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mccoyquialisms · 2 months

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my fantasy high red-string-conspiracy-theory-board-of-the-main-mystery lore tracker (a long ass post) (because I love both mysteries AND organization of inconsequential information):

rough chronology of events:

In ages past there is a wedding attended in the Chaos Mountains by Sol and Galicaea of their sister the Witch Goddess to an unnamed giantkin god. This god is a summer god, sibling of the giant winter goddess Ruvina

Over centuries, the unnamed god's domain changes from the sun and summer to fire

This unnamed god is killed and their name was wiped from history. The other gods remember who this being is, but due to obliviati mori, cannot reference them directly to mortals. Red shatter stars appear around this time

850 years before present day, the Witch Goddess's name is erased by her followers (encouraged by followers of Galicaea) and she is transformed into the Nightmare King. Before she does she performs the 4 trans-substantiations to resist being "unmade". Her familiar Kalina becomes a plague and begins to spread through the mortal populace. These events likely happen after the death of her spouse, as there is no reference to a spouse when the Witch Goddess was previously mentioned

Roughly 4-6 years before modern day, the pit fiend Bakur attempts to resurrect his god, whose name was lost "so they could not be worshiped." The return of this god is felt to be a significant threat to the world. Lydia Barkrock and her adventuring party stop him by sealing Bakur in a red gem in Lydia's chest, where she keeps him imprisoned with her rage

The Ratgrinders, then called the High 5 Heroes, meet in freshman year and consist of Kipperlilly, Oisin, Mary Anne, Ruben, Ivy and Lucy.

They xp level up by killing rats, twig gremlins and other small magical creatures in the woods behind Aguefort

The events of freshman year happen and Kalvaxus is released. During prom, Ragh spots Jace Stardiamond talking to Arianwen. He is later "barbarian healed" by Porter and after this can see Kalina. Kalina finds Ragh later and threatens Lydia if he talks about what he's seen

Sophomore year spring break happens and the Nightmare King is transformed into the goddess now named Cassandra

At some point Lucy began to return to the woods after party sessions to revive the rats they killed. She did this long enough and with enough regularity that the rats remember her name/face well and think of her fondly

Paperwork is submitted for Lucy to change her god from Ruvina to a god whose name cannot be read, just before her disappearance. A few days later a second request is submitted to withdraw this change. Neither form was ever seen by Lucy's teacher Yolanda Badgood

Lucy was killed near Lake Shimmerstone by multiple assailants with both weapon and magical damage towards the end of sophomore year, in the period of weeks after grades were complete, but before summer break. The area has multiple uprooted trees, some of which were used to hide her body. Unholy rites were performed over her body to force her soul to the beyond, so she cannot be revived.

Lucy is reported as dead but her body was never found. She was described as "not alive in this material plane" via divination

Because of the timing of her death, her party was not moved to pass/fail as all grades for that year had already been submitted

Night Yorb and the long dark summer happens

Buddy Dawn, a cleric of Sol, is specifically requested by the Ratgrinders to be their new cleric for junior year

Also over the long dark summer, the Loam farmers are accused of embezzlement and the Frostyfair festival is moved from there to the Thistlesprings tree at the recommendation of Lola Embers. Sklonda Gukgak is assigned as the Loam couple's public defender

Kipperlilly finds or is found by the rogue teacher and has passed the whole of junior year

Junior year begins. On her first day, Kipperlilly questions Jawbone on where YES! was created

Kipperlily announces she is running for student body president and her primary platform is for uniform equity under the rules without "favoritism"

In the mall of the Synod, the event that kicks off the battle is Cassandra becomes angry hearing Kristen isn't coming to help find followers. She says "This isn't fair!" as a razor-sharp flickering star of red light emerges from her chest. 24-point, red shatter stars infect nearby wizards and turns them into rage-filled, violent, giant versions of themselves. The people taken over by the shatter stars are instructed by an unknown voice to attack Cassandra

Cassandra is able to be calmed by a high persuasion and when she does, she expels multiple shatter stars. She seems to recognize them and says "I thought you were dead.”

Before Kalina is taken over by the shatter stars, she looks to Riz and says "Ragh Barkrock". She then slits Cassandra's throat, triggering a new round of rage in Cassandra

Cassandra suffers multiple attacks and begins to transform into a giant, red raging version of herself and attempts to kill the party. Before she's successful, the gang are swept away in a time loop back to Spyre. The Bad Kids see the Synod is destroyed, and Kristen finds she has shards of Cassandra in her pocket

Kristen attempts to commune with Cassandra and hears a voice say "She is at my side once more." The voice then mocks Kristen with YES!'s body and then tells Kristen it is coming for her, and it will break her irrevocably.

Ivy sees Fig disguised as Lucy at the party at Seacastor Manor, and has an inscrutable reaction to it, but did not seem surprised

The cloud rider engine in Fabian's basement is broken and a piece is found missing

Kipperlily does the food truck event with the subliminal OK messaging on the packaging

Ruben Hopclap performs at FrostFaire when he is attacked by Principal Grix. Grix is eventually killed by Fabian. The Bad Kids determine Ruben was doing some kind of ritual with a song about anger above an arcano-tech array in a 24 point star pattern, successfully releasing a large amount of some type of magical energy.

Simultaneously, Yolanda Badgood is killed at Lake Shimmerstone by immense concussive force damage, and afterwards her body is expertly hidden. She is subjected to the same unholy last rites that Lucy was.

The Bad Kids find Lucy and Yolanda's bodies, and Kristen releases their souls, who travel to the beyond on a "trail of moonlight"

Sklonda's clients are found murdered

Mazey reveals that the Vice Principal (i.e. Jace) does not become the Principal, and it would be the student body president who becomes the new principal of Aguefort

additional info we can reasonably infer or that don't fit neatly in the timeline:

Buddy's grandparents, and likely Buddy himself, have a vested interest in his grandfather becoming the cleric teacher. He went to Aguefort and is familiar with the school. Presumably he wants this to be able to preach about Sol and spread his influence

At some point before her death, Yolanda told Jace about her concerns regarding Lucy's deity-transfer paperwork

Cassandra is not dead, but is "beyond reach"

Lucy and Yolanda were noted to be in "realms beyond", which Brennan specifically noted they were taken from and "whatever was happening there"

The Ratgrinders are gunning for the bad kids and seem to be orchestrating situations to try to get them to take drugs

Porter's philosophical discussion with Fig regarding the concept of protection and how that is often inextricably tied with rage, that one can act as a fuel for the other

Porter is a paladin of the ancestors, and at some point was mentioned to be a goliath, though this seems to be debated in canon. If true, it's possible he's a descendant of giants

Kristen bring's up Sol's wrath and Buddy does not refute this, agreeing Sol's wrath is a well known aspect of him and he has been quite angry because of the dark summer/night yorb situation

As above so below. What the gods do affect their mortal followers, but conversely, what the mortals who follow them do also affect the gods

A god can only come back from death in a place a god had been born or created, meaning Bakur's decision to try to revive his fallen god in the Red Waste was what doomed it to failure

Bakur's documents are written in the language of giants, and his deity is said to be from the same region as Ruvina. Combining this with Adaine’s research, and the “mitochondrial magic print”, Bakur’s god is Cassandra’s former spouse

The cloud rider piece was likely stolen by the Ratgrinders as Kipperlily asked Aelwyn to research schematics of the device

Kipperlily seems to be keeping information from some of the other Ratgrinders, telling Aelwyn she needs to "protect Oisin" from their shady deals

Kipperlily's mother works for the city treasury and her father is in real estate. Neither are super wealthy, but Kipperlilly has been paying Aelwyn large amounts of money to obtain arcane components. Given the timing of this with the disappearance of a large sum of money from the Frostyfair accounts, the timing of the murder of the people who were blamed for it, and that the new chosen location happens to be the home of one of the Ratgrinders rivals, the Ratgrinders involvement is thought to be likely

Cassandra's whispered clue of "spies, tongue, curse"

Places outside Spyre, like the Synod, are easier for dead gods to reach

For whatever the Ratgrinders have planned, a student being the principal of Aguefort is essential for it. A lot of people have had to be conveniently absent or dead for this circumstance to occur.

This is all not even touching Aguefort's whole journey through time and possible time quangle issue and whatever the fuck Fig's Bad Luck Thing is. I'm not convinced that these are related to the god stuff and are likely their own separate issues. also, I am tired lmao. If you want to hear my rambling theories, I'll be making a separate post.

