Wardens of The Sacred Isles

The Wardens of the Sacred Isles are the druidic protectors of the land, the sea, and the community. Their shell-decorated robes, blue veils, dragonblood-tree-sap amulets are emblematic of the Isles themselves, and the sacred gifts of the Chimera and the ancestral Gods. These are expert moon druids, who wield powerful weather and shapeshifting magic to regrow the island's ancestral groves, purify the waters of pollution, tend to the reefs and animals, and deflect damaging hurricanes. 
The Wardens are are highly ritualistic and are deeply infused with the traditional religious practices of Hamekun. They are very syncretic (as Hamekun is not an exclusive or universalizing religious tradition), but any member must be willing to devote significant ritual energy towards the ancestors and ancestral gods. The Wardens act as a dual cult of Kanaido and Padimak, the creator Goddesses of Sea and of Land. The Wardens are very involved in the festival of Kanaiho in May, dedicated to the ocean goddess.

Structure

The Wardens are led by the Archdruid of the Isles, who is elected from within the Wardens from the upper ranks of the druids. There are eight ranks of the circle once one fully enters, below which are initiates and lay-associates. There is also an internal divide, between the Wardens of Land and the Wardens of Sea - relating to both which landscape the druid draws power from and which ecosystems they are tasked with helping protect. 
The Wardens have a number of Preserves, or small areas devoted entirely to their management and study. These include Lomyom Preserve (forest and coastline), Duakupa Preserve (savannah), Awikaha (mountain), and Sahalka (reef and beach). 
While the Wardens are overwhelmingly concentrated in the Sacred Isles, they do have minor recruiting and training presences in the March Kingdoms. 
Rakulu Mawuhel, the strongest current Moon Druid alive, was trained by and is an ally of the Wardens - but is not the current archdruid. The archdruid is Sohonu Sopali, a shy and timid man who is a gentle teacher interested in inspiring the new generation of children to love nature. He is also prone to angry or manipulative tendencies behind closed doors, but this is only something his fellow druids and family experience; he is, for all his faults, a very effective and pro-social face for the organization.

History

The Wardens began in the 900s, under the Empire of Milen the Conqueror, as a druidic society intended to train large numbers of druids in particularly selkie traditions. They represent a continuity with older and less institutionalized groups, though - the many small, diverse druidic circles that previously preserved ecosystems and taught druids since time immemorial. However, these groups had increasingly struggled to find groves due to deforestation, and had been falling in their training numbers. While the Wardens were mostly built to simply grow state forces, the druids used their institutionalization to better organize and leverage state power to stop deforestation on the Isles - mostly displacing it onto imperial vassals. The fall of the empire was tough for the wardens, but they survived. 
From 970 to the 1400s, the Wardens struggled to remain relevant and unified, but finally the great reform movement of the 1400s enabled the Wardens to reorganize and push for real ecological reform. Small preserves were created to keep alive new ancestral groves, and deforestation and overfishing were carefully regulated. Again, the urban needs of Halamahi were mosly just displaced onto imports, but this proved far more sustainable 500 years after the previous attempt (as production had scaled up across the coastline and the khilaia had grown richer). 
In the 1580s, there were immense attacks on Preserve lands and pressure to disband or somehow privatize the Wardens. These attacks failed, and only made the Wardens more radical and resilient, but there was a whole cultural war into which the Wardens were pulled over the 1600s. Unfortunately, the Wardens spent some time radicalizing as xenophobes as well, marshalling a rhetoric of cultural and species purity in their defense of ecological stewardship. This rhetoric fell in the 1700s and resurged in the 1800s, with the anxiety then around the New Zeshem . But, in the 1860s, there was a hard pivot away from xenophobia and culture wars by new manegement, and the Wardens have sought space as a neutral party in Khilaian culture in the century since.

Founding Date

916 ME

Type

Religious, Holy Order

Ruling Organization

Selkie Circle of Elders

Official State Religion

Hamekun

Parent Organization

The Khilaia

Location

Khilaian Isles