Nature Lore

A Minor Outer Mystery inititing the path to the Nature Mysteries of Merinita the Founder - or, some say, of the accursed Diedne. It provides communion with a certain aspect of nature.

Presented in HoHMC 103-106, Nature Lore is an extension of the Forest Lore rules of Guardians of the Forest (on page 37), providing more rules, details, and the option of communing with other aspects of nature (such as Weather, Animals, or so on). Like Forest Lore, Nature Lore allows the magus to "Walk the Path" to obtain certain rewards (see GotF 37-39), and the rest of the Nature Mysteries may be initiated in this manner.

Opinions and Commentary

Nature Lore has been criticized as overly powerful. At high scores, the nature maga gains not only knowledge ("lore") but also is able to locate raw vis, communicate with and command its denziens, and so on. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that many "(Nature)" options are quite generic and accessible (all wild animals, the sky...), and that the score is always considered three less outside of the home region. Thus, a maga with 7 in Water Lore can communicate with any sea or river creature, locate raw vis in any magical body of water, and so on. This is not only powerful, but also seems inappropriate as different environments are not connected to each other.

If this is a concern for your game, an alternative you might consider is to treat Nature Lore as Wilderness Sense in appropriate locales, with a -3 outside the home region. Maintain also the Ability's general use as an Area Lore, but not the supernatural rapport with the place. Instead, Nature Lore would function similarly to Cult Lore, opening up the ability to initiate further Mysteries by "walking the path". These would include Animal Ken (or suitable variants), Ways of the Land, Voice of the Land, Spirit Votary, and so on.

See Also

• The Cult of Vesta, Huntress in the Wood, and True Merinita all make use of this Mystery.