The Contested Isle Ch 11

Chapter 11: The Faerie Landscape

Faeries are common in Mythic Ireland, and everyone has had some interaction with the Faerie realm. Encounters run from the peasant who sees a faerie progression from afar, to a king who marries a faerie woman in front of his clan. Public assemblies are held on sacred hills, most of which have a Faerie aura. Faerie homes — cairns, stone tumuli, and mounds — dot the countryside. Irish faeries are either entertaining and helpful or malevolent and dangerous. Several faeries kidnap, kill, or eat humans, and even helpful faeries are capricious and unreliable. To avoid the faeries' ire, the locals avoid using the word "faerie." Euphemisms include the good neighbors, daoine maithe (DEEN-yuh MAY-yuh), the people of the mound, daoine sídhe (DUN-yuh SHEE), and the host of the hills, croc na gcnoc (KROK na guh-NOK). Some simply refer to the faeries as iad (EE-AD), "Them."

Because of their reputations and ubiquitous presence just outside society, most people can immediately recognize a faerie. Several resemble humans, although better dressed and more handsome than their mundane counterparts. Others assume the shape of animals, like the Salmon of Wisdom and the two bitches of Fionn mac Cumhaill. A good number are monstrous, evil-looking hybrids of men and animals.

The Otherworld

The Irish faeries' Otherworld is a beautiful, supernatural place that mirrors the local surroundings but is somehow removed. It has many names: the Land of the Young, Tír na nÓg (TCHEER na NOAG), the Land of the Living, Tír na mBeo (TCHEER na MOE), and the Delightful Plain, Mag Mell (MOG MELL). Hermetic theorists are uncertain if the different names refer to the same place or different places. For example, Tír Tairngire (TCHEER TORN-gur-yuh), "the Land of Promise," is a huge Faerie regio that overlays the sea surrounding Mythic Ireland. According to the stories, the only entrance is on the Isle of Man, where a supernatural tree connects the island to the regio. The tree is supported by four legs of white silver, resting on the ocean floor, and magical golden apples grow from its branches. No one knows if Tir Tairngire connects to Tir na nÓg or not.

Magi do know that these fanciful phrases refer in some way to the three different faerie worlds (see Realms of Power: Faerie Chapter 2). Half of the Irish faeries live in Elysium, the land of myth that records a culture's history. A third of the island's faeries live in Eudokia, where they interact with the liminal stages of a character's personal story and include faeries that take babies, steal wives, and mislead drunks. The last faerie homeland, Arcadia, is home to the fewest Irish faeries, but it is a growing population.

The most common faerie home is a mound, called a sídhe (SHEE), a word that doubles for the faeries themselves. The mound's interior depends on the faerie. Some are rude dwellings with stone pillars holding up an earthen roof, and others are magical mansions filled with sunlight and summer breezes. Cairns and tumuli also house faeries, as do mountaintops, lake bottoms, forest hearts, and boggy marshlands. Some of these homes are just faerie auras, but a significant number are faerie regiones.

Story Seed: Sometimes They Return Faeries frequently relocate, moving from one home into another. A local child finds an abandon faerie ráth and makes it his new secret hideaway. After a month of play, the child suddenly goes missing, and the parents ask the magi to help. The faerie, a brutish swamp-ogre, has returned to his home. Was the boy eaten, skinned alive, or sold as a slave to another faerie? The magi must discover the truth and rescue the child.

The Five High Roads

On the night Conn of the Hundred Battles was born, five roads were discovered leading from the royal fort at Tara. These five ‘High Roads' reach to all parts of Ireland. The term slíghe (SLEE) is reserved for these roads, which are wide enough for two wagons to pass side-by-side. The other roads of Ireland are not so reliable; many of them consist of rights or way rather than actual physical roads.

Each of the High Roads has a Faerie aura of 2, and is a trod (Realms of Power: Faerie, page 21): a liminal space that is neither here nor there. Each road has two termini, one at Tara and one at the final destination of the road. At each of these termini, the Guardian of the Road can be evoked. Upon doing so, the Guardian seems to appear, but what actually happens is that the summoner is transported by the Guardian into the Faerie Realm using its Spirit Away power (Realms of Power: Faerie, page 23). The Guardian might be persuaded to permit the character to travel on its road; this might involve defeating the Guardian in a physical or mental challenge, or spending vitality in another way to appease it. Characters admitted onto the faerie's road travel through the Faerie Realm to their destination. They appear to spend the same time travelling as they would in the mundane world, but upon reaching their destination, they will find they have travelled twenty-four times the speed, taking less than half an hour to complete a day's travel. The destination can be any point on the Guardian's Road.

