#the children of annwn

[welshwitchking]

The Houses of the Mabinogi

The Houses of Dôn and Llyr are connected by marriage through Llyr's wife, Penarddun but are diverse in their stories and personalities.

Dôn collage to the bottom left, Llyr collage to the bottom right.

The House of Dôn, apart from the mother goddess herself, boasts two powerful magicians: Math and Gwydion. Also the Goddess of the Wheel of the Year, Arianhod, and her estranged son Lleu Llaw Gyffes are popular characters of this house. The children of Dôn also include Amaethon, the god of agriculture and who started the 'Cad Goddeu' or Battle of the Trees, where all the children declared war against Arawn, King of Annwn. They only won due to Gwydion's expert wizardy with his summoning of a tree army. Finally, the grandson of Dôn, Gwyn, son of Nudd, is popular in Welsh folklore as the king of the Tylwyth Teg (fairy-folk) and leader of the Wild Hunt.

The House of Llyr is smaller in sized but full of tragedy.

Llyr has two sons and one daughter, Branwen. She gets betrothed to the King of Ireland, Matholwch. On return to ireland though, she gets forced into the kitchens. After hearing of his sisters plight, Bran the Blessed, a giant and the King of Britain, wades across the Irish Sea with an army of Welshmen, including his brother and trusted advisor Manawydan. After the tragic death of Branwen's son Gwern, the Welsh and Irish fight until no-one is left but Bran, Branwen, Manawydan and six Welshmen. Unfortunately, Bran finds a poison arrow in his leg and as he is dying, asks Manawydan to cut off his head and take it back to Wales. Upon their return, Branwen dies of a broken heart from her brother and sons death.

[mask131]

The fantasy in modern Arthuriana (2)

This is a loose translation of Claire Jardillier’s article “Les enfants de Merlin: le merveilleux médiéval revisité” (The children of Merlin: Medieval magic revisited), for Anne Besson’s study-compilation.

II/ Wizards and witches

The fantastical elements within modern rewrites are often embodied in the most visible way by a few key characters. First and foremost among this magical cast is, of course, Merlin the enchanter, but also regularly the bard Taliesin, despite his lesser presence within the Matter of Britain. Taliesin indeed only appears obviously tied to Arthur within the Welsh sources, especially “Preiddu Annwn”, where he is part of the expedition led by Arthur to steal away the cauldron of resurrection from the Otherworld. We can make the hypothesis that is it because of the historical rewrites of the Arthurian legends that the character of Taliesin gained such an importance, since it is in the Welsh sources that he is most frequently seen, sources that modern rewriters especially love due to judging them more ancient and thus more “authentic” and more Celtic than the chivalry romances and knighthood romans of France and England. Since Wales resisted more strongly to the Saxon invader, then to the Normand influence, modern novelists like to use the “Mabinogion” and the Welsh poems to historicize their Arthur. Taliesin usually stays within his traditional role of bard, in accord to the historical and bibliographical information we have about him. While quite brief, these information naturally designate him as the symbol of the Arthurian legend within a “realistic” rewriting, as a character between the history and the myth.

[In the “Hanes Taliesin” mainly, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest and which follows her “Mabinogion” translations, we discover the two births of Gwyon Bach/Taliesin, is exploits as a bard within the court of prince Elphin, and some of his poems. The historical Taliesin seems to have been a bard at the court of Urien Rheged during the 6th century, and the poems attributed to him were preserved within the “Llyfr Taliesin” (The Book of Taliesin). It notably contains the famous “Cat Godeu” (Battle of the Trees) and the previously mentioned “Preiddu Annwn”. These Welsh poems, like many others, were translated and published by William F. Skene within his “Four Ancient Books of Wales”]

As such, within Fay Sampson’s “Daughter of Tintagel” cycle he becomes one of the five narrators that relate the life of Morgan. A first-person narration that give a voice to a secondary character of the medieval corpus is a fundamental trait of modern Arthurian literature : as such, we can hear Kai, Pelleas, Bohort, Rhys or Bedwyr, characters whose point of view is rarely given in legends, alongside the manifestation of more novel characters, such as Derfel, a shadowy warrior turned saint in the 6th century who narrates Bernard Cornwell’s “Warlord Chronicles”. [Respectively, Kai is heard within Phyllis Ann Karr’s The Idylls of the Queen and John Gloag’s Artorius Rex ; Pelleas within Stephen R. Lawhead’s Arthur and Courtway Jones’ In the Shadow of the Oak King ; Bohort within Dorothy Jane Roberts’ Launcelot my Brother ; Rhys within Gillian Bradshaw’s Kingdom of Summer ; Bedwyr within Catherine Christian’s The Sword and the Flame and Stephen R. Lawhead’s Arthur.]

Within Stephen Lawhead’s works, the role of Taliesin is more developed since he becomes the father, and so the precursor of Merlin (within Marion Zimmer Bradley’s, he is Merlin’s first incarnation). In his trilogy, the bard Talesin paves the way for Merlin, who will surpass his father in his role as the companion of the major hero, Arthur king of Britain. It is precisely this dimension that is often used by modern Arthurianists. [Stephen R. Lawhead wrote in reality five novels, the last two being a flash-back to episodes from between book 2 and 3. This Arthurian cycle is especially concerned with the questions of filiation, legitimacy and predestination. As such, Taliesin announces and foreshadow the coming of his son, a sort of messiah for the Britons, but Merlin himself works for the coming of Arthur, the savior of Britain as much on a spiritual level (the writings of Lawhead are distinctly Christian in tone) as on a political level. It is probably why we also see here a weird and exceptional element introduced, as Arthur is made the posthumous son of Aurelius, and not the bastard of Uther. Here Arthur is the product of an union blessed by the Church, and as such he descends from the first High-King, not from his replacement out of a “side-branch” of the family.]

