#tairngire

[revoevokukil]

Forgotten Manuscripts: Elven Scrolls

I decided to machine translate select sections related to elves & the like in Rękopis znaleziony w Smoczej Jaskini (The Manuscript Discovered in a Dragon's Cave). I think it will prove illuminating to everyone seeking to interpret or write on these aspects of the Witcher. I will also include A. Sapkowski's "recommended reading" sections. You will be surprised, and yet not at all surprised, after going through even a few of these, if only cursorily.

(Could The Manuscript be a nod in the direction of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (penned by another adventurous Pole)? By that time, the author had certainly already adventured in the fantasy genre a fair share, compiling The Manuscript as a testament to his extensive reading. I appreciate the companionship this gesture extends to fellow travellers.)

Enjoy.

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Locations

AVALON

The mythical Land of Fairies (FAERIE), a place of rest and refuge for heroes tired of the worldly life. The Land of Eternal Happiness and Youth, identified with the famous land from Irish mythology Tir nan-Og, the Land of Youth, and the Celtic Isle of the Blessed, the equivalent of the Homeric Elysium and the Isle of the Hesperides.

The name Avalon is clearly of Welsh provenance and means the Isle of Apples (afallen means "apple tree" in Welsh, afal - "apple"). According to Welsh mythology, the rulers of the island of Avalon were the divine pair of Avallac and Modron. Avalon, according to legends, is a land far beyond the western sea, a land sunken beneath the waves, like LYONESSE or YS, or an island hidden in the mists, most often located near Glastonbury, where the mythical Ynis Witrin, the Glass Island, was supposed to be located. Legends placed the oldest Christian monastery and chapel on the Glass Island, with the nearby but inaccessible to mortals Ynis Avalon - the "pagan" Fairy Land. This is a symbolic confrontation of the Old and the New. Avalon was also located on the islands of Mona (Anglesey), Manau (Man), Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) and Inis Sun (Ile de Sein in Brittany), which were in fact the main centers of the Druidic cult. Many Druidic sanctuaries and ritual places were located on islands - both on the sea and on lakes. Excavations confirm this.

Recommended reading: Arthurian Canon

FAERIE

The Land of Fantasy, inhabited by ELVES or FAIRIES. It is also sometimes translated as "land of the prophets" (Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene is "Queen of the Prophets" in Polish). From Faerie comes the word "feeria" (e.g. a feast/party of lights).

ISLANDS OF HAPPINESS

Fairy (Elven) Lands. Mysterious lands, where happiness and spring always reign, and no one ages or gets sick.

Some of these islands drift, floating on the water of seas or lakes, others are hidden under water and come to the surface only at night, yet others are invisible and appear only to the chosen ones. The most famous include the Isles of Happiness (The Isles of the Blest), Tir na nOg (The Land of Youth), Tirfo Thuinn (The Land under the Waters), Tir nam Beo (The Land of Life), Tirn Aill (The Underworld), Mag Mor (The Great Plain), Mag Mell (The Plain of Joy) and Tir Tairngire (The Plateau of Happiness).

When the Children of the Goddess Danu, the gods of the TUATHA DE DANANN, were losing their power over Ireland, some went - literally - underground and became the DAOINE SIDHE. Another faction, led by Manannan mac Lir, emigrated to the Isles of Fortune. The famous Irish mythologist Bran, son of Febal, encountered Manannan crossing the seas in his chariot on one of his famous journeys.

Recommended reading: Tom Deitz, David Sullivan series (Windmaster's Bane, Fireshaper's Doom, Darkthunder's Way, Sunshaker's War, Stoneskin's Revenge, Dreamseeker's Road, Landslayer's Law, Ghostcountry's Wrath, Warstalker's Track); Morgan Llywelyn, The Isles of the Blest

Beings

ELF

A supernatural being, resident of FAERIE.

Etymology: Germanic (Gothic) Alf (currently in the form Alp means nightmare; the word Alptraum is a nightmare). Scandinavian Alfar can be found in the Edda - beautiful light elves (Liosalfar) and nasty black elves (dockalfar a. svartalfar).

This is an ancient race, existing in the world since the dawn of time, and who knows, maybe even earlier. Unlike fairies, who can have various forms and sizes, elves are equal in size to humans. Elves are characterized by very light, even pale complexion. Elves do not tan, even if they spend months in the sun. When it comes to hair and eye color, there are two types of elves: light blonds with pale blue eyes and brunettes (or even black-haired) with poisonous green eyes. The elves in Poul Anderson’s work (The Broken Sword) are not very typical, with eyes the color of a pearly, shimmering mist.

Elves can live to be 500-600 years old. Below the age of 100, an elf is considered a youngster, 150-250 is an adult. Above 250 years, an elf is considered an old age, and exceeding 350 makes him old. Elves are slim, delicately built and very beautiful. There are simply no crippled, obese, bald and ugly elves. Despite this, it is not so easy to recognize an elf in a crowd of people. The most striking elven feature - pointed ears - are usually hidden under hair. You can also recognize an elf by their teeth (although elves rarely bare them). Elves, namely, not being a product of evolution, do not have fangs among their teeth.

The elves, who are nice, good, and generally quite friendly, eager to extend favors, are grouped in the Seelie Court. The Unseelie Court, on the other hand, consists of elves who are decidedly evil and unfriendly, from whom one can expect only unpleasantness and trouble. Sometimes very big trouble. In Wales, elves are called TYLWYTH TEG, in Ireland DAOINE SIDHE. In fantasy, the terms “ELF”, “FAIRY”, and “SlDHE” are often used interchangeably.

Recommended reading: Lynn Abbey, Jerlayne; Poul Andersen, The Broken Sword; Greg Bear, Michael Perrin (The Infinity Concert, The Serpent Mage; omni Songs of Earth and Power); Nancy Varian Berberick, Elvish (The Jewels of Elvish, A Child of Elvish); Borderlands (edited by Terri Windling & Mark Alan Arnold); Elizabeth H. Boyer, The World of the Alfar; Marion Zimmer Bradley, The House Between the Worlds; Terry Brooks, Shannara; Emma Buli, War for the Oaks; C.J. Cherryh, Arafel's Saga (The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels, also published as the omnibus The Dreaming Tree); Charles de Lint, Moonheart; Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland's Daughter; Tom Deitz, David Sullivan (Windmaster's Bane, Fireshaper's Doom, Darkthunder's Way, Sunshaker's War, Stoneskin's Revenge, Dreamseeker's Road, Landslayer's Law, Ghostcountry's Wrath, Warstalker's Track); Rose Estes, Elfwood; Kenneth C. Flint, Sidhe Legends; Jane Gaskell, Strange Evil; Guy Gavriel Kay, Fionavar Tapestry trilogy; Laurell K. Hamilton, A Kiss of Shadows (in the Anita Blake series); Ellen Kushner, Thomas the Rhymer; Patricia A. McKillip, Winter Rose; O. R. Melling, The Singing Stone; Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist; Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies (Discworld #14); Kristine Kathryn Rusch, The Fey (The Sacrifice, The Changeling, The Rival, The Resistance, The Victory); Josepha Sherman, Prince of the Sidhe (The Shattered Oath, Forging the Runes); Sheri S. Tepper, Beauty; J.R.R. Tolkien, everything; Tad Williams, The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn

Series and anthologies: Elf Fantastic, edited by Martin H. Greenberg (authors include Andre Norton, Tanya Huff, Craig Shaw Gardner, Lynn Abbey, Jada Lynn Nye, Diana L. Paxson and Mickey Zucker Reichert); Elf Magic, edited by Martin H. Greenberg (authors include Josepha Sherman, Rasemary Edghill, Jane Yolen, Elizabeth A. Scarborough, Esther Friesner).

FAIRIES

Creatures inhabiting the Land of Wonderland, FAERIE.

Etymology of the word: from the Latin fatum, meaning fate, destiny, prophecy, what the gods will decree. In this classical meaning, the words "fatum", "fatalism", "fatal" have survived in the vast majority of modern languages. In the Latin of the Middle Ages, the word "fatum" also had its verb form.

