Titans - Tuatha de Danann

The Tuatha have faced many dangerous foes over their many years ruling Ireland, though more than most Pantheons, the Tuatha have Titans who are not necessarily antagonistic. Danu, Lir, and

Crom Cruach each are not in direct conflict with the Pantheon, but are instead either exceptionally distant and detached from the Pantheon, or some strange unknown entity.

If one is running a game using the gamebook's idea of the Second Titan War, Danu is likely entirely unable to be made into an antagonist for the Pantheon, but both Lir and Crom Cruach can easily become antagonistic to the Pantheon. In Lir's grief, the Ocean Titan can lash out against the Tuatha for supplying him with his treacherous third wife who shattered his heart. Crom Cruach simply could just prove antagonistic as the Pantheon tends to take violent action against any other Divine Being seen 'muscling into' their 'turf'.

Technically, both Balor and Bres are dead, as touched upon in their entries. RAW Scion presents the idea that when a Titan dies, they are permanently dead, and the concept which they represent runs wild. As the Tuatha have 'issues' with many important figures being dead, Balor and Bres are presented here with suggestions on how to reintroduce them into the game despite their death, such as ruling that they only 'sort of' died, just as the Tuatha themselves have wandered out of their Underworld occasionally.

Balor - The Titan of Subjugation

Powers: Epic Strength, Death, War

Balor, the terrible High King of the Fomori, is an eternal enemy of the Tuatha de Danann. He is the Grandfather of Lugh, and under his rule, the Fomori took great tribute from Ireland, the Tuatha de Danann too afraid to act against his tax collectors until the arrival of Lugh, who was Fated to slay his grandfather. Balor of the Mighty Blows, and The Evil Eye, plotted to steal all of Ireland, and carry it away, towed by his ships.

Though his deadly eye was knocked from his head, and his head struck from his shoulders by his Grandson, death has a tenuous relationship with many of the Irish, even Titans. The body of Balor of the Evil Eye, including the titicular eye, and severed head were recovered by the fomori, where he is buried on the Isle of the Glass Tower. If the Titans were ever to return, one would be sure to see Balor returning to the field of battle to subject Ireland to his brutal taxation again.

Balor is the High King of his people, and for that, is far from alone. He has twelve sons with gleaming white teeth, and the Kings under him are terrible, and dangerous enough to slay some of the Tuatha themselves. If Balor were to attack, or is attacked, it should be assumed he is not without many tribes of fomori at his back.

Too, it should be noted, that Balor’s Eye is a weapon of terrible power. All those who are caught in its gaze would die, no matter who they were. Balor’s eyelid, however, is heavy, and it must be opened by others pulling the lid up by ropes. Even with this limitation however, this weapon slays armies, and Deities alike.

Creatures: As the High King of the fomori, Balor has the entirety of his people to call upon. Great druids, bards, and warriors, just like the Tuatha de Danann are at his beck and call, if he were to be resurrected. The fomori are almost entirely twisted beings, but they are wise, strong, and charming, just like the Tuatha. They are not evil beings either, they, like the majority of mortal peoples have at times, just believe it is their right to dominate others who are less than they are.

Realm: Balor’s home is disturbing to many, primarily for the fact that it, the Isle of the Glass Tower, is much like an Overworld of a Pantheon. It is not dark, and terrible, but a great island, with farmers, and great harbors of raiding ships. An entirely functioning kingdom it is, set somewhere in the Otherworldly sea, from where they can strike almost anywhere not landlocked at a moment’s notice.

Bres the Beautiful - Titan of Tyranny

Powers: Epic Appearance, Justice, Fertility

Breas the Beautiful is half-Fomori, and half de Danann, and a former High King of the Tuatha de Danann. He was the first to introduce taxes to the Tuatha, and was, by all accounts, a terrible King. He did not feast his Kings, and Chiefs, he mistreated his servants, The Dagda, and Ogma baring the brunt of this, and ruled with an iron fist.

