The Contested Isle Ch 3

Irish Culture

The basic political and social framework of the Irish is the clan, an extended group of people who claim descent from a heroic forefather. The English are imposing their style of French feudalism and society atop these political and social institutions, and failing. Instead of replacing Irish culture they are adopting it, and are becoming "more Irish than the Irish themselves."

The Land

Geographically Mythic Ireland is like a bowl. A ring of low mountains lines most of the coast, surrounding rolling plains and thick forests laced with rivers and dotted with lakes. The climate is warmer and wetter than neighboring England. Snow rarely falls and when it does it never lasts longer than three days. Rainfall is plentiful, more so in the west than the east, and some claim that it rains three days for every five. Flooding is a major concern and heavy rains risk washing away spring plantings.

The Irish divide the land into cantreds, administrative units controlled by the clan leader. The English have grouped several cantreds into liberties, inheritable pieces of feudal property, and shires, cities and their nearby surroundings which belong to the king. The lord of a liberty has more independence than the lord of a shire, who is merely the king's agent. A lord of a liberty keeps the collected land-rents and taxes; a lord of a shire gives a large percentage of those monies to the king. However, because more wealth passes through a city than a rural liberty, a shire lord is often wealthier than a liberty lord.

Cattle equal economic prosperity, political power, and social honor. Cattle raising and rustling are the cornerstone of Irish society. Large herds need large pastures and must frequently relocate. While grass grows everywhere year round, relocating the herd prevents over grazing. Summer pastures are found at higher elevations, farther from home, and winter pastures are in the plains closer to home. Because of the abundant wolf population, farmers build roofed, fenced enclosures called byres to keep the cows safe at night. Sometimes a small byre is attached to the farmer's house, but often it is a standalone structure.

Nobles and honorable farmers are expected to keep a number of cows suitable to their station. If the herd diminishes a man's standing falls, making cattle raiding dangerous to both a man's herd and his honor. Cattle are branded for identification, but even so retrieving stolen cows from a more powerful enemy is difficult. A man is responsible for his own herd and the loss of it. Success in reclaiming stolen cattle depends on how powerful the men involved are, and what allies they can make.

After cattle and dairy, agriculture provides a small fraction of a farmer's produce. The predominate cereal is oats, followed by wheat and rye. Because the clan moves frequently, fields are temporary and rarely fenced. A parcel of land usually provides two harvests before being abandoned or ruined. Errant cattle and rain are the biggest threats; heavy spring rains can wash out a field and a herd of cattle can trample the crop. Cows graze freely and have the legal right to walk through a field if water is on the other side. A landowner blocking cows from water can be charged with a crime.

Most of Mythic Ireland's interior is forested. Apple trees, hazels, and oaks grow in great abundance, providing fuel, building material, and food. The forests provide a thriving habitat for many animals: wild boar, foxes, badgers, wolves, deer, hares, and squirrels. Cattle can also be found, but forests provide poor grazing. Encountering wild cattle is rare, but not unheard of.

Outlaws and fiannai live in the woods. A fian is a band of aristocratic young men who undergo a period of exile while awaiting their land inheritance. The fiannai are viewed positively as future warriors who must prove themselves worthy to the clan by surviving outside it for a time. Outlaws are legal outcasts denied aid and assistance. With the recent English invasion, many outlaws' only crime was owning land the English wanted, and took. Such men are heroes in their neighbors' eyes and will cause a great deal of trouble in the years to come.

Area Lore (Ireland) Ireland is small. A man can walk from Ireland's west shore to east shore in four days, and north to south in eight. Its people are relatively informed about each other, often because of extensive family ties. Professional historians are paid to recount a people's history, and the more accurate the tale the larger the stipend. Instead of having Area Lore Abilities for each of the five provinces, a single Area Lore (Ireland) is sufficient. Area Specialties can be an Irish province, a particular clan's history, succession of kings, legends, or traditional rivalries.