Fatare meant "to conjure", "to charm", "to invoke", "to subject to will", "to change and shape someone's fate". This word and the forms derived from it first penetrated the classical Italian language, which originated directly from medieval Latin, in which fatare means "to conjure". The words una donna fatata are used in many works of classical Italian literature to refer to an enchanted lady, or that beauty so characteristic of a chivalric poem, looking out for a noble savior from the window of an enchanted tower or from the top of a glass mountain.

On the other hand, the word fata is used in Italian chivalric poems to refer to a sorceress, or a person casting spells - someone who knows, may have been responsible for limiting the personal freedom of the pretty girl from the tower. Both fatata and fata have penetrated the Provencal and Castilian languages ​​(una fada), German (die Feine) and French (feer, les dames faees).

In French, the word metamorphosed further, and the metamorphosis took place in accordance with the spirit of the language. Just as from the verb "to dream" (rever), comes reverie (dream, illusion), similarly derived from fatum the verb faer, feer (to enchant, to charm) was supplemented with the nouns faerie, feerie. In contemporary English the noun faerie has three meanings. First: illusion, charm, phantasmagoria. Second: the name of the magical land inhabited by enchanted creatures. Third: the name of the creatures inhabiting this land - faeries or fairies.

Although this is definitely about (in Tolkien's sense) ELVES, in Polish fairies are usually translated as fortune tellers or soothsayers. The poet says:

The nights are wholesome; then no planet strikes, No fairy takes, no witch has power to charm, So hallow'd and gracious is that time. - Shakespeare, Hamlet (translated by Maciej Słomczyński)

There is also another - very interesting - etymological concept, deriving fairies from Persia. According to Persian mythology, the mythical land of Jinnistan is inhabited by incredibly beautiful supernatural female beings, called Peri (like the famous Peri Banu). The Arabs, who did not pronounce the "p", were supposed to have transferred this myth to Europe by changing "Peri" to "Feri" - and we have ready-made Faerie and fairies. Interesting, but I am more convinced by the first version - the one with "fatum". Unless we are connecting the Persian Peri exclusively to the English language. Because if not of fate, then where from does mirage come from?

Recommended reading: C.J. Cherryh, Faery in Shadow; Parke Godwin, The Last Rainbow; Martin Millar, The Good Fairies of New York; Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist; Jack Vance, Lyonesse trilogy (Garden of Suldrun, Green Perta, Madouc) and others, listed under ELF and DAOINE SIDHE

TYLWYTH TEG

Welsh elves. The name means "beautiful people".

They live in lakes, rivers or mountains. If they are female, they are called y mamau (mothers), which indicates a connection with the Celtic Matrons. Like most of their relatives, they are mischievous - they steal horses and cattle, switch children in their cradles, lead astray at night or in the fog, play tricks on drunkards. They often appear at fairs in human form, because they love to haggle. The money they pay in transactions irrevocably turns into dry leaves the next day.

The ruler of Tylwyth Teg is the god Gwynn ap Nudd. Among the wild Welsh hills lives a variety of Tylwyth Teg, called Gwyllion, usually among herds of wild goats. The smallest variety of Tylwyth Teg are Ellyllon. Ellyllon's favorite food is red toadstools. Where toadstools grow in abundance, there is always Ellyllon to be found.

DAOINE SIDHE

Irish elves, descendants of TUATHA DE DANANN and SlDHE.

The name means "people of the elven hills", for The Daoine Sidhe reside within hills, mountains, hills and barrows. According to folk tradition in Connaught all elves are ruled by King Finbheara, and Munster is ruled by an elven queen Clio.

Daoine Sidhe are also called Aes Sidhe or just Sidhe. Because in tradition have gone through (like elves and all the others supernatural creatures of this group) a long way from gods to pixies, they are also often called Daoine Beaga, "small people." They are extremely secretive, and generally not very friendly to epople, though there are exceptions.

In Ireland they are usually blamed for the kidnapping of children and substituting them for CHANGELINGS, for causing rancidity of butter and spoiling the taste of Guinness.

SIDHE

Also DAOINE SIDHE. Otherwise: Aes Sidhe - ELVES, FAIRIES. Descendants of TUATHA DE DANANN, Irish deities.

When the Tuatha de Danann were defeated by the Milesians and forced to emigrate, one faction led by Manannan, son of Lir, emigrated to the ISLANDS OF HAPPINESS, while the rest of the gods remained in Ireland, but went underground. Literally - because the Tuatha dwelt deep underground. The entrances to their underground, but luxurious, fabulously beautiful and rich residences led through magical, hollowed-out hills and mounds, called sidh (pl. sidhe), hence the name Daoine Sidhe, People of the Hills, usually shortened to Sidhe for simplicity.

As a result of a consensus accepted by all the Tuatha, Ireland was divided into territories and each of the gods received their own sidh. Here is a list of some, together with information (if any) on where each sidh was located - for those who would like to go there and try to go underground.

The god Dagda reserved for himself the great sidh Brugh na Boinne, near the town of Drogheda in County Meath, 50 kilometres from Dublin. Brugh na Boinne is the now-famous enormous complex of corridors built of monoliths of New Grange, five thousand years old and still a riddle and enigma for archaeologists and historians. This sidh was later taken from the Dagda by his son, Angus mac Og; the sea god Lir occupied the sidh Fionnachaidh (pronounced szi Fineha), in County Armagh, near the town of Newtown (Ulster, 50 kilometres from Belfast); the Dagda's second son, the god Bodb Derg, gave his own hill the name Sidh Bodb, in Galway, near the town of Portumna on the great lake Lough De arg; the god Mider occupied the sidh Bri Leith (County Longford, near Ardagh, almost in the very geometric centre of the Emerald Isle); it was to this sidh that Mider abducted the beautiful Etain, wife of Eochaid, king of Tara; Ilbreach, son of Manannan mac Lir, resides at the Sidh Eas Aedha Ruaidh, in Donegal near Ballyshannon.

Later Irish legends, in which mythical matter was mixed with legendary history and folklore, also attributed the hills to other Sidhe, in the classical version not belonging to the Tuatha de Danann. Thus: The king of all the Irish Sidhe (elves) is Finbheara (pronounced Finwara), residing at Sidh Meadha (today called Knockma Hill, in Connaught, near Galway, just outside the town of Tuam). Finbheara is an incorrigible womanizer, regularly abducting mortal women for explicit sexual purposes. No pretty woman is safe in the vicinity of Knockma Hill.

In Munster, the Sidhe are ruled by the elven queen Cliodna (pronounced Klina), who resides under the sidhe near Mallow in County Cork. Cliodna has sexual appetites as exuberant as Finbheara, she can kidnap mortals and force them to provide certain services, and she is as insatiable as a true succubus, as Lilith herself.

In Cliodna's name, the elves of Northern Munster are ruled by Queen Aoibhinn (Iwin), while the fairies of the south are ruled by Queen Aine.

Recommended reading: Greg Bear, Michael Perrin cycle (The Infinity Concert, The Serpent Mage; omni Song of Earth and Power); Kenneth C. Flint, Sidhe Legends: Lugh (Riders of the Sidhe, Champions of the Sidhe, Master of the Sidhe); Marie Heaney, Beyond the Ninth Wave; Morgan Llywelyn, The Bard; Julian May, Saga of the Pliocene Exile (IY'/green-colored Country, The Golden Hoop, The Unborn King, The Adversary); Alisen Rush, The Last of Danu's Children; Josepha Sherman, Prince of the Sidhe cycle (The Shattered Oath, Forging the Runes); and more, given under the entries FAIRIES, ELVES, and TUATHA DE DANANN).

TUATHA DÉ DANANN

People of the Goddess Danu, in Irish mythology a race of deities descended from the goddess Danu.

The People of Danu came to Ireland from islands located somewhere far beyond the western sea. The first thing the Tuatha did after their arrival was to defeat the races that inhabited Ireland - the Firbolgs (defeated in the first battle on Mag Tuireadh) and the Fomorians (defeated in the second battle on Mag Tuireadh). However, even when the Tuatha exterminated the Firbolgs, they made some kind of a deal with the defeated Fomorians. They allowed them to live in Connachta, the western province of the island. However, the Tuatha de Danann themselves were soon defeated and driven into the underworld by the Milesians, sons of Mil Espane, who came from the Iberian Peninsula.

