Rollo Moonrock

Rollo Moonrock is a halfling druid. He has a gemstone that looks like a lump of coal when examined by anyone but him.

The following is an excerpt from the writings of the famous, some would say infamous, author, historian and scholar, Lord No. It is taken from his extensive works regarding interviews of druids of various races. This is from the series Small Folk- Children of the Green Volume 1 – The Halflings. Note that much of the author's descriptive embellishments have been omitted in order to make this re-telling suitable for the younger students. Here he has asked one of his book subjects to give an account of himself.

I am Rollo Moonrock. My mother birthed me in the night of an exceptionally bright full moon, the supermoon. I grew up in a halfling forest village of Oakmeadow. It is a located by a stream surrounded by an immense forest, hidden from most of the world. There is a belief in Oakmeadow that children born under such a moon are touched by the Green. Be as it may, my childhood was a joy, as were all the children's. The village raised us. We are forest halflings after all. The village lives in harmony with the forest, its plants and animals. The local druids ensure that and protect the village and its people. In return, they would come every year to examine those children born under the supermoon. Those of age five years, who pass their test, are taken to be trained. There is no sorrow in this. Quite the opposite. The village celebrates knowing that those selected will be cared for and become acolytes, future Children of the Green; that some would return to be Guardians of the village. The Circle completes itself. And as you know, I was one of the selected ones. The selected spend another five years with the local Circle, learning to sense the Green, letting it grow inside them. Then they are sent off to learn under the tutelage of three different well-experienced druids of different Circles for another five years each. And so, at age twenty-five, one is sent off on Self Stride.

I do not know if my halfling luck played a role or if it was just chance, but my tutors were, well shall we say, renowned. My first was the wood elf, Nera Aquilae, she who for unknown reasons answered to the name of 'Bug-Woman'. She would laugh at that, sigh, and exclaim "oh MooGoo!. Good MooGoo." She welcomed me unconditionally. It was my first exposure to other races. From her I learned the usage of the art of the spells gifted by the Green. But more importantly, she taught me the practice of humor to maintain morale and lighten any forbearance. She would rub my head and say "well little budling; her term for me; you may not have the Song of Shanneenah but you are learning to be prankful, feyish as needed." My heart broke when at fifteen, I left for my second tutor. I cried shamelessly as she hugged me. "A circle has no end, little budling" she remarked. "This not an end."

My second tutor was human. The Mistress of the North Wind herself. Ah, I see you are familiar of whom I mean. Indeed, I do speak of Raven Battlestar herself. At her druidic monastery I learned two important skills: mental concentration and physical weapon usage. I became proficient in weapons favoured by children of the Green. Pardon? Yes, it was during my adolescent years. I told you that. And yes, Raven favoured to train female acolytes above males. No, it was not sexual. It was more like she was intolerant of males. So yes, the training was more difficult for me and yes, I was surrounded, lived with, and trained with female acolytes of all races. Well yes. If you must know I did lose my virginity there. No. I will not describe any of my escapes during the five years I was there. You must be joking! Never!! How can you even think that! Your mind must think in the most perverse ways. Only with acolytes. Now let me finish! At the age of twenty, I left for my third tutelage. Yes there was a lot of hugging and crying from all around. The whole assemblage were friends if not more. Well, The North Wind Mistress did not show much emotion. It is her way, always stoic. She just padded me on the shoulder and said "Well done. Rollo. Well done. For you." She handed me this, my raven feather, my spell focus. All knew this indicated that she was congratulating and graduating me.

I left for my third and last sponsorship with great trepidation. My last tutor was a famed Tree-Talker. My fear was I could not live up to her expectations. It turned out to be a false fear. She took me under her wing, treated me as one of her own. This one you are most familiar with, Lord No, as you have chronicled much about her heroic granddaughter. Ah, I now see you realize of whom I refer. Indeed, Ulianna Vulpae, better know to the world by the title given to her by her famous granddaughter, the name of 'Granmar'. From her I acquired techniques in sensing what plants were aware of, what kinds of situations called for which forms of wild shapes, how to quickly change forms. The five years passed quickly. I became one with the Green. My eyebrows turned green, as did the lower right half of my head hair, as you now see. A celebration was held. With her last kiss on my forehead, I set off on my Self stride. Along the way, I fell in with a small group. Group Name? We had none. We were just a bunch of random dudes.