nature quite easily once their lodes are exhausted,

In the meantime, I ask the druids what alternatives they suggest to logging. I can't just ban harvesting lumber completely - my subjects need wood for furniture, tools, building materials and kindling, especially in the winter. We could perhaps arrange some kind of compromise, but I need to know what the druids can do to make up for the lost lumber.

Yea, even as a kid that struck me as oddly self-conscious. Back in the 90's, especially with Captain Planet, there were all these environment protection morales EVERYWHERE, and the Lorax, written earlier than that, was the only one to admit there were problems with just stopping and no good solutions to those problems. Looking back, it's pretty clear he was only there to point out the consequences of the Onceler's actions, and it was on the Onceler to come up with solutions. The book wasn't calling out the little people who couldn't do shit like the entirety of the 90's, where I always felt I was being constantly told it was MY fault, and I could have done SOMETHING, it was calling out the people who had actual control and COULD do something.

I always liked that. The animated movie (not the CGI shit) was pretty good in portraying the Onceler as sympathetic too, in fact showing even better than the book how he regretted his actions, but felt he couldn't just stop.

Man, how did that fuckin' book and cartoon get so damn deep into the issue without being insulting to either side? Dr. Seuss was god damn good.

yes he was user

I invite the druids to use their power over trees and earth to make logging and mining faster, easier, and non harmful to the environment.

Clearly they're secretly allied with one of the evil underdark races.

If you wish for us to stop, find a solution. I am willing to change if you show a plausible & attainable alternative for those that do not share your religion yet do not seek to oppose your beliefs.