One of the big problems I encountered when preparing for my
Tuatha de Danaan campaign is that Irish mythology is rather fluid. The son of a god in one source is referred to as their brother in another, or one goddess may actually be three different goddesses who fill similar roles. My challenge was to take all those elements and arbitrarily decide which ones are accurate (as far as the history of the campaign world, which is ours but not quite, go) and which ones have been misremembered or entirely fabricated by the humans who told their tales. What follows is a summary of the history my players have either just learned, or will soon be learning.
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It was about three millennia ago that the
Aos Si first came to the land of Eire. They had come from Tir na nOg (the Land of Youth), and were a people skilled in the arts and in crafting and in the ways of magic. Greatest among them were the children of
Danu, for whom the Tuatha de Danaan is named, and
the Dagda.
The Aos Si did not find Eire unoccupied. The land was home to race of primitive giants called the Fir Bolg.
Nuada, son of Danu and high king of the Aos Si, sent an emissary -
Bres ("the Beautiful") - to them with an offer to divide the island between the two peoples. When the offer was refused, the Aos Si met the Fir Bolg in battle and overcame them. However, so valiantly did the Fir Bolg fight that afterwards they were offered one quarter of the island; they chose the area that was later to be called Connacht.
During the battle, Nuada's left hand had been severed from his body. Since it was the law of the Aos Si that the king must be physically perfect, Nuada stepped down and Bres was selected as the new king. Bres took to wife
Brigid, daughter of Danu and sister of Nuada. Now, there are two things you must know about Bres. The first is that, although his mother was of the Aos Si, his father was unknown. The second is that he was an abysmal king. During his reign, the duties of hospitality were forgotten and the Aos Si were worked as if slaves. After many years of Bres' kingship, they could take no more.
Goibniu, the master smith, fashioned a silver hand for Nuada and
Dian Cecht, the great physician, attached it and through his art made it function as if it were a real hand. Thus re-perfected, Nuada deposed Bres and drove him from Eire.
Advised by his mother, Bres wandered the dark northern seas in search of his father. After many years, he found him -
Elatha, a prince of a race of evil shape-shifting giants called the Fomorians. Bres begged for their aid in re-taking his kingdom. The great Fomorian king
Balor of the Evil Eye (so named because he had but one eye, and with it he killed all that he looked upon) raised an army to attack Eire. The Fomorian invasion was swift and caught the Aos Si unawares; the province of Ulster was overrun before the Nuada's army could even be gathered. For many years thereafter, the dark army of the north and the light army of the south fought against each other, neither able to overcome the other.
Now, many years before, at the birth Balor's daughter
Ethniu, the child's mother -
the Morrigan (the "Queen of Shades," who was to the Fomorians as Danu was to the Aos Si) - prophesied that Balor would die by the hand of his own grandchild. Therefore Balor had Ethniu imprisoned in a crystal tower on a desolate island, surrounded by naught but her maids. It was during the long war that
Cian, the youngest son of Danu and the Dagda, dreamt of a beautiful maiden locked away from the world. Searching the world for her, he at last came to Ethniu's tower and by his arts infiltrated the tower and seduced the girl. They remained hidden there until after the birth of a boy, when a servant still loyal to Balor alerted the Fomorian king of what had transpired. Cian and Ethniu were struck down by Balor's eye as they tried to flee the tower, but their son fell into the sea, where he was found and raised by
Manannan mac Lir, a cousin to Danu and son of the great sea lord.
As the war between the Aos Si and the Fomorians wore on, that child, who was called
Lugh, grew swiftly and became great in skill. When he was of age, he presented himself at the court of Nuada. It was
Oghma, the mighty sage and wrestler and twin brother to Brigid, who kept Nuada's door. He attempted to turn the youth away by demanding of him what talent he brought to the court that no other of the Aos Si possessed. He replied he was a warrior, which Oghma rebuffed by saying there was no man that could match Nuada's feats at arms. When Lugh said he was a smith, Oghma replied that the court already had Goibniu, and when Lugh said he was a healer Oghma answered with Dian Cecht. Lugh listed all the arts and crafts and lores known, but each time was given the name of an Aos Si with that skill. Finally, Lugh asked if the court contained anyone talented with all of those skills, and Oghma was forced to relent and admit him to the court.