Some characters know how to cross the Threshold into Faerie (Realms of Power: Faerie, page 20) at points other than the termini of a High Road, but they must do this without the help of the Guardian of the Threshold. Upon making the transit, they meet with the Guardian and can arrange transport to any point on that High Road, as described above. If you are not using the rules for Thresholds and trods from Realms of Power: Faerie, treat each road terminus as a Faerie regio boundary of 2, and a road's midsection as a Faerie regio boundary of 4.

Slíghe Assail

This road travels directly west from the royal seat towards Lough Owel across Ireland's central plain, then continues to Rathcrogan (Rath Cruachain). The Guardian is a middle-aged woman carrying a crooked staff, who some magi think resemblances descriptions of Pralix. Her challenge takes the form of a debate on an esoteric subject where the winner is determined by the cleverness of the answer, not the depth of knowledge.

Slíghe Chualann

The road of Cuala passes through Dublin, skirts the foot of the Wicklow Mountains, and then follows the River Barrow south to Waterford. The Guardian of Slíghe Chualann is Oisín, son of Fionn mac Cumhaill, astride his faerie horse Embarr. Characters must somehow get Oisín to dismount, at which point his faerie longevity evaporates and he becomes old and withered.

Slíghe Dhála

Dála's road heads south-east from Tara to the Liffey, then southwest across the Bog of Allen to Limerick, ending at the mouth of the Shannon estuary. The Slíghe Dhála is guarded by a Black Dog, an embodiment of fear. To defeat it, a character must dominate the Black Dog and overcome the terror.

An tSlíghe Mhór

The Great Road heads south from Tara, and then follows the line of the Eisgir Riadha (a line of mounds across the Central Plain) between Dublin Bay and Galway Bay, passing through Durrow and Clonmagnoise. The Guardian of the Road is Gamal mac Figal, a Tuatha Dé doorkeeper, who demands that a character prove his uniqueness in any chosen Ability.

Slíghe Mhidlúachra

This road leads north from Tara, to Eamhain Mhacha through the foothills of the Mournes, then skirts the east and north shores of Lough Neagh and ends in Derry. The owner of the road is a faerie lord, who demands a game of fidhceall. Those who lose to him may not find themselves exactly where they had hoped to end up.

Redcaps and the High Roads The Hibernian Tribunal does not have any Mercere's Portals to speed the transport of Redcaps across the island. Instead, the Redcaps have learned to exploit the High Roads. As part of his apprentice's Gauntlet, a Redcap is brought before one of the Road Guardians, whom he is expected to defeat in the usual way required by that faerie. The neophyte Redcap then enters a pact with the Guardian: in return for accepting a geas (which provides the Guardian with vitality), each time the Redcap wishes to use the Guardian's road he only needs to complete a symbolic victory over the Guardian. So the faerie lord who guards the Slíghe Mhidlúachra has just one piece left on his fidhceall board, for example. Over his career, a Redcap may make similar pacts with the other Guardians allowing use of the entire network of High Roads.

Faerie Types

There are four types of Irish faeries. The pagan gods are the most powerful and the least encountered. Social faeries re-enact the adventures of heroes and legendary figures from the island's past. Trooping faeries are violent gangs that roam the countryside causing destruction. Solitary faeries are unattached to a group, and are usually linked to a mountaintop, river bend, or swamp.

Each group has a set of traditions and roles that they follow. What is true for one type of faerie may not be true for all types, but is generally true of other faeries within the same category. Each category has similar traditional wards as well, and wards against one group will invariable not work against another.

Because of the high cultural value placed on stories, there are thousands of roles for faeries to play. Include among the Irish gods and heroes, for example, faeries will also copy saints, demons, and each other. This sometimes makes it difficult to discern if a supernatural creature from another realm is what it seems to be or is actually a faerie.

Common Hibernia Faerie Powers Though individuals, many faeries have the same powers, common throughout the greater community of Irish faeries. Most have Faerie Speech and Faerie Sight, two Minor Supernatural Virtues available to faerie characters (Realms of Power: Faerie, page 50). Most are also Humanoid Faeries, although monstrous faeries are not unknown. Invisibility is the most frequent power, with Flight being a close second (Realms of Power: Faerie, page 62). Other common faerie powers are: Elf Shot 4 points, Init –4, Animal Small darts that pierce an animal, often a cow, and leave cracks in its hide. The darts are visible under moonlight and each dart causes a Light Wound to the beast. (PeAn Base 5, +3 Sight) Faerie Stroke 5 points, Init –5, Corpus A version of the Hermetic spell Twist of the Tongue, ArM5, page 133, this power renders the target speechless. The faerie must touch the target to inflict this power. (PeCo Base 15, +1 Touch, +1 Part) Thrust of the Wind 3 points, Init –3, Auram A faerie version of Charge of the Angry Winds, ArM5, page 125. (CrAu Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Diameter, +1 unnatural) Retreat to the Sídh 7 points, Init –7, Corpus The faerie can instantly travel to its home, as well as any other place to which it has an Arcane Connection. It cannot carry anyone on this rapid journey. (base spell)