When he was deposed, not by force of arms, but by the entire Pantheon arriving with a restored Nuada and asking that he leave, he fled to the land of his father, to whom he admitted to being a bad king. Bres’ father refused to help his son for his tyranny, but suggested he speak to Balor, the High King of the fomori. When the Tuatha refused to pay Balor’s taxation, the High King agreed to muster his armies and return Bres to his throne.

Bres was spared his life by Lugh in exchange for teaching the Tuatha de Danann the secret of farming, which graced Ireland ever since the secret was extracted on threat of death. However, Lugh later tracked Bres down and through a plan as needlessly complex as only the Tuatha can manage, killed Bres by constructing fake cows and feeding Bres bog-stuff from their udders.

However, just as with Balor, it should always be kept in mint that death and the Tuatha de Danann do not go together particularly well. If the Titans were to return, it would be doubtless that Bes would not let a matter as simple as death stop him from reclaiming the throne he believes to surely is rightfully his.

Creatures: Bres has no creatures at his beck and call, no beasts, or men who will stand by him. It is for this fact that Bres is so furious and wrathful, for he once had it all, armies and allies, but he squandered them in tyranny. If Bres were to return, he would no doubt once again flee to the Isle of the Glass Tower and find Balor to attempt to wield the High King of the Fomori’s armies as his own. Furthermore, Bres’ son, Ruadan, who was killed in the battle with the Tuatha de Danann would most likely find his place once again with his father unless the Tuatha can convince him otherwise.

Realm: Bres home is Ireland, as disturbing as that may be to many. No menacing fortress with fountains of blood, just Ireland. For now, no one is sure where Bres’ is, as he is not within the Golden Dun of the Isle of the Lake where he ought to be. Perhaps Lugh’s poison was not as successful as he though. It would be fair to guess so, as Lugh is more experienced in hands-on murder.

Cethlenn of the Crooked Teeth - The Hag

Powers: Prophecy, Magic, Epic Appearance (-)

The wife of Balor of the Evil Eye, and grandmother of Lugh, Cethlenn is the hag. A fomori woman of great skill of prophecy and magics, when their daughter was born, Ethlinn, Cethlenn forsaw that if she were to have a son, that son would be the death of Balor of the Evil Eye.

As it is in myths, instead of killing their daughter to solve this issue, Balor and Cethlenn had a great Glass Tower erected, and within which was Ethlinn stored never to even see a man until Lugh’s father, Cain, wandered in and seduced her.

At the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh, Cethlenn cast a spear at The Dagda, which wounded the great God, and though both Cethlenn and The Dagda would not die that day, in time the wound given to him by Cethlenn would spell death for The Dagda. If the spear was cursed, or if the hag made The Dagda ill, it is unknown, but she did give The Dagda that mortal hurt.

After the war, Cethlenn returned over the waves with the rest of the routed fomori, where she plotted once again, waiting until once again they would race the waves and bring war to the Tuatha, and especially Lugh. Now, there in the Isle of the Glass Tower she waits, and one wonders if the Coming of the Gael and the misfortune that plagued the Tuatha before the war was brought upon by Cethlenn weaving distant magics on them.

Creatures: Cethlenn has the people of her husband as her guardians and warriors, the entire host of the fomori, but the great hag has little need of them. From the Isle of the Glass Tower, Cethlenn can plot to return her husband to life, and watches the future of the Tuatha de Danann closely.

Realm: Cethlenn lives on the Isle of the Glass Tower, the realm of the fomori. Here, she still holds an honored position even as the title of High King has been passed along the lines, for Cethlenn is powerful, and no one wants to cross Balor of the Evil Eye whenever he returns by having mistreated his wife.

Magician On The Front

We don't have a lot of representation of just what Cethlenn does in detail, short of her exceptionally accurate prophecies. However, she fells The Dagda with a single blow, a feat which should not be underestimated. The issue is that just how this worked is not clear.

