#ulster cycle

[trans-cuchulainn]

hello and welcome to the niche corner

hello i'm néide and this is my blog, which mostly consists of me being grumpy about niche things. i have multiple degrees in medieval irish literature and while sometimes i use these to be vaguely educational, more often i use them to write incredibly specific fic about characters nobody else cares about, and this fic can be found on ao3 (for logged-in users)

so this is a guide to my incredibly specific fanfiction, which i feel also gives a reasonably good introduction to the kind of thing i'm likely to be yelling about on this blog

i am reliably informed that you don't actually need to know anything about the source material to have fun with these fics (or suffer from the angst), but also they can be more fun if you do. some have bibliographies/refs/explanations so i also know a few people have used them as a way to get started with medieval Irish lit which will never not be extremely funny to me

current WIP: chasing someone else's dream (16k, WIP): a cú chulainn/láeg reincarnation fic. they have been reincarnated, not for the first time. they've also been cursed, and thus, unlike in every life before this one, they've never met. ngl this fic contains some of the best prose i ever wrote, please read it

group chats of the ulster cycle, or, the in loco parentis series

a modern AU of the ulster cycle. sort of a college AU, turned into a ballet AU halfway through. consists of:

in loco parentis (135k, complete): my magnum opus. cú chulainn and láeg are university flatmates; group chats featuring all your favourite ulster cycle characters and also some you probably never gave a shit about; cú chulainn as a tiny trans ballet dancer and ferdia as his pas de deux partner; baking; everybody hating on conchobar; nobody dies; way more feelings about both ballet and shostakovich than anybody was expecting, including me; and much more. comes with explanatory notes / bibliography because i'm just Like That

getting the dee (9k, in progress/abandoned): a prequel to ILP, sort of a longes mac nuislenn fic except nobody dies and there are more sex toys. naoise/deirdre with guest appearances from conall. one day i'll go back to this but also i'm a coward

valentáin's day (4k oneshot, complete): a prequel to ILP, featuring láeg and cormac in the pub on valentine's day making fun of all their friends in relationships. they make out, fortunately their friendship survives the experience.

and when you move, i move (2.5k oneshot, complete): a sequel to ILP. just a horny lil cú chulainn/ferdia oneshot set a few months after ILP wraps up.

miscellaneous ulster cycle oneshots

i will be honest, most of these are sad fics of oidheadh con culainn ("the death of cú chulainn") because i just love writing angst, but there's a couple of others in there

to walk this world alone (6k): extremely niche fic featuring láeg after cú chulainn's death. some otherworldly happenings. sad but not as sad as it was originally going to be.

counterweight (3k): cú chulainn/láeg during oidheadh con culainn, anticipating cú chulainn's death. this one's pretty sad too.

dindsenchas (3.5k): missing scenes between cú chulainn and láeg during táin bó cúailnge. narrated by the landscape of ulster and addressed in second person to cú chulainn himself because the best sex scenes are the ones narrated by a tree.

in one dwelling place (2k): láeg/cú chulainn/emer. vaguely smutty, vaguely fluffy.

we'll say goodbye, today (2k): cú chulainn and láeg during oidheadh con culainn, anticipating cú chulainn's death. big sad hours.

glorious as the sunrise (3k): this is just angst. cú chulainn/láeg during oidheadh con culainn again. not particularly shippy but they love each other very much.

a marriage of inconvenience (3k): modern AU. cú chulainn wants to marry emer but unfortunately never bothered to get divorced after he married láeg for househunting purposes. a very silly fic.

of grief and glory (1.7k): cú chulainn deals with the aftermath of táin bó cúailnge, especially fer diad's death. more sad times lol.

flight risk (2.3k): teenage cú chulainn and láeg steal a spaceship. they get caught. fun scifi AU.

other medieval lit fics (non ulster cycle)

patron saint of toasties (2.5k): finn cycle fic. oisín took time out of uni to travel and now all his friends have graduated and he's lonely enough to text the christian union's "text a toastie" hotline. which is how he meets patrick. very silly modern AU gen fic mostly taking the piss out of st patrick

two birds of a feather (2.8k): yonec (marie de france) | togail bruidne da derga crossover fic. bird dad support group. conaire and yonec hang out and bond over their dads having maybe been birds. stupidest thing i ever wrote and i adore it.

quiver and shake (1.8k): fourth branch of the mabinogi fic. gwydion and gilfaethwy's special brotherly bonding time. canon typical content warnings apply.

other

absent thee from felicity (11k, WIP): hamlet | romeo & juliet crossover modern AU in which horatio and benvolio attempt to deal with the aftermath of their respective tragedies. sad at first, will gradually get sillier. haven't updated in a couple of years but that doesn't mean it's permanently abandoned, i'm just busy

if you've never read any of my fics before and are wondering where to start, i firmly believe the reincarnation fic (current WIP) is a good one because it has a solid mix of angst, shenanigans, and weird fuckery, so you can experience the tonal whiplash of the rest of my fics all in one place! but it is a WIP and i make zero promises about upload schedule, it happens when it happens, so not so good if you're impatient haha. plenty of others to get you started though

[queer-ragnelle]

list of medieval literature with links to read.

i’ll continue to update with more texts, better scans, & different editions. enjoy!