Taboos Every race has specific items that protect against faeries. Many of the taboos listed in Realms of Power: Faerie work against Irish faeries. Religious symbols, herbs, and iron provide protection from many types of faeries, although the Tuatha Dé can use iron without a problem. Burying a horse skull underneath a house protects the residence from trooping faeries, as does keeping the hearth fire burning all year long. Fresh milk on the threshold prevents a solitary faerie from entering, and tying a red ribbon around a cow's tail protects her from social faeries. Other wards used to protect the home are birds' eggs and sheep bones built into the walls, holy items hung on the west wall, and marking sleeping children with soot from the hearth.

Pagan Gods: the Tuatha Dé Danann

Ireland's pagan gods are called Tuatha Dé Danann, which means "the children of Danu." Originally faeries attached to the powerful elemental spirit of the River Danube, the faeries were found by one of Nemed's grandson's groups after they fled Ireland (aee Chapter 2). With their new followers, the Tuatha Dé relocated to four mysterious cities before eventually returning to Mythic Ireland. They led their followers in a victorious invasion over the Fir Bolg and later the Fomórach. For 200 years the pagan gods lived with their followers, interbreeding with them and teaching them arts and skills. They were eventually defeated by the Mílesians, and left cities and villages for underground cairns, tumuli, and buried ráths. While rarely encountered, there are many Tuatha Dé, many of whom are noble kings, warriors, and famous leaders. The Tuatha Dé are well-formed, handsome people, dressed in the trappings of nobility.

Although "pagan gods" is the best way to describe the Tuatha Dé, it is misleading. The Tuatha Dé are all individuals, with individual interests rather than a portfolio or area of control; some Tuatha Dé have exactly the same interests as each other. The most important point is that the Tuatha Dé were never really worshiped. Instead, followers lived with and learned from the Tuatha Dé. In the 13th century, people still remember and revere the Tuatha Dé and their stories.

A List of the Tuatha Dé A supplement of this size limits the amount of information spent describing the many gods of the Irish pantheon. Since such information is easily available in local libraries and on the Internet, we hope this list of names will guide players in the right direction. Entries are listed alphabetically rather than in any order of importance or rankings. Aonghus mac Óg (ONG-us moc OAG) is the god of youth, lovers, and passionate exploits. Badhbh (BOVE) is the war goddess, who bathes in her enemies' blood. Brigid is the goddess of fertility, healing, and poetry. Her sacred sites were taken over by Christian missionaries, who replaced her with a saint bearing the same name. Dian Céacht (JON KAYKH) is the "sage of leeches," the god of physicians. Donn (DONN), the god of death, gathers an army of spirits in his island fortress. Goibhniu (GIV-nyoo) is the god of smiths in general, and makes magic spears and magic ale that grants immortality. Lugh (LUKH) is the master of many crafts and the hero who saved the Tuatha Dé during the Second Battle of Moytirra. Manannán mac Lir (MON-on-nawn moc LEER) is the god of the sea. He rides his chariot around Ireland's seas, herding schools of fish and whales. Oghma (OWE-ma), god of letters and learning, invented the pagan Ogham writing. The Dagda (DAY-ha) is the father of the gods, as Danu (DON-oo) is their mother, but not their leader. Nuadha (NOO-ha) of the Silver Arm was their leader during the wars against the Fir Bolg and Fomóir.

Comical Stories

Several Tuatha Dé stories involve silly protagonists romping through ridiculous adventures. While many cultures might use such tales to highlight inappropriate behavior, the Tuatha Dé tales are silly just for silly's sake, and are meant to be enjoyed. A Tuatha Dé faerie will repeat his comical adventures whenever he can, pulling in new spectators as components of his tale to gather vitality. Often such spectators are trapped in the tale and need assistance to escape or are heroic enough to attempt an escape on their own. These comical tales can often turn threatening.