Eraic is a Reputation Eraic measures the social standing of mundanes and is treated as a Reputation within the character's túath. An example would be "Reputation: Eraic 1 (Ua Riain túath)." The Irish Social Status Virtue and Flaw Equivalents insert lists a character's starting Eraic score. Use these numbers for characters seeking to increase their honor and attain new social ranks. Characters can also use the Gratitude rules found in Lords of Men, page 7. A character needs 10 Gratitude Points to advance up a rung on the Irish social ladder. Eraic also determines the number of cows the character needs to own, and the number of cows a killer must pay the man's kin as compensation. Multiply a man's eraic by 12 to determine the necessary size of his herd, and by 6 by determine his compensation price. Double this number if the character is from one of the "five bloods" families. Lesser crimes — insult, theft, adultery — cost the perpetrator a fraction of the victim's compensation price. The exact percentage is left to the troupe to decide.

The Irish People

Society is centered on the clan, a lineage descent group forming a single corporate identity. The clan's social unit is the túath, which means "people" but includes the clan's native territory, its free clients, unfree clients, and slaves. Named after an eponymous hero ancestor, most túatha originated in the fourth and fifth century. New túatha appear when a powerful leader separates from his previous túath to form a new clan. A weak túath disappears when destroyed or absorbed by a more powerful túath. In 1220 there are approximately 125 túatha. The most powerful are the "five bloods": the Ua Néill of Ulster, the Máel Sechnaill of Meath, the Ua Conchobair of Connacht, Mac Murchadha of Leinster, and the Ua Briain of Munster.

Irish society is divided between the daorcheile (DEER-khul-uh), those without honor, and the grád flatha (guh-RORD FLAH-wuh), those with honor. The daorcheile are peasants, whether slaves, unfree farmers, or poor free farmers who own just enough to survive. The grád flatha includes wealthy free farmers, the nobility, priests and monks, and the professional classes of judges, doctors, and poets. Most of a person's social standing is determined by heredity, although personal honor plays a significant role. Every free man has an honor-price, called eraic, which is the amount payable in compensation if the man is physically or socially injured. Compensation is paid in cows. Eraic can grow and shrink depending on the man's fortunes. Besides physical harm, damage to a man's reputation, social connections, and property demand compensation, with prices set by the type of injury. Verbal slights merit a significant fraction of a man's eraic, while murder merits the full amount.

Most people are daorcheile: slaves, unfree farmers, and poor free farmers. Slaves are taken in raids, although that is infrequent in the 13th century. An unfree farmer, a bothach (BOH-wukh), receives a cow and a small patch of land in exchange for labor and produce, with interest terms that he can never repay. A free farmer, a bóaire (BOE-OR-yuh), is also a client, but receives a better interest rate, one he can eventually repay. The terms the lord offers, determining if a client is free or unfree, are based on heredity.

The grád flatha have many rankings: lesser nobles (those with the minimum number of client bóaire), cattle lords, and greater nobles. The clan's most important nobles are the derbfine (DERB-in-yuh), those within four generations of the current chief. Each clan is led by a chief or king ('rí'). The king of a single túath is a rí tuaithe (REE TOO-ah-ha). If the king holds several other túatha as clients, he is a fuirig, or "over-king". A king of over-kings is a rí ruirech, and a king of one of the five provinces is a rí cóicid or "provincial king".

The grád flatha also include the professional learned classes: the judges, poets, and physicians. Most of these posts are hereditary, with only a few families filling the job for the túath. All posts require intensive training, essentially equivalent to the lengthy academic career of continental university teachers. The kings of the more powerful túatha appoint an ollamh (OL-liv) of each learned position, the titular head of that class within the territory. These tuatha have ollaves of poetry, medicine, and law.

Each túath holds public assemblies called oireacht (OR-akh-t)), gatherings that meet at a specific location during set times of the year to determine clan business. Assembly business involves settling disputes, levying fines, collecting taxes, and, when necessary, selecting a new king. The candidate must be from the derbfine of the recent king, making everyone with a common great-grandfather potentially eligible. Sometimes the derbfine selects a successor before the current king dies. Called a tánaise ríg, an heir apparent does not always prevent dynastic leadership struggles.

The king is crowned in a sacred ceremony in which he symbolizes his commitment to his people by marrying the tribal lands. In some túatha the king marries a local faerie woman, a resident Tuatha Dé land goddess. In a highly ritualized ceremony, the king promises to abide by the laws and gods of his people, to do no harm, and universally share the king's truth of legal and moral judgment.

