Revision as of 20:32, 28 February 2021

PANTHEONS

Tuatha Dé Danann

"That was the most handsome and delightful company, the fairest of form, the"
"most distinguished in their equipment and apparel, and their skill in music"
"and playing, the most gifted in mind and temperament that ever came to"
"Ireland. That too was the company that was bravest and inspired most horror"
"and fear and dread, for the Tuatha De excelled all the peoples of the world in"
"their proficiency in every art."
— The First Battle of Mag Tuired

COSMOLOGY

The cosmology of the Tuatha Dé Danaan is a complex and interwoven one. The interactions between the World, Underworld and Overworld have often been confused in the passing down of mythological and folkloric sources, to say nothing of the kind of conceptual drift that happens over generations.

When the Children of Danu originally came to the World and settled in the land of Eire, they left behind their otherworldly paradise, Tír na nÓg and its four great cities, bringing with them the lesser divinities that would one day come to be called the aes sídhe. Eventually, though, the races of men came to Eire with weapons of cold iron, and the Tuatha were impressed with their mettle, their beauty and their love of the Green Isle. They ceded Eire to the Milesians and gave them the land itself while they maintained dominance over what lay beneath it — partially as a means of defending these fragile men from the depredations of the wicked Crom Cruach, the White Worm that lay beneath the ground.

TIR NA MARBH (CELTIC Underworld)

AKA: The Cold Lands, Summer’s End

The lands of the Irish dead are a place of autumnal beauty. Mist lies heavily on the ground, occasionally rising up to create fantastic silhouettes in the dying light. The lands themselves seem to vary in climate and season. In some places, it is a deep autumn, with fiery leaves on every branch and the smell of a nearly-ready harvest in the air. In others, it is deep winter, where the wind howls and carries a razor sleet.

But the lands of the Irish dead were not always this way. In truth, Tír na Marbh is not even the proper, ancient name for this place. Rather, Tír na Marbh occupies a portion of the greater realm known as Annwyn, the home of the Welsh dead.

The Secret History of the Underworld

Once, the Irish dead traveled to Mag Mell, the Plain of Joy. Here they lived out their afterlives in peace and prosperity, wanting for nothing. Of course, there was one difficulty — when the fomorians were driven from Eire by the Tuatha, the twisted get of Balor and Cethlenn fled to the Underworld, seeking to follow their creators as best as they might.

Of course, to the dead who dwelt here, the presence of these fomorians was simply the natural order of things. Those spirits who had been warriors in life knew that their defense of their tribe did not end in death.

Indeed, it became more important, for no one could die in Mag Mell. The slavery to and torments of the twisted fomorians could conceivably continue for all of eternity, and that idea was utterly anathema to the freedom-loving dead of the Plain of Joy.

Then, something changed.

The fomorians were not idle in their time in Mag Mell. They were themselves denied the benefits of Mag Mell’s immortality, and they were not fools: For each of them that died, there was one less fomorian, so every death was calculated and precise. The Tuatha never really noticed what was going on, noting only that the ghosts of the dead fought the fomorians. If the dead noticed that every one of the fomorians who died did so with a joyful gleam in his eyes and strange markings on his skin, they likely passed it off as simply another mad trait of the twisted monsters who were the enemies of their Gods.

In time, though, this great ritual sacrifice was completed, and something gave. A great wintery storm came over Mag Mell, and the dead were terrified, for their Plain of Joy was always on the cusp between spring and summer. When this storm passed, Cethlenn (the mother of fomorians) stood on the Plain of Joy, and the dead were nowhere to be found.

In very short order, things changed. The ritual of the fomorians managed the impossible: It unmoored Mag Mell from the Underworld, cracking the prison of the Titans just enough to allow Cethlenn to escape. Mag Mell itself, cast free, latched onto the pull of the World, becoming one of the first of the terrae incognitae. The dead were swept away by the great wintery storm that accompanied that transformation and cast into the Void.

In a panic, the Tuatha called up their allies. While the Morrigan and the other Tuatha associated with the dead traveled into the Void to rescue as many of the Irish ghosts as they could, Danu approached the king of the Welsh afterlife, Gwyn ap Nudd. With her traveled Gwyn ap Nudd’s father, Nuada. For nine days and nine nights they spoke behind closed doors in Annwn, the Welsh Underworld; when the doors opened, part of Annwn had already transformed, creating a sanctuary for the Irish dead at Gwyn ap Nudd’s command. Once their dead were safely ensconced in this portion of Annwn, which came to be called Tír na Marbh by the ghosts of the Irish tribes, the Tuatha turned their full might and fury to Cethlenn and her get.

