#balor of the evil eye

[redleaderblockhead]

It’s Halloween time my dudes 🎃

[sovamurka]

Balor's first appearance in chapter 27 of Demonslayer/Бесобой

[tallbluelady]

"When they need it the most" for the kiss prompts but for Aoife and Emet-Selch (curve ball)

"They" can refer to Louhi, Balor, Anatu, and Leanashe right?

(@yloiseconeillants, @azure-dragonsinger, @lilbittymonster, and @hermits-hovel respectively.)

[sillylilfairy]

Re-dsesigned Balor back in 20222 to look more like a god of death, winter and the harvest and it's much closer to his current and final design. (Still tweaking his outfit). But I took away the horns because it's not in the myths and detracted from his cursed eye and the rest of his design. The skull torc also felt like a bit too much and was tedious to draw. I feel like he'll at least be consistently recognizable design wise now :3

[dreams-atelier]

[loadsofcats]

Usually, the Evil Eye is repelled by the eye symbol, which we have seen to not be the case with everyone. For example, Balor (in the comics; about mythology I still don’t know enough, but I have heard that the “Evil Eye” is called “Balor’s Eye” 👀) not only doesn’t seem to mind, in fact he willingly chooses to use eye-like imagery and accessories.

This can also be seen with The Eye, as people who serve it, be it the Marked or the Avatars, commonly have something eye-themed, even tattoos. This could be interpreted though as the entity “unconsciously” (for a lack of better word) furthering its influence.

Therefore, this might mean one or more of the following:

Both the Eye and Balor are too powerful to be affected by such things.

It doesn’t bother them if the eyes they/their “vessels” are decorated with are, in fact, the Evil Eye.

Or 3. They are both dramatic and do it for the aesthetic.

Though, alternatively, 4. It is a lie told by the evil eye itself to be able to see everything - more eyes means more things to see.

Feel free to add on, this has been occupying my thoughts for a while. I had one more thing to say, but it escaped me yesterday and has not yet returned. If I remember, I’ll say what it was.

[darkness9000a]

Thought about making another character for Collektha Bounty.

Nothing too special really.

This guy is Balor, the Evil Eye, the King of the Fomorians.

Not only that Balor and his underlings the Fomorians are the motorcycle pirate gangs, but they are also bounty hunters as well.

[ghostjelliess]

Balor the evil eye is a personification of the sun blocked by wildfire smoke. I said what I said.

[thecreaturecodex]

Valpyr

Image by MJ Allen, © Emperors Choice Games

[Sponsored by @crazytrain48. The valpyr is Arduin's answer to the question, "I want to use this balor miniature, but how do I do that without murdering my entire party"? Later, in the Emperors Choice era, the question was "how do I sell that balor miniature". The valpyr is clearly a balor clone, with an undead type and a lower HD. So how do I justify it existing in a setting where balors are a thing? Read on.]

Valpyr CR 11 NE Undead This creature is a demonic humanoid, with a forked tail, a pair of horns, and inky black eyes. Enormous bat-like wings grow from its back, and its body is wreathed in silvery flames. It carries a shortspear in one hand and a barbed whip in the other.

A valpyr is an undead mimic, a creature born of evil hoaxers and disguise artists. Their targets of mimicry are powerful fiends, most commonly balors. Valpyrs masquerade as balors in order to intimidate mortals and immortals alike, scaring off psychopomps and necromancers while browbeating lesser monsters into serving them. Valpyrs have to temper their bluster with caution. Even though they are powerful by the standards of mortals, they are nowhere as strong as a balor, and anything that can genuinely challenge one of the lords of the Abyss would have little difficulty destroying a valpyr.

Most valpyrs maintain savage fiefdoms of other creatures to serve them, and usually initiate combat from behind waves of loyal undead or monstrous hounds. Against weaker foes, they prefer to fight with manufactured weapons, the better to maintain the illusion that they are a balor. If they feel genuinely pressed, they instead fight with teeth and claws in order to drain the life from their enemies. Valpyrs will attempt to bluff or intimidate stronger enemies, but flee rapidly if their threats fail.

