The Ethik Nôl is a book in Pillars of Eternity about the faction of the same name.
Description[ | ]
The Ethik Nôl is a group both fascinating and dangerous. An ancient druidic order, its beliefs fall well outside what the average person might imagine of druids.
Though details are sketchy, the Ethik Nôl would seem to have originated in the White March, as the order itself consists mostly of dwarves. The traditional druidic chants of the Ethik Nôl speak of the people as a 'collective whole' that 'created a necessary balance' through their 'strict adherence to the purity' of their line. This has been interpreted by historical chroniclers to mean that there was a time when only dwarves were allowed to be Ethik Nôl.
Residing now in Twin Elms, records of the Ethik Nôl date back to well before the settlement had arrived at its present name, and in fact, some information places them in Twin Elms even before the Glanfathans arrived. If this is truly the case, the Ethik Nôl are one of the oldest druidic orders in existence.
Their beliefs don't conform to what is normally viewed as a 'druidic viewpoint.' Sacrifice, blood, fire, and an intense drive for balance in all things (well beyond most druidic standards) pervade their rituals. Core to this is the dogma that if you want something from the universe, you must also sacrifice something into the universe to maintain the balance. Nothing can ever be received without something first being given. If you perform the sacrifice, your desires will always be satiated. The simplest example of the sacrificial balance as explained to the author went as thus:
'Say you are one of these Ethik Nôl. And say you want your daughter's marriage to go well. You don't want problems. So you ask of the elders what you must do. You are told what the appropriate sacrifice is, and then you perform it. In this case, it could be as simple as throwing some coins into lava, giving the metal back to the earth. Sacrificing something that is important to you, right? But the requirement is always different and you don't know what is expected of you until you're asked. The more significant request, the more significant the demand. And most things of true value must be paid in blood.'
I was told of people removing fingers, toes, even whole limbs. One farmer was reputed to have sacrificed his youngest son.
Another good question many people have raised is in regards to the Glanfathans. Why do they allow such a potentially violent, possibly dangerous group to live in Eir Glanfath? Why not force them out? Rumors are that the Ethik Nôl are able to make from an ancient recipe a unique war paint, apparently blood-based, and they are the only people in the world who can. The Glanfathans, it is said, have come to believe this war paint provides tremendous advantage in combat, and the residence of the Ethik Nôl in Twin Elms is predicated on the fair trade of the substance.
Acquisition[ | ]
- Hall of Warriors, Elms' Reach: On the large table in the back room.
- Random loot item spawning in various locations (4×).
Random loot[ | ]
Trivia[ | ]
- In fact there are more instances of the term Ethik Nol, written without the accent, than with it in the game's stringtables. This article uses the cyclopedic spelling, Ethik Nôl.
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