For centuries they fought. The Tuatha, though mighty, were hard pressed to match Cethlenn’s fury. Her children were seemingly innumerable, and Mag Mell’s connections to the World meant that the Tuatha and their aes sídhe army had to direct their focus on stopping the fomorians from entering the World as well as trying to destroy them utterly.

Finally, Cethlenn was defeated and bound once more, along with the greater host of her children. She left a gift for those who defeated her, however.

Once the gods realized that they had no idea how to reverse the Titanic magics and shift Mag Mell back to the Underworld, the seeds of Cethlenn’s corruption took hold, and those gods who saw the Plain of Joy — now vibrant and uplifting to mortal life — were seized with the desire to claim it for their own. Battles broke out between the Tuatha, the Welsh gods and even the Aesir Gods who saw these lands. Seelie warred with Unseelie aes sídhe over its possession as well, and all might have ended in tragedy were it not for Manannán mac Lir’s calm head and wisdom. He bade the gods on the field of battle to pluck the maggots from their brains. To their surprise, they found just that squirming about in their heads.

Manannán promised to hold Mag Mell for all the gods who had any kind of claim to that land, swearing that any of them might take it. He bade Danu to bind him by a geas to that effect, and she did so, proud of his wisdom and clarity.

Over time, Tír na Marbh has grown into a strange, dark reflection of Tír na nÓg. Like the great Overworld realm of the Tuatha, the lands of the dead can be divided into four parts, with a single great royal palace in the center. In the case of Tír na Marbh, the Veiled Court (the seat of the Unseelie aes sídhe) sits in the center, surrounded by the four areas, each of which is home to three of the Tribes of the Dead.

The Veiled Court

The Veiled Court is a great Irish dun-style keep crafted of black stone and open to the elements. The walls are manned by the sluagh sídhe, the shadowy ghosts of the dead claimed by the Unseelie as their servants. In the center of the court sits the Samhain Seat, a great blackthorn tree that has twisted and shaped itself into the rough approximation of a throne. In this tree, ravens perch eternally and watch what goes on there on behalf of their mistress, the Morrigan, who claims this seat as her own.

Her seneschal is an Unseelie aes sídhe of great power called the Queen of Air and Darkness. Though the Queen of Air and Darkness was once the bean sídhe responsible for keening the deaths of the Irish royal family, that line has long since died out as a cogent entity, and she wears a long black mourning veil for all eternity.

All spirits that come to Tír na Marbh come first to the Veiled Court, whose scholars and heralds declare the destination of those dead into one of the Twelve Tribes of the Dead.

The Twelve Tribes of the Dead

All spirits that come to these lands appear first in the Veiled Court and are then sent to one of the Tribes. The four lands have no names, by compact with Gwyn ap Nudd — he will not tolerate the Irish dead laying claim to Annwn.

Each of the lands has three tribes: a tribe of the Mad, a tribe of the Ancient Dead and a tribe of the Modern Dead. The tribes of the Mad are all made up of ghosts that once resided in Mag Mell and are among those retrieved from the Void. All of them have been driven inexorably insane, and they are terrible, savage creatures who eat the ghostly flesh of anyone they catch, painting themselves in the pale fluids they render from those unfortunates souls.

The tribes of the Ancient Dead are made up of the ghosts of those who died before the coming of Christianity to Ireland, but after the establishment of Tír na Marbh. These men and women are the most like the tribes of ancient Ireland and are careful to welcome visitors appropriately, often going out of their way to save them from the hunting parties of the Mad and guide them to their final destinations. Their bards sing ancient songs long forgotten in the World, and their druids are wise in the ways of the dead.

