The Celts

In the northern reaches, above Unicorn Pass, the Celts and Druids live free from the shackles of god or man. Living between the Norse, the Jutes, and the Christians, the giants and dwarves, the Celts are a trading, hunting, and fighting culture. North of Christian Highland Celtic is the lingua franca, though many traveling Celts also know Anglish and quite a few of those know Dwarfish and Jute.

The Celts prefer to stay away from the mountains, and live on the hills and plains between the two ranges. Near the mountains, horses and pack animals are unsafe: they attract hippogriffs and gryphons.

The great mountains of the west are almost always visible in the Celtic valley: its high peaks are visible from a hundred and forty miles away, or five to six diagonals on the map.

The Cataclysm

In the ancient days, the Druids tell, there were no wandering priests. Then, besides serving the World Tree, individual Druids might also wear the torc of another deity. Some Druids even wore the torc of the one god! The World Tree grew jealous, and in her rage she nearly destroyed the world. In those days the Celts lived throughout the area known as west Highland, but after the Earth’s rage they survived only in the northern lands.

Today, Druids are forbidden to serve any other than the Tree and Oghma, and no Celt may wear the torc of any god or man.

Druids

The Druid is the wisdom of the elite circle of Celtic society, organizing the Bard and Learned Warrior. Druids are prophets of Oghma and the World Tree Crann Bethadh. Oghma is also known as the man of the crossroads, and his symbol is the Celtic cross that marks the four corners of the world. At the center of the crossroads of the world is the World Ash Crann Bethadh. Oghma climbed the World Tree for nine months during the great cataclysm and returned with the knowledge of life. The roots of the World Tree begin at the beginning of the worlds, and the highest leaf extends beyond the end of time.

Druids speak their own secret language, Wynecht, in addition to speaking the Celtic tongue. Bards and Learned Warriors (Fienna) of unproven ability (fourth level or lower) are forbidden to learn this language. They must learn the language before acquiring ninth level. Druids will only teach the language to Bards and Learned Warriors of proven ability and loyalty.

The talisman of the Druid is mistletoe, holly, and scythe.

Calendar

The Celts measure their months strictly by the moon. They don’t have specific names for each month, but may name those that begin with one of their four festivals. For example, the month corresponding approximately to the Christian May is the month of Beltane.

The Celtic calendar is fixed to the moon, the stars, and the seasons. Samhain, for example, is the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, with the celebration occurring on the full moon nearest that point. And Imbolc and Lughnasadh are tied to the herds and the harvest, with Imbolc starting with the first births in the spring, and Lughnasadh starting with the first harvest in late summer. The Druids will set the official dates.

The three-day feast of Samhain marks the Celtic new year, and the Celtic assembly is traditionally held during the feast. The feast begins on the eve of Samhain and continues for the next two full days. During these feasts there will be places set for the dead to eat and to celebrate, and tales of both recently and long-deceased ancestors will be recounted.

Beltane is marked by the lighting of bonfires in high places. The shrines of Beltane are also used for warnings. The Druids keep these shrines manned by apprentice fienna and bards at all times.

Celtic Wizard Runes

Celtic wizards are mnemonic. They, rather than using special components, used carved runes as components. However, these carved runes must be carved during a specific natural event. The rarer the normal components, and the higher the spell’s level, the rarer the natural event must be. First level spells, for example, might have to be carved during a specific lunar phase, or from a twig bathed in the sun’s dying light. Fourth level runes might have to be carved during one of the equinoxes. A ninth level spell’s runes might have to be carved while a comet is in the daytime sky.

Wandering Prophets

The Fánaíochtmhar an Feochán are the prophets of the Celtic gods. An individual prophet is often addressed as Feochán. There is otherwise no hierarchical organization of Celtic prophets or priests. Celtic prophets are often also warriors. Deities of the Celts include:

Brigit

Brigit is known for healing, and her healing wells are perhaps the most common shrines in the Celtic valley.

The worship of Brigit in the Celtic lands mirrors the worship of Mary in Christian lands, when it comes to her healing wells. Brigit, however, is known for her fiery smithcraft as well as healing. She is the goddess of any craft that uses fire to create. In this role she may be worshipped by crafters of any moral code.

Bards hold much respect for Brigit, because of her role in facilitating poetry and music. In some of the legends of Brigit’s origin, she is the daughter of one Druid and raised by another.

Whiskey, You’re the Devil

The Celts “discovered” whiskey, or, as they call it, uisge beatha, the “water of life”, in the seven hundreds. They had earlier discovered the secret of distillation from their contacts with the Ice Giants across the Great Mountains. Celtic whiskey is distilled from malted barley, and used by the Celts for ceremonial and medicinal purposes (generally the same thing).