The most important representatives of the Tuatha de Danann are:

Dagda, the father of gods, patron of knowledge, warriors, magic and prophecy, also arts and music (his attribute was a harp, with which Dagda could control the weather). He was the main and most important god of Druidism. The Dagda’s Cauldron was one of the Four Talismans of Tuatha - and the obvious prototype of the Holy Grail;

Brigid, the daughter of Dagda, goddess of fire, fertility, female skills, secret knowledge, love and poetry;

Ogma, son of Dagda, giant god, called Honeymouth, patron of poetry, eloquence and Druids. He invented the alphabet called "Ogam" after his name; Angus Mac Og, son of Dagda and the river goddess Boann, beautiful god of youth;

Mider, son of Dagda, god of the underworld. He was unlucky - his wife Etain was stolen by the god Angus Mac Og, and his daughter Blathnat ("Little Flower") was kidnapped by Cu Roi, a sorcerer and king of Munster. Blathnat was rescued - and treated as a prize - by the hero CUCHULAINN;

Nuada, the god of waters. When he lost his hand in the battle on Mag Tuireadh, the founder Creidne made and the physician Dian Cecht fitted him with a silver prosthesis, which is why Nuada is called Airgedlamh ("Silver Hand"). Nuada's sword is one of the Four Talismans of the Tuatha de Danann;

Goibhniu, the god of blacksmiths, armourers and metallurgists in general. Together with the bell founder Creidne and the carpenter Luchtaine, Goibhniu produced weapons for the Tuatha de Danann that never missed their target. Goibhniu also brewed a beer with a heavenly taste, which granted the drinker immortality;

Morrigan, goddess of war and revenge, patroness of witches, fortune tellers and priestesses. She can appear in the form of a black raven or in three incarnations: women named Macha, Badb and Nemain. She can appear to warriors going into battle in the terribly ominous form of the Washerwoman at Brod - an elf washing bloody clothes. Whoever sees the Washerwoman at Brod will not return from battle;

Lir (a. Ler) - god of seas and waters. Lir's son, many times more famous than his father, was Manannan;

Manannan mac Lir - was the patron saint of sailors and merchants. His residences were the islands of Arran (in the Firth of Clyde) and Man, named after him. On Arran, Manannan had a palace called the Palace of the Apple Trees (i.e. AVALON);

Eriu (from which comes the name Eire, Ireland); Dian Cecht - god of physicians, healing and medical arts. He had many children, including a daughter Etan. Etan in turn had a son Cian, and Cian fathered the most famous and important god of the Goidelic pantheon, Lugh;

Lugh - god of crafts and arts, druids, physicians, magic, trade, poets, chroniclers, musicians and sorcerers. His attributes and sacred animals were the raven and the lynx. He was called Ioldanach ("Master of All Arts"), and also Lamhfada ("Long Arm"); the latter nickname came from Lugh's great spear, which was one of the Four Talismans of the Tuatha. The fourth, apart from the one mentioned above, was the prophetic Stone of the Waves, also called the Stone of Destiny. Lugh was a very important Celtic deity, and the fame of him will last forever. From his name derive their names, among others, Lyon (Lugdunum) and Laon in France, Leyda in Holland (formerly Lugudunum Batavorum), Carlisle (formerly Lugubalia), and … Legnica.

Those of the Tuatha de Danann who did not escape the Milesian and remained in Ireland, turned into SIDHE and live under the moon, inside the hills.

Recommended reading: Greg Bear, Michael Perrin cycle (Infinity Concert, Serpent Mage; omni Songs of Earth and Power); Tom Deitz, David Sullivan (Windmaster's Bane, Fireshaper's Doom, Darkthunder's Way, Sunshaker's War, Stoneskin's Revenge, Dreamseeker's Road, Landslayer's Law, Ghostcountry's Wrath, Warstalker's Track); Diane Duane, Wizard Abroad; in the cycle of Nita Danann: Riders of the Sidhe, Champions of the Sidhe, Master of the Sidhe; Finn MacCumhal, Challenge of the Clans, Storm Shield, The Dark Druid - and prequel, Cuchulain dilogy: Isle of Destiny: A Novel of Ancient Ireland, A Storm Upon Ulster (a. The Hound ot Culain) ; Parke Godwin, The Last Rainbow; Marie Heaney, Beyond the Ninth Wave ; Morgan Llywelyn, The Bard ; Julian May, Saga of Pliocene Exile (The Many-Colored Country, The Golden Hoop, The Unborn King, The Adversary) ; Alison Rush, The Forest of Danu's Children; Josepha Sherman, Prince of the Sidhe (The Shattered Oath, Forging the Runes)

LEANAN SIDHE

A type of Irish FAIRY (DAOINE SIDHE) or elven woman of incredible beauty, specializing in seducing men.

Leanan Sidhe are particularly fond of poets, bards and minstrels. A poet enchanted and possessed by an elf experiences a sudden surge of inspiration and talent - for a time at least as long as the Leanan Sidhe is with him, and this usually lasts quite a short while. The passionate, very violent and constant sex that the Leanan Sidhe demands from her lover, soon exhausts his vital forces and the offender simply fades away, dies. And the Leanan Sidhe, like an insatiable vampiress, like a real Lilith or lamia, without blinking an eye goes in search of a new victim.

The most dangerous are the Leanan Sidhe of the Isle of Man. They do not wait for their prey to die, but kill beforehand. As soon as they get bored, and they get bored quickly.

Recommended reading: Tim Powers, The Stress of Her Regard.

UNICORN

A classic mythical creature that has made a truly stunning career in fairy tales and literature.

The unicorn in its current form evolved from its classic image in bestiaries, in which it is depicted as a rather misshapen creature with the body of a horse, the legs of an antelope, the tail of a lion and the bearded head of a goat, armed with a horn twisted like a narwhal's.

Since in contemporary literature the unicorn has become a symbol of poetic fairy tales and a personification of fleeting, fairy-tale charm, all the features of the monstrous hybrid were eliminated and a lovely horse with the velvet eyes of a woman, a wavy mane and a silky tail was left. A horse whose shapely head is decorated (not armed) with an intricate horn. The unicorn is beauty incarnate - in fairy tales and legends, its sight ennobles souls, softens manners, softens the hearts of the cruel and inspires poets. To see a unicorn is to stand face to face with magic, it is a symbol of inspiration, of seeing what is hidden from the eyes of fools, philistines, simpletons and profane people.

One sunny morning, a gentleman, eating breakfast, raised his head from his scrambled eggs and noticed a unicorn with a golden horn, gnawing roses in the garden bed. The gentleman got up, hurried to the bedroom where his wife was sleeping and woke her up. "There is a unicorn in the garden," he said. "It is eating roses." The wife opened one eye and looked at the gentleman reluctantly. "The unicorn is a mythical creature," she replied and turned her back to the gentleman. James Thurber, "The Unicorn in the Garden"

The unicorn has been known since time immemorial. The Holy Scriptures mention unicorns in many passages - but they are nowhere to be found in Polish translations. For example, when Psalm 21:22 says: salva me ex ore leonis et de cornibus unieorniurn exaudi me, the Polish translations say: "deliver me from the lion's mouth and from the horns … of the buffalo". Unicorns share one common feature: an inexplicable predilection for virgins, maidens who have not yet known a man. The unicorn, incredibly timid and avoiding people, will not resist a girl with an intact hymen - when it sees one, it approaches and rests its head on her lap. This mythical feature was also made into a lofty symbol, while the bestiaries only suggested the method of hunting - with a virgin as a huntress or bait.

Unicorns were hunted, and hunted fiercely, mainly for their horn, which had miraculous properties. Such a horn detected poisons and gave the owner immunity to all venoms, and was also used to produce miraculous medicines and elixirs. In Wolfram von Eschenbach's "Parsifal", an attempt was made to cure the Fisher King with a unicorn horn - but to no avail, here only the Grail could work.

In addition to the horn, the unicorn could also provide other delicacies, including a magic ruby, called a carbuncle, which was found in the skull of some (very old and wise) animals at the base of the horn. Albertus Magnus considered the carbuncle to be crystallized unicorn blood and a remedy for absolutely all diseases, weaknesses and ailments - from the Black Death to the blues and hangover, or the gnat. The unicorn also provided liver (whipped with egg yolks, it cured leprosy), skin (a belt made of it protected against the plague, and shoes - against joint diseases) and hooves (used as a poison detector). Hildegard, known as the Rhine Sybil, also mentions a carbuncle at the base of the unicorn's horn. She also warns potential unicorn hunters that the animal never lets itself be fooled - a maiden who only pretends to be a virgin will be gored to death without mercy.