Playing within the idea of Cethlenn as some sort of grand magician, cursing The Dagda with a wound that was fated to be lethal is not unreasonable, and there are other weapons in Irish myth which have that exact feature. However, how could this be best represented in game terms? Likely by Cethlenn wielding the Magic and Prophecy Purview in ways they are not normally done, in direct conflict. Cethlenn fought alongside her husband, and can prove a horrific opponent in Scion if she wields Fate and Fated dooms against her enemies.

The Eye of Balor

The Eye of Balor is likely the most potent weapon Balor wields. This is translated to game terms here as Balor having Death as anything the eye looks upon withers and dies. Effectively, when Balor has his eyelid raised, The Reaper activates.

However, Balor's eye has sometimes been interpreted as the sun. If a Storyteller is particularly enticed by this idea, exchange Death for Sun, and have Balor's eye function as The Glory.

Scholars have noted the interesting idea of a single eye in the Indo-European cultures. CuChulain's Riastrad has one eye withdraw out of sight and the other bulge out, and Lugh is mentioned as fighting Balor with one eye tightly shut. Odin from the Aesir exchanges his eye for knowledge and power by extension. Shiva possesses a third eye which destroys that which it stares at. A Storyteller may find some inspiration here.

How Beautiful?

Bres is a relative push over on the scale of Titans on first glance. He has no armies, is not a monster creating entity, and is of minimal physical threat. However, the danger of Bres is his beauty.

The Titan is beautiful, really beautiful. More beautiful than Aengus. Those who look upon Bres see a man with skin like snow, lips like blood, and hair like a raven. The pinnacle of beauty for the Irish. Those who find themselves facing Bres would have to resist the beauty of the Titan, which should be no simple feat.

Furthermore, Bres could turn to other Pantheons. The Theoi especially might be lulled by the beauty of the Titan, and have in the past crushed Celtic Pantheons underfoot. Bres is a political struggle, not a physical one, and few others can play as well as Bres.

Crom Cruach - The Stranger

Powers: Epic Charisma, Fertility, Death

Crom Cruach is an oddity, he is not of the Tuatha de Danann, and none are sure if he is of the other peoples of Ireland. It is obvious in the least he is not one of the fomori, as they tend to have a distinctive shape. Whoever Crom Cruach is, whatever people he comes from, he has never said.

The Titan has avoided the Tuatha de Danann, and kept to himself. The fomori will admit to as well avoiding Magh Slecht, the Plain of Adoration where Crom Cruach resides. The Titan took sacrifices of the first born sons of the chieftains of his land in return for abundance from the land. The human sacrifice is no marker for Titanhood, almost every culture has performed it at one point or another, but Crom Cruach’s specific demand of the firstborn sons of chieftains has put the Tuatha ill at ease. Headhunt, and sacrifice all one wants, but to kill your own son, that is wrong.

Furthermore, when Crom Cruach was still worshiped, he was adored by his people, loved by all, even as he demanded they kill the firstborn sons of their leaders in his name. These people did not leave, and travel to another part of Ireland where such sacrifice was demanded (instead, the fertility of the land was tied to how recently the king was doing) for abundance. These people loved Crom Cruach, something which worried the Tuatha and fomori both, leading to both peoples avoiding Magh Slecht.

Creatures: Crom Cruach has long since been knocked to slumber, or somehow inactive, the Tuatha have been too preoccupied with being dead to check. However, in his time, Crom Cruach was served by twelve others, twelve stone idols, which surrounded his own large golden idol. Just who these idols were of is unknown, but possibly they are more of Crom’s people from wherever he came. Furthermore, the people who still live around what was once Magh Slecht would likely come under the Titan’s sway once more if he were to return, and while mortals may seem inconsequential to Gods, always remember that the line between God and Mortal is a questionable one in Ireland. Mortals slew many members of the Tuatha. One would be wise not to underestimate them.