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #fhjy #dropout #my musings #did i avoid all of my responsibilities after work today to write this? yeah.#do I feel bad about it? also yeah but it was still fun.#fantasy high meta

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rennybu · 3 months

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hi.... i'm just a poor boy . who does not know the loam lore. would you be willing to share.... a summary.... (so curious i am a loam enjoyer)

oh my gosh hi griff..! oh there is so much to tell... i will h ave no choice but to put this under a readmore. the shortest answer is that he is my character of 3+ years in @jawsandbones homebrew dnd campaign and he is like a son to me. but to start off with baby pictures:

LOAM was born 52 years ago in a city called TILDEN, which is blocked off overland by a CURSED* SWAMP that creeps closer every year.

*Misremembered and only Recently Re-Contextualized Major Historical event

His mom is a shy, worried, and loving woman named Bayla - she's a druid and sells medicinal mushrooms of all sorts. His dad is an unwaveringly positive (but incredibly serious) mason named Uttara who proudly works on all sorts of projects around the city, especially major infrastructure. Yay stoneworkers!

(Because fantasy lifespans are strange and somewhat silly to me I just imagine Firbolgs to be stuck in their mid-20s existential dread until they're like at least 150. The backstory part of this spans literally 51 of his 52 year s of life. he's so young)

He got equal enrichment from time spent in nature with his mom as from time spent in the city with his dad. His nickname in the Tilden Firbolg community To This Day is "Always With Questions" - a kind of affix to differentiate him from any other Loams. He may not know much but he really would like to find out, please!!!! He sees a lot of beauty in the natural world, but his idea of what's natural is skewed somewhat by the uh, Curse. He once fell through some algae into a deep body of water and had a very fun memento mori experience as a kiddo (beautiful golden sunbeam shining onto a silty skull)

He got the name Loam very young from his interest in both his parents' work, which lead to him learning about soil types and uses in gardening and construction aklfhglskg. Loam was important for both jobs so he (in guess-what-I-just-learned little kid fashion) told everyone who would listen about it. The association STUCK and he's Loam now :].

His birth name is actually Rahara! but that's secret knowledge only his bestest friends and Tzip and some scarycool important NPCs know.

He loves beasts and magic and plants so much. And on the flip side he also loves and is fascinated by architecture and engineering. He never got any like, higher academic schooling or whatever, but had many many different apprenticeship type training relationships from his parents, other tradespeople in the city, from the senior rangers etc etc.

Small break to plug @jawsandbones lore packets for the Quarter Cities (including Tilden), Scarabae, and the overall campaign setting!!!! I'm just gonna talk about stuff without adding too much context of my own because AAA WORD COUNT!!!

The hole in Loam's ear was brought about by a shit ass Tilden local trying to tear his earring off him, since he'd bought it from a foreign merchant from a city Tilden/the Quarter has historically warred with. Loam's always been open minded and deeply curious about other cities, due to how isolated the bog is. Any visiting merchants are sources of wonder!!!! Even though he only bought the one hoop earring from the Quietus merchants (Mirjam and Mihail, mother and son!), after the ice was broken he stayed by their stall the rest of the day and talked about all kinds of things, and befriended Mihail!

Loam trained as a ranger as soon as he was old enough to do so!!!! He saw it as the next logical step past what his parents would be able to show him and was incredibly eager to get hands-on experience in the wilds. He met his first ever boyfriend among his peers there!!! Bragi... he has had many lovers and situationships in Tilden since, BUT only recently feels comfortable trying monogamy again after meeting Tzipporah.

Bragi unfortunately died badly to a creature in a traumatic backstory incident that left young Loam super fucking bereft and hyper aware of how easy it is to die. (Big monster attack + group of trainee rangers accompanied by a few more senior rangers + chaos and bloodshed. Loam carried Bragi to safety and tried resuscitating him but he was already gone. The experience made him uncomfortable with the idea of being in a defined, monogamous intimate relationship for the next like. 19 years. He felt like he got ripped in half!)

After the ranger's guild recovers from THE CREATURE ATTACK, Loam meets his close friend, Reece, a fellow ranger and Kenku (she looks like a masked shrike)!!!

He gets his septum pierced by the same visiting merchants from Quietus a few years after Bragi's death. It's a very important moment for him, where it feels like he can finally start to let himself change and grow beyond that event. He also spends more and more time in the city, away from the more rural/overgrown districts, and chases a love for the arts and partying and people, where he meets Kallirhoe (human, not a even a classed bard but like. an indie musician. an eboy if high fantasy had eboys. a tattooed twinkish fellow. you know the type)! They are very good friends who also have sex. Many days spent waxing poetic about THE BIG WIDE WORLD and how they'll never get to see it. (Spoiler: He sees it)

Loam gets into tarot as a hobby, and makes his own deck in a very scribbly freehand style with ink and charcoal!!!! he's slowly replacing them with more Worldly artwork - the deck he left home with was very. Tildencore

Many good years of being a party girl who has to go work a construction job tomorrow and then go be a ranger at 6. A rich and storied life. AND THEN THE GAME TIMELINE STARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A path Through the bog has recently finished being built by Dagda, the Southern representative to the other Quarter Cities, making more trade possible overland, and making local tensions go even crazier. Also there are strange Awful Huge Scary Monsters appearing WORLDWIDE, so the Directions and the Three Kings of Scarabae and the remote island of Geest (ADRA'S HOME!) and the mysterious magical Widow's Wood are all like "STOP WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RN". Trials are held in the Western city of Dina to appoint FOUR TEAMS OF FOUR to help defend against the new threat. Loam is like. Well I've gotta fucking do that. I've got to try. If I'm not chosen, at least I've set foot outside. He has a fight with his mom about this, because she is terrified she will lose him, like she lost her mother in a previous conflict when Scarabae was occupying the Quarter, before Loam was born. He stands firm and his dad has his back, and ultimately he leaves with both their blessings, but his dismissal of his mom's feelings weighs heavy on him the longer he's away from home. (He has a big cry and reconciliation about this when he is next able to come home.)

I'm clapping and cheering and skipping joyfully because now he HAS MET HIS BESTEST, DEAREST, CLOSEST FRIENDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD: ADRA ILSA AND TALEE!!!!!!! I have to be so careful now because we have no joke hundreds of pages of notes. I cannot read that shit on google docs mobile app. We are approaching session one hundred and fifty of this game. They love each other so fucking much. THEY ARE THE INFORMATION GATHERERS!!! A PARTY OF SLEUTHS!!!

He also has his meet-cute with Tzipporah at the trials, which in hindsight is hilarious, because of the whole, "Tzipporah was sent to the trials as a spy (by the very people responsible for the giant awful monster crisis) and immediately pegged Loam for an easy mark to get information from" thing. And he was 100% correct. But a lot has to happen before that gets revealed. They took a nice night walk and write each other big long letters. And Loam tells him soooooo much <3

At one point while exploring a wizard tower he attunes to a lightly cursed ring and forgets what his parents look like, like their likenesses are Gone from past and recent memory. Which is a big thorn of homesickness that he writes to them about. He has a big cry and stares at them both for a LONG time when he next sees them.

Also they save an orphaned Kenku from some bandits and now Loam has a little shoulder-sniper named Bubby. We have a son. A perfect little crow son who is really good at killing, with arrows. He hides things in Loam's hood regularly

Other major things include ummm umm Loam's TWO deaths, one during a dungeon-rescue type scenario in a room that was Flooding and full of Phantoms and also a charmed Druid (Feyan, good friends now) wildshaped into a big scary water snake. He was hurt bad and (comedically) levitated so he wouldn't DROWN but then got Phantom Speared right through the torso. Second one was because Tzip's evil half brother Vences was like, mad at him for being a good influence on Tzipporah and interfering with the spy duties. Chill touch so no healing + dagger in the ribs! Ow. Also the reveal that Tzip was a spy was happening like, simultaneously here so we were yowling and screaming. (Well. Talee and Co had their long time hunches about this. Loam and I had turned a beautiful blind eye to all suspicious activity)

ANYWAY HIS DEATH SCARS LOOK LIKE A COMET ABOVE HIS BELLY!!!! The spear scar made a patch of his fur turn white (front and back), and the dagger scar is its crude tail!

I am skipping over so many plot revelations i. This is just the Loam Cut. and it's not even all of it.

His buzzcut was for emotional superstitious reasons!!! He cut it after Death 2 and Tzipporah getting taken against his will back into Evil Gang. Loam's mom has a lock of his hair at home now. ALL THIS TO SAY TZIP IS OKAY, NO LONGER SPYING, WE RESCUED HIM AND RIPPED A MASK OFF HIM AND SAVED HIM FROM GETTING HIS MIND EXCAVATED ! SO LOAM IS GROWING HIS HAIR OUT AGAIN!