Although most valpyrs are balor mimics, some instead resemble other types of demons. This is usually due to the sins committed by the valpyr in life, but rumor has it that some valpyrs can intentionally change their form through sinister rituals. These variant valpyrs use the same base statistics, but replace fiery body and whip mastery with two appropriate abilities of the demon in question (like constrict and multiweapon mastery for a valpyr mimicking a marilith, or Huge size and an unholy nimbus for a valpyr mimicking a nalfeshnee).

Valpyr CR 11 XP 12,800 CE Large undead Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +20, see invisibility

Defense AC 25, touch 14, flat-footed 20 (-1 size, +5 Dex, +11 natural) hp 147 (14d8+84) Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +14 DR 10/good; Immune fire, undead traits; SR 22 (26 vs. divination) Defensive Abilities fiery body, nondetection

Offense Speed 40 ft., fly 120 ft. (good) Melee adamantine shortspear +13/+8 (1d8+5), masterwork whip +13/+8 (1d4+2), bite +12 (1d10+2 plus 1d6 fire plus ability drain), 2 wings +12 (1d6+2 plus 1d6 fire) or 2 claws +14 (1d8+5 plus 1d6 fire plus ability drain), bite +14 (1d10+5 plus 1d6 fire plus ability drain), 2 wings +12 (1d6+2 plus 1d6 fire) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (20 ft. with whip) Special Attacks burn quintessence

Spell-like Abilities CL 11th, concentration +17 Constant—nondetection, see invisibility At will—command undead (DC 18), detect magic, magic missile 3/day—bull’s strength, scorching ray, quickened true seeing 1/day—animate dead, fireball (DC 19), glibness, plane shift (DC 21)

Statistics Str 20, Dex 20, Con -, Int 22, Wis 17, Cha 23 Base Atk +10; CMB +16; CMD 31 Feats Flyby Attack, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Multiattack, Quicken SLA (true strike), Two-Weapon Fighting Skills Bluff +20, Disguise +27, Fly +24, Intimidate +32, Knowledge (arcana, religion) +23, Knowledge (planes) +20, Perception +20, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +23; Racial Modifiers +4 Disguise, +4 Intimidate Languages Abyssal, Common, Daemonic, Infernal, Necril SQ whip mastery

Ecology Environment any land or underground Organization solitary or army (1 plus 2-20 galleytrots, skeletons and zombies) Treasure standard (Large masterwork whip, Large adamantine shortspear, other treasure)

Special Abilities Ability Drain (Su) A creature struck by a valpyr’s claw attack must succeed a DC 23 Fortitude save or take 1 point of Constitution drain. A creature struck by a valpyr’s bite attack must succeed a DC 23 Fortitude save or take 2 points of Constitution drain. A valpyr gains 5 temporary hit points every time it deals ability damage. The save DC is Charisma based. Burn Quintessence (Su) Any fire damage dealt by a valpyr’s supernatural or spell-like abilities deals full damage to incorporeal creatures and ignores the energy immunities and resistances of extraplanar outsiders. Fiery Body (Su) A valpyr burns with silvery fire. It deals 1d6 points of fire damage with its natural weapons, and any creature that touches it takes 1d6 points of fire damage (no save). Whip Mastery (Ex) A valpyr treats a whip as a light weapon for the purposes of two-weapon fighting, and can inflict lethal damage on a foe regardless of the foe's armor.

[stairnaheireann]

Dún Bhaloir | Balor’s Fort | The Anvil, Tory Island, Co Donegal

From its craggy cliffs to its wind-beaten shores, Ireland has long exuded an aura of mystery and magic. Its culture and traditions have been forged from a unique mixture of warrior ballads, clan sagas, fairy tales, and bardic narratives. A magnificent combination of myth, legend, and historic fact embroiders the very fabric of Irish culture. Tory Island is one of the few places left in Ireland…

[sovamurka]

Бесобой / Demonslayer ch. 27 - Balor

Artist: Andrey Vasin

A Mad Tea-Party scene

[ornii]

Folie à deux II: Addams

As the crowd roars as the final note plays, (Y/n) stands before them, exhausted but smiling. He raises the mic to his mouth and gives one last speech.

