Information[]
The Druned are golems of grey rock and stone with sharp edges, but aside from this there seems to be no unified look to them. Perhaps the only common trait among them seems to be their apparent lack of eyes. Some of them look vaguely humanoid with two legs and arms, but they can also be entirely missing a head, or sport three heads. The less humanoid ones can sport four legs and a single arm coming out of their torso, while some of them seem to just float in the air like modern Earth drones. Fingers seem to be entirely optional, some of them sporting stumps or different tools as substitutes. Their movement seems to be magic based, as they either float or dig into the ground without leaving any trace behind after themselves.[1]
They are not very talkative, rarely even answering the Mava, though they do listen. Myr Iva mentions that they always play if you ask, something that rings true as they only seem to respond to Ilea when she asks to join them in their game (which she promptly lost after one move, the creation toppling almost immediately). Though Ilea repeatedly loses, the Druned seem to respect how quickly she learns and how persistent she is.
The Druned and Mava's skal (settlements)[]
The Druned are known to coexist with the Mava and build for them.[2] Octavia explains that the Mava never settle in one place, and every time they stop somewhere the Druned make artful buildings consisting of stone towers, domes, cathedral-looking structures and buildings with angles and shapes that appear nonsensical. For example high reaching angled bits with not roofs, feathers made of stone tens of meters high, stone spheres the size of entire houses, all of it scattered throughout the dunes. As the Mava and Druned move around they leave behind these artful settlements in the desert as a kind of art installation or ruin. These settlements are called "Skal"[3]
The relationship between the Druned and the Mava is hard to explain, and the Mava seem to just accept the relationship as a part of the reality they live in.
“That’s good to hear. So what exactly is the deal between you and the Druned?” she asked.
“They build, and we let them build,” Ren Va spoke as they rose.
Ilea started to hear sounds by now and she saw spells firing out into the open. Music. Fast hisses interspersed with growls and the hissing of fire. “That’s it? Sounds a little too simple.”
“I thought the same, Ilea. We provide protection to them, we admire their work, we live in the homes they provide, rest on the stone they create, we appreciate them and so they appreciate us, but that is what I thought. What many of the Mava think. Though I do not anymore believe that the Druned are the same. It is not an alliance, a truce, or a treaty. It simply is. They build. And we let them build.”
- Ren Va to Ilea, chapter 828
The sealed city of Paarah[]
Traveler of might
Heed these words
Sealed in stone
Our home remains
Turn away from here
For death yet lingers
Words of warning etched into black stone outside Paarah.[4]
Not much is known about Paarah, but it is said to be a city ruled by orcs and elves together deep in the westernmost lands of the region the Druned and Mava wander in. The exact location of the city is mentioned to be a secret of the Druned, though Toq Meer of the Skal of the Worm is believed to have earned their trust and learned of it. Although not much is known about the city, Ger Ikir believes that it contains the ultimate challenge of the Druned. Ger Ikir is skeptical about it being ruled by orcs and elves together, as both races are notoriously combative.[5]
The Druned eventually revealed the location to Ilea too, pointing her west, to the mountains of Olruin. Along with the location, they pleaded with her to do what they themselves could not achieve: Return the cursed silver crown so that they could bury it in the desert. When Ilea tried to probe for more information on what she would meet there, they refused to elaborate because they have sworn that the knowledge will remain with them and die with them.[4]