The deaths of his close friends and their allies have also been. insane for him to process. To return someone to life in this setting u need to like. entreat a Titan. plead on the deceased's behalf and offer something up for the chance to revive them. (NO player spells like revivify. house rule) So interacting with these entities he sees as like Both forces of the natural world AND of huge religious/cultural importance regionally. And to have their requests be HEARD? He loves magic he loves Titans. And the plot is unfolding in such a way that scares me so bad. He loves his titan (The Curious Spear) SOOOO MUCH he has like the foundational belief that it can see through his eyes. Even if not true it motivates him to always seek understanding of strange new things.

Oh my god I didn't even talk about his multiclass into druid. He's a druid also. Circle of the Stars!! As a navigational point. He loves them. He loves space. He loves geography and regional interpretations of constellations. He used to just do freehand observations but truly became dedicated to charting the skies of every place the party travels to, after Tzipporah gifted him a grid-lined journal <3 <3 <3 STARRY FORM!!!!!!

His awe and inspiration and hunger for knowledge is the well he draws magical power from. My Boy is thematically bound up in the soggiest parts of this earth and also the unknowably distant stars above and I'm normal about it (lie) (There is a new and scary Third Thing rising which is the space between. I <3 Void). I know i draw him beige and green but his like, character colour theme is. Dusk to me. Gloaming. When the world is lit like a dream <3

In summary. In conclusion. He and Adra and Ilsa and Talee (and the rest of the Four of Four) are trying to prevent Global Disaster of an existential scale never before seen and are being very brave about it.

Loam wants to understand everything about Everything. Because understanding is love. Unfortunately there are hostile resentful and vengeful forces making this hard to do. Most recently by saving a city we Unmade a magically sustained centuries-old library. And we haven't had time to like fully let that sink in. Because of the horrors of war and being Four of Four means responding to emergencies and protecting cities as best we can against a foe that was forgotten by history until like, 10 months ago. Less, even. I hope this is anything. I hope u are his friend now too because he is yours

good lord how could i forget. His gender is male in such a way that he does not give a shit about it. He's one of the girls. He's genderless. Like a knight. His sense of identity is built on Living Laughing and Loving.

his personal goals are 1. to uncurse the bog in such a way that the wrongs committed by Tilden historically are brought to light and righted, 2. to get super married to Tzipporah and build a house together, and 3. to somehow, eventually, through great teamwork and effort, cure(?) the dreadful lingering soul plague on the island of demeter. HUMBLE! OH and to make a finished star chart covering the entire planet. humble.

thank u for reading here are his current stats

#titan campaign #loam #aart #theres some secret goodies under the readmore btw #IM SOOOOOO SORRY FOR THE CHAOTIC FORMATTING AND HOW MUCH I JUMP AROUND #i will happily answer more questions. and i wont take months to respond i promi #GRIFF... THANK YOU SM

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anerea-lantiria · 8 months

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"We are the sum of the parts of the world"

The Edain creation myth in Atanatárissë by @eilinelsghost is so inspiring! Here's my rendering of the page she describes from Beor's book of lore, an heirloom handed down through the generations from second child to second child. Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to this fic!

In the beginning of time there was the Dark. Within the Dark dwelt Melishk, the goddess of earth. And within the Dark dwelt Guënid, the god of water. Long they danced in the time ere forms were bound, long they wound together in the shapeless mingling. Each pressed into each, seeking ever to lessen the substance wherein they lay separate from the other, until from their union was wrought clay, there amid the timeless spheres.

Thence from the clay of their unity were wrought six forms, limbed and visaged in the fashion of Men. Then Melishk said to Guënid, “Now let us call forth our sisters to aid us, now let us summon hence our brothers for succor. Let us make within the dark a habitation, that these figures we have shaped may be filled with our breath and live, that within them we might dwell forever as one. From earth and from water have they been ordered, from earth and from water have they been formed, and within them shall earth and water walk ever in the bond of unity.” Then Melishk set forth hills rising up from the soil, upon its face she smoothed valleys and fields. And Guënid swiftly did follow her there: to the heights where he rushed down in torrents; to the valleys in sluggish, wide calm; to the fields where his tendrils spread through her loam.

At that time Fon rose up from his slumber and fire came forth within the world. He passed over hill and field and vale, till he stood beside the gods of water and earth and looked on the work of their mingling. Heat he gave unto the six waiting figures before him and receiving such, their clay limbs eased into flesh. Then Luftu soared through the timeless spheres and with the wind of her presence she laid breath within them. Iuthap awakened too at the call of her sister and illuminated the bare world about them. She set her lips to the face of each figure and sight came into their eyes. Then she leapt laughing into the firmament to take up once more the gods’ dance in the sky. At the last, Satheweis arose from the silence and his singing followed Iuthap’s dance through the air. He brushed his lips across each waiting mouth and at once speech came forth from their tongues. Thus were our people born from the Darkness, our tale called up from the Silence. Remember its measure and call out its rhythm: We are the sum of the parts of the world. We are the meeting of earth and of water. We are the fire and light. Ours, the song of the Dark.

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thefirstknife · 8 months

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do you have an interpretation of the Tessellation lore? more references to Unveiling have me Charlie Kelly-ing this with the Witness origin cutscene and other things we know about the Gardener & Winnower

I currently don't! It's a really interesting lore tab. Maybe it requires some extra context from TFS and the space we're going to. For example, the flavour text references a "monolith" which is also the same name used in the showcase for the Witness' big castle in the Pale Heart location:

The monolith is hewn; the monument is built.

It absolutely has throwbacks to Unveiling, but I feel like there's some differences in the tone of it here. Hard to say, as the Witness is known to be able to switch the tone it uses.

Once, nothing became something. There was a game of possibilities. Patterns emerged that could—would—flourish or fail, wax or wane. And in the gaps between, there was nothing.

Either way, this is a clear reference to Unveiling, specifically the bit about the game of possibilities and patterns.

I also felt like this part might be referring to the Witness cutscene and its people:

There were a people of potential and promise, of galvanizing growth. By their tools, their grand intention, the happenstance alignment of infinite years and atoms were as sculptor's clay, that which becomes the finest of statuary. Purpose carved from meaninglessness; the chance generation of the universe crafted into beauty, intentionality. That which served no reason ceased, randomness elided by the sculptor's art.

This part is strange though:

All that dies is only ever transformed, abscised and swallowed by wilderness, returned to infinite metamorphosis. To excise from that rich loam of transformation requires no less than perfect certainty.

To frame death as a transformation is not something I would expect from the Witness. After all, the entirety of Unveiling and the sword logic and everything the Witness represents is about the right to exist and how those that die never earned their right to that existence, and are therefore irrelevant. To suggest that their deaths had meaning through transformation in the grand scheme of things is odd.

The ending sentence is also really interesting:

Here is the secret: a ploughshare and a sword have never truly differed.

This puzzled me until I googled and found that there's a phrase about this:

Swords to ploughshares (or plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications.

Now it still puzzles me, but knowing that this is a phrase makes things a bit less strange to me. I just don't know from which side to read that statement; is the statement in the lore tab meant to tell us that no matter how much we want a sword to be used as a ploughshare, it will always remain a sword (a weapon for killing)? That no matter how much we work on transformation and change, things will always stay exactly as their original single-minded purpose?

Very intriguing! Looking forward to seeing other interpretations and possible context later in TFS!

#destiny 2 #destiny 2 spoilers #the final shape #the final shape spoilers #tessellation #unveiling #ask

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mareenavee · 7 months

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This Had Once Been Called Peace

Hello everyone <3 I've been BUSY BUSY writing lol. This was a prompt fill for an event, and this was a mod challenge. @paraparadigm threw me this:

The Prompt:

An encounter between two entities that defies the parameters of each entity's understanding and fails in the translation; written in omniscient or loose 3rd person limited (american transparent, to use Neil Gaiman's term) => cannot be tight third or first person or second person.

And I came up with an AU where my OC, Eris Oreyn, does not wake up from a stasis Falion placed him under in a time of chaos. :> It was fun working with this weird voicing and developing a lore character as well. I hope you enjoy! It's a bit shippy. :>

~*~

This Had Once Been Called Peace

Eris had been sleeping for time now out of mind, not that he had bothered to count the hours, days, weeks. Even years, if he’d been that unlucky—and he likely was. He remembered a stretch of sunlight before this, its light searing into his skin and burning his one good eye before the mists of Morthal kept him hidden and kept the hunger at bay. Though he was not awake, he was prone to wandering, but if you asked him, he would not be able to explain how. Or further—why. Only that he’d felt a kind of severing from himself, and all that had plagued him in the time before was left behind in his coffin.