[alternativeulster]

more people need to know about irish mythology. it's just balls to the walls insane. if you thought greek mythology was wild let me introduce you to:

nessa and her 12 gay dads

queen medb cheating on everything and everyone, starting a war over a cow, ruining innumerable lives and then getting killed by cheese

fionn gets raised by 2 random lesbians

fionn kills a guy for stealing his girlfriend, drops the magic healing water several times on purpose

oisín goes to live in the immortal fairy land with his immortal fairy wife, misses ireland, comes back to visit, falls off his horse and fucking dies (may or may not have gotten in a fight with saint patrick before dying)

fuck them kids, they're swans now

guy accidentally gets job of "being the king's dog" at age 5, changes name to dog

[riseupriseupandcomealong]

hi more ulster cycle art based on this passage: “From the Monday after the feast of Samain at summer’s end to the Wednesday after the feast of Imbolc at spring’s beginning, Cúchulainn never slept — unless against his spear for an instant after the middle of the day, with head on fist and fist on spear and the spear against his knee” - táin bó cúailnge tr. thomas kinsella

[amylouioc]

Deirdre Meets Naoise

This is my April postcard! If you’d like to join the club and get sent one, you can sign up here!

[finnlongman]

I would love to encourage more people to read the 18th-19th century Ulster Cycle tales so they can enjoy Baby Cú Chulainn with me. Unfortunately they only exist in out-of-print 1940s/1950s editions (with no translation) that are, as far as I can tell, completely unobtainable outside of a select handful of university libraries, and even there, they're often in Special Collections. And even if you track them down, you still have to read 18th century Irish, which is... a headache.

However, everyone should read Tóruigheacht Gruaidhe Griansholus, which does have a translation, and is available online. Story-wise it's the best of them anyway, although Cú Chulainn is 15 and therefore not at Maximum Baby.

[foxleycrow]

Young Cú Chulainn / Sétanta from Irish mythology. Brush pen drawings. Working on a design for him.

[sissiarte]

It's been a long time since I spent so much on the same piece and honestly I'm so proud of the result. Lots of angsty feelings on this one :_)

[shamblingrevenant]

Idk, a shitpost

[forfeda-project]

PHANTOM AT THE FORD

"I will come against you in the form of an eel about your feet in the ford, so that you shall fall… I will drive the cattle on the ford to you, in the form of a grey she-wolf… I will come to you in the form of a hornless red heifer before the cattle. They will rush on you on the plains and on the fords, and on the pools, and you will not see me before you…" - The Morrígan to Cú Chulainn, Táin Bó Cúailnge

In the Táin Bó Cúailnge ("the Cattle Raid of Cooley"), the warrior Cú Chulainn is able to stave off the advances of Queen Medb's army by invoking his right to single combat at the fords, singlehandedly defeating each of Medb's champions in turn. But when Cú Chulainn refuses help from the Morrígan, a powerful goddess, she resolves to instead be a hindrance to him, taking different animal forms to disrupt his battles - an eel to trip him, and a wolf and a heifer to drive the cattle over the ford.

This piece depicts the three forms of the Morrígan surrounded by the thorns and flowers of the hawthorn, a tree connected to terror, baneful magic, and the powers of the Otherworld in Gaelic folklore.

[cu-riogach]

The Boiling-Away of Young Cú Chulainn's Wrath

"He was placed in three vats of cold water to extinguish his wrath; and the first vat into which he was put burst its staves and its hoops like the cracking of nuts around him. The next vat into which he went boiled with bubbles as big as fists therefrom. The third vat into which he went, some men might endure it and others might not. Then the boy's wrath went down" (Dunn verses 77-79). An old sketch of the young Cú Chulainn sitting miserably in the boiling vat which drowned his wrath. One day I would like to produce a high-quality illustrated edition of the Táin Bó Cúailgne after the fashion of an Arthur Rackham gift-book. Rather an ambitious project.

[trans-cuchulainn]

started posting the reincarnation fic now that i've got three chapters of it, to guilt me into writing more

no promises but i'll try to write it a bit quicker than ILP lmao

featuring: láeg with harrow the ninth style brain damage that prevents him from hearing cú chulainn's name; conall and cú chulainn on holiday in glasgow; emer as a therapist with dubious ethics. and more idk i've only written three chapters

[ad-ciu]

During the first summer of my PhD, I sat down and just consumed all of the webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons. It has transformed into this strange little companion story that I get to check in on every week or two and see an entirely different flavor of wildly esoteric literature than I deal with during my day job.

These panels, however, totally blew me away. They connected this curious companion that I've had with me through the doctorate back to my thesis. These panels are exactly how I've always imagined Caladbolg, the sword of Fergus mac Róich, the sword that cleaves mountains on the horizon, works.

As the end approaches, it is nice to have this. Obviously, this is the picture that will go on every slide show when I discuss Fergus from now on. But, more then that, it is nice to have this piece of literature that I read because it is so different from the stories I work with every day, tie back into these familiar stories.

Good stuff.

[stranded-in-paradise]

The Morrigan

[riseupriseupandcomealong]

yay another ulster cycle print! this one is a copper engraving based off “the quarrel of the two pig-keepers”

[amylouioc]

Part One of a new illustration series focusing on the tragic tale of Deirdre and Naoise.

Fedlimid gets some bad news, a baby is born and Leabharcham heads away for safety.

This is my March Postcard Club illustration! If you’re interested in getting a print in the post (along with new postcards each month) then you can sign up here!