For example, the Dagda once fell into a pit filled with porridge and had to eat his way out to freedom. Soon after, while trying to seduce his Fomóir enemy's wife, his distended belly physically prevented him from the deed. Intend on repeating the task, he forces a village to dig a pit and fill it with porridge, a financially and physically daunting task. Or perhaps he charges into the middle of a coastal village with the Fomóir's wife in tow, begging that the villagers help him regurgitate his meal so he can seduce the woman and return her to her Fomóir island before the Fomóir ship just offshore attacks.

Stories of Mechanical Wonder and Enchanted Items

Several of the Tuatha Dé are craftsmen: mythical silversmiths, blacksmiths, weaponsmiths, and other artificers. Their finished goods can be objects of quests or instruments of unrest that disturb a community's peace. The four treasures of the Tuatha Dé still exist, and many more items can be added to this list: magical swords, enchanted cloaks, replacement mechanical arms, ingenious flying machines, and furnaces disguised as houses.

For example, the sea-god Manannán mac Lir gave the Tuatha Dé cloaks of invisibility, to hide them from the Mílesians. An Irish rebel steals one of these cloaks and uses it to raid his English enemies, causing unrest along the Leinster-Ulster border. The faerie demands his cloak be returned, and starts harassing the neighboring village. The villagers ask the magi for help, and the faerie will only be appeased when his cloak is returned.

Goibhniu brews a magical ale that grants immortality, and many treasure seekers have looked for Goibhniu's hidden ale-house on an island off the Munster coast. One successful group steals the formula and produces several barrels of ale, which they then sell to neighboring princes and knights. Unfortunately, without Goibhniu brewing the ale, it turns to deadly poison within the month. A local hedge wizard knows this dire fact and asks the magi for help tracking down the barrels.

Quests don't need to be for glory and goods, and could be undertaken for more practical ends. The physician Dian Céacht builds pools of magical water that will cure any and every illness. One of the covenfolk is stricken with a mysterious disease, a holdover from Ireland's past, that defies Hermetic healing spells. To make matters worse, the disease is contagious. The characters must find one of Dian Céacht's pools to heal the character.

Feud Stories

Just like the Irish they mimic, the Tuatha Dé are entangled in feuds and long-standing quarrels. Often the pair exist in unexpressed hostility, but occasionally their hate flares up and one strikes against the other. Naturally, the locals become unintended victims.

For example, the smith-god Goibhniu hates the death-god Donn. The latter steals the former's magical cow and hides him in the local king's ráth. Arming a band of trooping faeries (see later) with enchanted spears, Goibhniu raids the ráth, and the king asks the magi for help. A good feud story should include a way to defuse the feud, at least for the time being.

Conflict Stories

Some stories exist just for the sake of violence and blood-letting. These stories either incite the listener to violence or warn against it. Faeries can gain vitality through either means; some gain vitality by scaring people with savage tales and others gain vitality by enlisting followers and forming raiding parties.

Lugh the Long-Armed raids the Fomóir, just as he did thousands of years ago. Armed with magic spears created by the triad mother-goddess, he gathers young men and sails to the Fomóir islands. The magi hear that several of the macgnímartha have joined with an upcoming raid. Fearful that the Fomóir are already mounting an invastion, and that this raid will trigger a large-scale advance, the magi must stop Lugh and his group.

The war-goddess Badhbh lives on battlefields, both those littered with corpses and sites that soon will be. Seeing her is an evil omen. Poets swear that the English knight Strongbow saw the goddess bathing severed heads in a river as he rode to his last battle. A learned physician sees Badhbh on his way to cure his king, and rushes to the covenant to ask for help. If they don't intervene, he says, it must mean that the king will die. Can the magi chase Badhbh away?

Social Faeries

Faeries seek interaction with humans, and this is especially so of the social faeries, also called "hero-faeries" because of the heroes they frequently portray. Social faeries are more prone to act peacefully with humans, although some can be as dangerous as trooping and solitary faeries. The most common type of social faerie mimics one of Mythic Ireland's famous heroes, often one of the warriors from the Ulster and Fenian Cycle of tales. But any character from the hundreds of circulating legends and folk tales can be imitated by a social faerie, including saints, devils, talking animals, and historical figures.

Some characters have so many tales told about them that some magi think several faeries have adopt different aspects of a hero's saga, each reenacting a different episode of the character's life. Magi refer to the these faeries with longer names: "Cú Chulainn Slaying Connla" (killing his son), "Cú Chulainn Stealing Emer" (abducting his wife), and "Cú Chulainn Killing Cú Roí" (slaying the faerie king of Munster). Others disagree, thinking that the Cú Chulainn encountered in Ulster is a single faerie, perhaps the most powerful faerie in the Tribunal. As is always the case when dealing with faeries, no one is certain of the truth.