He would rather have decomposed and become part of the loam under the banks of fog and mess of swamp water. Only, that had ceased to be an option long ago. That was the burden of running; one never could stay in place long enough to procure a potion to cure the diseases one picked up from fighting vermin. Or see a healer. A priest. Anything. At the moment, his hunger was gone, and that was something.

When he was freed from the prison of his blood-starved body, he wandered, the world shifting beneath his feet to become less and less recognizable. It was as if the realm was trying to become that which he would normally be terrified of—but the stasis had pulled fear from him, too. The nightmares had, at first, been of tearing flesh from bone, of skin and veins split wide open, blood running in rivulets, his own hands unrecognizable under vast amounts of viscera. Eris supposed that was the way of things, vampires being what they are, and after a time, even this ceased to affect him. After that, he stood idly by and watched a thousand iterations of Nyenna’s death. Oddly, mostly these ended in dragonfire. He was not sure why, but could not muster the energy to enquire. Nor could he figure out exactly who to ask.

The answer to that question came after he had wandered far enough away that he could not quite find his way back to his body. Not that he wanted to return—it simply seemed the thing to do. -> Read the rest on AO3.

#MareenaWrites #If Only Time Changed Its Mind #Dragonborn and Far-Star Marked #The World on Our Shoulders #Nyenna #Eris #Eris Oreyn #Vaermina #Daedra #Vaermina is a Duality Goddess #tes #tesblr #skyrim #skyrim fic #elder scrolls #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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teslacoils-and-hubris · 8 months

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Guess who caught the dreded back to school flu despite still masking because no one else is?? This guyyyyy

Anyways I'm dying and i would very much appreciate if anyone felt like tossing me an ask while I wait for my cough medicine to kick in and knock me out

Send me an ask about anything, oc questions, loam lore stuff, tf2 funnies or mad science stuff. Horror movie recs would also be appreciated if anyone has some to throw at me

#doc rambles #blarg

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theunwellkingdom · 4 months

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Lore Spotlight #1: Meet Our Heroes

Six strangers awakened in a dungeon cell...

Five years ago, our D&D campaign began! Learn a bit about each of the eight player characters at the forefront of our epic tale, featuring their own hand-drawn art!

Garp Garp, Goblin Bard

Played/Illustrated by Juston - he/him (uppermindink on Instagram)

Garp Garp abandoned his goblin clan when he heard the beautiful music of the Blue-Haired Bard. She taught him the power of thrash before mysteriously vanishing! Now, he uses that power to protect his friends with the help of his flaming familiar, the Level Skull! He's also dabbled into darker magic and proclaimed himself Lord of Bones!

Fable, Catfolk Cleric

Played/Illustrated by Larissa - she/her (royallydivine on Instagram)

Fable is a sweet and caring catfolk with a sneaky trickster side! She hails from the distant kingdom of Eldoris, and is constantly appalled by the terrible things that happen here in Lyrea. She calls upon the cat goddess Xalyn to bring light and healing to this unwell kingdom!

Mishka, Tiefling Fighter

Played/Illustrated by Kelsey - she/her (@kelseesi)

Mishka was once a member of the Royal Guard, but was cynical, restless, and unfulfilled. Adventure was exactly what she needed, and she thrives in the chaos of this group! Even when she ran into a trap and lost an arm, she simply kept the limb to wield as a grotesque weapon, even getting it enchanted and modified for maximum damage!

Eventually, Mishka found a calling where she least expected – training meek wizards of the Unseen Library into adept battle mages. She stayed with them after they were displaced, to help rebuild.

Gin, Human Monk

Played/Illustrated by Boon - he/him

Gin is an enigma, a wandering drunken monk who is either two steps ahead or three steps to the side. For instance, he's the only member of the original party who wasn't kidnapped... he saw the others being taken and simply hopped along for the ride, to see if he could help. He is fiercely protective of his friends, especially Garp Garp, and will make demonic pacts to prove it! He's also an avant garde brewmaster, for anyone daring enough to try his mixes.

Tourmaline, Genasi Blood Hunter

Played by quinn - they/them (quinnntastic_ on Twitter)

Tourmaline began her journey as a sweet, naïve, young genasi (an elemental daughter of human and genie) who was abandoned by her birth parents and raised by two loving dwarves. However, she quickly fell into bad company and was tricked into drinking the blood of villain Ans Fleurellian. This changed her into a blood hunter, able to pay life for power, and set her on a heavy path of learning the world's hard truths.

Tourmie was whisked away to the Indigo, a mysterious realm of the dead, but while her time traveling with the party may have come to an end, her story is far from over!

Lani, Aasimar Rogue

Played by Riley - they/them (@ratbrick)

Lani grew up in the seedy streets of Crestfall, along with a tight-knit group of other orphans. She's an aasimar, chosen for protection by a divine guardian... but hers was nowhere to be found. Her time with the party was the shortest, as her loyalties stayed with the orphans, but any time our story returns to Crestfall, she remains a stalwart ally.

Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way. We had to write a few characters out of the party over the years, but that was also a chance to meet some new faces!

Olly, Gnome Wizard

Played/Illustrated by Vi - they/them (vidraws on Twitter)

Olly spent most of his life studying magic at the Unseen Library, before the Grand Council sent him out to join our heroes and spy on them! He did this, reluctantly, but his travels opened his eyes to where his allegience should truly lie. By the time the party made it to the Library all together, Olly was ready to fight alongside them to the bitter end!

Kornaan, the Cobbler

Played/Illustrated by Zack - he/him (me!)

Kornaan was a half-orc cobbler in the sleepy port town of Loam who marveled at the wondrous tales from adventurers who came to repair their boots as they were passing through. He was inspired, and set off to become an adventurer himself!

Since I'm the one running the campaign, Kornaan serves as a blend of player character and NPC. He travels with the party and offers help, but he'll always take a backseat when it comes time to solve problems (sometimes I even use him to create new ones when needed!). Nevertheless, his arc over the years has brought him from bumbling wannabe to real adventurer!

#uwk #the unwell kingdom #mtg #homebrew #devlog #lore spotlight #ocs #garp garp #fable #mishka #gin #tourmaline #lani #olly #kornaan

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soryualeksi · 3 months

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Made new fort in new world (to try out a few really cool mods for plants and dyes lmao), put it north of the northern-most (is that a word) place that currently exists. We have glaciers and snow all year round, also sometimes a yeti?? comes by.

Our fort doesn't attract any migrants in any season. We're in our year two and had the reo (?) pre-programmed migrant waves and then nothing.

However.

We get a CONSTANT stream of bards, poets, and performance troupes? I'm talking "like every week" constant??

A lot of them petition for residency???

So half of my glacier fort is now performers????

My apparently famous tavern (The Tin Sugars) might I add, is still a few squares stomped into the Sandy Loam layer because we have ALL the aquifiers immediately under the dirt and digging goes SLOW. We have two tables and chairs from chestnut. We have one chest. Also from chestnut.

I'm rolling with it, in particular because visitors seem to spike in the even-colder months, and now my lore is that people are just SO happy to find a warm place in the frozen Wilderness (it's Wilderness, yay, we have Giant Elks and Giant Grackles) that they're go, "I'm NEVER LEAVING AGAIN".

Now let's just hope the naked goblins start picking up some clothes if I make them in their size.

(Also a Giant Grackle just "grabbed" one of the human poets "by the upper front teeth" with a wing. Huh.)

#playing df to not entirely use my mind to despair lol #dwarf fortress #i don't even know what a grackle is I'll need to look it up

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ideas-on-paper · 9 months

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Celtic seasonal festivals - Part 3: Lughnasadh

Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 4

Hello everyone! It's August 1st, which means it's once again time for another issue of our series on Celtic seasonal festivals. Today, we will take a look at the origins, rituals, and surviving customs of Lughnasadh - one of the less known, but no less significant festivals.

General/Etymology

Lughnasadh, pronounced loo-NAH-sah (alternatively called Lughnasa/Lúnasa), is one of the Celtic seasonal/"fire" festivals that marked the beginning of the harvest season, traditionally being held on August 1st. (Although due to the lunar calendar of the Celts, the date might have been movable.) It took place when the first fruits of the year were ready for harvest, celebrating and thanking the earth for the bounty it had given to mankind.