We also have to note that modern rewrites love to tell what happened during the life of characters in the form of prequels – in this case, the youth of Merlin, which is rarely detailed in the Middle-Ages outside of his birth and his encounter with Vortigern. It was the case within Mary Stewart, the first author who was concerned with the wizard’s youth, and who sems to have deeply marked modern Arthurianists, since the same pattern can be found in other novels, including those of Stephen Lawhead. This concern with “what happened before” is not exclusively Arthurian, and can be seen within other contemporary sagas – Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blueberry… It is a tradition as old as the various “Childhoods” texts of the Middle-Ages. [Mary Stewart wrote “The Crystal Cave”, “The Hollow Hills” and “The Last Enchantment”. As a proof of the intertextuality of Arthurian novels, “the last enchantment” is an expression reused and exploited by Bernard Cornwell in the last part of his trilogy, where a dying Merlin, entirely devoured by his own student Nimue, preserves a “last enchantment” to allow Arthur and a few others to escape the battle of Camlan]

Be it Taliesin or Merlin, the first way the question of the magic implants itself within the narrative device is about the relationship between the king and his wizard. The magical element is thus tied to the political power, weighed down by a reality which, if not historical, is at least coherent. This heirloom is directly tied to the medieval sources, even if it is not obvious at first. The idea of an Arthur raised as a boy by Merlin owes much more to T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King” than to the medieval texts, where only a slow and complex evolution allowed the association of those two characters now seen as undividable. [White’s work is a set of five novels, first published separately, then compiled as one work in the 50s, and to which the last novel, The Book of Merlin, was added in 1977. This work is a precursor of all the rewrites that happened from the 60s onward, especially the first book that tells of Arthur’s childhood and his education by Merlin. It was a best-seller, and the adaptation of this first novel into an animated movie by Disney (63’s The Sword in the Stone) amplified its impact]. Indeed, within Geoffroy of Monmouth, Merlin and Arthur follow each other in the text… but never meet. It was within later rewrites, Wave, Lawamon, and in the French “Lancelot-Graal”, that the king and the enchanter will develop a more intimate relationship, culminating within Malory’s Morte Darthur. [In Geoffroy’s tale, the two characters at least never meet within the context of the tale. A doubt is allowed since in most of the manuscripts, Merlin makes a brief apparition at the very end of the “Historia”, where an “angelic voice” talks to Cadwallader, telling him that “God wishes that the Britons stop ruling within Britain until the moment that Merlin prophesized to Arthur” ; this sentence implies that Merlin might have been the king’s prophet, a role that will become more and more obvious in later rewrites]

This is due to the two characters, Merlin and Arthur, originally belonging to two distinct traditions. Once they became connected thanks to Geoffroy’s Historia Regum Britaniae, the two characters got closer and closer, and gained many interactions, just as Merlin’s interventions became more and more fantastical. This is very clear when we look at an episode shared by all the medieval Merlinian tales: the moving of the stones of Ireland to create Stonehenge. Within Geoffroy’s, it is a mechanical process. Within Wace, an unexplained way. Finally, within Lawamon, it becomes a powerful spell that makes the stone “as light as feathers”. Modern authors follow this tradition and often reuse this episode, or a similar one, in what we can call “the motif of the dancing stones”. In the same way, within Lawhead’s novel, a child Merlin proves his powers to an assembly of druids by making the stones of a cromlech levitate. Stonehenge plays an important role for Cornwell: it becomes the place of a ghost-filled ceremony during which Merlin gives Excalibur to Arthur. Even among comic books, Merlin makes stones dance before amazed mortals. [It is within the first volume of the BD series “Merlin” by Jean-Luc Istin and Eric Lambert, “La colère d’Ahès” (The Wrath of Ahès). The dancing stones of Istin and Lambert are quite similar to the ones described by Lawhead, and the scenarist confessed having read the “Pendragon Cycle”. We find in this “Merlin” the same habt of syncretizing religions as within Lawhead’s works (father Blaise is a former druid, and offers Merlin as a symbol of the union of religions).]

We find back here what we said before: the historicized Arthurian literature of the 60s-80s greatly deprived the medieval text of their fantasy, and since the 80s-90s we have a slow re-appropriation of the medieval magic within novels that still, however, wish to be historical. In other terms – the stones are dancing again, but they are always dancing in a mentioned 6th century.

Before Lawamon, Merlin only acted during the lifetime of Aurelius and Uther, before disappearing for no reason after Arthur’s birth. However, the encounter between those two historical characters was too tempting to be avoided, and we can see a true shift between Geoffroy and Malory (for example), which today leads to the many tales in which Merlin acts as the teacher, tutor, or even adoptive father of Arthur. This filiation is helped by two elements. On one side, that is an elliptic moment covering Arthur’s childhood in medieval texts, and we go from him as a baby to him as a young fifteen-year old king. [We find within Lawamon the beginning of an explication: child-Arthur was raised by elves at Avalon. This idea was reused by Parke Godwin within the novel “Firelord”.] On the other hand, we can see that all of his next of kin die around the same time. In front of this absence of parents, it is very tempting to remove Ector (the father of Kay and the tutor of the royal child in the tradition) and put in his place a more familiar and impressive character, Merlin the wizard.