“Before I leave.. i Wanna say something, you can do anything you put your mind to, put your mind towards it and you’ll reach the top, legends never die. “ with those parting words he departed the stage to applause that could be heard around the world, (Y/n) walks off stage and to his manager, Karl, after a bit of reluctance he accepted one, and he’s never looked back on it. He slumps down wand Karl sits with him.

“Last city, and ended it with a bang, gotta say you did perfect, Celebes are all over your Twitter.” He said smiling and pats (Y/n) on the shoulder.

“Thanks..” (Y/n) Said, obviously weary.

“Look get on the bus, we’ll head home and you take a long break, I’m sure you got more music to work on.” He says and (Y/n) nods and stretched, and headed back to the tour bus, after sitting inside the exquisite bus, he hears the tv play.

“(Y/n)‘s “Welcome World” Tour had ended and with over 40 concerts done it ends and overall fantastic reception, after a debut single and his first Album “Beyond.” Eyes Are on the young star and we can only imagine what he has in store.” They say, he turns the tv off and falls into a deep sleep.

A Few months pass, and all seems well for you, while a big chunk of the internet is absolutely crazy for you, you never let it get to your heard, more importantly your music is slowing down unfortunately, working 20 hours straight trying to focus on producing a beat takes its toll physically and mentally. As you slump in your chair across your station, Karl enters and peers over.

“You Look Tired, Cmon take a Break, i Wanna talk to you about somethin.” He said, you reluctantly stop the beat and remove your headphones.

“What’s up?” You say and Karl sits down.

“I’ve been thinking and you’re burned out, you can’t keep this up forever and you’ll end up hating it, so, why don’t you focus on somethin different for a bit?” He says.

“Like?” You say asking for an example. Karl leans in.

“This is between you and us, but I chatted with some executives on Netflix and they’re producing a show, you know the Addams family right?” He says, and you smirk and snap your fingers twice.

“Who doesn’t?” You reply.

“Okay Okay Smart ass.” He replies jokingly, “Netflix wants to do a series on the Uh, what’s her name? Wednesday.. yeah and it’s going to be in a boarding school, and with that type of young actors, it’s perfect for you to get your feet wet.” He explains.

“Sounds cool Enough..” you say. And check your phone. “How longs the shoot?”

“Few months? They got the girl from scream or whatever.” Karl says, which immediately catches you off guard, your head jerks up and you lean in.

“Jenna?” You ask.

“Uh yeah that’s her name, she was in other movies but yeah— so—“

“Yes!” You say a bit too excited for Karl, who was caught off guard. He chuckles, “Okay kid don’t go kissing her feet when you see her.”

You scoff at this.

“Ha! As if I-I don’t.. do that.” You say, and Karl shrugs, “I’ll call the executives and let Em know.” He says and leaves you alone, a giddy feeling in your chest goes wild as you stand up, reinvigorated!

The next week was the first week of shooting, and was nerve wracking, sitting inside your trailer you read the script, the director, the Tim Burton stood across from you, a legend who made some of the most unique films, a Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, Beetlejuice! Even the 1989 Batman film! It was like meeting a figure from your childhood.

“Okay, so.. who am I going to play?”

“You’ll be playing a man named (Y/n) Healy. An Irish demon, you’ve heard of the old tale of Balor and the evil eye? Basically that, but a more, human aspect.”

“Okay… and his role is he the, Villian?”

“No, in fact he’s going to be with Wednesday.” He says and your face loses color, wether it was excitement or embarrassment, you weren’t sure but you don’t hate the idea. “Okay.” You say nodding.

“I’ll method act the blindness, I’ll need a cane..”

“The props we have will work wonders, but it’ll be up to you to make the watchers believe it.”