Back in ancient times, the last days of July were trying time for farmers, since the crops from the previous year were already done and the new ones not yet ripe. Thus, it would make sense for the advent of the harvesting period to be considered an appropriate time for celebrations of joy and thanksgiving. This suggests a great focus on arable farming in Celtic culture, which is supported by historical evidence: In fact, the Celts were the first people to significantly change Europe's landscape from the Atlantic coast all the way to the Black Sea, turning primeval forests into a cultivated landscape of fields, farmsteads, and settlements. This was in no small part due to their ability to process iron, which was used for a multitude of agricultural tools such as axes, scythes, and sickles, allowing them to work the land with ease.

The main crops cultivated by the Ancient Celts were emmer (depicted above), spelt, einkorn wheat, millet, and barley; aside from food, the latter was also used for the production of beer (Source)

However, the most ingenious, revolutionary invention of the Celtic farmers was the iron plowshare: Celtic plows were the first ones to have a mobile coulter, with a sharp knife making a vertical cut while the share simultaneously did a horizontal cut, turning over the soil. This meant that the Celts didn't have to plow their fields twice, like other ancient peoples who still used wooden plows. Thanks to this and various other inventions - like sealable underground pits to keep the corn fresh and a kind of manure made from dung and chalk/loam - the Celts were able to achieve more successes in agriculture than any other people of the Iron Age. Not even the Roman plows of this period, which could only carve furrows into the soil, were comparable to those of the Celts.

It has been suggested that the Gaulish Celts referred to Lughnasadh as Aedrinia, derived from the name of the month Edrinios (possibly meaning "end of the heat", with heat being synonymous to aéd/fire) found in the Coligny Calendar. An alternate, older Irish term for the festival was Brón Trogain, which can be translated as "Earth's sorrow" (brón meaning sorrow/lamentation/burden, and trogain earth/autumn). Since the word trogan is also associated with the pain during childbirth in an Irish imprecation, the name can be seen as a metaphor for the grain "dying" to "give life to the people". On the other hand, trogain might also be translated as "(female) raven", which is known to be the companion animal of the god Lugh. In Irish mythology, Lugh is the god of justice, kingship, the art of war, and master craftsmanship, as well as the namesake of Lughnasadh. The Old Irish name for the festival, Lugnasad, is a combination of Lug - a variant spelling of Lugh - and the word násad, meaning "festival" or "assembly". Thus, Lughnasadh can be translated as "feast of Lugh"/"Lugh's feast". However, as we will soon see, a large part of the festivities were actually not in honor of Lugh, but his mother, Tailtiu.

Ancient Customs and Rites

Supposedly, Lughnasadh was introduced by Lugh as a funeral celebration for his mother Tailtiu. According to Irish lore, Tailtiu was the wife of Eochaid mac Eirc, the last High King of the Fir Bolg to rule over Ireland. However, upon the invasion of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Fir Bolg were defeated and expelled from their homeland, with King Eochaid mac Eirc being among the casualties. However, Tailtiu survived the death of her husband and the Tuatha Dé Dananns' ascension to power, living on to become the foster mother of Lugh, the illegitimate son of the hero Cian and Ethniu, daughter of the demonic Fomorian leader Balor. Being a kind and hardworking soul, Tailtiu worked tirelessly to improve the living conditions of the people, cutting down forests and clearing the plains of Ireland so they could be used for agriculture. Eventually, however, her endeavors took their toll, and on August 1st, she passed away from exhaustion at Teltown. To commemorate her kindness and everything she had done for the Irish people, Lugh decided to declare the first of August as the time of the yearly mourning festivities for Tailtiu, his foster mother whom he loved so dearly.

From this, we can make various conclusions regarding the symbolic meaning of these myths: Scholars have proposed that Tailtiu may have originally been an Irish earth goddess, being the embodiment of dying vegetation/weed that serves to feed mankind. Furthermore, as Irish folklorist Máire MacNeill observed in her studies, the struggle for a goddess is also a theme present in various rituals of Lughnasadh: Usually, there is a conflict between two gods - one of them being identified as Lugh, while the other is believed to be a figure named Crom Cruach/Crom Dubh - who sometimes fight over a woman called Eithne, who has been theorized to be an ancient earth goddess representing the grain. The roles of the gods may also hint at their original function: In the folkloric context, Crom Cruach is the one to guard the grain as his treasure, not willing to give it up to Lugh who aims to seize it for mankind. This might be a remnant of Crom Cruach's original status as a chthonic deity, since gods and goddesses of the underworld were also thought to be responsible for fertility and growth in ancient times. There are also various surviving legends that associate Crom with a bull, intend on using the animal to sow discord and wreak havoc (sometimes, he turns into a bull himself to battle his adversary). However, they always end in Crom's defeat, with the bull often being sacrificed, consumed, and finally resurrected, which may be related to ancient practices of bull sacrifice. (There are various standing stones called "bull stones" in Ireland which are identified with Crom Cruach, and since human and cattle bones were found in stone circles such as the one at Grange, it is suspected that these places were ancient sacrificial sites.) Lastly, Lugh is also credited Lugh with triumphing over the personification of blight, which can be traced back to the myth of him killing his demonic grandfather Balor. Said to possess a single giant, havoc-wreaking eye, Balor is believed to represent the scorching summer sun as well as drought and blight, being defeated in battle by Lugh who blinds him with a slingshot.

Tailtiu by Wendy Andrew (left) and her foster son Lugh by Ire (right); Tailtiu is depicted with typical symbols of harvest (cornucopia, cow horns) as well as the image of a snake on her dress, an animal associated with healing in Celtic mythology; Lugh shares various characteristics with both the Greek Mercury and the Norse Odin, which can be seen in the attributes he is depicted with (winged sandals/winged helmet for Mercury; spear and raven for Odin)

Although we will most likely never know for sure what the ancient festival looked like, we can reconstruct its rituals from surviving customs and accounts from Irish literature. In a 15th-century version of Tochmarc Emire, one of the earliest mentions of the festival, Lughnasadh is said to commemorate the god Lugh's wedding feast, while in other texts, the origin is either attributed to the mourning of Lugh's wife Nás and her sister Buí, or the funeral games Lugh held in honor of Tailtiu. These games were known as Óenach Tailten (or Áenach Tailten) and were organized each year at Teltown in the Kingdom of Meath. It's estimated they lasted for about two weeks, and like all other customs associated with Celtic seasonal festivals, the ceremonies most likely began on the eve of August 1st. Fitting for an obsequy, it started off with a ceremony to honor the people who had passed during the year, which could take from one to three days. The guests would chant funeral songs known as Guba, followed up by the druids' Cepógs, improvised songs in memory of the dead. As a final act, the deceased would be burned on a gigantic funeral pyre. Afterwards, a universal truce would be declared by the Ollamh Érenn, the chief of bards and poets in Ireland who held a status comparable to that of a High King. Medieval sources confirm that all kings attending the óenach would agree to a ceasefire for the duration of the festival, and any violation of it was considered highly disgraceful. In addition, the occasion was also used as an opportunity to proclaim laws, settle legal disputes, and drawing up new contracts, which was achieved with the help of bards and druids acting as mediators between the rulers and the common people. Once the negotiations were over, yet another massive fire was ignited, signaling that the joyous celebrations following the funeral rites were about to begin: the Tailteann Games.

The nature of these games was very similar to that of the Ancient Olympic Games, featuring a variety of contests in disciplines such as running, hurling, high and long jumping, archery, spear throwing, as well as martial arts competitions in swordfighting, wrestling, and boxing. Swimming contests were held in artificial lakes specifically constructed for this purpose at Teltown, and horse and chariot races were extremely popular among the people (a structure strongly resembling Greek and Roman horse racetracks has also been found near the Heuneburg, a Celtic dig site in Germany dating back to the 6th century BC; this would make it the oldest preserved hippodrome in the world, as well as suggest a high significance of horse racing in Celtic culture). However, the games were not limited to shows of physical prowess: There were contests where participants had to prove their skill in singing, dancing, storytelling and Fidchell (a type of strategic board game), along with competitions to determine the greatest master goldsmiths, jewelers, weavers, and armorers. Aside from enjoying these various entertainments, many guests would also bring goods to exchange and trade them with other people. However, the character of these festivities was not really commercial - rather, the Óenach Tailten were a purely social event, meant to show off the manifold talents of their attendants as well as celebrate community and strengthen social bonds.

