Cosmology - Tuatha

With the Coming of the Gael, and the defeat of the remnants of the Tuatha de Danann at the Battle of Tailltin, the still-living members of the Tuath ventured into the Sidhe Mounds that cover Ireland’s surface, resigning the surface of Ireland to the new people's. Not as famed as Mount Olympus, or spectacular as the halls of Asgard, the Tuatha have made the mounds their homes. While many would say they have fallen far from their four shining cities, or wondered why they have not left for the paradisiacal islands, such as Tir na nOg, the Tuatha know that Ireland, even if under the surface of the land, is the greatest home of all.

As the Tuatha de Danann ceded the surface to the Gael, their homes were interconnected through a series of tunnels which are labyrinthine and confusing for all those who do not know their way. Navigating the tunnels interconnecting the island’s many burial mounds requires an Intelligence or Perception + Survival roll with a difficulty of 25 (failure leads one to the wrong house), however any being with Demigod levels of either Earth or Travel can automatically succeed.

Axis Mundi

The entrance to Underhill is perhaps one of the easiest Overworlds to use, and find. In fact, mortals have stumbled into them on several occasions, though have frequently been dismissed as mad afterwards. On Samhain night, one must simply enter one of the Sidhe mounds that fill the island, and find themselves walking not into the neolithic tombs they have been proven to be, but into the house of the God (or Sidhe) who has made their home there.

However, having a door that only opens on a single night of the year is impractical, even for the Tuatha de Danann, and there is another way to access the underground Overworld. Deceptively simple as well. All one needs to do is go to one of the Sidhe mounds, and ask permission to enter. If the owner is present (or a servant), entrance can be granted, entering into the home.

Sidhe Airceltrai

Sidhe Aircltrai is the home of Ogma, and one who enters into the God’s home find a spectacular place. A great smokey hearth roars in the center of the circular home, obscuring the world ever so slightly. The walls of the home, colossal stones dragged into place by Ogma himself, tower high above the height of the hill in reality, and are covered from base to distant tip in Oghamic script detailing the life of Ogma, though the God has left his large lion’s pelt hanging over the first stone which seems to detail events before the arrival in Ireland. A particularly foolhardy visitor may brave a peek and try to see what came before, and possibly why the Tuatha left the Four Cities.

Ogma, however, is not present. The Champion is long dead, slain by Indech at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired as the Tuatha threw off the fomori yoke, but one of his greatest prises sits in the high seat, obviously placed there by some past visitor. Orna, the talking blade which Ogma took from Tethra, a fomori king he slew in the second battle of magh tuireadh waits for Ogma to return from the land of the dead. If asked, the blade may recount the great deeds of Ogma, and all others who wielded it before.

The home of the dead god is watched over by several aged Sidhe, who will offer visitors food, drink, and shelter. They anxiously await the return of their teacher, and are each marked by a single link of a gleaming copper chain attached to their ears. The legendary eloquence of Ogma still lingering in its material form here. They live in several small passages off the central chamber, where there is also a storehouse of food, and the long abandoned sleeping quarters of Ogma.

Sidhe Rodrubai

The home of Lugh is more lived-in than many of the homes of the dead members of the Tuath, the God one of the few who will still occasionally take leave from the realm of the dead to come and meddle. His home is brightly lit by sunlight pouring in through cracks in the stone domed roof which are not visible from the outside. The stone walls are covered in shields and weapons each coated with a thick layer of dust, and a great beautiful hound, Fail Inis, sits at the foot of the throne, waiting for her master to return from the land of the dead.

The house is staffed still by several Sidhe, who live in chambers beneath the central one, and take care to watch over the home, and feed Fail Inis. They are the only ones, save for Lugh, Manannan, and his foster brothers, to know of the vault beneath the giant flagstones upon which the throne sits. In this lower chamber is a great iron pot filled with crimson venom, inside which The Luin is kept incapacitated. While Lugh’s other treasures were moved by Manannan upon his foster son’s death, even Manannan did not want to try to move The Luin without a good reason.

Sons and Daughters of Lugh will find the home of their father exceptionally welcoming to them, with the Sidhe staff knowing who they are, and offering whatever assistance they can to the children of Lugh. The last child of Lugh suffered a terrible fate, which Lugh is interested in never having happen again.

Bruigh na Boinne

An observant Scion will notice that Bruigh na Boinne is not actually a Sidhe mound, it is a collection of several, including Knowth, Dowth, and Newgrange, each of which is exceptionally large. This extravagance is because the complex was not originally the home of Aengus Og, as he in fact stole is from his father The Dagda through a particularly cunning turn of phrase in a promise given by his father.