We talked before of the habit of “prequels”: the cyclical temptation of modern novels, which in a way mimics the Arthurian medieval tradition of a condensed and fractioned writing of the whole Arthurian legend (usually in three volumes), favorizes the writing of the origins, of the “before Arthur”. The introduction of Merlin, but also of Taliesin, proves this attraction for what Anne Besson calls an “Arthurian prehistory”. For Stephen Lawhead, the link between the various generations (Taliesin, father of Merlin, Merlin spiritual father of Arthur) insists upon the greatness and the predestination of the king of the Britons, the bearer of Light. Even when the Arthurian tale is limited to a single novel, it is not unusual to see it begin with the generation before Arthur: it was the case with Victor Canning’s “The Crimson Chalice”, where a third of the novel follows the events that led to Arthur’s birth (even though here Arthur’s parents are named Tia and Baradoc, and bear no resemblance to Igraine or Uther).

To all the reasons described above, we must add the fictional temptation of having characters coexisting to allow a powerful confrontation. But this temptation also bears a prevalent trait of the modern Arthurian fiction, and of its dialogue with the sources. Indeed, it is not uncommon to see a rearrangement, to various degrees, of the links that traditionally unite the characters. As such, in most sources Ygerne is the wife of Gorlois and the mother of Arthur, but she can be his half-sister and the mother of Medraud within Rosemary Sutcliff’s “Sword at Sunset”. The same Ygerne becomes Gorlois’ daughter, not his wife, in Stephen Lawhead’s work, as the author plays with the writing of the myth, has his Merlin-narrator laugh about the mad rumors that circulated about the siege of Tintagel “I have even heard it said that Ygerna was Gorlas’ wife – Imagine that!”). The marvelous does not escape this kind of more-or-less extreme shifts: the case of the female characters, of their relationship to magic, and of their role within history is especially revealing.

[revoevokukil]

Crevan ESPANE (???) aep Caomhan Macha. But what if... Iberian elves?

Neolithic populations of the British Isles reveal genetic threads leading to present day Northern Spain and Portugal. Of particular interest, in relation to the later Celtic culture (6th century BC) then would be the Celtiberians.

The oldest identified population of the Islands belonged to the same group as the Greek Pelasgians or the Italians Etruscans. Anglo-Saxon historians call this mysterious people Iberians, because they are believed to have come from the Iberian Peninsula. It is not known from where they came to the Iberian Peninsula, when they landed in the British Isles and whether they found and conquered any indigenous, ancient races there.3 The Iberians did not leave many traces of themselves in the Islands (if, of course, we do not count the Stonehenge and New Grange), which leads to the conclusion that they did not develop like the Etruscans, but remained at a rather primitive level of civilizational development until the arrival of the Gallic Celts (around 6th century BC), an ethnic group of particular interest to us. Part of the indigenous primeval population of Britain (the alleged Iberians), survived, however, they did not integrate with the Gallic Celts and were not conquered. These were the tribes that inhabited the wild, inaccessible highlands and mountains in the north of the Island - Albany, which is today's Scotland. These northern tribes, as we will see later, defended themselves against foreign pressure very effectively and for a very long time. - A. Sapkowski, The World of King Arthur

Truthfully, this is not meant as elves = Celts. Or that elves = Iberians. It is merely to repeat: elves are migrants. A wave of migrants shrouded in myth and dreams, who - by mixing history and legend - would have given Celts many of their deities, places of worship, and culture (possessing similar language, traditions, cultural mores/taboos, etc). Strange folk, who arrived one day in their white ships, only to - in time - forsake these shores just as suddenly; leaving behind an ubiquitous mark of their presence. If you were Irish, then you might have called them Tuatha Dé Danann - Tribe of gods, or, later, Children of the Goddess Danu. If Welsh, then Ellyllon, or Tylwyth Teg, the host of Annwn. If Scottish, then Aos Sí, Sidhe.

The British Islands, as we call them today, were exceptionally lucky in terms of the people living there. They have been visited over and over again since time immemorial. After defeating the indigenous population, the invader quickly became an "aboriginal" only to be defeated and conquered by someone else who became an "indigenous" again, and so on. Thanks to this, it is not known who was the "real native" there. I mean, it wouldn't be known if it weren't for myths and legends. - A. Sapkowski, The World of King Arthur

Making Espane in Avallac'h's name a homage.

Everyone has the right to some roots. Even legends.

---

[3] "Quite recently, a Bulgarian philologist, on the basis of a study of the Hittite and Etruscan languages, proved that these languages derive from a common root. The Etruscans, the Bulgarian continues, are the people who came to Italy from Asia Minor. To be precise, it is none other than the Trojans of Homer and Virgil. And if the Etruscans and the British Iberians are related, the legend of Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas unexpectedly shows us its second bottom."(Sapkowski, A. The World of King Arthur)

Sapkowski is herein drawing the connection between the settlers of the British Isles and the exiles of Troy.

My second favourite theory comes from @lladmie

[yesimtrashforit]

My Extremely Thorough Examination of klaus.xls (Klaus' spreadsheet) (as of TMAGP 19)

PART 2: Locations & their significance

Here's the link to the doc!:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1B-t8II1ogRaqJdyBGzZsVzDtnqaRTIqxPAqQRye_0SI/htmlview?pli=1#

So many of the cases have a location attached, as I said in part 1, some are vague in that they are just cities and not specific enough while some are buildings. I did research on the places as specific as I could and found that many of these places have a reputation for strange occurrences, hauntings, m**ders, cults, UFO sightings, etc. I know, I know, people can start rumors and some places might not actually be significant in that way. Here is a breakdown of the history behind these locations and why they might be on this file.