Due to this, the gathering was also believed to be an excellent time for matchmaking. We know that in Ireland, Scotland, and the Orkney Isles, trial marriages were a very typical Lughnasadh custom, which would be conducted by a young couple joining hands through a hole in a wooden door (this ritual known as "handfastening" has also become associated with Beltane in modern paganism, although there is no historic basis for this). These trial marriages lasted a year and a day, during which the youths were able to decide whether they wanted to spend their lives together. If the pair did happen to like each other, the marriage would be made formal after the period of time had expired - if not, the engagement would simply be annulled without consequences, and any children that resulted from the union would still be counted among the father's legal heirs.

Meanwhile, in Kildare, people celebrated the Óenach Carmain instead, which was held in honor of the goddess Carman (or Carmun). Scholars believe she may have once been a goddess similar to Tailtiu, although Irish mythology depicts her not as a native of Ireland, but as an invader who came from Athens during the times of the Tuatha Dé Danann. (It's interesting to note that her land of origin is specifically stated as Greece, especially since the Panathenaic Games in Athens share some similarities with the Celtic óenach; this gives room for the consideration that she might have been an import goddess who was villainized later on.) The Óenach Carmain seems to have been a little more focused on agriculture and commerce, featuring markets for food, livestock, and foreign trade.

Aside from the glorious óenach in the cities, it can be surmised there were also some more rural Lughnasadh traditions, varying depending on the locality. We have accounts that cattle was blessed on the eve of Lughnasadh, and that charms would be made for both the livestock and milking equipment which were supposed to last a year. (This is very similar to certain Beltane customs, which were also meant to bring good luck and ensure a plentiful supply of milk throughout the year.) Cows would be milked in the morning, with the milk being collected to be later drunk during a feast. In addition, people would go out to gather bilberries which were also an important part of the festive buffet, and if there were lots of bilberries, it was said that the harvest would be plentiful as well. Special dishes that represented the harvest would be prepared, such as porridge and bread, often including fresh seasonal fruits. In the Scottish Highlands, an oatcake called lunastain would be baked, which is believed to have its origins as a sacrificial offering. It was also tradition to bake a bread from the newly harvested grain, made with a baker's peel of rowan or another sacred type of wood. This bread would be served to the head of the household, who would eat it and then walk sunwise around the cooking fire while chanting a blessing prayer. Finally, everyone would have a communal meal of the freshly harvested foods.

Enjoying a loaf made from the first grain was one of the most common Lughnasadh traditions (Source)

However, there were also rituals that had a more religious, sacred aspect: On Lughnasadh, a variety of ritual dance plays would be re-enacted, usually centering around the god Lugh and his heroic deeds. For example, one play told about Lugh's and Crom Cruach's battle for Eithne, while another revolved around Lugh imprisoning the monster of blight and famine, saving the harvest and seizing it for mankind. In addition, a large, carved stone head was often placed on top of a hill, most likely representing Crom Cruach, after which an actor playing Lugh would symbolically triumph over it.

The sacrifice of a sacred bull was also an integral part of the festivities, followed by people feasting on its flesh as well as some sort of ceremony involving its hide. (According to Irish lore, sleeping in the hide of a sacrificed bull was a common rite of divination among druids, particularly when it came to determining the successor to the title of High King.) Eventually, the ritual was concluded by the bull's symbolic replacement with a younger one, which was most likely meant to represent its resurrection. Since Lughnasadh was the time when the first corn would be cut, there was also an offering of the First Fruits of the year, with the first sheaf of weed being brought to an elevated place where it was buried as a sacrifice to a deity (this indicates the deity was chthonic in nature, since the dwelling of chthonic gods was believed to be beneath the earth). Sometimes, people would also adorn themselves with flowers while ascending the hill, which would then be buried at the summit to signify that summer was ending.

In fact, many Lughnasadh customs took place on mountains or hills. Beginning after sunset, people would make pilgrimages to mounts such as Knocknadobar, Drung Hill, Mount Brandon, Slievecallan, Slieve Donard, Church Mountain, and Croagh Patrick (which was known as Cruachán Aigle back in the day). On many of these mountains, megalithic monuments and stone tombs, so-called cairns, were found, confirming that they have been of high cultural significance for a very long time (in close proximity to Croagh Patrick, archaeologists even discovered remains of a Bronze Age hillfort, dating back to the 8th century BC). People probably came to these remote places to remember their ancestors, and it can be assumed that spiritual ceremonies were performed at the old graves. Also, many hills had a holy well located on top of them, and just like on Imbolc and Beltane, visiting holy wells (colloquially called "clootie wells") was a very common custom on Lughnasadh. Visitors would pray for health while walking sunwise around the well, typically leaving an offering in the form of coins and "clooties" - small pieces of cloth or fabric that would be dipped in the well water and then hung on a nearby tree. Furthermore, the wells were often decorated with flowers to add to the solemn atmosphere.

However, the hilltop gatherings also had a more secular side: In many ways, they were like a smaller version of the óenach, with sporting competitions in weight-throwing, hurling, and horse racing. The tradition of a mock faction fight has also been recorded, involving two groups of young men who would have a contest in bataireacht, a type of Irish martial art that included fighting with sticks called shillelagh. From Scotland, we know of a competition between groups of youths who each built a tower of sods with a flag on top, trying to sabotage the towers of their rivals for a number of days before finally meeting "in battle" at Lughnasadh. Aside from this, various other games were also played at the gatherings, and there was a general merry atmosphere. People would feast, drink, tell stories and dance to folk music, with the typical matchmaking customs also being present. Some of these open-air gatherings also featured bonfires, although they were pretty rare and held less significance than those of Beltane. The celebrations and festivities lasted three days in total, usually being overseen by a chosen representative of the god Lugh. Once the festival came to a close, there would be a ceremony to indicate that the interregnum was over, and the chief god back in his rightful place.

Finally, same as with the other seasonal festivals, there were certain superstitions associated with Lughnasadh, particularly in regard to the weather. The beginning of August was seen as a good time for weather divination, and predictions seem to have been based on atmospheric conditions at Lughnasadh. For example, a thunderstorm with rain and lighting was believed to indicate good growing weather, due to the warm air needed for the storm to form. (In Irish lore, thunder and lightning are associated with the god Lugh, and the sparks produced are believed to stem from his grandfather Balor whom he slayed.) However, since the weather around Lughnasadh was generally very unstable and torrential rain was no rarity, it was all the more important to harvest the corn quickly, as it could otherwise be spoiled by floods. In fact, these heavy torrents were so typical of this period of the year that they became later known as "Lammas floods" in several proverbs (Lammas being the Christian equivalent of Lughnasadh). Furthermore, there are sayings such as "August needs the dew as much as men need bread" and "After Lammas, corn ripens as much by night as by day", indicating that the abundant moisture was essential to the ripening process of crops.

Garland Sunday and the legend of St. Patrick and Crom Dubh

After the 9th century, the Óenach Tailten were only held irregularly, and in the wake of the Norman invasion of Ireland, the custom died out completely. Still, many traditions associated with Lughnasadh survived the decline of the ceremonial games. With the advent of Christianity in Ireland, many of them were recast as Christian rites: For example, the custom of climbing mounts and hills on Lughnasadh stayed alive in the shape of Christian pilgrimage routes, the most prominent being the ascension of Croagh Patrick. (According to folklore, Croagh Patrick is the place where Ireland's patron saint, Saint Patrick, fasted for 40 days, chasing away a flock of demonic birds that attacked him on the mountain with his bell; in other versions, it's said he banished all snakes from the island, which have been theorized to stand symbolically for pagan gods.)

Traditionally, the festival of Lughnasadh took place on August 1st, but over the course of the centuries, all festivities and gatherings have been moved to the Sunday nearest to it (either the last Sunday of July or the first Sunday of August). This might have been influenced by the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, as well as the Christian custom that Sunday was a day off work anyway - thus, it was naturally more suited for large assemblies. Yet another factor may have been that the harvest season was a very busy time for farmers, and since the weather conditions tended to be unpredictable around this time, it was probably wise to reap the harvest as soon as possible and don't let a regular work day go to waste.

Over time, the original name Lughnasadh was abandoned, and the festival was dubbed various regionally differing names, such as "Lammas Sunday", "Bilberry Sunday", "Mountain Sunday", or "Garland Sunday", the latter being derived from the widespread custom of strewing garlands of flowers onto festive mounts (this is very reminiscent of some Beltane customs, which also involve strewing about flowers for good luck). No matter the moniker it was known by, the festival continued to be an important date that marked the beginning of the harvest, and every farmer was expected to provide the people with fresh potatoes, bacon, and cabbage on this day - otherwise, they would be called a "wind farmer" for their lack of skill in husbandry. Likewise, it was considered improper to dig out any potatoes prior to this date, which was either seen as proof of economic mismanagement or neediness.