The home of Aengus is made of these three great hills, passages connecting each together. One is filled with tables, benches, and great hearths to feast entire tribes, another housed The Dagda’s personal living space, including the bed of The Dagda, which is excessively large and more reinforced and braced than a tank. In fact, the main posts of the bed are bronze beams which are sunk into the ceiling above, and deep into the earth below. After breaking so many beds, one can assume The Dagda insisted a bed that could take his activities be constructed. The final hill, however, Aengus sealed off when he took residence. All that is remembered by Scions is that it was called the Hall of the Morrigan, which the name alone suggests Aengus was wise in sealing it off.

However, despite all this pomp and grandeur, Aengus is dead, and it currently has only four residents. Dichu the Steward, his wife, and his son, who served The Dagda and served Aengus as well. The fourth is Caer, a young woman matching Aengus in age, who had previously been a swan. She lives in Aengus’ hall, waiting for her lover to return from the land of the dead.

Knocknarea

The cairn atop Knocknarea is the home of Nuada of the Silver Hand, the greatest King of the Tuatha. The home of Nuada is made of thick granite stones inlaid with swirling designs in silver. The throne of Nuada (not the throne from which he ruled, which was at Tara) is a single hunk of stone, naturally shaped into the form of a large seat. One can guess that this was a gift to Nuada from one of the personifications of the land, maybe Danu herself, due to his role as king giving him a somewhat carnal relationship with the land.

The King’s home is bright, the silver in the stones reflecting sunlight from the exterior of the house into the central chamber. Sidhe still staff the hall, giving a king’s feast to any visitors who come, as even in death Nuada’s greatness as a king and by extension a host is continued. Entire cows appear from some underground cellars and are roasted for guests, who are entertained by a Sidhe bard who additionally eagerly listens to the new tales of Scions.

Possibly the most interesting part of Nuada’s hall however is the silver hand which sits on one of the arms of the grand throne. It sits inert, waiting for someone who needs it to attach it like a glove over a stump-ending arm. When Nuada fell in battle, it was decided he out to go to the isle of the lake without it, as he died whole, a perfect king. So, his prosthetic hand was left in his home as a curiosity until Nuada returns and can decide what to do with it.

The Mound of the Hostages

By the Hill of Tara, the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, sits The Mound of the Hostages, which the The Morrigan made her home upon the Tuatha de Danann’s retreat from the world above. A rather grim place in its mortal reflection, those who enter into the Goddess’ home see a similarly morbid place.

The Morrigan’s home is dark save for the morning of Samhain and Imbloc where sunlight finds its way into the house. In the darkness, as one will most often find the home, one will be assaulted by the smell of gore as they enter the Goddess’ home. The Goddess’ home is a long stretching chamber which has inumerous stone shelves cut in the walls within which sit severed heads in various stages of rot with their eyes picked clean from their sockets. Crows fly along the passage, sometimes landing and huddling in these shelves to pick at the severed heads. The long chamber culminates in a throne made of cattle bones, where the skulls of Finnbhennach and Donn Cuailnge, technically two fellow members of the Tuatha who now rest in Inis Locha. The Morrigan gives their skulls this favored spot on her throne for their (unintentional) role in one of the greatest slaughters, the Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Any brave enough to come visit The Morrigan will find themselves offered the hospitality of food and drink, which are entirely edible mead, and dog flesh, the Goddess finding this still endlessly amusing even centuries past her defeat of CuChulain. Particularly attractive men who brave the darkness should do this with caution, as the penalty for refusing the Goddess is well known.

Tulach na Bela

The home of Goibniu the Smith is part workshop, part feasting hall. The walls of the hall are constructed of torso sized hunks of copper, iron, brass, gold, and silver. The central beam supporting the tall metal ceiling of the hall is a thick oaken beam inlaid with beautiful winding knots of gold. The forge is in the same state Goibniu left it before he was bedridden with the sickness that claimed his life along with Dian Cecht. Dust, rust, and tarnish having slowly been covering the once beautiful forge.

The tables and chairs of the feasting hall of Goibniu is similarly abandoned, with a large copper vat sitting between the tables for ease of serving the potent magical ale the God once served. One of the most powerful tools of a Pantheon who has an excessive amount of powerful tools was Goibniu’s ale which conferred to those who drunk it an inability to die. With the God’s own death, the method has been lost, and can likely be prescribed as one of the primary reasons the Tuath was so decimated by the war with the Gael.

The God’s home has been abandoned for more than two thousand years now, not even any servants live here to watch over the God’s home. Goibniu has not returned from the land of the dead since his death. A Scion who could reunite the smith and his home would reignite the Tuatha’s war machine in moments, as the God could produce his lethal spears and immortality granting ale again. However, a desperate Scion could break into the Smith’s residence and take up one of the half-finished weapons left by the God, though just what it did, who knows. One would be smart not to touch the spear shaft resting by the forge however, as it is one of the Smith’s more gruesome creations, causing someone hit by it to erupt into painful boils.