Faerie Bards A small group of faerie magicians call themselves Ollamhain, "masters," purposefully adopting the learned profession's highest title for their magical tradition (Realms of Power: Faerie, page 134). Faerie bards are magically more powerful than Irish bards (described in Chapter 10), but do not enjoy the same positive reputation. Interactions between faerie and Irish bards depend on the individuals rather than their group affiliation. Often the two respect each other and limit their involvement to their own spheres of influence. Often but not always, and feuds have developed between specific bards and faerie magicians.

Stories of Protection

Many Irish heroes protect their clan at some point in their story. To do so, a faerie incites a rival clan or powerful enemy to attack those it has sworn to protect, thus defending its charge and gaining appreciation and vitality. Some faeries don't need to stir up a threat, placed as they are in a volatile border area or march land. Others do, and stories could involve the magi assisting the faerie in starting or stopping a threat, or both.

For example, Fionn mac Cumhaill had to protect his clan's honor by tracking down their eloping princess and her abductor. Magi from the covenant are invited to a wedding, and the bride happens to be from Leinster. During the ceremony, taking place on a local hill, Fionn and his fian arrive and demand that the groom unhand the bride. Determined to return the woman to her clan and protect its honor, Fionn isn't in the mood to parley.

Famous Heroes Like the Tuatha Dé, stories about Ireland's heroes are common and easily found. This small insert provides names more than details, and should serve as a starting point for storyguides and troupes. Cú Chulainn (KOO KHOO-lon) is the most famous hero of Ulster. As told in the Tain Bo Cuailnge, "The Cattle Raid of Cooley," he single-handedly protects his clan from a raiding Connacht army. Fionn mac Cumhaill (FINN moc KOOL) is the hero of Leinster, and his story is told in the Fenian Cycle of tales (an Fhiannaíocht). He is a raider and beloved protector of his clan, keeping them safe from enemies and monsters. Medb (MAVE) is the Connacht queen who led the raid against Cú Chulainn. She is a true warrior, wise, fierce, and merciless. She is also overtly sexual, aggressively suggesting liaisons much like a male hero. Sláine (SLAW-na) was the leader of the Fir Bolg and became the first high-king of Mythic Ireland. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Mythic Ireland. He brought Christianity to Ireland, banished its snakes and poisonous animals, and drove out the druids. So many stories revolve around the Devil that he has achieved a certain literary notoriety in Irish legends, so much so that faeries will mimic his more famous roles. The Devil is a gambler, a drinker, and can be affable.

Stories of Misdirection

Hibernia faeries adopt roles of creatures from other realms. Nothing is sacred, and a hero-faerie will just as soon play out stories of St. Patrick as any other hero. This confusion could lead characters astray. The St. Patrick that tells a character to abandon his worldly goods and walk across Ireland on his knees could be a faerie impersonator. Perhaps a hedge wizard comes to the covenant, convinced that his lord has been influenced by a false saint (or false devil, depending on the advice) and won't be convinced otherwise. Can the magi track down the faerie and discover the truth?

Irish legends claim that the devil can assume the shape of a dog, cat, and man. A faerie assumes the shape of a cat and seeks out a widow, who was recently visited by a consoling priest. The faerie endears itself to the lady, hoping that the priest will mistakenly recognize it as an infernal beast and demand that the widow eject it from her house. The devil cat feeds on the urgency of the priest's demands and the reluctance of the lonely widow. Can the magi extract the faerie from the woman?

A faerie devil wanders the roads at night, looking for travelers to cast dice against. He wagers a bag of coins against the traveler's soul. The faerie cannot actually take the man's soul, but he does have a faerie power that drains long-term fatigue and leaves a man unconscious. One of the covenfolk meets this devil while running an evening errand. The following day he is weary and weak, and tells his friends that Satan is traveling the roads again. Preferring that the covenfolk not seek the local priest's aid, the magi intervene.