Irish Social Status Virtue and Flaw Equivalents Irish society has enough similarities to the French and English social systems for characters to use standard Social Status Virtues. The Irish do not have a title for "knight", but certainly have the social station as the lowest rung of the grád flatha. Slave characters must select the Major Social Status Flaw: Slave (Guardians of the Forest, page 102 XXX). A slave has no rights, owns no property, and is beholden to his master's will at all times. A slave has no eraic and is typically a captured foreigner or the child of one. A bothach character must select the Free Social Status: Peasant. He has no eraic. A bóaire character must select the Free Social Status: Peasant and the Major Virtue: Wealthy, or the Minor Social Status: Knight and the Major Flaw: Poor. The character has an Eraic Reputation of 1. A lesser noble character must select the Knight Virtue or the Gentleman Virtue. A Gentleman has an Eraic Reputation of 2 and a Knight an Eraic Reputation of 3. Characters with the Poor Flaw decrease the Eraic Reputation by 1 point while those with the Wealthy Virtue increase the Eraic Reputation by 1. A Poor Gentleman is still part of the nobility, but Poor Knight is not (see bóaire above). A cattle lord must select the Major Virtue: Landed Noble and has an Eraic Reputation of 5. The Wealthy Virtue and Poor Flaw affect this score as described immediately above. If the cattle lord also has the Knight Virtue, increase his Eraic Reputation by 1. An Irish king must select the Virtue: Greater Noble, as described in Lords of Men, page 30 XXX. Lords of Men also describes the English social system and the Irish system is similar in ranking. An Irish rí tuaithe is equal to an English baron and a fuirig is essentially the same as an earl. Both a rí ruirech and a rí cóicid would be a duke to the English, although to the Irish a rí cóicid is higher in stature. The ard rí would be a king, but there hasn't been an Irish high-king since the English landed. A Greater Noble has an Eraic Reputation of 7.

The Brehon Laws Early Irish law is complied in tracts called the brehon laws, after "brehon," the Anglicization of the Irish word brithem, meaning "judge." The brehon laws are civil, not criminal, laws, and concern marriages, hostages, fostering, political rank, and client-lord relationships. Instead of stating the punishment for a wrong, the brehon law recounts the fraction of the victim's eraic (honor) that the offender pays for such a deed. They also state the size of a man's house and herd, both dependent upon his eraic. The great difficulty with Irish law is that it is unenforceable. The law does not give a king punitive rights over his clients. Once the judges have cited the correct amount, it is up to the offended to gain the compensation from the offender.

Sex and Marriage

Only one in 20 Irish marriages happen in a church. Most marriages are secular, the sole requirement being that the couple announce their intention to marry. Once announced, the marriage is legal. The Church disagrees, but most Irish clergy participate in rather than prevent this practice, ignoring the ecclesiastical reforms of the late 12th century. Easy marriage leads to easy divorce and easy remarriages. The nobility are the worst offenders, and many are serial monogamists, marrying and divorcing wives as they please. Some men take multiple wives at the same time, but this custom is fading. This loose attitude toward marriage allows a clan to grow rapidly. For example, one Ua Donnell chief has 18 sons from 10 different wives and 59 grandsons.

Other differences from continental marriages exist, all of which displease the Church. The Irish marry first cousins, where as canon law demands three degrees of separation between partners. All of a man's legitimate sons are his legal inheritors. It doesn't matter whether the son is the eldest, youngest, son of a former marriage or a divorce, just as long as he is not born from a slave-woman. A wife does not bring a dowry to the marriage. Rather, the groom gives the wife's family a bride-gift. Finally, an Irish marriage does not guarantee an alliance between groups, or even non-aggression between in-laws. Marriage does not stop or even hinder conflict between a man and his brother-in-law, and he does not expect his wife's kin to follow him into battle.

Hostages and Fostering

Hostages are noble sons given to a king to ensure a túath's proper behavior. The hostages live with the king as part of his retinue. If the agreement between the túath and the king is broken, the hostages' lives are forfeit. Since the hostages can be related to the king, and this is often the case, the king might have sentimental reasons for not killing them even if the terms of the agreement are broken.

Fostering is common among the nobility. At age 7, noble sons and daughters leave home and live with foster parents, the boys until they are 17 and the girls until they are 14. Fostered children form an emotional attachment almost as strong as with their parents. In all legal matters except for inheritance, a foster-son is as legitimate as a man's biological son. A man can expect his foster-sons to follow him into battle.