The source of the animal's great power lies in the fact that the unicorn visits the Garden of Eden once a year, where it drinks the Water of Life. These countless recipes for disposing of unicorns have given rise to literary conventions in which the unicorn is used to confront the sacred and the profane, to oppose the fairy-tale ideal and brutal greed, and finally to create an ecological symbol of Nature, irreversibly destroyed in the process of disposal. This is how unicorns are usually depicted in fantasy.

Recommended reading: Piers Anthony, Proton/Phaze; Bruce D. Arthurs, "Unicorn's Blood" (from the anthology Sword and Sorceress II; Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn; Peter S. Beagle’s lmmortal Unicorn, anthology edited by Peter S. Beagle and Janet Seriiner (authors include: Peter S. Beagle, Edward Bryant, Charles de Lint, Karen Joy Fowler, Ellen E. A Scarborough, Will Shetterly, Susan Shwartz, Dave Smed s, P Somtow, Judith Tarr, Nancy Willard, Tad Williams); Michael Bishop, The Black Unicorn; Bruce Coville, The Land of Unicorns; #3); Mark Geston, The Siege of Wonder; Mike Resnick, On the Trail of the Unicorn; Theodore Sturgeon, "Silky and Fast" (in L. Sprague de Camp, Harian Ellison, Thomas Burnett Swann, Stephen Donaldson, Vonda McIntyre, Ursula Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, Gene Wolfe, TH. White); Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber; Roger Zelazny, Unicorn Variations.

Individuals

HERNE THE HUNTER

In Anglo-Saxon folklore, a forest spirit wearing deer antlers on his head. Shakespeare mentions him in The Merry Wives of Windsor:

There is an old tale goes that Herne the hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windsar forest, Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight, Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns . . .

According to legend (from which this character is much, much older), he was the huntsman of King Richard II Plantagenet, the best and favourite huntsman, and therefore, as you can easily guess, hated by his colleagues. Although he once shielded the king from the horns of a charging bull deer with his own body, the ungrateful monarch - listening to the slander and trickery of other hunters, dismissed Herne from his position and chased him away.

Herne hanged himself from an oak tree in Windsor Forest in grief, but returned as a ghost and with forked deer antlers on his head travels the Forest. King Richard was cursed by Hern (in 1399 he was forced to abdicate, he died in suspicious circumstances). Herne turned his fellow intriguers into his hunting party - the WILD HUNT (Wild Hunt). The damned will ride with him through the forests until the day of judgment.

Herne is an obvious allegory of the forces of nature, dangerous to those who do not respect them, the guardian and protector (the keeper) of the forest and animals, known from numerous demonologies as the King of the Forest, Spirit of the Forest, reminiscence of the times when the original hunter, although his existence depended on a successful hunt, honoured the killed game, propitiated its spirit and thanked nature for it - and never killed or destroyed thoughtlessly.

The hunter Herne appears in some versions of the Robin Hood legend - especially in the well-known series with Michael Praed and the music of Clannad, in which he is a "Saxon" spirit in opposition to "Normans". Nevertheless, Herne undoubtedly comes from Celtic mythology, which is opposed to the Saxon one - his direct prototype is the Welsh Gwyn ap Nudd, Lord of the Underworld and the Wild Hunt. And the prototype of both - Herne and Gwynn - is Cernunnos, the HORNED GOD, husband of the Great Goddess.

The authentic Herne Oak in Windsor Forest, once a great tourist attraction, was mistakenly felled in 1796. Several more "Herne oaks" were planted in the area, one of which was planted by King Edward VII's own hand (in 1906). Herne apparently regularly appears in the area, but there's no information about sightseeing - these are private royal grounds and tourists are not allowed there. Even referring to me won't help.

OBERON

King of elves, husband of Titania in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania!).

A name derived from Alberic (Alberich, Alfrich, Alfrika) made from the root "Alf" (elf). Alberich in Germanic legends was not an elf at all, but a dwarf. He was a great master of blacksmithing and armourer - his work was the Nagelring, a sword used by the famous hero DITRYK OF BERN. This dwarf Alberich helped SIEGFRIED to seize the treasure of the Nibelungs, for which Siegfried appointed him the treasure's administrator.

In French romances, Oberon (Auberon) appears in the chansons de geste about HUON OF BORDEAUX, where he appears as the son of . . Julius Caesar. Caesar, driven by a storm to the island of Celeja, fathered Oberon there with a FAIRY Glorianda (another alter ego of Arthurian MORGANA). Oberon is an elf - in the classic fantasy sense - only in Edmund Spenser (Faerie Queene) and Shakespeare. Oberon's official title - the Elf King is Eller Konge in Danish. The Germans (Herder and Goethe) changed this name to Erlkónig, the Alder King. The famous King from Goethe's famous ballad, however, has nothing to do with a tree of the Alnus genus - there was a simple confusion of the words Elbe (elf) and Erle (alder).

Recommended reading: Poul Andersen, Three Hearts and Three Lions (and sequel, A Midsummer's Tempest); L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt, Land of Unreason; Roger Zelazny, First Chronicles of Amber

TAM LIN

A character from Scottish folklore.

In the South of Scotland, in Ettrickdale, there is a wild place called Carterhaugh. All young maidens were strictly warned never, ever to approach this place, for there is an elven youth called Tam Lin, who, if he catches a maiden, will not let her go until he has a suitable ransom:

O I forbid you, maidens a ', That wear gowd on your hair, To come or gae by Carterhaugh, For young Tam Lin is there. There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh But they leave him a wad, Either their rings, or green mantles, Or else their maidenhead.

Janet, Lord Carterhaugh's daughter, laughed at these superstitions. "Carterhaugh," she said, "belongs not to some Lin, but to my father, and therefore to me, and I shall go there whenever I like. Even tomorrow!"

"But, Miss Janet," whispered the maids, "There Lin is cruelly stubborn about virtue. . . " "Yes, I am not afraid," cried Janet, licking her lips, and her eyes sparkling. "I am going there tomorrow, first thing in the morning."

As she said, so she did. In Carterhaugh Wood, among oaks, pines, and birches, Janet noticed a mossy well in a clearing, by which grew a wild rose bush. The girl approached and plucked a flower, and then a young man with dark eyes and hair emerged from the thicket like a ghost.

Janet wasn't even particularly frightened, because the young man, what can I say, was incredibly handsome, paint the portrait of Robert the Bruce that hung in her father's house.

Tam Lin, for that was he, smiled, bowed and without ceremony grabbed Janet by the waist, then looked around for a dry and ant-free place. "Oh dear!" cried the young lady, already lying on the grass. "You won't take my rings and my green cape, will you?!" "No," assured Tam Lin, starting to unlace the corset, "not that one."

When, as the poet says, the compliment was over, Janet sighed deeply and began to ask Tam Lin about this and that, for she was terribly curious about who he was, a man or an elf, a creature of flesh and blood or enchanted, and what he was doing here in Carterhaugh. Tam Lin, unlacing and unfastening what he had not yet unfastened, told in a somewhat bored voice that he had been a human child, who had been kidnapped by the Elf Queen and played with for many years, just like Titania in Mr. Shakespeare's play.

"Now," Tam Lin drew Janet towards him again, "I am acting as guardian of their forest by the elves' order. The question, however, as to whether I am a man of flesh and blood, cannot be answered unequivocally. Not after so many years spent in Elfland."

Janet returned home, saying nothing to anyone about the adventure. Some time later she noticed with some anxiety that what usually happened to her every month had not happened. The old wives' tales that with an elf and a priest it could be done without any risk turned out to be - at least half - a lie.

Janet went immediately to Tam Lin. And he, who had taken a stronger fancy to the brave maiden than to the other girls caught at the well, decided to leave the elves and stay with her and the child she was expecting. He instructed her what she should do, adding that it would not be an easy thing.