Donn The Dark One, Donn is the death-god of the Tuatha Dé. Like a mundane king, he has sons, keeps cattle, and raids his neighbors. His palace, the rocky island of Teach Duínn off the Munster coast, is where the dead assemble. During wartime, Donn's three red-haired sons ride through the country spreading terror. They say the slain will rise at Teach Duínn and join Donn's army. At other times Donn wanders the land increasing his army one soldier at a time. He likes to kill a sleeping man, leaving the body behind while the spirit flies to Tech Duínn. Another favorite tactic is leaving a false replica of the man's corpse and take the still living prisoner back to Teach Duínn. No one knows why Donn is building an army, other than the fact that he is a king and that is what kings do. Faerie Might: 50 (Corpus) Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Pre –3, Com –3, Str +2, Sta +3, Dex +3, Qik +1 Size: +1 Confidence: 4 (3) Virtues and Flaws: Negative Reaction; Greater Power (x1); Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Highly Cognizant, Hu- manoid Faerie, Large, Lesser Power (x2), Personal Power, Reputation as Confidence; Vulnerable to Salt Water, Infamous, Traditional Ward (red ribbon tied to the tail or in the hair) Personality Traits: Hates Goibhniu +3, Rapacious +2, Taciturn +3 Reputations: The Dark One 4 (Hibernia's Irish Population) Combat: Short Spear: Init +3, Attack +13, Defense +9, Damage +7 Short Spear from Chariot: Init +3, Attack +16, Defense +12, Damage +7 Long Sword: Init +3, Attack +16, Defense +11, Damage +8 Long Sword from Chariot: Init +3, Attack +19, Defense +14, Damage +8 Soak: +3 Wound Penalties: –1 (1–6), –3 (7–12), –5 (13–18), Incapacitated (19–24), Dead (25+) Pretenses: Animal Handling 3 (chariots), Athletics 3 (leaping), Etiquette 3 (hosting feasts), Faerie Lore 2 (the Tuatha Dé), Single Weapon 8 (long sword) Powers: Create the Dead Host, 5 points, Init –10, Corpus: Donn can create a human corpse that is a perfect image of any man or woman that Donn wishes. Donn must be able to see the person as he performs this power. (Base 5, +1 Touch, +3 Moon) Bursting the Heart Vessel, 1 point, Init –4, Corpus: By touching a victim Donn can cause the target's heart to burst, killing the target instantly. (Base 30, +1 Touch. Excess Greater Power levels used to reduce point cost.) Summon the Curtains of Donn, 5 points, Init –10, Auram: Donn can make fog grow from his finger tip, forming a fog bank one mile in diameter. Once formed the fog reacts normally. Donn likes to obfuscate his entrance and exit. (Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Group, +1 Size, +1 slightly unnatural) Transform into Animal, 2 points, Init –1, Animal: Donn can change into various animals, including a fish, bull, stag, hawk, and boar. He typically uses this power when fighting his faerie enemy Find (see Chapter 9). (Base 10, +2 Sun, +1 size) Equipment: Weapons and gear befitting a warrior and a chariot drawn by a team of four horses. Vis: 10 pawns of Corpus vis, one in each of the severed heads Donn has tied to his leather belt. Appearance: Donn stands 7' high, naked except for a wide leather belt that covers his stomach. His chest, arms, and legs are covered in blue tattoos and ten human heads hang from his belt. He grips a huge spear in his left hand and a sword in his right, and the blades of both weapons continually drip blood. In his house of Teach Duínn, Donn has items that compel the dead, both shuffling corpse and haunting spirit, to do his will. No one knows why he sometimes take living captives. Perhaps he uses them for servants; perhaps as husbands for his daughters; or test subjects for his druids. Donn is an unbalanced, storyguide character. He has more Pretenses that normally allowable because of his age and observance of human society. Donn works well in stories about feuds, because he has many enemies, and conflict, because he and his sons like to fight. Donn fought against the Order of Hermes during the Schism War. His large, protected regio may hide an army, and magi wonder if he is preparing for another invasion. Some fear that the constant conflict in Munster may spur another war with Donn. For those starting a war with the Order, Donn is a likely ally.

Trooping Faeries

Slua si (SLOO SHEE) in Irish, trooping faeries are roving gangs that wander the night causing destruction and sometimes death. It is hard to pinpoint who they are emulating, as they have played this role for so long that they are a story unto themselves. Some groups might be mimicked pagan warbands like the fianna or Ostmen raiders. Other groups might be copying the marauding English knights who are currently taking whatever they can grab. Some of the gangs look like semi-transparent replicas of contemporary soldiers, some look like hunched and hooded primeval clansmen, and others look like spectral phantoms flying through the air. These latter faeries are thought to be the restless dead, although they have no connection to either the Infernal or Divine realm.