#3 Berwyn Mountains, Wales

Date: June 12, 2001

Category: 2

Rank: b

TSHU: 4038

Notes: [data damaged]

The Berwyn Mountains are a beloved site in Wales. However, there is a famous incident that these mountains seem to be known for.

On the night of January 23, 1974, lights and strange noises were observed in correlation with a 3.5 Magnitude earthquake that shook the area. It was initially thought to be a UFO crash but this has since been disproved. It is called the "Roswelsh Incident."

These mountains also played a part in King Henry II of England's retreat during his invasion of Gwynedd. The king had attempted to travel through the mountains and fight the Welsh. However, the Welsh army was superior and heavy rains made the English decide to retreat.

The mountains are also mentioned to be involved with Welsh mythology. According to many sources, the mountains are the physical and geographical location of Annwn, aka the Celtic Otherworld, the place of the spirits of the dead in the land of the ancient Britons. Many Welsh tales could be of significance here.

I highly recommend reading these sources to learn more about the mythology surrounding the mountains. Do let me know if anything sticks out or if you notice any parallels of significance!

#5. Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire, England

Date: May 14, 2012

Category: 2

Rank: C

TSHU: 5047

Notes: [data damaged]

Tutbury Castle is a largely ruined Medieval castle that is said to have been built c. 1068. It was destroyed plenty in 1264 and significantly repaired in the 1300s. It is largely famous for being the place where the infamous Mary, Queen of Scots was held prisoner by Elizabeth I of England.

Also Eleanor of Aquitane stayed here at some point, however, I could not find any information about the context of her stay.

The castle later decayed heavily during the 16th and 17th centuries, during the English Civil War. It was partially restored in the late 18th century.

The castle is also said to be haunted, of course. The ghosts reported include Mary, Queen of Scots herself, a white lady, a man in armor, a little girl, and a little boy.

Here are some sources if you'd like to learn more:

#10. Borley Rectory, Essex

Date: May 5, 2011

Category: 2

Rank: C

TSHU: 5056

Notes: [data damaged]

THE BORLEY RECTORY HAS BEEN CALLED THE MOST HAUNTED PLACE IN ENGLAND. I couldn't make this up if I tried. The house was built in 1862 to house Reverend Henry Dawson Bull and his family. This house replaced an earlier home that had burned down in 1841. The Bull family had a whopping 14 children so they added an additional wing.

Another family moved in after and called it in to be investigated. Psychic researcher Harry Price called it v haunted. The house burned down in 1939 and was demolished in 1944.

Here are some resources if you're interested in learning more:

#15. Cannock Chase, Staffordshire

Date: April 10, 1996

Category: 2

Rank: C

TSHU: 6039

Notes: [data damaged]

Cannock Chase refers to a wide area of countryside in Staffordshire, England.

This area in England was used as a large training ground in the first World War. Allied soldiers would train here. There was also a German POW camp built and used during WW1 and WW2.

It is also said that the forest here is haunted, the most notable ghost being The Black-Eyed Child as well as others UFOs, British big cats, werewolves and even Bigfoot have been claimed to wander this area.

TW for child murder

There was also a series of murders committed in Cannock Chase, nicknamed the Babes In the Ditch murders. Three girls between the ages of 5 and 7 were killed by Raymond Leslie Morris between 1965 and 1967. All three bodies were discovered on Cannock Chase. I won't go into details here but you can look it up if you're interested.

Part 3 Coming Soon!

Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/yesimtrashforit/752558081617084416/my-thorough-examination-of-klausxls-klaus

[ofglories]

Taliesin has a particular aversion and disgust towards the art of reanimating the dead regardless of how it is done. Not just due to his age and his nature, but also because he has been a part of several noteworthy events that involved such a deed.

The worst was the events that took place during the Children of Lyr, when a Cauldron that was falsely believed to be the Cauldron of Annwn was used as a weapon against them. Taliesin watched in horror as the dead were thrown into the Cauldron to be revived as nigh-invincible revenants, only able to be destroyed by being burned to ashes. The creatures would slaughter and slaughter, dragging the dead back with them to replenish their ranks and should even a sliver of one remained it would return to the Cauldron to be resurrected as a full body yet again.

A nightmare that lasted for seven days and seven nights, before Nisien and Efnysien finally destroyed the cursed object at the cost of their lives.

Following that, the other most noteworthy moment was when Gwydion's foolish brother angered Arawn, and so the God of the Otherworld resurrected Bran as a masked soldier that could not be defeated nor harmed... Until his name was revealed. The battle of the living forest was, however, thankfully much shorter. And Taliesin was only an observer, rather than an active participant that time.

As it stands, he made sure to hammer in the evils of reviving the dead for any purpose through any method to his students following that. And in Chaldea, when summoned, he will avoid anyone that makes use of the undead in any capacity. But at the same time he says that a Heroic Spirit is a different case. "The body is a vessel of mana, thus this is only a Familiar albeit one with a soul loaned out by the world," is how he puts it.

[stardustbee]

3. Why did they decide to become parents (assuming they made this decision)?

8. Are there any interests that they share with their kids? If not, how do they nurture their kids’ interests?

21. Which parent do the kids seek out for comfort when they’re scared?

29. Assuming they named their kids, how/why did they pick their names?

for Ayane and Maul? 🤗

So this might be a little bit spoilers for fmttm. Not major plot spoiler but as you can see it's a subject that might have contains spoiler!

Couples and theirs kids Asks 💕

3. It wasn't a descion they made. It was more of a thought they had after Ayane had a vision of her own children. They assume that Ayane can't get pregnant anyway because she is a vampire .