“Yeah.” You say with confidence, Tim nods and leaves and you read over the first episode, and start to come to some terms with what you’ll be doing. You stand up to go get dressed and out of the trailer, and you’re suddenly almost face to face with a blonde haired girl.

“Oh! Sorry.” She says, and you step back, but accidentally bump into the the trailer with a bang.

“Oh! Hey!!” You day as she obviously tries not to laugh. You awkwardly chuckle. “My bad if this was your trailer..”

“It’s not.. i just came to say hey, I’m Emma, I play Enid.”

“Myers?” You reply and she nods, you shake her hand.

“It’s great to meet you!”

“You too! Your musics pretty amazing, so when I heard you were a part of this I just had to say hello at least.” Emma says and you thank her immensely.

“Thanks, seriously I mean it, so.. are you heading to make up?”

“I am, ready?” She says and you nod, following, entering another trailer to get your face to look as unrealistically handsome as possible, you continue to talk.

“So, your character is a, Werewolf? That’s.. pretty cool.”

“really?” She replies, “I’m glad, Tim showed me how her character works and, I think I can make it, yours sounds charming, charismatic and kinda chaotic.”

“Huh, then I’ll do just fine.” You say, the words barely rolled in your mind before you said that, which made you just sound egotistical, but Emma smiles

“You’re confident! That’s good!” She says, and you couldn’t help but crack a smile. You get dressed with your glasses and work on your script with Emma, and prepare for the first scene for you to shoot. You sit on a stone bench and are awaiting, and you hear a “Action.” You pretend to drink Tea, before Emma, (Enid), walks over and places her hands over your “Blind” eyes

"Guess Who~" She says, and You play your role to perfection

"Enid.. you know that doesn't work, right?" You say, and she lets go, and sits next to you. You turn to her, but act as if you can’t see her.

"I know, but I didn't want to cover your ears, you couldn't hear me then (Y/n)." She says smiling.

"Well, what's new? You're pretty exited.." You ask. And she acts so; amazingly, her cheerful tone, the cute highlights in her hair.

"I should and called you about it but let me give you the deets, I'm getting a roomie!" She says, and you smile in response to this

"That's great, is someone changing dorms?" You ask.

"No, she's transferring from another school, Wednesday Addams! I did. my research and she got expelled from her last school." She explains and you Sip from the tra

"Yeah she tossed piranhas into the school pool and a boy lost a testicle." She flatly said, and you, which wasn’t part of the script almost cough up the tea. Instead of asking to stop you roll with it

"E-Enid, are you... sure You want someone like that to Room with you? I think Principal Weems would understand you wanting a transfer."

"What? No! We're going to be the best of friends! I can already picture it! Doing each others hair, nails, talking about all the gossip at Nevermore, the Boys~" She says, you nod sadly and go with it

"Well, I hope you have fun then." You said, before Principal Weems spoke up from behind you.

"Miss Sinclair." She said with this gaudy and proper tone, Enid quickly turns around, and smiles.

"Please, allow me to bring you up to your new Roommate, good morning also to you Mister Healy." She said, turning her attention towards you, and give a bow.

"Good Morning Principal." He replies, "Could I ask you what time it is?" You say, and she checks her watch.

"Nearing Seven."

"Ah, well I should get to feeding the crows then." You stand up with your cane and walk over to a cage of birds, granted the bird keeper said they don’t bite, but you don’t prefer to take risks, you “feed” them, you act oblivious of the two approaching and you recite the lines in your head.

"And this, is (Y/n) Hearly. (Y/n), this is Wednesday Addams." Emma says, you turn around to act oblivious again, but you couldn’t this time, her clothing, her deadpanned face, even though she showed no emotion you were absolutely smitten by her, Wednesdays Addams, Tara carpenter, those names meant nothing to you, the only word that rang though your mind, was “Jenna”.

[yuesya]

I just now realized how perfect the name Balor is for Shiki in that one Genshin AU. Balor was also known as Balor the Evil Eye who when his eye looked at things caused them to just drop dead. Perfect name for our Mystic Eyes of Death Perception user.