By this time the long struggle had begun to deplete both the Aos Si and the Fomorians. Both sides gathered their whole host and met at a plain called Mag Tuired. Before the battle, a Fomorian woman called
Badb Catha ("Battle Crow," who may or may not have been the Morrigan) came to the Aos Si camp and offered the Fomorian battle plan if the Dagda would couple with her. The Dagda, naturally, complied.
But even with that knowledge, the battle went ill for the Aos Si. Many were struck down by Balor's baleful gaze. As King Nuada, whose sword was a terrible wind that day, attempted to rally them, he was struck down by a poisoned dart thrown by Bres. Just as all seemed lost, Lugh picked up a spear that had been brought from Tir na nOg and flung it with such force that it burst into flames. The spear pierced Balor's eye, pushing it through the back of his head. The eye rolled through the Fomorian ranks, still striking down those in its wake. The decimated Fomorian army began to rout.Bres, meanwhile, seeing defeat all about him, sought to flee, but was caught by Oghma, who threw him down with such force that his back and legs were broken. Only a beguilement created by his father, Elatha, saved Bres from the further wrath of Oghma. He was forced to crawl from the battlefield through a thicket that had been set aflame by Brigid, who had been his wife, until he reached the sea and was rescued by Fomorians loyal to his father.
After the battle, the Aos Si selected Lugh to be their new high king. Though victorious, their strength had been severely weakened. It was at this time that the Sons of Mil (those who would now be called the Gaels) first arrived from the south. Amergin, the first and greatest of the druids, worked a mighty enchantment upon the land that separated Ireland, the island that we know today, from Eire, the fairy-land of the Aos Si.
For nearly a thousand years, the Aos Si were content to dwell in their realm of spirits, coming forth only infrequently to meddle in the affairs of the Milesians, by whom they were worshipped as gods. New members of the Tuatha were born –
Aengus Og and the twins
Macha and
Nemain, and many of the heroes of those days, Cuchulainn and Meave being the most widely known, were the result of a dalliance between an Aos Si and a human. In Eire, the only dangers came from occasional Fomorian raids, often led by the vengeful Bres, who, no longer beautiful, was now called
Crom Cruach for his burnt and disfigured form and was himself worshiped as a god.
It was around fifteen hundred years ago when the bastard Padraig and other missionaries of Jehovah began to arrive in Ireland. As belief in this foreign god grew, the barriers between Ireland and Eire became more difficult to traverse. Eventually, the barriers became impassible altogether, and any of the Aos Si blood stranded in Ireland were hunted down by Jehovah’s angels. For many centuries, they languished in Eire, slowly diminishing.
Eventually, there came to be a time when death and great doubt came upon the people of Ireland. The crisis of the Great Hunger, as it was known, was so profound that the walls that separated Ireland from Eire momentarily became permeable. Seizing their opportunity, many members of the Tuatha crossed over to the physical realm and followed the waves of emigrants to the new land called America. Danu could not bring herself to part from Eire, but those who did escape included:
The Dagda - god of the fertility, virility and the earth
Brigid – goddess of fire, poetry and wisdom; daughter to the Dagda
Oghma – god of strength, eloquence and knowledge; son to the Dagda and Brigid’s twin
Lugh – god of light and skill; grandson to the Dagda and high king of the Aos Si.
Macha – goddess of war and horses; born of the coupling of the Dagda and the Morrigan
Nemain – goddess of battle and crows; a twin to Macha
Aengus Og – god of love and youth; younget son of the Dagda
Manannan mac Lir – god of sea and storm; cousin to the Tuatha
Goibniu- god of smithcraft
Dian Cecht – god of healing
For the last century and a half, they have remained hidden, for agents of the Church of Rome still seek to quiet all who would rival her. But signs have been growing that the Fomorians have returned to the physical realm as well, and another great battle with them is brewing. To defeat them, it will be required to return to Eire and recover the four great treasures that were brought from Tir na nOg. But the Tuatha cannot accomplish that themselves. They need us, we who are half-human, to go where they cannot for them.
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