21. Definitely Ayane! She is a very soft and kind mother. Maul is somtimes to stern to give much comfort to them. Expect his little Eve...she makes his hearts melt and she has so much of her mother. Yes, he would totally spoil her...

8. So the first born son is Hal. He is a mix between Ayane and Maul but has his very own interests. He is stubborn and knows he will be the heir of what his parents will give to him when they are no longer. He is more interested in having fun and all that stuff, like he really love running around and doing nonsense.

Arawn is the second son. He is more like Maul, especially his face. His interest is to become just like his father in sword fighting and in the way of the force so he always tries sticking around Maul and imitating his interests. BUT he has one thing very similar to Ayane, he loves to read!

Eve is the little sweet heart and the delight of the family. She just loves to listen to stories and is interested in flowers. Also she is very interested in her mother and loves listening to her stories.

29. So IF they have kids... they would be named (order of birth)

Hal Opress = The leader

Arawn Opress = in Welsh mythology, a prince of the Otherworld Annwn and subordinate and opponent of Hafgan.

Eve Opress = "the life-giver", "the life-giving", "the living", "the enlivened" and "the mother of the living"

[thevoidwriting]

Hey so @tsutkomi here's more Swond being a menace to his pup, @clownwrites last time I tag you in Swond content unless you want it

So here's a thought, our boy is lorger than normal but in his hound form he's a little bit bigger than a dire wolf, he's about 400 lb of gwyllgi, his pup would be the size of a husky, small next to the pack but large by human standards, they can look his human form in the eyes hah. Mini story.

"Da why am I pure white with red tiped ears?" They cock their wolfish husky head to the left. " And your all black with burgundy tipped ears and tail?" They ask softly in case it upsets Swond. He laughs heartily and loud, "well mine colors are of shame for leaving the service of arawn. I'm dyed back as night for that's when I fled him, the burgundy is to show me tainted blood. You are pure colors to show innocence and light my pup." He explained just as softly. " Uncle arawn isn't mad at you. He's the one who brought me here." Pup says sleepily.

Their father's eyes practically pop out of their socket. "uncle arawn." His pitch gets higher and higher as he repeats it, "how did he find you before me." Swond sounds shocked and in disbelief. "He tracked your scent with the other cwn annwns and came to me first, he says he gets it now and he's not mad live your life as you see fit but when your ready to come back here one unanswered phone call away and if I need help call him like beetle juice." Pup replies nonchalant, "that's nice pup, did he seem mad or hiding his anger." Swond sounds scared. "He seemed genuine and upset that you haven't talked to him in centuries 1500 years dad really. Now he just wants to actually talk now that everything has settled please call him da." Pup snuggles into their da and falls asleep in wolf form getting head scratches and their ears played with. " Maybe I will lord knows he could and should have claimed you as one of his cwn annwn but instead he gave me the greatest gift of all. My pup to finish raising, sorry I yelled at you my lord but I wanted to know what else was out there." Swond talks to himself.

Another voice creeps up, "may I safe passage into your lovely home dear puppy." It was arawn. "My lord you always have safe passage in my home, i should have never-" Swond was cut off. "I saw you wanting to leave and I didn't want to see my children leave me so soon, no one ever took your place, in my heart or during the hunt. When your ready to come back, for now I can be uncle arawn to your pup, teach them magic and how to change gender on their own wouldn't that be fun. "

Swond laughs low and soft, "for a god of black magic and the underworld you seem all to happy to be a father, grandfather and uncle, teaching them the wicked pagan ways, next your gonna own a coffee shop." He jokes. "I helped make hells Hand basket." For the second time Swond felt his eyes pop out of his sockets. "Of course you did, no wonder hazle wouldn't tell me the benefactor, just cause you were a fae King doesn't mean you have to act like one." Swond groaned. "My dearest pup I want to make sure all my kids are taken care of, even the rebellious ones that become gwyllgis are my babies." Arawn pets swonds head his hair turning white with red tips again, "the cleansing will only last a week then you'll be back to being black as night. I'm feeling nostalgic for the days you listened to me." The god hums sadly. "I get that my lord. I miss it to somedays but I wouldn't have my pup if I did as you say." Swond murmurs. "I know it's a balance, you get to be a father but at the cost of your lord that's kinda steep and I'm sorry for that." Arawn whispers, the night carries in much like this as they catch up. When the sun finally peaks over arawn exits not before leaving a gift for the pup, a custom collar that hides in the skin so they can transform whenever they want like a good uncle would. "see you in two weeks to start their training for the hunt next year." Arawn hums happily.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

So, the Once and Future supplement for Scion got a preview. Which means that we got our first proper look at the Plant Dôn, the Welsh Pantheon (the author, Geoffrey McVey, has previously shared small snippets on the Scion Discord, but nothing so substantive as two god profiles and a list of all the gods) and... yeah, instantly my new favourite Pantheon.

Despite their 'official' name being the Plant Dôn, the very first thing we learn about them is that only the people descended from Dôn call them that. As far as the sons and daughters of Llŷr are concerned, they're the Plant Llŷr.

There are 15 Gods mentioned in the Principal Members section, but only 11 of them have write ups in the book. Amaethon, Gofannon, Math and Mabon are explained away as either not being active in the World or not in the habit of raising Scions (this was later explained by Geoffrey on Discord as them not having enough primary source information to be used as Gods, but they do still turn up as potential Guides for Scions so I can finally fulfil my dream of asking Math what the fuck is up with the sleeping with your feet in the lap of a virgin thing.)