On the night of SAMHAIN, when the doors between the worlds open, Janet came to Carterhaugh and hid in the thicket. At the stroke of midnight she heard singing, the music of a flute, and the melodious tinkling of silver bells, and then she saw a procession of elves riding through the forest with magic lanterns in their hands.

As instructed, Janet let a black horse, ridden by the Queen herself, and a silver and green horse, ridden by heaven knows who, pass through. She only jumped out of the bushes when a third horse, as white as milk, approached her. Janet forcibly pulled the rider from the saddle and it all began. Although instructed, the girl almost fainted from fear. Amidst the damning squawks and whistles of the elves, the creature held by Janet began to change form at lightning speed. The girl had in her arms - successively - a large slippery salamander, a hissing snake, a roaring bear, a lion with putrid breath, and finally, oh horror, a bar of red-hot iron.

Janet, however, did not let go of her embrace either, but, as instructed, jumped into the depths of the well, from where she emerged already in an embrace with the naked and gasping Tam Lin. Janet covered the young man with her green cloak and thus finally disenchanted him.

The lovers fled Carterhaugh, pursued by the shrieks of the elves and the furious curses of their Queen, who promised them a terrible vengeance and a fate worthy of regret. However, these curses turned out to be powerless - Janet and Tam Lin lived happily ever after and loved each other to the point of horror.

Recommended reading: Francis James Child (1882-1898), The English and Scottish Popular Ballads; Patricia A. McKillip, Winter Rose; Pamela Dean, Tam Un; Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock; Elizabeth Marie Pope, The Perilous Gard

THE WILD HUNT

Wild Hunt, a demonic procession racing across the sky, a cavalcade of spectres and ghouls. The ghouls from the Wild Hunt can kidnap people by force, but they are also able to force them to join with hypnotic suggestion.

The prototype is considered to be the procession of Valkyries, servants of ODIN, known from Norse and Germanic mythology, racing across the sky, gathering fallen heroes from battlefields to take them to Valhalla. The aurora borealis is nothing more than the flashes of Valkyrie armor and weapons. The procession of Valkyries in later Germanic mythology took on demonic features, becoming the Wild Hunt (Wilde Jagd) of the goddess Holda a. Huldra, the wife of Wotan.

The procession of the god Gwynn ap Nudd from CYMRIC MYTHOLOGY, as well as the procession of HERN the Hunter, is also a Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt usually takes place during the so-called raw nights (Rauhnächte), i.e. in the period from Christmas Eve to Epiphany.

Recommended reading: Poul Andersen, Three Hearts and Three Lions; Peter S. Beagle, Tamsin; Jocelin Foxe, The Wild Hunt (Child of Fire, Vengeance Moon); Charles de Lint, Greenmantle; Tom Deitz, Dreamseeker's Road (David Sullivan); Guy Gavriel Kay, The Fionavar Tapestry cycle; Julian May, Saga of Pliocene Exile; Michael Moorcock, Zoldak i zlo świata (Von Bek); Jafle Yolen, The Wild Hunt.

[theaxrat]

Heroforge face customizer beta means it's time to update the Shadowrun girls. In order:

Sophie/Sagestone, my Salish-Shidhe street magician

Áine/Tesrae, my Tír Tairngire rigger/conjurer

Eloise/Stonefish, my Saeder-Krupp mystic adept/sea drake

[nvrcmplt]

He can run on two legs and four, it's natural in either form for his specie of Witch.

He classes himself as witch more so than fae.

Has a lot of wolf mannerisms thus very expressive in his tail, ears and muzzle.

Can use magic like any other witch, it's just a tad bit stronger and easier for him to learn due to his fae-origins.

Being a Spectre Wolf familiar, he is strongest in Illusionary, Haunting and Hex magics alongside Phantom-elements.

Spectre Wolves are just as they are stated, haunting canines without physical forms until willed by their connection through Witch pacts. Gibran was such thing until Simon noticed him which granted him stability in his forms and since Simon asked to never hide again. Gibran was unable to use his origin mana again out of the pacts rules.

Spectre familiars are rare and finicky - however, incredible for all manners of occupations. Simon never got to know just how good of a haunting, hunter and tracker Gibran was due to his deranged needs.

Gibran is now both a Spectre Wolf and a Witch of Old Blood. He is a species of mixed unknowns, thus he had no new specie name as of yet but he is whispered to be alias'd as the Wraith of Tír Tairngire - being tainted by corrupted Witch blood and all sorts of alchemic creations, Gibran's form takes on two forms;

Demented Wraith and Spectre Wolf

[jamesshawgames]

Shadowrun: Neon Fire - The ROs

Time for a post to introduce the romance options for Shadowrun: Neon Fire.

Early in the game, your character has to relocate from their native Seattle to Neo-Tokyo. There, they will meet an established crew of Shadowrunners which they will join. If you want to work effectively as a team, you’ll need to win the respect of this crew of hardened professionals, who don’t know you or have any reason to trust you.

But it’s possible that you might win more than trust from one of this motley crew...

Quick Note on Gender: The ROs in Neon Fire are gender-selectable. You’ll be able to choose whether you want them all to be women, all to be men, all to be nb, a random mix of these, or pre-set genders. For convenience, in the descriptions below, I’ll be referring to them by their pre-set genders. However, in the actual game their gender will be up to you. So if you like the look of one of them but they’re the wrong gender for you, don’t worry, you’ll be able to change this in game.

SPIDER: A male human physical adept. Spider remembers nothing of his birth parents or family. As a very young child, he was sold to a mysterious religious order who live in a remote mountain monastery in rural Japan. The order trained him up to be a proficient killer, teaching him how to channel his magical energies into remarkable feats of combat strength and agility. But after tragedy struck within his community, he came to learn some hard truths about the order and their agenda. Troubled, he ran away and ended up selling his services in the Neo-Tokyo shadows. He’s a skilled operator with sound judgment, but also inflexible and authoritarian, expecting from his crew the same unremitting and fierce discipline that he demands of himself. His leadership style is already causing tensions within the crew, even before you turn up to add another variable to the volatile mix...

SMOKY: A female troll rigger who grew up on the mean streets of the East End of the London sprawl. Smoky possesses a scrappy optimism, a kind disposition that is rare in shadowrunners, and a child-like enthusiasm for all things mechanical. As a teenager, she saw the military as a way out of a life of crime, and she spent a couple of years as a British Army drone operator, before her unit was sent into the Lambeth Containment Zone to suppress a riot. Issued with an unethical order, she refused to obey, and this pissed off her superiors so much that she felt that she had no option but to flee to the other side of the world to escape the clutches of the Lord Protector’s vengeful agents. She’s made a good life for herself in Neo-Tokyo, but she still has unfinished business back home in London. Maybe one of these days someone will come along who can help her put the ghosts of the past to rest...

DAISHO: A male human street samurai, Daiso is the mystery of the group. He takes the “samurai” part of his job description more seriously than most, and self identifies as a ronin, a masterless elite fighter. When pressed on this, he will reply that he is a failure who does not deserve a master. His background is a closely guarded secret. He is guided by a rigid and inflexible moral code, which can cause problems on runs and infuriate his fellow crew-members. After all, shadowrunning is no job for a moralist.

BLACKHAT: A nonbinary elf decker. A native of the elven nation of Tir Tairngire, Blackhat is the illegitimate child of a member of the Council of Princes and a human servant who worked on his estate. Upon hearing of his servant’s pregnancy, Blackhat’s father cast her out of the house, plunging her and her child into poverty and a life in the slums of Portland. Although they were born an elf, Blackhat grew to hate the callous elven father who had condemned them and their mother to poverty, and this grew into a broad hatred of the elven supremacy that structures Tir Tairngire society. Young Blackhat began to associate with a revolutionary movement opposed to elven domination. And then, one day, they did something Bad: something so bad that it enraged the entire Tir Tairngire establishment and they had to flee. Since then, they have been hiding in Neo-Tokyo. But Tir Tairngire’s security services are on their trail, and the Ghost Commandos always get their target in the end...