Hospitality and Cuddy

A lord is expected to provide assistance for his clients during the lean times of the year. Such hospitality is never long or costly and defaults to an evening's meal and warm bed. All social superiors are expected to grant hospitality if asked. The accommodations offered by a king depend on his standing and the impression he wants to make. Stinginess signifies a bad king. Poets have immortalized such hosts with poems, and a Gifted satirist might lay a curse on the host's head. Demons actively seek poor hosts, and several legends tell how an abbot or king who didn't provide adequate hospitality was possessed by a demon. Travelers can expect hospitality at all times of the year. Monasteries offer a three-night stay, which includes a private room in an outlying building, wood for a fire, a blanket, and soup.

Cuddy, Anglicized from the Irish cuid Oidhche ("a night's portion"), is the entertainment and nightly feast a client owes his lord. One of the king's privileges is traveling through the túath and feasting at the nobles' houses. Most clients do not have the option to refuse, and several clients have bemoaned a gluttonous king. Poor nobles must borrow from their neighbors to provide for the king's cuddy.

Story Seed: Hermetic Hospitality Many tribunals offer Redcaps and traveling magi hospitality. Some Hibernian covenants extend this offer to mundanes, which can lead to trouble. For example, Circulus Ruber allows a traveling rí cóicid and his party to stay overnight, magically creating lodgings and food for over 200 guests. Magically created food does not provide sustenance, and in the morning the entire company is starving. The king demands 200 cows as compensation. As the covenant is unwilling to part with the cows, the player characters are asked to appease the king with an alternative solution.

Villages and Cities

A village is a ringfort, or ráth, wooden palisade walls surrounding a cluster of wooden huts. The larger and more powerful the clan, the larger the ráth. Unlike continental villages, a ráth can be moved; an entire clan can quickly uproot and shift to a different location. Ráths are not placed along rivers or roads, but tucked in more secure areas. Some small coastal ports exist, but the majority of the Irish people resided in the island's interior.

Christianity made slight changes. Instead of a ráth surrounding a chief's hut and his clients, the palisade encompassed a monastery, the monks, and their lay supporters, tradesmen and cattle raisers who see to the community's needs. Being self-sufficient, monastic ráths are found in the island's interior, having no great need to occupy the coast or a major river. Walls made of piled field stone surround a stone church and round tower, and the several wooden huts used by the community's supporters.

The Ostmen brought cities. Originally enclosed winter camps, these long-phorts became permanent homes. Once the years of raiding ceased, an event that coincided with the Irishman's adoption and expert use of the Ostman's weapons, the two learned to live in an uneasy peace. The cities — Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Cork, and Limerick — remain Ostmen homes.

Mythic Ireland has almost a thousand ráths. The more powerful groups have abandoned a wooden palisade for stone walls. Religious centers — Armagh, Cashel, Kildare, Tuam, and Dublin — and royal residences use stone. They have sacrificed mobility for stronger, more permanent protection.

Time

The Irish year is split in half. Winter precedes summer and begins on Samhain (SOW-wun), 1 November. Summer starts on Bealtaine (BAL-tun-yuh), 1 May. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the "dark half" of the year. On Oíche Shamhna, "the night of November" (31 October), ghosts and faeries stalk the night. The Tuatha Dé leave their summer homes for their winter mansions, disrupting other supernatural creatures. Bealtaine heralds the planting season and start of the "light half" of the year. It too is marked with celebrations and feasts and is a good time for annual charms and year-long magical effects. Equally important are the celebrations of Lughnasa (LOOG-na-sah), 1 August, and Oímelg (O-myelg), 1 February, more commonly called "the Feast of St Brighid". Lughnasa is the harvest festival and is celebrated on the closest Sunday to the first of the month.

Although retaining and valuing some pagan elements, like the season-changing holidays, Mythic Ireland is thoroughly Christian. Christmas and Easter are the two largest holidays. On Easter, the rising sun dances with joy at the Resurrection, and anyone viewing it gains a +1 to any pious Personality Trait for the week. On Christmas Eve candles are lit and placed in windows to guide lost travelers. At midnight mundane animals gain the Divine power of speech, which lasts until dawn. Hearing an animal speak is extremely unlucky and most people stay clear.