In some regions, the day was also known as "Crom Dubh Sunday", referring to a famous legend of St. Patrick overcoming a figure named Crom Dubh. Depending on the version, Crom Dubh is either a pagan chieftain, a god, a pirate, or a robber - in the end, however, he is always either defeated or converted by St. Patrick. It is highly likely that Crom Dubh is identical with Crom Cruach, the suspected chthonic god whom scholars assume to be similar to the Roman Hades and Greek Pluto. In the tale, Crom Dubh is described as "the lord of light and darkness" and master over the seasons, and is said to keep a fire burning near his property, throwing unlucky trespassers into it as punishment. (This is assumed to be a remnant of ancient sacrificial rites; there is the folk belief that the term "dubh"/"dua" means sacrifice, although Crom Dubh more likely translates to "black crooked one".) Sometimes, he is also said to possess a granary or a bull. Considering all of these parallels with the myth of Lugh's victory over Crom Cruach, it can be seen as a Christian adaptation of it, with St. Patrick replacing the Irish patron god.

One version of the story goes like this: "Once, there lived a chieftain in northern Ireland, in what is today known as the County Mayo. He was a resident of a place that is now called Dún Pádraig (Downpatrick Head), where he lived in a house by the sea, at a site known as Dún Briste. His name was Crom Dubh, and he is said to have been an extremely vicious, wicked, and obstinate man, only surpassed in evilness by his two sons, Téideach and Clonnach. In addition, Crom Dubh possessed two hounds, named Coinn Iothair and Saidhthe Suaraighe, which were as malicious as any dogs ever get. He used to tie them to the posts of his door, and if any poor soul should trespass on his property, he would unleash them and send them after them. For all the intruders who escaped the lacerating maws of his hounds, there was an even more brutal punishment waiting for them: At the edge of the cliff close to his home, he kept a large fire burning, which he used to throw any fugitives into the flames.

Crom Dubh, his sons and his hounds were infamous for their wickedness, and the common folk were so terrified of them they would tremble in fear at the mention of their names - and if they so much as heard the bark of a dog, people would seek shelter in their underground dwellings, fearing the arrival of Crom Dubh and his entourage. Despite his growing age, Crom Dubh remained quick as the wind and nimble as a hare, and regularly, he would go through the countryside to collect taxes from his subjects. Every time he did so, he would send his sons with his hounds ahead, who would announce to the residents that Crom Dubh was coming to collect his taxes. Each person had to pay as much as they could afford, which would all be loaded onto a sledge-like yoke Crom Dubh was dragging behind him. If anyone refused to pay their dues, they would be taken before Crom Dubh the next day - while sitting by his fire, Crom Dubh would pass judgement upon them, ending with the usual sentence of throwing the culprit into the flames.

Many plans were forged to overthrow Crom Dubh, but he was assisted by a leannán sidhe, a "fairy sweetheart", providing him with arcane knowledge and power, so he was able to overcome each and every attempt on his life. People would've given all they had for him to finally be put to an end, but alas, he and his minions held the power, so all they could do was to endure the ever-worsening persecution. Left without any hope or relief, the people had no other choice but to submit to Crom Dubh, because despite their detestation for him, it was still him who brought them the light of day, the darkness of the night, and the change of seasons.

This majestic, about 50 meters high sea stack known as Dún Briste is allegedly the place where Crom Dubh once lived, located just off the coast of Downpatrick Head near Ballycastle, County Mayo (Source)

One day, St. Patrick was going through Ireland, fulfilling his missionary obligation and baptizing many people. Eventually, he came to a place called Fó Choill (Foghill), an area that was densely forested back in the day. There, he could only convince a few inhabitants to listen to his preaching, but those that did took the new faith and let themselves be christened at a nearby well. After Patrick drew the sign of Christ on their foreheads, some pagans began telling him about Crom Dubh and his evil ways, asking him if it was in his and the Holy Father's power to put him in his place or make him convert to Christianity.

St. Patrick complied with their pleas, making his way to the dwelling of Crom Dubh. When he arrived there, Crom Dubh and his son Téideach didn't even notice him at first, as the two of them were engaged in a wrestling match. Saidhthe Suaraighe laid strechted out next to them, and only when the dog gave a howling bark did Crom Dubh and his son turn, seeing St. Patrick and his company of guardians approaching behind them. Subsequently, they charged at them, clapping with their hands to order the dog to attack Patrick's party. Meanwhile, Téideach whistled for Coinn Iotair, which had been taken on a hunting trip by Clonnach, but came running as swift as the wind when called for. Thus, Crom Dubh and his son set their dogs on the foreigner, unaware of who he was or where he came from. The two hounds came at Patrick with foaming mouths, raised fur, and a menacing blue light in their eyes, but the saint remained calm and drew a circle around him with his crozier. Just as the dogs were about to seize him, Patrick spoke a few holy words of protection, and the second he had uttered them, the two animals ceased all hostility, much to the dismay of Crom Dubh. They laid down their ears and wagged their tails, jumping at Patrick and licking his toes, with the saint returning the favor by stroking them. Afterwards, he continued to go after Crom Dubh, the two dogs now following behind him. Crom Dubh fled in the direction of his fire, hoping to lure Patrick there and throw him into it like all his other victims. However, St. Patrick had been forewarned about the fire's power and stayed away from him, instead taking a stone and drawing the sign of the cross on it. He cast the stone into the middle of the flames, banishing the fire to the deepest depths of the ground, so low that a hole called Poll Na Seantainne ("hole of the old fire") can be seen there to this day.

Crom Dubh, seeing that his fire had gone out and his hounds had disobeyed him - which was completely unheard of before - fled to his house together with his son, St. Patrick following after them. Patrick talked to Crom Dubh through the closed door, doing his best to convince him to take on a more righteous path, but Crom Dubh refused to listen to his words, and neither did he let himself be baptized. Still, he was unable to put up any resistance against Patrick, as the word of God was more powerful than the witchcraft of Crom Dubh's fairy sweetheart.

Furious, Crom Dubh and his son began snapping at the saint, who promptly rammed his crozier into the ground and split the cliff in half the house was built on, separating it from the mainland - henceforth, this cliff was known as Dún Briste, meaning "broken fort". Being cut off from the mainland by a swath of sea, Crom Dubh and Téideach were left to die miserably, with midges and crows feasting on their bodies. When Clonnach, Crom Dubh's second son, saw what had happened upon his return, he set fire to the surrounding cliffs out of fear of Patrick. However, the cliffs blazed so violently that Clonnach was soon trapped in the flames, burning to a heap of ashes himself.

Afterwards, St. Patrick returned to Fó Choill, where he was greeted by droves of people showering him with thanks for putting Crom Dubh to justice. The saint took all of them to a well nearby, not leaving a single person unbaptized. In their celebratory spirits, the people thoroughly cleansed the walls of the well and the area around it, putting up forked sticks and tree branches with white and blue ribbons tied to them. They fell onto their knees, speaking prayers of gratitude to God and hailing St. Patrick for putting an end to Crom Dubh's dominion, after which everyone drank three sips from the well's water.

From then on, people would always make a pilgrimage to Cill Chuimin (Kilcummin) each year, the place where the well was located, coming together from far and wide to celebrate the anniversary of Crom Dubh's defeat. The date was always the last Sunday of the seven month, the month the Irish speakers called Lúnasa, while the Sunday was known as Crom Dubh's Sunday - to the English speakers, however, this Sunday became known as Garland Sunday."

Legend has it that Dún Briste, an island consisting of a steep chunk of cliff that has broken off from the coast near Downpatrick Head, is the piece of land where Crom Dubh's once lived and which St. Patrick separated from the mainland. Lying just a few miles north of Ballycastle in the County Mayo, the site is a tourist attraction to this day, and many people come to gaze from the edge of Poll Na Seantainne - the blowhole allegedly created by St. Patrick when he threw his stone into Crom Dubh's fire - into the turbulent sea below.

Whether one wants to believe it or not, the legend of Crom Dubh stands as a testament that despite the typical message of the superiority of Christianity, the old Irish myths did not die out, but rather were reinterpreted with the figures being replaced by different actors. Instead of trying to suppress and eradicate native Irish culture, the new Christian traditions merged with the old pagan ones, creating a unique sub-branch of Christianity.