CROWLEY: A female oni mage. A little older than the rest of the crew, Crowley grew up in unimaginable deprivation. Born during the period of Imperial Japan’s anti-metahuman segregation, Crowley was born in one of the detention camps on Yomi Island, the penal colony in the Philippines where Imperial Japan sent all non-humans. Her parents died when she was young in a confrontation with the camp guards, and Crowley had to learn how to fend for herself. She got to know a kindly ork mage in the camp, who secretly taught her how to develop her awakened talents. She thought that she had finally found a protector - until the old ork’s life came under threat and he sold her out to the authorities to save his own skin. She managed to escape Yomi aboard a smuggling vessel before the goons could catch her, and she spent years living in secret in Neo-Tokyo as part of an illegal underground metahuman community. Then the enlightened new emperor revoked Japan’s discriminatory policies and closed the camps on Yomi, and suddenly Crowley and her kind were welcome on Japanese soil. And so was her betrayer, who’s out there somewhere, living in the labyrinthine ork and troll slums of Yokohama... Her deprived and brutal upbringing has made her harsh, self-protective and reflexively hostile to outsiders. Can you break through that armor and discover what it protects?

[purplejabberwock]

Hello, how are you? Hope the moving thing is going well :D

For the game, can I ask for 🖊, 🌈 (with dead men walking?) and/or ✨️??

Thank you so much, love your writing <3

The moving is, fortunately, mostly complete! Mostly.

These questions came from here. I'm doing the pen last even though it's first in the order, because I just think it makes more sense that way.

🌈 What inspired you to write Dead Men Walking?

As I recall, I'd recently read Book 6 with the Requiem Ball and we knew there were other Dead Men, and that two of them died. So I did what I often do, and started wondering okay but what were they like and what would happen if they were alive?

My motivation for this was partly because I prefer people living to dead, necromancy notwithstanding, and also because I already felt at the time that Valkyrie needed a reality check that the adults in her life just weren't giving her -- specifically Skulduggery. How he would change as a result of two of his friends living, and therefore how Valkyrie would change as a result of his changes, was a wondering I wanted to answer.

I don't remember the order of writing vs development of Hopeless and Rover, but I'm pretty sure the latter came first because I was already talking to and developing stories with @amaraqwolf, though I don't fully remember how that development came about anymore. I do remember the original version of Dead Men Talking would have been early days, because Hopeless and Rover are both somewhat different (I was still figuring them out) and we hadn't gotten confirmation that Saracen existed yet.

As I recall, we met Saracen while I was writing the first book, because I did made some changes to account for him -- that's why he doesn't show directly as early as the others do. I didn't want to do a wholesale rewrite.

✨ Choose three adjectives to complement your own writing.

I'm assuming this means 'compliment'. Amazingly enough, as assured as I am in my own writing it's still weirdly hard to find adjectives for it. Especially overtly complimentary ones.

I guess I'l go with 'exciting', 'grounded (positive)' and 'hopeful'.

🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP.

"Who was that, exactly?" asked Principal De Haviland, very carefully, and glancing toward the garda officer. It was a sidelong glance that didn't make it obvious who he was asking, only that he knew some people had recognised the name.

"I think I'm going to —" The fireman pointed toward his fellows and hurried away without waiting for response, still rather pale.

"That was the prince of Tir Tairngire," said the garda softly. The paramedic squeaked again. Principal De Haviland went ashen, and the teacher stared at Valkyrie.

"You have the prince of Faerieland on speed-dial?"

"Sure." Valkyrie shrugged and scootched onto the gurney next to Natalie, and looked up at them all in her best mimicry of Tanith's perky-receptionist act. "I'm apprenticed to him and his brothers. And no one buys phones with a physical keyboard these days, how old are you?"

[whatthecrowtold]

#unhallowedarts - Brendan's Uncanny Journey into the Unknown

‘O! tell me, father, for I loved you well, if still you have words for me, of things strange in the remembering in the long and lonely sea, of islands by deep spells beguiled where dwell the Elven-kind: in seven long years the road to Heaven or the Living Land did you find?’ (J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Death of St. Brendan”)

Kathleen Neely for A. B. Jackson's "The Voyage of St. Brendan" (2021)

It might be a bad case of “the grass is always greener on the other side” or just curiosity and a yearning to know what might be beyond the horizon of the broad Atlantic that washed upon their beaches, but it is the Gaels and the Britons, of all the Celtic people, the Insular Celts, who have the strongest tradition of tales about mythical islands and lost underwater kingdoms. Lyonesse west of the Scilly Islands in the Arthurian tradition, Ys off Brittany, the “Welsh Atlantis” of Cantre’r Gwaelod and the Irish legends of Tír Tairngire and Tír na nÓgm, whole Otherworlds and Happy Hunting Grounds out in the ocean and, of course, Hy-Brasil, an island cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, that became the namesake of Brazil centuries later, to name but a few. A typical hero quest of Insular Celtic tradition was the voyage, by ship or magic horse, out there where adventure was awaiting and to return a better man or not at all. The motif of reaching the Great Beyond by ship was taken up by Irish monks in the early Middle Ages and transformed into Saints’ voyages to some Paradise or the other located west of Ireland, a type of tale called simply “immram”, voyage, and the most popular of the immrama is certainly that of St Brendan.

Whether or not the Blessed Brendan had founded Clonfert Cathedral in Galway in 563, usually named as the only historically secured feat of his vita, his tale, written down probably as late as the 10th century, became a long running hit in medieval literature with an impact history that lasted well into the Age of Exploration. The author or authors of Brendan’s travel story did, admittedly, their best to spin a whale of a tale that does not have to shun comparison with Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner”. With elements of old legends, hell visions, probable early discoveries like the volcanoes of Iceland or places like the Faroe Islands, Greenland or Newfoundland, before Eric the Red and Leif Erikson followed the whale road across the Western Ocean around 1000 CE, the monks certainly held their audience in a thrall over the centuries. The most memorable event of Brendan’s maritime quest for the Garden of Eden certainly was the celebration of Easter Mass on an island that turned out to be the sleeping Jasconius, a giant, whale-like creature, awoken by the saint and his fellows when they lit a fire on the poor thing’s back. Nonetheless, St Brendan returned to tell the tale, became the patron saint of whales, founded various monasteries, finally died as an old man, allegedly, in 577 and was buried in Clonfert.

Brendan’s Island appeared on maps as late as the early 18th century, Henry the Navigator and Columbus believed in its existence, even though they placed it in west of Africa and not in the North Atlantic. Of course, Brendan joined the queue of pre-Columbian discoverers of America like the Welsh Prince Madoc or even pre-Viking explorers like Bran. In 1976, the British explorer, historian and author Tim Severin took the legends literally, build a currach, a type of Irish boat with a wooden frame over which ox hides are stretched as it was described in the old texts and used at least until the 17th century and set forth with a crew of three on an epic 4,500 mile voyage from the west of Ireland along the Hebrides and Iceland to Newfoundland, trying to prove that a voyage like St Brendan’s was at least possible in the early Middle Ages. The saint, in the meanwhile, is venerated as patron of sailors along with St Nick and various local heroes and, as of late, as the holy helper in cases where portable canoes are involved

All images above were created by Kathleen Neely A. B. Jackson's "The Voyage of St. Brendan" (2021) and found on the website below.

[tir-tairngire-jcink]

Elysium. Arcadia. Asgard. Shangri-La. Olympus. Fusang. Agartha. Tir Tairngire. All of these paradises, and refuges in mythology have referred to one place, simply referred to as the island by those who inhabit it. The kin of gods, blood of monsters, and anything in between The Island is one of the last remaining refuges to disappearing divinity, magic, monsters, and those who find themselves not quite human.

An upcoming fantasy/mythology Jcink site, with plans to turn premium once it's opened, and I am looking for staff or people who would be interested in being mods/perhaps another 1-2 Admins, and a handful of Mods. The site is currently being coded, and I have a code already bought to be used. The site will open up with two pantheons with more to be added depending on request/activity. For anyone who signs up as staff and helps get this site finished/up and running, will have the option to pick one creature/god/demigod/etc from any pantheon not selected at opening. Please shoot me a message here, or simply join our discord here!

[luxmaeastra]

"The thing you have, the thing that the Asteri call the Wyrdchild, the thing that calls itself Maris. It is not a god Aleksander, it is not even divine."

Valentine flexed his hands looking back to Aleksander.

"Have you heard of Parthos? The libraries that were destoryed there? The history buried and turned to dust there? The Slaugh were not hunters, we were just trying to survive."