Genuinely, the way Geoffrey made Pwyll a God is absolutely brilliant: Arawn, Pwyll and Pryderi are not three individual Gods, but rather three separate beings sharing the divine Mantle of Y Pen Annwn, the Head of Annwn. 10/10, no notes, I was slightly worried we'd be going the route of 'every single character who gets so much as a name in the Mabinogi is a secret pagan god', but Pwyll admittedly has too perfect a Scion plot to go to waste.

I really like the three divisions of the Principal Members section: here's the children of Dôn, here's the children of Llŷr and two/four more people that married into them, and here's Ceridwen, Taliesin, Gwyn ap Nudd and Mabon. We have no idea why the fuck they're here.

(Skipping past the translation guide - I'm not a native Welsh speaker, nor particularly skilled in it by any stretch, I'll let people more knowledgeable than me speak on it)

And now we come to the two God(dess) profiles, and the thing that makes the Plant Dôn my favourite Pantheon: the God profiles get Welsh Triads.

The God profiles. Get their own. Welsh Triad.

Also, love that Rhiannon is the 'Goddess of Wise Counsel' instead of something boring and reductive like 'Goddess of Horses'. Considering how much of especially the First Branch is her having the one brain cell, that's really appropriate.

Glad Geoffrey neatly sidestepped the Epona issue with 'maybe she has a relationship with Epona, but no-one wants to upset her by asking about it.'

Also, Rhiannon's got this weirdness aura about her, purely to explain why everyone just... believed that she would eat her own baby despite it clearly being horseshit. Also time works weird around her, because... of course it does.

Love that the two modes of Rhiannon's relationships with her Scions are 'doting mother' or 'confidant'. Anytime we get away from 1e's 'only parent-child bonds, also all Gods are terrible parents' is great in my book.

I absolutely love that the very first thing in the Aranrhod section (after, again, the Welsh Triad) is 'okay, but can we consider that Aranrhod's situation is SUPER FUCKED UP?'

Literally every second line of Aranrhod's section is bangers, seriously. "After that, she stopped speaking to the rest of her family. None of them ever took her side, so why should she?" "When she does choose to visit the World, it’s to find new books and music for her collections, update her wardrobe, or because she has the feeling that Gwydion is up to another of his schemes." "What she expects of [her Scions] is simple: when they see injustice, abuse, or cruelty in the World, be the person who demands that it stop."

Also, and again it's only notable because of other lesser works, but: Aranrhod does not have Moon in her Purviews, huzzah.

All in all: yeah, new favourite Pantheon. I am a man of simple tastes, and Welsh Triads are one of them.

[evicted-oc]

════════ஓ๑ Arawn the god of death ๑ஓ════════

═════════ஓ๑ Godly Information ๑ஓ═════════

ஓ๑ Ruler of Annwn, which is the celtic underworld

ஓ๑ Known to strike fear within humans and the dead

ஓ๑ Natural born leader

ஓ๑ Very fair leader, but punishes heavily if needed

ஓ๑ Looked as an evil god, but is actually very peaceful

ஓ๑ As a god, he has many magical abilities

══ஓ๑ Fear

════ஓ๑ Can strike fear into anyone at will

══ஓ๑ Invisibility

════ஓ๑ Can turn invisible at will

══ஓ๑ Shadow manipulation

════ஓ๑ Controls shadows to hide himself

══ஓ๑ Summon the dead

════ஓ๑ Can control and summon dead

══ஓ๑ Necromancy

════ஓ๑ Can talk to the dead

══ஓ๑ Umbrakinesis

════ஓ๑ Control over the dark

══ஓ๑ Shapeshifting

════ஓ๑ Can shape shift into your worst fear

ஓ๑ Unfortunately, due to him being sent to earth to live amongst the humans, he is not able to freely use his powers. Each of them make him very tired after too much usage. He can use each of his abilities in limited amounts

═════════ஓ๑ Godly Appearance ๑ஓ═════════

ஓ๑ Waist length black hair and completely black eyes

ஓ๑ Tall and extremely skinny to show off his bones and is 7'0 | 213 cm

ஓ๑ Sunken eyes and prominent collarbones, spine, and ribs

ஓ๑ Wears makeup to make his face look like a skeleton

ஓ๑ Always wears s long purple cloak and wears heavy eyeliner

═════════ஓ๑ Human Appearance ๑ஓ═════════

ஓ๑ Pitch black hair and black eyes

ஓ๑ Not as skinny, has a little bit of muscle and is 6'2 | 187 cm | 23 years old

ஓ๑ Left arm has a black out sleeve and the rest of his body from neck down is covered in tattoos

ஓ๑ Large scar on his right eye which makes it appear grey

ஓ๑ Left eyebrow and tongue is pierced

ஓ๑ Has the cutest dimples when/if he smiles

ஓ๑ Super pale skin due to being in the underworld, burns easily in the sun

ஓ๑ He has to make money somehow on earth, so he became a tattoo artist

ஓ๑ Only wears black and refuses to wear anything else

════════════ஓ๑ Personality ๑ஓ════════════

ஓ๑ Dark, loner, mysterious, expressionless, cold, quiet, careless, observant, angry

ஓ๑ Does not experience any sort of care for others

ஓ๑ Burns the butt of his cigarette on people's thighs

ஓ๑ Glares a lot

ஓ๑ Addicted to smoking, vape, and weed

ஓ๑ Has a shit eating grin when he's scaring someone

ஓ๑ Low social battery

═══════════ஓ๑ Preferences ๑ஓ═══════════

ஓ๑ Likes

══ஓ๑ Smoking, weed, drugs, vaping, playing guitar, painting nails, spa days, being alone, night, darkness, eyeliner