While the Celts mostly limit whiskey drinking to ceremonial purposes, some outlying northern tribes have begun distilling it for trade, using a mixture of malted and unmalted barley. Most of this whiskey makes its way to Pirate’s Cove, and a bit from there to Crosspoint.

Herbalism

The Celts use a wide variety of teas for medicine and for ceremony. There are teas for meeting, teas for friendship, and teas for farewell.

Teas are usually made from flower petals, from hemp buds, or from the inner bark of trees.

Guest Houses

Despite the warring nature of Celtic clans, the Celts also value hospitality to travelers. The guest-halls, or aoighall, of the Celts are generally simple in nature, combining a wide room with a fire and a bar. In general, no one sleeps until everyone sleeps.

Bailabann

Bailabann is the closest Celtic community to Christian Highland. Ninety miles northeast up the Dowanthal River, this tiny community with its hide-covered halls stands in the rolling foothills near the lightly forested plains west of the High Divide. The trappers of Bailabann trade with Weaving to the southwest and the Dwarves of Hitarn about 60 miles to the south. Dwarven goods are often available in Bailabann, and the Dwarves themselves occasionally travel to the town for trade.

Before you the hide-covered halls of a busy village cling to the gently-sloping sides of the hills. A stream crosses the valley’s entrance and continues back southwest to the Weaving Wood and Highland. People bustle from house to house along the stepped paths and roads of the hilltown. Other people, fat grizzled old men from the look of them, sit in partial darkness by the halls, smoke rising from the doorways and roofs. Small houses dot the grassy ground.

Because it lies on the other side of the Weaving Wood, the Christians of Weaving are mostly unaware of its existence, though they do know that Celts trade with their outlying farms. Travelers who use Unicorn Pass, such as John Cover of the Weaving Well, know of its existence and will use it as a stopping point in their journeys north or south. Because of the animosity that some folk have towards the Celts, despite their assistance in the Goblin Wars, such travelers rarely speak of the Celtic town.

Bailabann is one of the main routes through which northweed arrives in Highland.

Bailabann is also the last stop of Druids who have been called to risk the Weaving Wood (or, as they call it, croomfrith, which is to say “the bent forest”), to commune with the world ash.

In the Celtic tongue, “Bailabann” means simply “Rivertown”.

Because Bailabann is traveled by so many races, much can be learned in the town.

Why is Weaving called Weaving? Is it the spiders or the trees?

Celt: “Names have meaning. When you give a name to something, you shape one corner of its soul.”

The battle of the giants at Fomhor Achadh?

Dwarf 1: “My father killed a dozen ice giants at Fomhor Achadh with his axe.”

Dwarf 2: “My father lost his axe in the skull of one giant, and took a pick to ten others.”

Where are your fathers now?

Dwarf 1: “Oh, he’s dead. Buried in battle by the valley of bones.”

Dwarf 2: “Aye, so he is, and my father too. Precious few returned from Fomhor Achadh. That some did is thanks to the brave Celts. That is a debt we do not forget.”

Dwarf 1: “I remember when the warriors returned. I was but knee-high to a cobolum.”

Dwarf 2: “But the giants were defeated, and they have not returned.”

Celt: “You might still see giants in the cold north, but if you pass them widely they will pass you as well.”

What is the “cold north”?

Celt: “The cold north is the great western mountains; the warm north is the valley nearest the eastern mountains, to the pass. There is a piece of the warm north where Erventon lies, but for the most part that mountain is rocky and cold.”

Brigit’s Springs

In the high hills of the Great Western Mountains, just north of Erventon, is one of the greatest--and simplest--of the Druidic shrines. The triple springs of Bridget are a source of healing and wisdom.

The springs may be reached from the Celtic lands through a winding path that leads southwest up the mountain and to the springs. They may also be reached from Erventon, through an even more winding path that leads past the three pools fed by water falling from the springs above. The springs may also be reached, through a long mountain path, from the Long Lakes.

The pools are in a small, alcove-like enclosed plateau which overlooks the Celtic valley to the east. The springs themselves are on a somewhat larger plateau which looks out to the southeast, east, and northeast, with the snow-covered mountains behind to the west.

Water from the springs pours down in a small waterfall over a cliff to the pools below.

Each of the springs is partially enclosed by a low rock wall. Traditionally, each spring provides different assistance: one for healing, one for fertility, and one for wisdom and inspiration. The water is extremely cold, fed by the snow that trickles through the mountains from the higher peaks. It is a strong mineral water and slightly carbonated.

Each of the rock walls has, if one looks very closely, Elvish characters written that have faded almost to non-existence. They read “courage”, “peace” and “making”. In Elvish, these are courage, rael, and maedra.

There are special ceremonies at Brigit’s spring on Imbolc and when healing is needed. Individual Celts will climb to the springs and tie strips of cloth, or rags of clothing from a sick person, to the pines near the springs, for healing purposes. There will always be some strips hanging from the trees in the upper plateau.