Entertainment

Two of the island's most prestigious professional classes are poets and musicians. Enjoyed by both English and Irish audiences, they move between the two cultures, saturating the English with Irish tales and ballads. Love songs are the current vogue. Required to memorize hundreds of tales before they can assume the title, a good poet can recite a perfectly appropriate tale for any occasion at which he is asked to perform.

Hurling is a popular sport among Irish youths of all social classes, and avoided by the English. A player uses a wooden stick called a hurley (Irish: camán) to drive a brass ball. One team moves the ball towards a goal, while the other team defends it. Popular in Mythic Scotland as well, hurling can be dangerous. Injuries are frequent and deaths not unknown. Hibernia's faeries enjoy the sport, and a good hurling player might be abducted and forced to play a game of faerie hurling all night long. Hurley is not a separate Ability, and matches can be adjudicated using contested Characteristic + Athletics stress rolls. If a match becomes violent, use the club weapon stats for a hurley.

Other entertainments include horse racing — like in Scandinavia, the Irish race horses riderless — a type of chess called fidhcheall, and backgammon, called táiplis, more popular with English than Irish lords. A character does not need a new Ability to participate in these contests. A competent animal trainer can use Animal Handling to get a horse to race. Backgammon falls under Etiquette as does fidhcheall. The latter is so popular, however, that a character can substitute his Carouse Ability for Etiquette, suffering only a –2 penalty to his contested die rolls when playing against another character.

Performance Magicians

Performance Magic is a common Virtue among Hibernia's Hermetic and hedge wizards, and can be especially effective if the wizard is unGifted or has the Gentle Gift. Poets and musicians can travel wherever they wish, and this easy access makes a poet an excellent spy. A roomful of listeners has almost no defense against Sorcerous Music (see The Mysteries: Revised Edition, page 29), and the poet can easily put the audience in a state of trust and ease. A hedge wizard with Performance

Magic generally uses it to line his own pockets and advance his clan's political agenda. Often this causes conflict with the English and leads to bloodshed. A Hermetic magus must be very careful if he tries this trick. The native poets don't like their roles usurped and the Order has restrictions about how a magus interacts with a mundane.

An Outsider's View Gerald of Wales (Geraldus Cambrensis) rode with the first wave of English invaders and wrote about his adventures in two books, Topographia Hibernica ("The Topography of Ireland") and Expugnatio Hibernica ("The Conquest of Ireland"). Gerald spends a few pages on the nature of the Irish. Throughout his commentary Gerald blames the island for the people's misfortunes and barbarous nature. "This place finds people already accursed or makes them so." According to Gerald, Irish children do not receive proper nursing, but are left alone in the wilderness. This makes them beautiful, with long, strong limbs and handsome faces, but wild, untamed, and uncivilized. Their clothing is minimal: simple wool trousers, a tight-fitting mantle, and hood, and they roam the country shoeless. Their customs are barbarous, as is their free-flowing hair and long beards. Gerald writes, "The men of this country are during their mortal life more prone to anger and revenge than any other race." He says they cannot be trusted to keep their word. They enter battle unadorned with armor and shields, and their preferred weapons are short spears, a pair of javelins, and an axe, which they always carry. The English would never allow armed peasants, but seemingly every Irishman owns an axe. In 1220, Gerald is 74 years old and lives in the cathedral town of Hereford, a few miles from the English-Welsh border. Both of his books are tractatus on Area Lore (Ireland) 8.

The English Opposition

While the Irish and English vie for power, their very ideas of power and political might are different. A core difference is that the English value land and the Irish value cattle. Before the English the Irish typically stole each other's cattle, not their land. Túatha moved, usually under pressure from a more powerful neighbor, but land-grabbing was never the objective. The English want land, and stone towers dot the Irish landscape, proof that the English are not leaving Ireland's green shores.

Irish sons inherit property equally from their father, through a complicated, lengthy arrangement. The land and herd are worked together for five years until a separation can occur, with shares being distributed by the youngest son. This is vastly different from the English practice of primogeniture, in which the eldest son inherits everything. An Englishman married to an Irish woman assumes he will inherit her father's title and property, but her kinsmen disagree.