Kildare Cathedral

Brigid has a home, but it has been long abandoned. The memory of her husband, Bres the Beautiful, and their son who chose to support the fomori rather than the Tuatha, dying attempting to assassinate Goibniu caused the Goddess to abandon her home. Instead, the Goddess’ home sits underneath Kildare Cathedral, which one enters from the outside by wandering the catacombs beneath the house.

Brigid’s home here is the most modern appearing of the Tuatha’s homes, though that really isn’t saying much then the going style is iron age Ireland. Instead, Brigid’s home is cut of grey stone in an style very similar to the early clooniatic monasteries with several specifically Irish twists in the artwork. In the place of windows, water flows down from the walls in natural springs, and where an altar would normally go sits the throne of Brigid, beautiful copper reflecting the torchlight which illuminates the hall.

As Brigid is one of the few living Tuatha, her hall serves as somewhat as an epicenter for the meetings of the still living. Here she feasts guests at such occasions, but more often than not the Goddess is not present in her home, out in the world in one of her guises.

The Others

The Dagda had his grand home stolen from him by Aengus Og, his son, though he seems to have no resentment in his heart for it. Whether this suggests more of Aengus’ charm, or The Dagda’s knowledge he failed to give his son any inheritance as he did his other children, who could say. Either way, The Dagda is dead, and living in the golden dun along with the other Tuatha.

Manannan however has never had a home Underhill, as he has no need for it. The king of a foreign land, albeit a rather close foreign land, Manannan rules from his halls in Mag Mell which will be expanded upon momentarily.

All of the other members of the Tuatha, and a multitude of the Sidhe also have homes scattered all across Ireland.

Otherworlds - Terra Incognita

Tir na nOg

The Land of Youth is a wondrous island off the Western coast of Ireland. Here, age does not touch any of its inhabitants, though time flows at a dangerous pace just like in all of Emain Ablach. It is here that one of the Sidhe Courts rule, with Niamh of the Golden Hair at its head, though the Goddess has lost much of her joy in life after her beloved Oisin died arguing with Saint Patrick after he failed to heed her insistence not to step foot on the shore of Ireland.

Scions who visit Tir na nOg must keep careful track of time, but the isle is most useful for keeping people safe. If a Scion of the Tuatha is truly worried about a mortal friend of theirs, or an ally has fallen terribly ill, Tir na nOg is a wise place to leave them. Though, in doing so they take the risk that Oisin did, and likely will never be able to return to the world.

Four Cities

From whence the Tuatha came was somewhere to the north of Ireland. However, past this little is known asides from their names being great Falias, shining Gorias, Finias, and rich Murias. Within each was a wise man who reportedly taught the populace in youth, Senias in Murias, Arias the fair-haired poet in Finias, Urias of the noble nature in Gorias, and Morias in Falias.

Many Scions may ask their parents, especially those of the older generation of the Tuatha who were present in the initial invasion of Ireland, about these cities. Responses will always be short and somewhat cryptic. Questions of why the Tuatha left such great cities are flatly stonewalled. A particularly brave seafaring Scion might try to find the Four Cities, but who knows what they will find there?

Tech Duinn

The House of Donn is almost part of the Underworld. It is here, in the hall of Donn, one of the Gael who invaded Ireland, sometimes referred to as the progenitor of the people, watches over the dead before sending them on the long voyage across the sea to the Isle of the Lake.

Just what Donn is is not obvious. Maybe a Scion, a God, a Legendary Being, or some sort of unbound Titan. No matter, Donn is a rude, gloomy man who is eternally soaking wet after he was drowned off the coast of Ireland in the attempted landing by the Gael after he cursed Danu. Whether this was chance, or potentially Lir lashing out for the sake of an ancient friend, who knows. Either way, Donn manages and organises the dead being sent away to the afterlife.

Mag Mell

The Pleasant Plain is part of Emain Ablach, and there does Manannan mac Lir make his home. A great open expanse with a single large Dun atop a central hill marks Mag Mell, and here does Manannan keep his horses, his endless treasures, and the children he is fostering. Somehow, of all of Emain Ablach, Mag Mell has time which flows normally.

The western coast of Mag Mell is a great beach, where Manannan mac Lir sets off from in his sailless ship, or races over waves on Embar when he hasn’t been loaned to Lugh or one of his daughters. The fortress itself is filled with Sidhe, from simple workers, to ones as important as Fand, the wife of Manannan, and his sons Sgoith Gleigeil the White Flower, Goitne Gorm-Shuileach the Blue-eyed Spear, Sine Sindearg of the Red Ring, and Donall Donn-Ruadh of the Red-brown Hair.

Manannan mac Lir welcomes visitors here with open arms, especially the children of the Tuatha. But, one must be wise, as Manannan is always plotting something, and while it is never malevolent towards the Tuatha, one may wind up on Tir na nOg with a bow tied to one’s waist to try to raise Niamh from her slump.