ஓ๑ Dislikes

══ஓ๑ Large crowds, noise, disrespect, children, immaturity, daylight, beach, flowers, bright colours, physical affection

═════════════ஓ๑ Nsfw ๑ஓ═════════════

ஓ๑ Sadistic dom

ஓ๑ Refuses to sub for anyone

ஓ๑ Can get very violent

ஓ๑ Don't call him daddy he hates it

ஓ๑ Kinks

══ஓ๑ Weapon play, blood, pain, bondage, size kink, choking, breath play, overstimulation, spanking, biting, hair pulling

═══════════ஓ๑ Relationships ๑ஓ═══════════

ஓ๑ Gay | Mono

ஓ๑ Dating

══ஓ๑ Dating @livealittleoc-cb Apollo | ♡ 4 ♡ 25 ♡ 2023

ஓ๑ Friends

══ஓ๑ Balor | Besties

══ஓ๑ Óðr | Besties

══ஓ๑ Hœnir | Fuck buddies

══ஓ๑ Lugh | Secretly good friends

ஓ๑ Pets

══ஓ๑ Baby river hog | Buttercup

══ஓ๑ Baby capybara | Bubbles

[egglantine23]

PJO Celtic gods au intro

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to actually post this au I have been working on it for a long time and probably has the most content out of anything I make. So let begin!

There are Celtic gods, the gods from Ireland, Great Britain, and Gaul. In cannon we know there are not many left and more are fading away. Now the au, due to all the fading the gods have all come to gather under there Irish name the Tuatha De Dahann or children of the Danu, and to the gods that apply they go as either there Irish, welsh, Scottish, or very rarely there name from gaul. For example Lugh is the Irish name but Lugus is the Gaulish name(think Roman and Greek). For simplicity the gods basically fuse there other names together and go by one name now, so the Gaulish god once known as Lugus now goes by Lugh and is the same person as the Irish god Lugh. The gods that appear in the au are Lugh, the Morrigan, Dian Cecht, Cailleach, Aengus Og, Brigd, Manannan Mac Lir, and Arawn.

Not all of these gods are major figures in Celtic mythology and the loss of many major gods is the reason the gods now raise and are very close to and protective of there Demi-god children. Celtic Demi-gods also have not had to deal with monsters like other Demi-gods due to the close relationships between the people and magical creatures. But although they are safer they have to deal with the responsibilities of the faded and older Demi-gods work as or even fully become minor gods. They used to have a school for the Demi-gods and even mortal children to teach them life skills in the mortal world, magic, and other skills, sadly due to there not being enough students it was shut down in 1902 and a small after school and summer day program is used instead that focuses on teaching magic and self defense. The school and program are run by fairies employed by the gods that are also in charge of the seasons but if you have ever seen Ireland and Great Britain they don’t change much.

I introduced the fairies before in the post about porcupine so I won’t go over them here.

Unlike the greek gods who moved to the US the Celtic gods stayed in Ireland and Great Britain since they’re connected to the Irish people and the island itself not western culture. Some Demi-gods do live in the US like Aisling who lives in Modesto California(my hometown because I find it funny) since her ma works in viticulture.

Aisling is one of the main characters in this au along with her family, her dad is the god Arawn. Now in the mythology Arawn has a wife but nothing is known about her so I made her a actual character, Fiona in known as ma to there children, and Mary is known as mum. Arawn and Fiona have been married for centuries and in the late 17 hundreds or early 18 hundreds they met Mary a 40 year old childless widow and all three fell in love and got married turning Mary into a minor goddess and second queen of Annwn. Together they have 4 sons Patrick, Sean, Gillian, and Bart and 1 daughter Aisling. Patrick is the oldest at 24, the twins Sean and Gillian are 22, Bart is 20, and the youngest Aisling is 16.

[dreamsofalifeold]

((I've said before that Shy has tylwyth teg blood, but I'm also considering having her specific branch of relation be the Gwragedd Annwn. They're a member of that specific group of fae and it definitely makes sense she'd be related to them??

Rather than your normal temperamental water spirits, they have a reputation for being kind and good natured, often making good wives to mortal men, though they must refrain from breaking certain taboos. Even if it is broken, they'll remain involved with their children and it's said that those descended from them make good healers.))

[untowonder-gone]

listen the dash is quiet so i get to talk now and im going to talk about the OTHERWORLD,  which is basically the underworld / annwn / hades / etc.  and the home to both Looking Glass and Midnight City.

as Midnight City expanded,  and the gods sought to establish their foothold in this fragmenting,  fracturing realm,  they initially opened the way for the existence of what they deem  [ REFLECTIONS OF MAN ]  in an attempt to siphon off the magical essence of humanity,  fairy tale beings which were brought to life not by nature,  but by the will of man through their stories and song,  those tales woven to teach children morals or lessons. 

but the gods deemed these creatures as FALSEHOODS,  only useful for the magic which had made them real,  the magic which helped to stabilize the Otherworld.  and so they decided that they shouldn’t exist within the greater land,  called ENLIL.  and so they crafted some other land with the scraps of flesh offered by Quetzalcoatl,  after being purified by Tlazolteotl.  this land would be named by the half slumbering corpse of Hypnos.  once named,  LOOKING GLASS would become the home for the Falsehoods,  and be set out to sea,  apart of and a part of Enlil.

out of sight and out of mind.

however,  over time the Falsehoods would bleed back into the human world,  and began to influence humans.  to create more like them,  and to continue to weave magic back into humans.  those humans that they took an interest in often became writers,  or painters,  or even poets.  humans who would further stir a love and adoration for the fantastical,  strengthening the desirable bond between the mortal world and the otherworld,  though not for any love of the gods who had used them and abandoned them.  no,  they did this for their own selfish needs and desires,  as any might. 

in their own way,  falsehoods began to cultivate souls,  gifts from the humans who believed in them.  who loved them.  and with souls,  they could,  in essence,  carve themselves a new existence within the human world,  allowing for the birth of those who exist in-between,  those who were drawn to the otherworld,  and those who already existed in the otherworld.