And maybe it was on the backs of Asteri and the Dark fae. Maybe they were no better than the Asteri or Dark Fae were now. But they were trying, they were trying to protect the innocent as best as they could. Or at least that was the belief Valentine clung to. 

He looked to the sky, to the runes around them.

"Tír Tairngire, have you heard of it? The rumor my people tell is the Asteri and the Dark Fae stole something from us. They forged wicked and horrible things with it. But we could not get it back. We -"

"You speak of the Cauldron?"

Valentine dragged his eyes to Aleksander.

"That's the funny thing. No I do not. According to the stories in my people's libraries. The Cauldron is nothing special, a vessel to hold the water, the Wellspring waters. Do you know what my people call that water though? Tears of Life. It makes you wonder what the Asteri stole. I almost think they stole a person, but there is no name or outright reference to that."

Aleksander could feel a headache coming on. He thought back to the thing it had met in the Fold. The one that had only asked for a choice in turn of pledging itself to him. 

"What does any of this have to do with Cauldron? Or the Wyrdchild?"

Valentine leaned toward him, the wind sweeping against them. Trying to snatch the words from him. 

"What if they made your Wyrdchild. What if the waters of the Cauldron are its tears? What if it is what my people are trying to get back and have been searching for?"

There was so much information in what Valentine was presenting, some of which he already knew. Some of it was new, some of it changed much of what he knew in an instant.

What if the water were tears, what if they were looking at this all the wrong way? Of course, it was designed that way, a little misdirected from the truth to either keep someone or something safe, or keep it hidden.

Aleksander shifted from where he was, looking towards his guest at that moment. His chin rose slightly, his fingers tapped upon his side.

"And what are you proposing if what you are saying is true?"

[dailyjcink]

Elysium. Arcadia. Asgard. Shangri-La. Olympus. Fusang. Agartha. Tir Tairngire. All of these paradises, and refuges in mythology have referred to one place, simply referred to as the island by those who inhabit it. The kin of gods, blood of monsters, and anything in between The Island is one of the last remaining refuges to disappearing divinity, magic, monsters, and those who find themselves not quite human.

An in the woks and upcoming fantasy/mythology Jcink site, with plans to turn premium once it's opened, and I am looking for staff or people who would be interested in being mods/perhaps another 1-2 Admins, and a handful of Mods. The site is currently being coded, and I have a code already bought to be used. The site will open up with two pantheons with more to be added depending on request/activity. Staff will be allowed to start with/create a character from any pantheon of their choosing <3

[ephemrale]

brows  pinched  and  eyes  cast  in  an  unfocused  stare ,  as  though  she  were  attempting  to  recall  the  plot  of  a  horrible  dream .  if  one  hadn’t  known  her  well ,  they  might  mistake  her  far  away  distress  for  something  genuine .  she  gives  the  younger  girl  a  matter  of  fact  shrug ,  eyes  still  fixed  on  some  distant  point .  ❛  it’s  one  of  my  biggest  fears .  that  if  i  ever  woke  up  as  a  chocolate  cake . . . i’d  eat  myself .  ❜  turns  to  look  at  inej  now ,  comically  wide  eyed .  ❛  i  wouldn’t  even  question  it .  ❜   @tairngire

[sagaess]

"i'm sure taako knows what he's doing up there. lup is helping." he's pretending that the fireworks didn't end too close to the earth that last time. or that they're bigger and brighter than the test ones the twins were doing. a kiss to her cheek. then her lips. "happy new year, jules. i love you."

     she laughs at the uncertainty in his words, watching as waves of colorful sparks follow one after another, dipping lower and lower to the ground, threatening to set something ablaze. now that would really be a show ! ❛ yes, i’m sure he does. ❜ is spoken with a chuckle tilted to the sky; after all, that’s most likely the very intention of the twins, to keep them on the edge of their seats, mischievous as it may be. julia swears that she can see lucretia’s deep-set frown of pure exasperation from here, but she makes no move. they all seem to be of like mind, at least for now. let them have their fun.

     a sweet kiss to joy-rounded cheek brings the amusement to turn to something more soft though, more bashful and silly despite their years together ( despite the fact that we’re married, she thinks, and even now the word gives her the giddiness of a young maiden ). then her chin is tilted to better meet warm lips, and she can’t help but sigh into it, turn in his arms so that she may properly gaze upon him, awash in the lights of the twins’ production, but he glows brighter than whatever magical concoction they throw upon their heads. ❛ and i love you, magnus, ❜ my magnus. my heart, my soul, my best friend. a kiss is shared in turn, placed to the underside of his chin, nose scrunching at the scruff that meets her. ❛ happy new year, my love. ❜

@tairngire          //          new year’s kiss

[burneternal-blog]

‘  i  don’t —  i  don’t  know  how  to  do  this  without  you .  ’ ( gandalf & saruman )

   deep-set eyes bear a gaze as dark and impenetrable as the night around the tower, as the pits dug at its foot; but now there is a moment in which it softens, and the faintest glint of light that had sat so long there in that ancient stare beside wisdom and power and pride returns. for a brief time it seems that even all that cannot protect saruman the wise, high and mighty as he deems himself, from a plea for aid. particularly that uttered by his long-time friend; yet to call the grey one such does not accurately surmise the long ages their bond has endured, and just how the white has valued and cherished it since they first stepped foot in this land of lesser folk. and he wishes it to endure further still, for there had been no other he believed worthy of receiving a chance to join him.

   a chance spurned, a choice rejected; and all too suddenly the light fades away, as do the many fine colours of his shimmering robes when the moon passes behind thick clouds of black. there is none left to see by save that from the far-off stars and whatever faint glow of his forges can reach the top of orthanc. “without me?” he echoes, voice honeyed as ever yet sickly so; honeyed in venom and hurt and thinly-veiled rage. “without me? long have i sat here, gandalf, attaining knowledge on the affairs and powers of this world, so that i may counsel those who seek aid appropriately. yet i failed to find you among my frequent visitors. long and far have you travelled, making friends with varied and unsavoury sorts, achieving plenty of your own ends ‘without me’. indeed, it was only at my behest that you came to find yourself here now. and i offered aid unprompted, the path that should clearly be taken, a road which only we together are fit to travel. yet now i see that even the wise can be made fools of, for hoping that you might think better than to continue on ‘without me’. alas! to pursue in your folly without me is what you have decided. do so, then; i will leave you here to ponder on it. there is much work to be done and many matters to attend to. perhaps you will see sense before it is complete, but i know now not to hold such false hope in my heart.” instead a strange sense of sorrow sits deeply there as the wizard turns and descends his tower’s steps, for it almost feels as though the loss of a dearest companion has cast a shadow deeper than any the evil in the east could conjure.

[slainfury]

  WAS  IT  WAR  THAT  MADE  HIM  GROW  SO  FAST?   /  OR  THE  CROWN  THEY  HAD  PUT  UPON  HIS  HEAD?  (  to  rule  upon  a  barren,  ashen  land.  )  the  factor  of  time  passing  itself  is  also  to  be  considered,  but  this  is  a  different  kind  of  aging ;  eyes  of  frost  and  violet  are  battle  weary,  cynicism  has  left  him  with  the  faintest  hints  of  lines  in  place  of  frowns.  he  was  fastened  together  by  ice  and  steel,  he  has  endured  and  endures  now.  he  was  a  boy  who  learned  sorrow  too  soon,  and  he  is  a  man  who  has  taken  to  anger  far  too  fast.

   but  this,  this  is  a  look  of  change.  melancholic  --  and  perhaps,  forever  will  be  with  the  loss  of  his  sister  --  but  distracted ;  he  is  lost.  he  reminds  her,  based  on  the  merest  flicker  of  a  shadow  on  his  face,  of  the  boy  clinging  to  her  skirt  and  his  endless  questions.

    ❝   gentiana,  i  --    ❞   a  break.  he  swallows,  shakily.  he  has  not  come  before  her  like  this,  with  such  vulnerability  and  fright,  in  years.  he  cannot  even  bear  to  look  at  her.  a  plight  of  shame  has  reminded  him  of  their  last  meeting,  and  how  he  had  lashed  at  her,  blamed  her  for  all  that  transpired.    ❝   i  am  to  become  a  father.   ❞

┊ ˚˖↷ @shivaer  /  @tairngire

[ofmayena]

“Who are you, Geralt of Rivia, to claim to be an oracle in matters of laws and customs?”