The final tribes are made of up those Irish who died after the time of Padraig (St. Patrick), who brought Christianity to the isle. These tribes are often the smallest of the tribes, for the Virtues of the Tuatha were not the Virtues of the White Christ. Rare was the man or woman that embodied those Virtues and reverence of the Tuatha sufficiently to come here after death. Still, the population of these tribes is made up of people who refused to adhere to Christianity. These people either carried forth a family tradition strongly wrapped up in reverence of Ireland itself and the various spirits of that land or perhaps venerated one or more of the Irish saints — many of which were simply new names for old Tuatha Dé Danaan — more than was technically appropriate.

Passages to Tír na Marbh

Passage into Tír na Marbh is a difficult thing to accomplish most of the time. The following methods are used to pass into the lands of the Irish dead.

Tombs and Funerary Architecture: The funerary barrows of Ireland provide access to Tír na Marbh. A creature of sufficient Legend that enters into one of these barrows at night and spends a point of Legend finds himself in one of the subterranean caverns beneath the Veiled Court, welcomed by one of the sluagh sídhe.

Natural Features: Ireland is criss-crossed with sídhe, the strangely round “hollow hills” that Irish folklore warns are the abode of fairies. Created by the Fir Bolg, these hills do not register as hollow to any mortal methods of examination, nor can their doorways be found. But to creatures of Legend, these mounds reveal their secrets to those who know what to look for.

These sídhe are more than simply hollow mounds, however: They are the passages into the Otherworld. From Samhain to Beltaine (approximately the first of November to the first of May), when the Unseelie are given power in the World, a sídhe acts as a means of entering the Underworld. However, from Beltaine to Samhain, when the Seelie are given power in the World, a sídhe acts as an Axis Mundi into the Overworld of Tír na nÓg (see below for more details). Regardless of where a given sídhe would take one, however, they only function during the nighttime hours or during dawn and dusk.

Rituals: The funerary rites of ancient Ireland are not truly known any longer, having been replaced utterly by Christian rites. Such rituals must be researched, as detailed on p. 144 of Scion: Demigod.

Times: The veil is parted between the World and Tír na Marbh on Samhain night, the night of October 31st. It remains easy to pass between the worlds from that night until November 2nd, during the nighttime only.

Tír na nÓg

The great lands of Tír na nÓg act as the Overworld for the Tuatha Dé Danaan. At the center of this land is the Eternal Orchard, the grove that acts as the court for the aes sídhe of the Seelie. This great apple orchard sits on a mist-surrounded island in the middle of a great body of water, from which four rivers flow in the cardinal directions.

These rivers gradually widen as they flow outward, eventually opening so much that their edges meet and completely surround the whole of Tír na nÓg in a great body of clockwise-flowing water.

At their widest, these rivers have a massive island in the middle of their flow, at the very edges of this Overworld. On these islands sit the four Noble Cities of Tír na nÓg: Falias the Great sits in the River of the Boar to the north, Gorias the Shining is surrounded by the River of the Hawk to the east, Finias the Glorious sits in the River of the Stag in the south, and Murias the Rich is in the River of the Salmon in the west.

Though the Gods maintain their halls within the great cities, the cities themselves — populated by the aes sídhe and the servants of the greater Tuatha — are watched over by ancient druids chosen from the wisest of the aes sídhe priest-savants. Even the Tuatha do not know as much about the cities as these druids, and they often serve as advisors and friends for the Tuatha that make their homes in these cities.

Falias the Great

Falias the Great is a city of ice-green spires touched by frost. White ravens fly among the snapping banners, and the only light that touches it comes from the pale twilight stars above. Dawn in Falias is heralded by the brilliant display of an aurora in the sky.

The druid Morfessa is the regent of Falias. He is an ancient, bearded aes sídhe clad in robes of a brilliant white color that reflect the hues in the world around him. A raven sits on his shoulder, perfectly white in color with pale-green eyes, and the two often whisper to one another. He wears a diadem of pale silver on his brow set with a gemstone that is the Morning Star.

Gorias the Shining

Gorias the Shining sits in the east, a city of tall opalescent towers touched with gold accents. In Gorias can be found all the colors of the dawn — sweet dusky gold, the shimmering of rose and ghostly violets. Gorias’ natural lighting is veiled and misty, the light of the early morning, and beautiful gold hawks are everywhere.

The druid-smith Esras acts as Regent to the city, though one wouldn’t know it to look at him. He is an older aes sídhe, with a close-cropped beard and head of hair that are both salt and peppered, with small singed spots from his work at the forge. His forge overlooks the square where the Silent Hero stands. He wears a simple woolen kilt and a leather apron appropriate to his work.