Trooping Faeries An individual trooping faerie does not have a name and exists within the community of its troop. Separated from the horde and interrogated, it can only repeat topics of interest to the larger whole. Faerie Might: 5 (Herbam) Characteristics: Int –3, Per +3, Pre –1, Com 0, Str 0, Sta +1, Dex +1, Qik +3 Size: 0 Virtues and Flaws: Negative Reaction; Faerie Speech, Hybrid Form, Personal Power; Incognizant, Traditional Ward (a bowl or drop of fresh cow's milk) Personality Traits: Herd Mentality +3, Savage +3 Combat: Claws: Init +2, Attack +11, Defense +14, Damage +2 Soak: +1 Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+) Pretenses: Awareness 4 (lone travelers), Brawl 7 (claws), Hunt 5 (tracking), Leadership 5 (members of the pack) Powers: Flight, 1 point, Init +2, Corpus: The trooping faerie can fly, using its Athletics Ability to navigate difficult maneuvers. (Base 4, +2 Sun) Invisibility, 1 point, Init +2, Imaginem: The trooping faerie can become invisible. (Base 4, +2 Sun, +1 for moving image) Vis: 1 pawn of Herbam vis in one of its thumb nails. Appearance: This trooping faerie looks like a cat-human hybrid. Standing almost as tall as a man, it has a cat face, cat ears, and dangerous clawed hands. Draped in tattered clothes, it leaps and jumps through the forest. It is indistinguishable from the twenty other trooping faeries it runs with. Individually this trooping faerie isn't a great threat. Combined with its troop it is lethal. It can fight in a trained group of its fellows, acting as leader and vanguard, and always applies the combat bonus to its Attack total. Their sole purpose is to terrorize the communities along their migratory path.

Stories of Destruction

Stories involving trooping faeries are threatening, at least to property if not to a character's life. Trooping faeries do not parley, except to exchange threats before attack. Mindless in their mayhem, other faeries have learned to use them. Trooping faeries are often used as the threat that a faerie protector wards against (see earlier). Trooping faeries can displace other faeries through their destructive wanderings. A story could involve another faerie asking for help because trooping faeries destroyed her home.

Solitary Faeries

A catchall category, solitary faeries are those who work alone. Sometimes a small band of faeries fits this category, like the three crones of Slievanamon, but only if they are unconnected to a larger collection of related faeries. The old crone who lives in the wood, the three-headed giant that regularly attacks Tara, and the sea monster that prowls Lough Derg are all solitary faeries.

Solitary faeries are often just as harmful as trooping faeries. Some are monsters, waiting in remote areas ready to attack. Áillen mac Midgna is a three-headed magician who lives in northern Connacht and has repeatedly set fire to Tara by vomiting up burning rocks. He attacks on a regular pattern, and the magi could be asked to protect Tara from the creature. Another monster, the banshee (Irish: bean sí, BAN SHEE) is a female spirit who wails when a member of her family is about to die. According to legend, no one who has heard his name called has not died. Perhaps a local king has heard his name called, and asks the magi to stop the banshee. The magi travel to the Otherworld to see if the banshee will reverse her decision.

Some solitary faeries trick people before killing them. The old woman of the mountain might ask a local girl to sew for her, and only kills her if she doesn't finish the assigned sewing. Other faeries want service and sacrifice instead of slaughter. The old crone of the River Barrow drags swimmers to her underground lair, where they cook and clean for the faerie. Player characters often save the abducted or protect a group from the solitary faerie.