“He knows this law better than anyone else,” Mouse-sack said in a hoarse voice, “because it applied to him once. He was taken from his home because he was what his father hadn't expected to find on his return. Because he was destined for other things. And by the power of destiny he became what he is.”

“And what is he?”

“A witcher.”

— Andrzej Sapkowski: A QUESTION OF PRICE

[5thaeon]

As some folks know, I’ve been developing a story which takes place in the Shadowrun RPG universe, in the form of an interactive online liveplay show and podcast set in an alternate reality version of Portland! Thanks to the fine folks over at the Infinity Break network, we will be able to make something pretty special for fans of this often overlooked and obscure RPG!

This is the first of many promotional illustrations for the show, as myself and our characters get ready for launch in about 5 months! Your patronage will not only help me out as an artist, but also push the development of this shows bonus content!

As a patron, you’ll be able to see these sneak previews as they arrive, long before the general public!

Those who already donate are in for a treat!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/shadowrun-city-24729794

[the-fae-folk]

Hello! This may be a dumb af question, but I am writing a book in which the fae Very Much live in a world between worlds sort of space. I've always in the past called such places Sidhe due to a misunderstanding of Celtic lore, but now that I understand what Sidhe actually refers to I no longer know what's appropriate and what's not. Do you have any tips on naming strategies? I'm still using "burrow" styled entrances, though magic as a whole has been literally pushed underground. And I am still incorporating the Courts, esp the Autumn Court and the lack of a recognized UnSeelie ruler.

I just don't want to be writing the novel with self-doubt about calling the place Sidhe and then get to sensitivity readers this summer and people point out how dumb/insensitive it is after the name is ingrained in my electricity spaghetti.

Actually that might be a very good and even important question. Let’s see. Sidhe are the mounds under which the folk are said to live. They themselves are called the Aes Sídhe, the People of the Mounds. That’s all well and good, right? But what is a mound? First off, a mound is simply a heaped pile of earth, rocks, gravel, sand, or debris. The most common types of mound are hills and mountains. Since the Sidhe are very commonly described as “Earthen Mounds” we can guess that this is probably just a large, and fairly stable, dirt hill. But what makes the Sidhe special? Why are those particular mounds of any more importance than any other mound? Well, in old Irish Mythology the Aes Sídhe were thought to live inside them, in caverns and halls in a hollow mound. Vast spaces they were fiercely protective of. The Otherworld, at least as far as is depicted in old Irish Myths, is somewhat unclear when it comes to describing the nature of that realm. Some places mentioned in old stories are Tír na nÓg (Land of the Young), Tír na hÓige (Land of Youth), Tír Tairngire (Land of Promise/Promised Land), Tír fo Thuinn (Land under the Wave), Mag Mell (Plain of Delight/Delightful Plain), Ildathach (Multicoloured Place), and Emain Ablach (the Isle of Apple Trees). All depictions of a beautiful and magical world, though one that isn’t always kind to humans who venture within. But some stories also tell of gigantic stone caverns with roofs so high that clouds form and rain can fall, where trees grow in the soft light of an underground sun or of glowing crystals, where palaces of white stones and twinkling lights is the source of laughter and song as Faeries feast away. Another variation on the tale inches closer to what you’re asking, speaking of another palace beneath the earth, but also beneath the water, as if a hidden layer of air was trapped by some means at the bottom of a deep loch or somewhere off the shore, and those below could gaze up through the waves toward the surface and the sky. However, there are too many stories of the Otherworld that depict it with skies of its own, far from subterranean caverns and underwater dominions. So we look instead to tales where folk have journeyed there. In some versions it is reached by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, by journeying through a mist, by going under water, or by traveling across the sea for three days on an enchanted boat or Manannán's horse. Other tales tell of a path of gold created by the sun that led over the sea so that travelers could go “far over the green meadows of the waters where the horses of Lir have their pastures.” Ah, but I am ignoring an important point. The Sidhe have another name. Sometimes they are called Fairy Forts, a name which they share with many Stone Circles, Ring Forts (circular earth rings where wooden structures were once built) , and Hill Forts. Such places, long forgotten by those who built them, were thought to be haunted by the Faerie Folk, or enchanted by Druids. Most people avoided them if they could, preferring not to risk meeting with some supernatural entity who might be defending it. (In Ireland, these hill and ring forts were sometimes called “Raths”, once again referring to an earthen mound.) Some other structures share the idea of being haunted or the dwelling place of the supernatural. Court Cairns are large megalithic tombs. Some of the very oldest of these consisted of a single central chamber surrounded by standing stones (Dolmens). As time went on more intricate patterns are included. Passages of earth and stone, courtyards, burial chambers, and multiple courtyards connected to different burial chambers but all under the same hill. Much of Celtic tradition is derived from a combination of Irish Mythology, Scottish Mythology, and Germanic Mythology (Which is comprised of several other categories itself). But the idea of a hill under which the Faeries seemed to dwell or at least go to was a strong one. Though it is Germanic in origin, I want you to consider the tale of “Die zertanzten Schuhe“ (The Worn out Dancing Shoes). More commonly known as the Twelve Dancing Princesses. A story that depicts a soldier following princesses down into a secret world beneath their castle in order to discover the secret of their royal dancing slippers which are worn to pieces each morning. There he encounters trees with leaves of silver and gold, a vast lake or sea, and an island with magical servants and music for dancing. The nature of this story is vague, and every telling changes things. Were the princesses enchanted? Or the enchanters themselves? Did they act against their own wishes? Were they enticed into some trap? Or did they seek to trap others and were bound only when their secret was revealed? Even the details of the mysterious land beneath changes with each story. But one theme remains consistent. The Journey through the Underworld. One of the most consistent and reoccurring ideas in folklore that concerns WHERE the supernatural dwells when not dealing with humanity is the Journey to reach it. Whether the abode of the dead, the home of a magical race of beings, or something else entirely, the Underworld is often depicted as a place where one journeys into and sometimes through to reach the goal. A place of challenges, a place where the strange and wondrous hold more sway than the ordinary world above. Sometimes leading to a place which is also underground, or to another world entirely, the Journey is again a theme present in these old Irish tales. Not in every case, but often enough that it is noticeable. Of course, what of the stories where the Faerie abode is directly beneath the actual hill? Well there is a journey in such stories as well, though it is much more cleverly hidden. It encompasses the trip to first find the way into the Faerie Hill, and then the efforts to find the way back out again with whatever they have gained, hopefully with life, mind, and freedom still intact. Now, while many count Celtic Myths as a whole encompassing thing, it’s really more of a movement that takes bits and pieces from many different groups. For example, Seelie and Unseelie as Faerie Courts is an idea that comes from the Scottish Myths. But nowadays it has bled into other ideas such as the different groups of people present in the Norse Myths and the Faerie Hunt from later Germanic Folklore. The idea of a people or court of supernatural persons has always been drifting here and there in our oldest stories, but the idea of a grand Faerie court has certainly taken root as the fantasy genres explored the ideas. I think, in this particular case, if you wish to keep the name, you might call the entrances themselves, the hills and holes and burrows, the Sidhe. The Mounds. And give to the realm in which the Folk dwell a different name. If you fear it might be too much of a risk, then there are plenty of ways you might go about coming up with a name for your otherworld. Perhaps, like myself, you might spend time developing the beliefs and traditions of the people in order to build a cultural understanding of their own home, and then create the name based upon that. But you might just as easily use other methods. Create the name based upon what sounds pleasant, or by constructing a word from roots, prefixes, suffixes and parts of other language systems. Perhaps if you truly aspire to the Tolkien method, you might even create your own language and name the place in that language (I don’t necessarily recommend this method, by the way. Tolkien was a trained Philologist and had experience creating numerous languages already). There are a great many ways you could name a place in your story, drawing from existing mythology or stories, crafting an entirely new name, or even a mixture of both. I think that in most cases, if you choose to draw from existing myths and folklore, you ought to be fine as long as you do your proper research on the matter, check and recheck your resources thoroughly, and show the cultures you borrowed from the respect they deserve when you use names that come from their stories.