Kingly succession is also different. The English kings have started to establish the principle that the crown descends to the eldest son, as with other property. An Irish son has no guarantee that he will follow his father to the throne, and everything depends upon the decision of the derbfine. Another difference is that a higher king has no authority over a lower king's rule. For example, a fuirig cannot reverse a decision made by one of his client rí tuaithe. In the English system, the king has legal authority over every lord.

Languages of Hibernia

The following Living Languages are spoken by the people living in the region described by this book. Each consists of one or more regional dialects, which are given in parentheses; most characters should take the appropriate one as a specialty. Educated or well-traveled speakers often try hard to rid themselves of their dialect, and may have standard specialties (see ArM5, page 66 XXX).

English (Northumbrian, Mercian, Anglian, Wessex, Kentish)
French (Anglo-Norman)
Gaelic (Munster, Connacht, Ulster, Leinster)
West Norse (Norwegian)

The native language of most of Hibernia is Gaelic, a language shared with the Isle of Man (Manx dialect), the Kingdom of the Isles (Galwegian dialect) and the Kingdom of Scotland (Highland dialect). Except for Meath, each of the provinces has its own distinct dialect of Gaelic.

The Finn-Gaill ("white foreigners") of Dublin have adopted Leinster Gaelic, but the Dubh-Gaill ("black foreigners") of Wexford, Limerick, Waterford, and Cork speak the Norwegian dialect of West Norse.

The lords of the Norman occupation speak the Anglo-Norman variant of French. Their servants are often English, and can speak a variety of dialects of that language depending on where they are from.

The preferred language of the educated classes is still Latin.

Pronunciation of Gaelic

Gaelic has many rules governing pronunciation, and they are too complex to do justice here. Pronunciations have been provided in many cases; for other terms we suggest online sources. Note that in these phonetic guides, stressed syllables are given in capital letters, and "kh" is used to represent the final sound of "loch", to distinguish it from the "ch" of "church'. Short vowels (as in "bat," "bet," "bit," "bot," and "but") are sometimes written in the phonetic guide with an "h" for clarity; thus "loh" is pronounced like "lot" without the final "t'. The important thing is making yourself understood among the troupe — use whatever pronunciation with which you are most comfortable!

Dialects Characters who have a dialect as a specialty in a language suffer a penalty of –1 when speaking to someone who speaks a different dialect of the same language. For example, a character with Gaelic (Munster) 5 can speak to another Munster man with an effective score of 6 (including his specialization), to a Gaelic speaker with no dialect at a score of 5, and to an Ulsterman with a score of 4.

Names

As with all cultures, the Irish have their own naming customs and favored names.

Irish Names

Irish names consist of a given name, which are then usually distinguished further using one or more of a patronymic byname, a clan affiliation byname, or a descriptive byname.

Patronyms are formed using "mac" for a man and "inghean" (pronounced "IN-yun") for a woman, meaning "son" and "daughter" respectively. Strictly speaking, the father's name should be given in a different grammatical case (the genitive, denoting possession), and it often takes a modified initial letter (by adding an "h") when combined with "inghean'. Examples: Aed mac Fergusa, Aine inghean Fhergusa.

Clan affiliations are denoted using "Ua" for a man and "inghean Uí" for a woman; meaning "descendent" and "daughter of a descendent" respectively. The name of the eponymous ancestor undergoes the same grammatical changes described above. Examples: Domnall Ua Briain, Una inghean Uí Bhriain.

Descriptive bynames are simply appended to the end of the name; for a woman they usually take the same modified initial letter. Examples: Niall Bacach, Grainne Bhacach.

