Light and Dark

Light and dark The Mortal Realm is lit by two celestial bodies, the sun by day and the moon by night, but the same is not true of all realms. Some have neither and exist in total darkness, but most have some form of illumination. In the folklore of the Tuatha there are two kinds of Folk, those who walk in the daylight, the Seelie, and those who haunt the darkness, the Unseelie. To them the Seelie are kindly and helpful whilst the Unseelie are malicious and treacherous. This is a false distinction which was spread by the Fae during their rise in the mortal world. In truth, there is no moral distinction between diurnal and nocturnal Folk it is simply a matter of comfort. Some prefer gentle starlight, some like the heat of the day in midsummer, some need the cold to regulate their body temperature or are unable to tolerate sunlight on their skin. The terms Seelie and Unseelie really refer to their attitude towards the Fae. Those Folk who were happy, or at least not rebellious in their servitude to the Fae were extolled as ‘good’ or Seelie. Those who sought to break free from their slavery or turned against their masters were demonised as Unseelie. Folk branded Unseelie were often hunted down and made examples of, so they frequently took to venturing out of hiding only at night. The Fae are mostly daylight Folk although the stars are important to their dances. Certainly the Fae would not go abroad on pitch black, starless nights and so the renegade Folk would be safe to travel abroad under the cloak of night. A divide still exists between those who were content to serve under the Fae and those who weren’t, and so some semblance of Seelie and Unseelie factions exist among them, but it is not so easily distinguished by day or night-time activity. Sample file 29 Myeri Clans According to their legends, the Myeri were created by the Not many Myeri are born as Draoí, the seer caste, with god Dagda to be an exemplar race with perfect societal curving horns similar to a ram’s, lank hair and four arms structure. The part each Myeri plays in their society is instead of two. Their tails are smooth and their faces are determined from birth according to their physical features rounder and broader than other Myeri’s. There is no and they are educated and raised to fulfil the role to which uncertainty over the birth of a Draoí! As soon as they are they were born. Although distinct they do not regard any born these children are taken to the remote caves where one role as superior to the others, recognising simply their caste live and taught the ways of the natural world, difference and the importance of having all parts within the history lore and fateweaving through the art of geomancy. whole. There are four of these castes, which might be An adept Draoí can shift fate through a minute gesture in described as worker, warrior, seer and leader. They are not the soil or a swirl of mist in the air. They converse with the passed genetically, a worker is able to give birth to a leader birds and animals and even have power over the trees and just as a seer’s offspring might be workers. Proportionally, rocks. Whenever a decision is needed which affects the clan however, very few seers and leaders are born, which helps the Draoí are consulted and through their art they seek the keep the balance of the clan stable. opinions of the land itself to discern likely outcomes. The ‘worker’ caste are distinguished by their smooth tails The rarest of all are the Tiarna, the leader caste of the Myeri. and short snouts. They are called the Oibrithe and are the Initially they appear either as Oibrithe or as Losbastun and most numerous, though no Myeri clan is by any means are raised as such until adolescence when a ruff of feathers huge. The duties of this caste are myriad and each Oibrí begins to grow around their necks and the tips of their tails learns a particular specialism. Some are farmers and begin to sprout long, curved blades. Thus the leaders of the keepers of livestock, some work cloth, leather and metal, clans share the experiences of those they are born to serve some carve stone and plan building projects. A very few of and protect. Each clan traditionally has two Tuatha, one the Oibrithe become Scealai, wandering bards who leave the raised from an Oibrí who takes care of domestic matters clan settlement and go into the world to collect news and and one raised from a Losbast who is regarded the clan’s visit other Myeri settlements, so mediating the clan’s ’war chief’. A single young Tiarna is raised by each of the isolation. existing Tiarnas of the clan, and rarely is more than one born per generation. Indeed, frequently a clan must make The ‘warriors’ are the Losbastun, which directly translates do with only a single Tiarna and in some instances a clan is as ‘clubbed tails’. They have longer snouts and thicker skin left without a Tiarna which is considered a great curse. than the Oibrithe and their tails end in a bony and Should more than one Tiarna of Oibrithe or Losbastun sometimes spiked ball which they wield as a weapon. Since descent emerge from a clan within a generation one will be the Myeri avoid open combat whenever they can, hiding expected to remain and the others will be given a few behind their reputation and fateweaving, the role of the followers and directed to either establish a new clan or to warrior includes scouting patrols and also work requiring find a clan left without a Tiarna in which to settle. great physical exertion such as construction, turning over the soil and splitting wood. Sample file 30 The Myeri have a curious relationship to mortality. Myeri are not from the Mortal Realm and are not subject to death as the Tuatha are. However, the creator of the Myeri gave them a biological restraint to prevent them becoming too numerous, or perhaps in case their creation should prove a mistake. Myeri are deeply sustained by fate and are so entwined within it that one cannot be born unless another Myeri relinquishes their essence to the Void. In this way caste balance is maintained, the yielding of essence determining the role of the new-born. The renewal process is necessary for although they do not die Myeri do age and their ability to fulfil their roles decreases as the centuries advance. For this reason the Myeri view life as a series of spirals, beginning at a point and winding outwards. Eventually the spiral becomes so distant from the original that a new spiral must begin and the Myeri move into a new existence. Spirals are a sacred form to the Myeri and much of their art is made up of this kind of patterning. When Myeri leave the clan and give up their essence they first carve a mask for Pou-koruru. Then a great feast of farewell is held and those departing go out from their stronghold in a longship carved from the trunk of a single Marsh Willow, floated into the wetlands on a moonless night. As the ship is swallowed by the mists some unknown event occurs and it and those within vanish and are not seen again. Such relinquishing is usually as a group, but occasionally a lone MyeriSample will go alone into the mists to give file themselves to the void. 31 Since the Fae drove them from Khulaine the Myeri have not The Mael Fen clan’s A’u stands at the highest point on top of dwelt in the kinds of settlements they would choose but the tor and from it can be seen all the way across have had to settle wherever they could hide away. Some Shandisholm to the mountains Loftward. Deepwards the clans have kept wandering and live in tents of hides and view extends to where the ruins of Khulaine can be wooden frames which they frequently pack up and move glimpsed on the edge of the ocean. At the base of the tor on from place to place. the Dawnwards side there is a small area of firm grassland All Myeri settlements which are larger than temporary which has so far resisted the incursions of the marsh but camps are strongholds. The Myeri are always on their which is inaccessible except by staircase from the mound. guard, living in fear of the Fae and Tuatha and all too aware On this sward the Myeri grow a few simple crops and there how vulnerable their swampy domain is to the ravages of are wood-built huts in which the craftsmen work bone, the Nuckelavee. Terror of this monster also grips other stone, wood and leather. Most of the everyday items used by creatures who live in the wetlands and they view Myeri with the Myeri are crafted here but they also make use of a metal favour as protectors, assisting them wherever they can. The they call ‘bog-iron’ which is gathered from the swamp and Woldlice particularly are of use to the Myeri in the building smelted and forged in caves which line the Dawnwards of their strongholds for the creatures are immensely strong stairway of the tor. and seem to enjoy the physical labour. Woldlouse claws are Bog-iron is accorded special significance to the Myeri, for it blunt and crablike so they can grip and uproot trees and is believed that the Fae are so vulnerable to its touch that carry loads in baskets or harnesses.

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