Finias the Glorious

Finias the Glorious sits in the south. Its tall elegant towers of silver, brass and white marble are illuminated all hours of the days and night by the white-hot fires of the summer sun. The night in Finias is short, and the horizon on all sides is touched with a deep red glow, as though great flames burnt just over the hills, waiting to spring up at a moment’s notice.

The fair-haired druid-poet Uscias acts as Regent for Finias. He is a veritable priest of the imbas, and those who come near him cannot help but feel their own creative urges rise. He is a fair, youthful looking aes sídhe, with long blonde-white hair and a smooth face. He wears brilliant colors, and a torc of bronze and silver to denote his status in the city.

Murias the Rich

The regal city of Murias the Rich stands in the west. Its towers are crafted of a deep blue stone, with accents of silver-shot white marble Twilight reigns in Murias, and the lingering light of dusk is found here. Murias is also called the Sunken City, for it appears as though its streets are under deep water. In truth, though, Murias is a city with streets of water, and the aes sídhe who dwell here pole through its streets in sleek, swan-like white boats.

The healer Senias acts as Regent-druid of Murias. A gentle, bearded aes sídhe with hair the color of chestnut, he dresses in simple dark green robes, with a simple torc of bronze and mother-of-pearl his only ornamentation.

The Eternal Orchard

In the center of Tír na nÓg, acting as the wellspring from which the waters of the Otherworld flow, is the Eternal Orchard. A massive grove of apple and oak trees, the Eternal Orchard is home to the aes sídhe of the Seelie Court. In its center on a small hill grows a pair of massive trees, one oak and one apple. These two trees have twisted together like a pair of lovers and grown into the shape of a throne. Though this is traditionally called the Throne of Brigid, it is offered to any of the Tuatha Dé Danaan who visit here. At the foot of the throne sits a great well, which any of the Tuatha might use to command a view of anyplace in Tír na nÓg.

The Herald of Spring and Summer acts as the regent for the Eternal Orchard in the absence of any of the Tuatha. He is an ancient aes sídhe, a godling in his own right, though not one that has ever traveled to the World. He is incredibly fair to gaze on, and his bright singing voice is the pride of the Eternal Orchard.

Axis Mundi: The Sídhe

The hollow hills of the Good Neighbors, the sídhe are the Worldly reflections of the hills upon which both the Eternal Orchard and the Veiled Court are built. There is a season for each, though — from Samhain to Beltaine, a sídhe acts as a passage into the Underworld, because the World is given over to the Unseelie to rule in the dark half of the year. From Beltaine to Samhain, however, the same hollow hill serves as passage to Tír na nÓg, granting passage to those who know how to find such things — or are led there by others — to the Land of Youth.

These hills are cunningly constructed by the Fir Bolg, who use their affinity with earth to create luxurious halls that are bigger within than without. Each of these sídhe are given to a lord of the aes sídhe and his vassals to use as their home while they are within the World. More importantly, though, anyone entering the doorway at night may spend a point of Legend to travel to the Underworld (if it is between the first of November and the first of May) or to the Overworld (if it is between the first of May and the first of November). This is, of course, assuming that the individual in question has the potency to do so, as detailed in Scion: Demigod and Scion: God.

The Hallows of Ireland as Axes Mundi

The four great treasures that the Tuatha Dé Danaan brought to Ireland with them from the Four Great Cities are more than simply tokens or pieces of regalia. They are, in a very real way, part of those four great cities. Each of these Relics is also a miniature Axis Mundi tied not to Tír na nÓg as a whole, but to the city from which it was taken: the Lia Fáil is from Falias, the Spear Luin is from Gorias, the Claíomh Solais is from Finias and the Undry Cauldron is from Murias.

Any god or other creature of appropriate Legend capable of using an Axis Mundi may utilize one of these items. By placing it upon the ground and spending a point of Legend, they are transported to the appropriate city in question. The one so wielding that Relic may choose to take the Relic with him, in which case he must return via one of the normal sídhe Axes Mundi of Tír na nÓg. He may also leave the Relic in the World, which will allow him to travel from his destination city back to the World where his Relic is. Of course, doing so means leaving the Relic behind in the World, always a decision of some careful consideration.