Modern traditions and Christian Lammas

Up until the 20th century, old Lughnasadh traditions were still widely practiced in Ireland. In 1924, there was even an attempt to revive the Tailteann Games as a modern sporting competition held shortly after the Summer Olympics. The Games were primarily open to people of Irish birth or ancestry from all over the world, but some prominent athletes who had participated in the Olympics were also invited as guests. The event included both traditional sports as well as modern ones, such as races with motorcycles, speedboats, cars, and airplanes (the only disciplines that were excluded were soccer, rugby, and hockey, as they were deemed too "un-Irish" for the liking of the hosts). Furthermore, there was a vast cultural program, consisting of artistic competitions in literature, poetry, music, and dancing, in addition to various commercial displays and exhibitions of arts and crafts. The Tailteann Games were held in the years 1924, 1928, and 1932, and even managed to garner a significant amount of public attention. However, when the political party Fianna Fáil won the elections of 1932, the Games lost their financial support, as they were closely associated with the previous ruling party, Cumann na nGaedheal, and their post-Civil War politics. A committee was established to examine the possibility of staging any more Tailteann Games in the future, and despite an event being technically deemed possible in 1939, Irish politician Éamon de Valera used the split among Irish athletics federations as a pretense to delay further consideration. With the onset of the Second World War in 1939, any prospect of holding an event in the near future naturally faded away, and afterwards, the issue was never brought up again.

Nevertheless, some of the old mountain pilgrimage routes stayed alive into the 21st century, the most famous being the one to the top of Croagh Patrick, colloquially known as "The Reek". On Reek Sunday, a modern name for Garland Sunday, thousands of pilgrims come to climb to the top of the mountain, a journey that the most pious ones undertake barefoot. The procession is always led by the Archbishop of Tuam, who leads them to a small chapel at a summit where a mass is held. During their ascent, some people commit "rounding rituals", which involve walking sunwise around landmarks and monuments on the mountain, for example the cairn of Leacht Benáin ("Benan's grave"), Leaba Phádraig ("Patrick's bed"), Reilig Mhuire ("Mary's cementry"), and the summit's circular perimeter. Furthermore, people still make pilgrimages to holy wells, such as Tobernault in the County Sligo, where a special service is held on Garland Sunday.

Ever since the Neolithic Age, Croagh Patrick has been of spiritual significance, being considered a holy mountain by Ancient Celts and modern Irish Christians alike (Source)

The Puck Fair, a festival held each year in Killorglin, County Kerry from August 10th to 12th, is also believed to go back to Lughnasadh. At the beginning, a wild goat is captured and brought into town, which is then crowned "King Puck" while a local girl is chosen as the "Queen of Puck" (the goat has been hypothesized to be an ancient fertility symbol). Afterwards, the goat is put into a cage positioned on an elevated platform, where it stays for the next three days. Traditionally, a horse fair will take place on the first day of the festival and a cattle fair on the second. Finally, on the third day, the goat will be released from its enclosure and brought back to the mountains. The festivities include a parade, folk music, dancing, various workshops for arts and crafts, as well as a large market where all kinds of vendors to offer their wares to the numerous tourists that visit each year. In recent years, similar festivals have also been introduced in other regions of Ireland, such as Gweedore, Sligo, Brandon, and Rathangan. In Craggaunowen, an open-air museum in the County Clare, there is a yearly Lughnasadh festival featuring historical re-enactors. They portray various aspects of daily life in Gaelic Ireland, complete with replica clothing, artifacts, weapons, and jewelry. In 2011, the Irish television channel RTÉ even broadcasted a "Lughnasa Live" program from Craggaunowen. Aside from this, a similar Lughnasadh Fair is held in Carrickfergus Castle each year, one of the best preserved medieval castles in Northern Ireland.

As for other Celtic countries, the people of Wales celebrate a festival known as Gŵyl Awst (pronounced gwill oust), translating to "feast of August". Although a lot of old Welsh customs are unfortunately discontinued, but it can be concluded that Gŵyl Awst is an agricultural festival, with some regional differences: For example, in Cardiganshire, the central focus isn't on harvesting the fields, but rather the ffest y bugeiliad ("shepherd's feast"), which was mainly for cowherds and shepherds as sheep would also be shorn around this time. Meanwhile, in areas with a greater focus on arable farming, there was the tradition of dwrn fedi ("first reaping"), which had all farmers of the community coming together. The reapers would assist each other and coordinate their work so they could harvest the fields of a single farm each day, and upon fulfilling their task, the gathered bounty was exchanged and shared with the other workers as a sign of gratitude. At Gŵyl Awst, various special treats would also be enjoyed, many of them including oats, such as Siot, a type of crumbled oatcake steeped in buttermilk. Furthermore, we know from similar mountain climbing customs similar to those of Lughnasadh from Brecknockshire: On August 1st, pilgrims from would make their way to the Beacons, a mountain range between the counties of Carmarthenshire and Glamorgan. Their destination was the lake Llyn y Fan Fach, where they would watch out for the Lady of the Lake and collect a few flasks of healing water to take them home with them. This tradition most likely originated from an old legend about a maiden who arose from the lake and married a mortal man, begetting a son named Rhiwallon who was taught the art of healing by his mother and later became the progenitor of the famous physicians of Myddfai - a story which seems quite reminiscent of the myths about Celtic fountain spirits.

In Brittany, there is a similar festival called Gouel an Eost, a name possibly derived from Gŵyl Awst. The event is meant to celebrate the harvest, featuring an exhibition of old tractors and harvesting machines, as well as people who re-enact the traditional practices of threshing, plowing, bread-making, and other old-fashioned professions. It's meant to be a vivid window into the lives of farmers from centuries past, portraying their sorrows, their joys, and the solidarity and teamwork among their community. In addition, visitors have the opportunity to behold parade with 400 costumed extras, taste Breton specialties such as crêpes and rata (a type of stew made from meat and vegetables that was eaten by farmers), and enjoy folk music and dancing by watching performances of local Celtic circles and bagadoù bands (musical ensembles featuring bagpipes, bombards, and drums). To this date, the festival takes place each year in the commune of Plougoulm, celebrating Celtic and Breton culture alike.

Meanwhile, in England, the harvest festival became Christianized as Lammas. (Interestingly, the feast was sometimes dubbed "Gule of August" in medieval England and Scotland, which may be derived from Gŵyl Awst as well). Lammas Day, also known as Loaf Mass Day ("loaf" referring to bread and "mass" to the Eucharist), is a Christian holiday celebrated primarily in the English-speaking countries of the Northern Hemisphere. It involves the blessing of the First Fruits of harvest, and usually, a loaf of bread baked from the new crops is brought to the church to be blessed. (There are accounts that the blessed loaf was used for protective rituals in Anglo-Saxon times: The bread would be broken into four parts, which farmers would place at all four corners of a barn to protect the stored grain.) Church processions to bakeries are also a common custom, with those working there receiving blessings from the Christian clergy. In the town of Exeter in the County Devon, people still celebrate a yearly Lammas Fair, a tradition that supposedly goes back 900 years. It starts with a procession led by the Lord Mayor of the town, carrying a large pole adorned with colorful ribbons, flowers, and a white, stuffed glove on top. Once they arrive at the guildhall, the Lord Mayor will read a proclamation from King Edward III, declaring the fair open, while the pole with the glove will be hung over the building for the three-day duration of the festival (the glove is an old symbol of royal protection, signaling that the city is open for trade). Although the event is held on the first Thursday in July rather than August 1st nowadays, it still bears a lot of resemblance with the fairs and markets typical of Lughnasadh.

Some remnants of Lughnasadh even carried over to the Irish diaspora: Many families with Irish roots still tend to choose August as the time to host family reunions and parties. However, due to modern work schedules, such events have often been to adjacent holidays, for example Indendence Day (July 4th) in the USA.

Nevertheless, the influence of Lughnasadh is still alive today, and although it may not have garnered the same public attention as Beltane or Samhain, the harvest festival was undoubtedly a very important occasion for our ancestors. So, perhaps we should take a moment to value the fruits, vegetables, and grain that feed us, and remember to not take earth's bounty for granted. Also, make sure to show appreciation to your fellow human beings: If your friends are in need of help, be ready to lend a hardworking hand, and if someone does you a favor, always remember their kindness.

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Alright, that's a wrap! I had a lot of fun researching about Lughnasadh, especially since it gave me the opportunity to shed a little more light on this somewhat unknown festival. Thus, I hope you enjoyed reading this article as well, and if you did, I would be delighted if you stayed tuned for the last issue on November 1st. Next up: the Samhain rematch! ;-)

#lughnasadh #paganism #celtic paganism #tailtiu goddess #lugh god #crom cruach #crom dubh #st patrick #garland sunday #lammas #harvest festival

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