Male Given Names

Áed, Áengus, Ailill, Bran, Bressal, Cairpre, Cathal, Cináed, Cobthach, Colmán, Conall, Conchobor, Congal, Cormac, Crimthann, Crundmáel, Diarmait, Domnall, Donnchad, Donngal, Eochaid, Eochu, Éogan, Ercc, Fáelán, Fedelmid, Fergus, Fiachra, Flann, Fogartach, Lugaid, Máel-dúin, Maine, Móenach, Muiredach, Murchad, Niall, Rónán, Scandlán, Senach, Sétnae, Suibne

Female Given Names

Affraic, Ailbhe, Áine, Aoife, Barrdhubh, Bean Laighean, Bean Mhídhe, Bean Mhumhan, Béibhinn, Cacht, Cailleach Dhé, Cobhlaith, Dearbháil, Dearbhforgaill, Dubh Essa, Dubh Themrach, Dubhchobhlaigh, Dubhóg, Éadaoin, Elec, Fíneamhain, Fionnghuala, Gormlaith, Gráinne, Imag, Lasairfhíona, Maol Mheadha, Meadhbh, Mór Mhumhan, Nuala, Órlaith, Raghnailt, Sadhbh, Sláine, Sorcha, Úna

Bynames

Ainsheasccar (the Restless), Alánd (the Comely), Amhreaidh (the Quarrelsome), Ard (the Tall), Bacach (the Lame), Baclamhach (the Lame-handed), Balbh (the Stammerer), Ballach (the Freckled), Bán (the White/Fair), Beag (the Small), Bocht (the Poor), Bradach (the Thievish), Cáel (the Slender), Caircheach (the Hairy), an Chleitigh (of the Quill), Cíocarach (the Greedy), Ciotach (the Left-handed), Colach (the Wicked), Connachtach (of Connacht), Dall (the Blind), Derg (Wine-red), Donn (Brown), Dorcha (Dark), Dubh (Black), Éccnaid (the Wise), an Fhasaigh (of the Wilderness), an Fheadha (of the Wood), Fionn (Fair), Garbh (the Rough), an Gleanna (of the Glen), Greannach (the Hairy), Gruamdha (the Gloomy), Laigen (of Leinster), Liath (Gray-haired), Meablach (the Deceitful), Mer (the Swift), Midech/Midheach (of Meath), Mór (the Big/Great), Muimhneach (of Munster), Óg (Young), Reamhar (the Fat), Ruadh (Red), an tSléibhe (of the Mountain), Sucach (the Merry), Uaine (Green), Ultach (of Ulster)

Hermetic Names

Some Gaelic-speaking magi have adopted some of the Irish conventions (and spellings) with regards to names. The four Lineages treat their Founders' names as if they were the ancestor of a clan, giving rise to names of the following pattern. Note that the names of female magi do not use the Irish convention of denoting "daughter of a descendent of X':

Murion Ua Bonaoságas
("oo-uh BON-ee-saw-gus")

Bilera Ua Ghiónaocas
("oo-uh GHYOUR-nee-cus")

Insatella Ua Márcaere
("oo-uh MAW-cay-ruh")

Poena Ua Tréamaere
("oo-uh TRAY-may-uh")

The four Mystery Cults specify that they are "of the cult" of their Founder, thus:

Falke cultas Biónaére
("cool-tus BYOR-nay-ruh")

Muscaria cultas Críothamon
("cool-tus CREE-huh-mun")

Handri cultas Meriníte
("cool-tus MER-yin-eet-yuh")

Stouritus cultas Bhéardaoiteas
("cool-tus VAYR-dee-tyus")

Finally, the four Societates use their houses' names as if it were a descriptive byname:

Garus an Flambó
("on FLOM-boe", literally "Garus the Flambeau")

Andru an t-Iarbiteon
("on TCHAR-byuh-tyun")

Buliste an Taotalas
("on TEE-tuh-lus")

Ebroin an t-Éigse Measceal
("on TCHAY-shuh MYES-kul", literally "of the learned miscellany")

House Diedne was not recorded as having used this custom, which came into fashion after the Schism War. Contemporary accounts often replace the byname Daodne ("DEED-uh-nyuh") with Deoradach ("JAY-ruh-dukh"), meaning "banished'.

Non-Irish Names

The names of the English settlers follow the patterns of their homelands. Noblemen and gentry use the conventions of Anglo-Normans, consisting of a given name and a byname, which may indicate their origin or paternity (often using the prefix "fitz," meaning "son"). The rest of the invaders use whatever conventions they have brought from their homelands — often Welsh or English. Some naturalized English have taken Irish versions of their English names.

The people of Scandinavian descent who are resident in Dublin and southern Ireland occasionally still use Norse-style names, but most have adopted Irish naming patterns using local variants of the names from their homeland. Given names are combined with a patronymic, a byname, or both.

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.