Caílte mac Rónáin Caílte , one of the heroes of the Tales of the Elders (Acallam na Senorach), led St. Patrick and his entourage throughout Munster, repeating famous stories of Fionn mac Cumhaill for the saint. Fionn's nephew, Caílte is a famous poet and warrior. Cáilte believes that St. Patrick raised him from the dead and now he walks the pastures and woods of Mythic Ireland as a man. Though incognizant, Cáilte can increase his Pretenses. Cáilte leads a band of independent warriors. He thinks they are fianna, but in reality they are outlawed men who have joined the faerie. While he tries to steer them towards noble deeds, they more often than not rob and pillage indiscriminately. Faerie Might: 20 (Corpus) Characteristics: Int –2, Per 0, Pre –2, Com +3, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik 0 Size: 0 Virtues and Flaws: Infiltrator (Outlaw Leader); Greater Power, Increased Faerie Might; Faerie Speech, Humanoid Faerie, Lesser Power, Personal Power; Difficult Underlings, Optimistic; Incognizant, Role Requires Suffering, Traditional Ward (church bells) Personality Traits: Optimistic +3, Gullible +2, Innocent +2 Combat: Short Spear: Init +2, Attack +8, Defense +4, Damage +6 Javelin: Init 0, Attack +7, Defense +3, Damage +6 Soak: +2 Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+) Pretenses: Athletics 4 (hurling), Brawl 3 (fist), Church Lore 1 (baptisms), Dominion Lore 2 (St. Patrick), Hunt 3 (deer), Etiquette 3 (hospitality rules), Faerie Lore 5 (Fenian Cycle), Magic Lore 1 (Hibernia monsters), Profession Poet 5 (poems about Fionn), Single Weapon 3 (short spear), Thrown Weapon 2 (javelin) Powers: Speech of the Deer, 5 points, Init –10, Animal: Cáilte can speak with an animal within Voice Range. (Base 10, +2 Voice, +1 Conc) Speed of the Deer, 3 points, Init –3, Corpus: Cáilte can run as fast as a deer when he invokes this power, giving him +3 to any rolls that involve racing or speed. (Base 15, +2 Sun) Removal of a Thousand Cares, 0 points, Init –3, Mentem: This power is similar to Pains of a Thousand Worries (ArM5, page 148) but without the painful side-effects. The target becomes listless and lethargic from joy instead of mental suffering. Cáilte often triggers this power after he has told a story to a listener to justify his place among Hibernia's poets. Reciting a poem is not a requirement, however, and Cáilte can trigger this power when he desires. (Base 4, +2 Voice, +3 Moon, +1 complex effect. 4 excess build points reduce point cost to 0.) Equipment: Spear, sword, and archaic aristocratic native dress. Vis: 4 pawns of Mentem in four strands of golden hair. Appearance: Cáilte looks like a handsome youth with long, straight limbs and flowing golden hair. His style of dress is ancient, a patterned cloak thrown over one shoulder and held in place by an ornate brooch. Cáilte has been baptized and fully accepts Christianity, even though his faerie powers are diminished by Dominion auras. Cáilte is designed as a companion-level player character.

The Head of Arastotail The Irish believe that Aristotle was a magician, whom they call "Arastotail." Forever quarreling with his wife, who constantly thwarted his efforts to study bees, stars, and tides, Arastotail lost every argument. Her pestering aside, the magician sought ever-lasting life. To achieve immortality, he severed his own head and told his servant to bury it in a special place and retrieve it at dawn. Some stories say that the servant forgot and Arastotail died. Others say that the head started yelling for the servant and the muffled cries coming from the burial mound could be heard from far away. When an innocent farmer dug up the head, it commanded him to search for Arastotail's body. Faerie Might: 15 (Mentem) Characteristics: Int +3, Per +3, Pre +1, Com +3, Str –3, Sta +2, Dex –3, Qik –2 Size: –3 Virtues and Flaws: Negative Reaction; Focus Power, Greater Power; Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Humanoid Faerie; Narrowly Cognizant; Sovereign Ward (women) Personality Traits: Belligerent to Males +3, Gullible to Females +3 Combat: Dodge: Init 0, Attack n/a, Defense 0, Damage n/a Soak: +2 Wound Penalties: –1 (1–2), –3 (3–4), –5 (5–6), Incapacitated (7–8), Dead (9+) Pretenses: Artes Liberales 6 (rhetoric), Brawl 1 (dodge), Faerie Lore 1 (local faeries), Philosophiae 7 (ethics) Powers: The Master's Agreement, 3 points, Init –5, Mentem: Arastotail's head can make a man change his mind, to agree with whatever argument the head has offered. (MuMe Base 15, +2 Voice, +2 Sun) Trust of the Master's Servant, 1 points, Init –3, Mentem: Similar to the Hermetic spell, Trust of Childlike Faith, Arastotail can force a target to trust him. The head must be held and the target must make eye contact. (PeMe Base 4, +1 Eye, +2 Sun) Master of Waves, point cost equals Magnitude, Init – 7, Aquam: Arastotail's head can perform any Intellego, Rego, Muto, or Perdo Aquam effect it desires, at the cost of 1 point of Might per magnitude of effect. Effects are limited to level 25 or below. (Special) Vis: 3 pawns of Mentem in his eye-teeth. Appearance: The head looks like a Greek scholar with a hawk-like nose and wire-bristle hair, thinning on top. His neck ends in a bloodless, skin-covered stump. The Head of Arastotail likes to command a man, proving that the Head is the intellectual superior by ordering a target to do menial tasks. It is a weak argument. The head occasionally enjoys academic disputations and argues philosophical points with learned speakers. The head has no power over women, and turns quite dense and stupid in a woman's presence.

Attribution

Based on the material for Ars Magica, ©1993-2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0). Ars Magica Open License Logo ©2024 Trident, Inc. The Ars Magica Open License Logo, Ars Magica, and Mythic Europe are trademarks of Trident, Inc., and are used with permission. Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep, and Grimgroth are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB and are used with permission.