Yes! This is actually a small nod to Nasu lore, since the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are said to be descended from the eyes of the Celtic god, Balor -capable of killing with a single look.

[mask131]

Read-list for an "old school D&D" fantasy (plus bonus)

This is a remake of an earlier post of mine, that I decided to update (some additional books were suggested to me, others I found out about later).

This is a reading-list of various literary works that heavily inspired or were heavily used in the creation of the first editons of Dungeons and Dragons - and thus, reading them will allow you to plunge back into what the original D&D was meant to look what/what it tried to emulate.

J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit". No surprise here, Tolkien's works were the start of modern fantasy and thus the main source of old-school D&D. In fact, D&D was originally created to be just a Lord of the Rings role-playing game - or to be precise a LotR wargame. This was the original intention. Which is why, quite famously, the very first version of D&D included elements such as the hobbits, the mithril and the balrogs. And when the Tolkien Estate pointed out the consequences of what was plagiarism, D&D changed these concepts to... "halflings", "mithral" and "balors". The only Tolkien-element D&D could preserve vaguely unchanged were the orcs, because the Tolkien Estate could not prove Tolkien had invented the term "orc". But even beyond that, D&D's dwarfs and elves and ents (sorry, treants) and wights and rangers all were heavily inspired by Tolkien - the gods of the orcs even use symbols such as an "eye of fire" and a "white hand"...

Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions". Poul Anderson was quite influential on early 20th century fantasy, and this specific book influenced D&D in three ways. On one side, it was one of the two sources for the "Order versus Chaos" conflict of D&D (the other being Moorcock). On the other the D&D trolls were inspired by the Three Hearts and Three Lion trolls. And finally the Paladin class was inspired by Anderson's Holger Carlsen character (the same way the Ranger was Tolkien's Aragorn). [This book also seems to have had some influence over the Fey of D&D?]

Michael Moorcock's "The Elric Saga". With Anderson's work, it was the other main source of the Order vs Chaos, Lawful vs Chaotic division of the D&D game. It also served as the main inspiration behind the D&D Drows, due to the Elric Saga shaping the original image of "Dark Elves" in fantasy, through its Melnibonéan Empire. D&D also originally collected references to the Elric world - creating many variation of Elric's evil magical sword Stormbringer through a variety of cursed soul-drinking weapons.

Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Barbarian". The source of heroic-fantasy the same way Lord of the Rings influenced epic fantasy, the world of Conan was also a huge source of inspiration for D&D - the most obvious reference being the Barbarian class, shaped for those who wanted to play Conan.

Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". Originally intended as a parody of the Conan-style heroic fantasy, but promptly becoming a serious and admired work that created its own sub-genre of fantasy (the "sword and sorcery" genre), they also were inspirational for the first editions of D&D. Sometimes it is indirect - the "Thief" or "Rogue" classes were inspired by Leiber's Gray Mouser character - other times it is MUCH more direct. For example, among the numerous pantheons you could choose to use in early D&D, one was the various gods of Newhon and the city of Lankhmar, the universe of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. And the fantasy trope of "Thieves' Guild" made famous partially by D&D was originally an invention of Leiber.

Jack Vance's The Dying Earth. This emblematic series of the "science-fantasy" genre offered to D&D its magic system, which is generally known as "vancian magic". It was Jack Vance who had the idea that a wizard had to learn/store spells in their mind, with a limited number of spells they could carry in their brain, and that once cast the spell had to be re-learned or restored. Several spells and items of early D&D were also directly taken from the Dying Earth books - the "prismatic spray" or the "ioun stones".

H.P. Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos". No need to explain how Lovecraft's brand of eldritch horror and alien-fantasy shaped the creatures and deities of early D&D, to the point that early on the deities and monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos were part of the pantheons you could chose to use - listed alongside the Newhon gods of Leiber, or the gods of the Conan universe.

While not fantasy works, the most famous creations of Edgard Rice Burroughs - Tarzan on one hand, and John Carter of Mars on the other, were claImed by Gygax to have been very influential to his creation of D&D.