Realm: Crom Cruach dwells somewhere in, under, or at Magh Slecht, the Plain of Adoration, where he was worshiped until Saint Patrick came and knocked over his golden idol. Maybe the idol itself was Crom, or maybe the Titan could only interact with the world through the idol. Either way, The Stranger would be sure to return if his idol was found and returned to Magh Slecht. While Crom Cruach in the past has not warred with the Tuatha or the fomori, if times were so desperate, either side may try to find the idol to bring an indebted Crom Cruach to their side.

Danu - The Mother of the Tuath

Powers: Earth, Fertility, Health

He Is Adored

Crom Cruach may seem to be an odd choice for a Titan, as he appears once in a story about Saint Patrick in a very 'Saint Martin - Crushing Pagan Temples' sort of way. He has been included here as he was misrepresented in Companion, and even if he is fictional, he is still a neat figure to include.

However, what does he do? Asides from accepting sacrifices to give abundance. The best way to make Crom Cruach into a legitimate threat is to play off the concept that he is adored, truly and utterly. Instead of Bres who is a political Titan, Crom Cruach might be represented as a being who pulls others into his thrall, be they mortals or Gods alike.

He is already mentioned as having twelve Gods serving him. Who knows how much more dangerous he could become if he lured others to The Plain of Adoration?

The primordial mother of the Pantheon, Danu is a distant figure who is never directly sighted in the myths of ancient Ireland, but none could doubt her presence through her children, the Tuath of Danu. She is the land of Ireland itself, the rolling hills, the open plains, and the remaining forests.

Few see Danu, or, well, see her in a humanoid form. Many have seen her shape as the land, but she theoretically has an anthropomorphic form from which she gave birth to the Tuatha with the unknown father of the Pantheon.

However, Danu does love her children, and her children’s children’s children, though the love may take odd forms. Like many Titans representing such large natural concepts, Danu is exceptionally distant even in her love. Those who do seek her out and find her are greeted by a pale skinned woman who appears some sort of distant relative of whatever the Venus of Willendorf represents. Danu is not so exaggeratedly proportioned, but the rough concept of hips and breasts is sustained. Those who speak with the primordial mother find her to coddle them, inquire of their deeds, and parents, but no matter how great a God one is, one always feels to be an ant before Danu, even as she coos over their great deeds.

Creatures: The Mountains, Lakes, Stones and Forests of Ireland are the servants of Danu, who were awoken by the great magician Mathgen, the cup-bearers of the Tuatha, and the witches Bechulle and Dianan respectively to rise up and defend the Tuatha against the coming of the fomori. Additionally, several members of the Tuatha de Danann directly serve their primordial mother as something of intermediaries between herself and the world beyond. Banba, Fohla, and Eriu are the chief of these Goddesses, who tested the Kings of Ireland, and gave their authority as the Sovereignty of the Land to kings who passed their tests. If one seeks Danu, finding her servants is the best start.

Realm: Danu is inactive for reasons not known, and she has been inactive since the first peoples arrived in Ireland. But, what is known for sure is that the land of Ireland itself is fundamentally Danu. One might suspect that an audience might be sought out with the primordial mother by entering into the land itself, especially a place such as the Paps of Anu (the breasts of Anu/Danu). If the Titans were to awake again, the Tuatha would likely be in need of Danu now more than ever before, as the primordial mother is sure to be able to convince her wayward children to return from the land of the dead.

Lir - The Celtic Sea

Powers: Epic Charisma, Water

Lir, father of Manannan, is a complicated figure. He is the King of the Sea, and also the Sea itself. A long time ago, when Bodb Derg was chosen to be King of the Tuatha de Danann, Lir was outraged and stormed out of the gathering as he believed himself to be the right choice. To smooth matters over, Bodb Derg married his daughter Aoibh to Lir, and the Sea was settled, but even more then that, fell deeply in love with Aoibh. The two were the light of the other’s life, and they had four children together. Three sons, Fionnuala, Fiachra, Conn, and a daughter, Aodh. However, Aoibh died giving birth to Fiachra and Conn, and left Lir with a broken heart, caring for his children and raising them himself. In time, his children became his joy, and his reason to live on.