[camp-camelot]

Camp Camelot's Godly Metals and how they work.

Cold Iron

Cold iron is the standard metal for all demigods in Camp Camelot. It is a deep grey, with hues of blue. It glows ever so slightly whenever a threat has been detected. Like it's name suggests, Cold iron is very cold. No matter how much you hold it, the metal will not warm up. Still, it's bearable when it touches your skin. When used to kill monsters it turns their physical bodies to dust and sends them back to the otherworld to regenerate.

Cold Iron will interact with the supernatural, but will harmlessly pass through a mortal. Most weapons within camp are forged from Cold iron. It cannot be used to harm spirits, but can ward them off.

Phantom Quartz

Incredibily rare, and incredibily dangerous. Phantom Quartz is blessed in the rivers of annwn, and gifted to heroes by Arawn. Mined from the land of the dead, and tempered in the forges of dead smiths, Phantom Quartz is far more deadly than it's counterparts.

Despite its name, Phantom quartz is actually a type of Merthyr diamond. It is semi clear, with a sheen of purple. It has a faint blue glow . Phantom Quartz is capable of absorbing or destroying the essence of monsters, gods, fommorions, demigods, and Fae. Unlike Cold Iron and similar metals, however, it can harm both mortals, including humans and monsters, and immortals alike. It is the strongest of all ores within its pantheon (with the possible exception of Bone weapons, depending on their source.).

The blade drains the very soul, or life energy front whatever it touches. As such, it may only be handled by children of Arawn, or rarely heroes who have recieved a blessing. When a monster is cut down by it, they take even longer to return to life.

Forged Bone

Forged Bone is arguably the rarest material within its pantheon. As Forged Bone comes from slaying a very powerful magical beast, such as the Curruid. If forged properly, through a very dangerous ritual only few smiths know, the weapon will take on the attributes of the beast its bones once served

As such, they aren't easily quantified in terms of power or ability. Each weapon often having its own ability. Once the creature regenerates, the Forged-Bone weapon shall lose its powers and become useless. As such very few weapons of its kind exist, and even those that remain after the death of their previous wielder will rarley ever chose a new master.

Currently, there are only three known Forged-Bone weapons.

[lady-death-herself]

× [ Eurion Thomas // Saint Denis, Lemoyne. ] × ↳ This is why Eurion hates civilization, my dude.

[thewildbelladonna]

"These four fantasy-fiction books by American author Evangeline Walton (The Prince of Annwn, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhiannon and The Island of The Mighty) are based on traditional Welsh myths. Someone sent them to me back in 1978 because I’d written a song called Rhiannon 5 years earlier. Walton started her work around 1934 and finished in 1974, which was right around the time that I wrote Rhiannon, so I felt like when her work ended, mine began."

—Stevie Nicks 💛💫

[legend-collection]

Tylwyth Teg

Tylwyth Teg (Middle Welsh for "Fair Family") is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of English and Continental folklore and the Irish Aos Sí. Other names for them include Bendith y Mamau ("Blessing of the Mothers"), Gwyllion and Ellyllon.

The term tylwyth teg is first attested in a poem attributed to the 14th-century Dafydd ap Gwilym, in which the principal character gets perilously but comically lost while going to visit his girlfriend: "Hudol gwan yn ehedeg, / hir barthlwyth y Tylwyth Teg" ("(The) weak enchantment (now) flees, / (the) long burden of the Tylwyth Teg (departs) into the mist").

In later sources the tylwyth teg are described as fair-haired and covet golden-haired human children whom they kidnap, leaving changelings (or crimbilion, sing. crimbil) in their place. They dance and make fairy rings and they live underground or under the water. They bestow riches on those they favour but these gifts vanish if they are spoken of, and fairy maidens may become the wives of human men. These fairy wives are however still bound by traditional taboos. They must be careful to avoid touching iron or they will vanish back to their realm never to be seen by their husbands again.

As the Bendith y Mamau (the mothers blessing, a Southern Welsh name for Fair folk) They ride horses in fairy rades (processions) and visit houses where bowls of milk are customarily put out for them. A changeling story tells of a woman whose three-year-old son was stolen by the fairies and she was given a threefold instruction by a "cunning man" (magician) on how to get him back. She removed the top from a raw egg and began stirring the contents, and as the changeling watched her do this certain comments he made established his otherworldly identity. She then went to a crossroads at midnight during the full moon and observed a fairy raid in order to confirm that her son was with them. Lastly she obtained a black hen and without plucking it she roasted it over a wood fire until every feather dropped off. The changeling then disappeared and her son was returned to her.

According to the folklorist Wirt Sikes the Tylwyth Teg may be divided into five general types: the Ellyllon (elves), the Coblynau (fairies of the mines), the Bwbachod (household fairies similar to brownies), the Gwragedd Annwn (female fairies of the lakes and streams) and the Gwyllion (mountain fairies more akin to hags). The ellyllon (singular ellyll) inhabit groves and valleys and are similar to English elves. Their food consists of toadstools and fairy butter (a type of fungus) and they wear digitalis bell flowers as gloves. They are ruled by Queen Mab and bring prosperity to those they favour.