Another author Gygax mentionned as being a huge influence for D&D was Fletcher Pratt - through his Harold Shea fantasy series, about a main character being carried away in various magical and fantastical worlds very different from each other, in which he has to adapt himself to new settings and learn new rules to avoid dangers and threats... Sounds familiar? The idea of world-travelling might also have been inspired by the science-fiction series by P.J. Farmers' World of Tiers: the rules of travel in D&D between the various planes of reality seem to have been inspired by Farmers' own rules for dimension-travel.

One of the lesser known influences of D&D is the fantasy series "Kothar" by Gardner Fox: Gygax explicitely said that the idea of the "Lich" as a D&D monster came from Fox's Kothar series.

Not a book, but movies: the Sinbad movies of the mid 20th century were influential on early D&D. Various monsters and creatures referenced pictures such as "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" or "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad".

"The House on the Borderlands" by William Hope Hodgson was explicitely referenced by Gygax's 1979 module "The Keep on the Borderlands", and it might have heavily influenced the original depiction of the D&D orcs as pig-men...

The Shannara series by Terry Brooks has also been pointed out as an influence on D&D - while not on the very first edition, elements of the Shannara world seem to have influenced later ones...

Mind you, this is but a fragment of a much longer list known as the "Appendix N" composed by Gygax, and that lists all the books and pieces of work he took inspiration from when designing D&D. Beyond the most famous works evoked above he also listed:

Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" and "The Broken Sword"

John Bellairs' "The Face in the Frost"

Leigh Brackett's works

Fredric Browns' works

I evoked before Burrough's Mars series, but Gygax also listed his "Venus series" and his "Pellucidar series".

Lin Carter's "World End" series

L. Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall" and "The Fallible Fiend" and "The Carnelian Cube"

August Derleth's continuation of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Lord Dunsany's writings, of course.

Gardner Fox's "Kyrik" series

Sterling Lanier's "Hiero's Journey"

A. Merritt's "Creep, Shadow, Creep", "Moon Pool" and "Dwellers in the Mirage"

Michael Moorcock's "Hawkmoon" series (which is technically part of the wider universe of which the Elric Saga is the central piece)

Andre Norton's works

Fletcher Pratt's "Blue Star"

Fred Saberhagen's "Changeling Earth"

Margaret St. Clair "The Shadow People" and "Sign of the Labrys"

Stanley Weinbaum's works

Manley Wade Wellman's works

Jack Williamson's works

Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series, and "Jack of Shadows".

In 2007, Gygax even updated his Appendix N with a handful of new titles reflecting elements added to later editions of D&D:

Sterling Lanier's "The Unforsaken hiero"

Piers Anthony's "Split Infinity" series

And of course, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series

And since this post is all about updates, I will also include a list of works that were used as inspiration for current day/modern D&D - especially the fifth edition. Like that, you'll have the evolution of "old school D&D versus new school D&D". This list is taken from fragments here and there of interviews given by Mike Mearls, the Appendix E "Inspirational Reads" of the fifth edition, and Rodney Thompson's interviews.

Appendix E replaces several elements Gygax talked about in interviews or in his Appendix N: Leiber's work, Burroughs's Mars series, Howard's Conan, etc...

Appendix E adds among other things China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station", and Elizabeth Bear's "Range of Ghosts".

Mike Mearls said that what inspired him in his design work of modern D&D was Ursula LeGuin's "Earthsea" series, Patrick Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind", Saladin Ahmed "Throne of the Crescent Moon" and Octavia E. Butler's "The Parable of the Sower".

But Mearls also repeated several of the picks already used by Gygax. He invoked again The Elric Saga, and Roger Zelazny's Amber series, and Tolkien's Legendarium of course...

Rodney Thompson rather insisted on returning to the Anderson roots of the D&D fantasy: mostly "Three Heart and Three Lions", but also "The Broken Sword".