Bodb Derg, however, possibly proving Lir’s annoyance with his appointment, panicked, and offered Lir another of his daughters as a wife. Lir agreed, and married Aoife. However, Aoife was jealous of the love Lir had for his children, and ordered one of her father’s servants to kill her step-children. When the servant refused, she turned the four children into swans. Here, again, Bodb Derg panicked, and obliterated Aoife, turning her into wind.

Now, Lir, the great King of the Sea who is yet the Sea itself fell into a terrible sadness, and he has been so struck ever since. His beloved wife lost to him, and their children stolen from him. He sits in his halls now, unable to muster the effort even to move for his grief. If it were not for his Divinity, he would have wasted away to nothing, even despite Manannan mac Lir, his son, trying to cheer him and save his half-siblings to no avail.

When war comes once again to Ireland, a smart Scion would find the Children of Lir, and do whatever it takes to return them to their bodies. The love Lir would hold for whomsoever were to do this would be great, and it would be no doubt he would raise his unfathomable might to the aid of the Tuatha.

However, if the Titans were to awaken again... Bres is so desperate for his crown, and Lir would be indebted to the point of fighting against the Tuatha if someone were to save his children. Or, potentially hold them hostage.

Creatures: Once, Lir may have had an entire kingdom of soldiers at his beck and call, but if there ever were any, they have long since faded, leaving Tir fo Thuinn an empty world. In the sea itself, however, the two sea monsters Coinchenn and Curruid who clashed with each other, and the former’s bones were made into the Gae Bolga. One might suspect that such beasts were once Lir’s servants, and his fall to depression loosened his control over them, leading to such lethal conflicts between them. A wise man would fear those great beasts, for if the terrible Gae Bolga was made of the bones of one of them, such horrific properties may lurk in the fangs of the beasts.

Realm: Lir is the sea that surrounds Ireland, and the Otherworldly sea that intermingles with it at points. However, in a less complicated manor, Lir sits in a beautiful land named Tír fo Thuinn, the Land Under the Waves where the Titan mourns for every moment of every day. It is not hard to reach, a skilled Traveling Scion or Scion gifted with the Water could find entry, but it has long since been overrun by the wild, and beasts with its king in the clutches of ceaseless sorrow.

The Curse

The Curse that took Lir's children away from him would have to be exceptionally powerful if Manannan has not been able to break it, which it should be assumed so as Manannan would try to save his siblings due to familial obligation if nothing more.

This curse has in some stories claimed to be lifted by a priest, or monk, or church bells after the christianization process began, and Lir changed from the primordial sea to a particularly wet king. Just like Saint Patrick summoning CuChulain out of hell, it makes more sense if this story, a later addition to the original, is treated as nothing more than a story.

But, the question still remains, how could a Scion break it? A good question. Many uses of the Magic Avatar would surely do it, but a Band likely will not have such resources if they wish to start this quest at any point before Legend 12. Instead, one might set out to restore Aoife to flesh and blood, and then force her to break the curse, or possibly explain how to. A odyssey through the islands of the Otherworlds, or perhaps seeking foreign intervention could evolve from that point.

She's a Titan Now?

In Scion Companion, Danu was represented as a Goddess who was available to be the Divine Parent of Scions. This was likely done because at a glance, she appears to be a Goddess, it's in the Pantheon's name. Tuatha de Danann, Tribe of the Goddess Danu. Additionally, as in RAW Titans are fundamentally antagonistic, she did not quite fit.

Here, she is represented as a Titan as we do not believe all Titans must be antagonistic, just like how there are many Gods you wouldn't want to meet in a brightly lit alley, let alone a dark one. What makes Danu Titanic is that she represents a primordial force, she is exceptionally distant (never appearing in person in myth), and yet is obviously too important to be a Lesser God.

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