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.

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.