[tuatha-de-danann-blog]

The Irish Gods pt. 1

After reading several texts, I've painted this picture of the Irish gods.

There is the war god Net. His descendants procreate with his granddaughter Ethniu. She has 7 sons: the smith, the carpenter, the wright, the physician (Dian Cecht), the king (Nuada), the druid warrior (the Dagda), and the god of every skill (Lugh).

Elatha, Net's grandson, is a Fomorian king. He is father to Bres, the Dagda, and Ogma the champion; though, one text makes Ogma the son of Ethniu.

The gods lived in islands in the northern parts of the world where they learned all their magic, sciences, and art.

They invaded Ireland. They sailed there, and clouds shielded their arrival.

They had four treasures: the cauldron that everyone left satisfied from, the spear no one could defeat, the sword that nothing could escape from, and the stone of destiny that shouted when the true king of the land put his foot on it.

They battled the Firbolg, the existing inhabitants, for Ireland. The Morrigan and her sisters cast clouds and rain of fire and blood over the Firbolg. The gods defeat the Firbolg. (The Firbolg and gods have common ancestors).

Nuada loses his hand in battle. A blemished king can't rule. Bres is made king in hopes his Fomorian side would render the Fomorians under the gods' power.

The smith god made a silver hand. Dian Cect attached it to Nuada, making a working silver hand.

One text says Bres was a bad king. He chose the Fomorian side of his family. He made the Dagda build forts and Ogma carry wood. There was no food or drink at his court. The gods were taxed heavily, and all their wealth went to the Fomorians.

Miach, Diancecht's son, restores Nuada’s real flesh hand, unburying it, attaching it, and restoring it completely. Nuada is able to be king again. Diancecht was upset at Miach, so he killed him. From his grave grew healing herbs. His sister gathered the herbs on a cloth, but Dian Cecht mixed them, and their healing knowledge was lost.

A poet made a satire about Bres. It embarrassed him and brought him dishonor. The gods told him they wanted to remove him as king. He went to his dad Elatha for help to battle gods. Elatha refused. Bres went to the Fomorian Balor for help. (Balor is the war god Net's son).

Meanwhile, Balor's grandson, Lugh, son of Ethniu and the god Cian (Dian Cecht’s son) comes to the god's court. They don't let anyone in without a skill. Lugh was the only one that had all the skills put together. They let him in. He was stronger than Ogma, and Nuada put him in charge of the war.

The Dagda slept with the Morrigan at the mouth of a river. Afterward, she gave him war intel and told him her plan: to kill one of the Fomorians. (Some texts say the Dagda and Morrigan are married to each other).

The Dagda’s daughter, Brigid, is married to Bres. She owns the king of the cows and king of the pigs. They cry out when Ireland is being plundered. Her son with Bres is a spy. The son is killed by the gods, and Brigid is the first to cry and scream in mourning in Ireland.

The war was on. Dian Cecht and his kids made a healing well, filling the water with herbs. Anyone wounded who bathed in it was healed. Only people with their head cut off or brains bashed in could not be healed. The smith god and his brothers magically repaired the gods' weapons by the next day of battle.

Lugh defeated Balor in battle. Balor had an "evil eye." Whatever it looked upon was destroyed. Lugh hit the eye with his sling shot. The eye shot through the back of Balor's skull and killed several many Fomorians.

They spared Bres' life if he agreed to teach them the times to plant and harvest.

Nuada had died in battle, and Lugh was made king.

See pt. 2

[paragonrobits]

Marckus after the bar fight and recovering from his injuries, noticing something in the sky: Huh. Anyone else see a bright red star up there? Inexplicably brighter than Venus? Giving off this really unpleasant vibe of horrific evil and impending doom?

Kitten: Oh yeah, I see it too. Have for years. Dunno why no one else seems to.

Door: Whatever are you two looking at?? I see nothing.

Boy: THE EYE OF THE WYRM HAUNTS MY DREAMS. IT BLINKS AND BALOR GAZES DOWN AT US.

Big D: -does the mother of all spit takes-

Kevin: Oh shit.