When the wind blows in the mountains, a faint whistle echoes in the clearing below the springs. The Celts say that this is Brigit’s whistle, and it sounds almost like a harpstring as it dies down. The nearby Halflings say that a “young lady of the hills” can be heard singing in the wind. They call the pools the waters of Deirdre.

Brigit’s springs are a pivot of the world, a Chaotic +3 place of power, and mark an endpoint of the ley lines that go to Fomhor Achadh and Dowanthal Peak. The waters will provide assistance according to the faith, motivations, and needs of those using them.

Bridlas

This small town in the foothills of the mountain is the last town on the road to Brigit’s Springs. Within the shrine to Brigit here is a perpetually-burning cauldron of fire. The fire is tended by three priestesses of Brigit.

The Burren

Known as “the barrens” in Anglish and Arlindor’s Ebb to the Elves, this rocky plain, surrounded by low cliffs and rock walls, is avoided by Celts, Halflings, and all civilized folk. Rumors speak of giants as old as the world, and ancient Elven shades in the dark places of the Burren. The Celts say that it was once a great forest of the Druids, like the Weaving Wood, but it was destroyed by the Druids, by something that they summoned, or by something they were fighting.

The Burren are about sixty miles north of Sneem, and about thirty miles wide, roughly circular. The rock of the Burren is used for building in the nearby towns and as far south as Sneem. Most of the rock is harvested from the western cliffs, which are taller and more easily mined than the southern and northern sides. Towards the east side of the Burren, the “cliffs” fade to little more than rock walls that can be easily climbed over.

Very little grows in the Burren. Only small plants and occasional grasses poke through the rocky furrows.

To the Elves, this is once-sacred ground. Arlindorie (UrHIdorea) is “the passing of Arlindor”. Elven poetry speaks of it as “the green receding sea”. The high forest once shared space with the earth in a few remote places. The rocks of Arlindorie was one of these places. This is where Tialnambe and Alveron would walk together with their son in the morning of the world. But, in the days before the cataclysm the high forest retreated, leaving a land of little magic and shadows in wet crevasses. Some creatures that were slower than the forest remained: the grey men, and goblins, and, in some stories, the Halflings of Erventon.

Dungarvin

The largest town near the mining villages of the Burren, as well as the nearest large town on the tobacco road to Erventon, and the largest stopping point on the easiest road around the Burren between the north and south of the Celtic valley, Dungarvin is known for its transients, miners, traders, and travelers. Rougher crowds will stay at the less expensive Golden Fleece (if they stay in a house at all). Merchants and travelers with more money will stay at the Cauldron.

Dungarvin is also a fort town, built during the Goblin Wars against goblins from the west and the south, and still maintained against the giant-kin, though memory of giant incursions is fading among the non-druidical Celts. The fort of Dungarvin is managed by the Fienna and by the Druid in the wooden fort at the walls outside of the town.

The Fienna still mark, with obelisks, the furthest point that the town is allowed to expand: if the town grows too close to the defensive walls, those walls lose their effectiveness.

The town is looking to grow beyond the standing stones, especially in the north and east.

Fomhor achadh

A trace of the morning’s mist still floats, like a thousand rivers, amongst the curved white arcs rising like plants from the grassy ground.

In the harsh afternoon light, the sun casts short, sharp shadows from bone to ground, crisscrossing the fields with white and black like an ossuary chessboard

Another sixty miles north of Bailabann, on the road to Unicorn Pass, is a field of giant’s bones nestled in a small valley against the mountains. Three hundred and fifty years ago, in 1641, the Dwarves of Hitarn and the Celts of the region met the giants on the field of battle. The giants were marching on Hitarn. The Celts could have let them pass, but they did not, and the Dwarves remember that debt.

The bones are bleached and mostly buried, but in several places still extend two yards above ground with tall grasses growing around them. Huge skulls, four feet wide, lie half-buried in the dirt. In barrows and caves surrounding the valley lie the many Dwarves who fell, “buried in battle”, one of the greatest honors of a Dwarven warrior.

The battleground is always misty, and the density of the mist can be very heavy. This is why the Dwarves and Celts chose this as the battleground. The giants were holding to the mountains after crossing the plains. The fog rolling down from the mountain turned the size of the Celts and Dwarves to an advantage, as they could hide within the mist.

Fomhor Achadh was called the Valley of Mists before the battle. The valley of mists is a +1 place of power aligned towards Order. There are ancient, ruined shrines in grottos in the mountains.

Rathnaskilla

A small village in the grasslands between Fomhor Achadh and Fawn River, Rathnaskilla is probably the nearest Celtic village to a Christian town, being about 60 miles from Fartown through light forest. It is 40 miles west of the High Divide. The self-assumed leader of Rathnaskilla is an old Bard named Fingol Twomey, who settled here several decades back to start a family. He has at least one granddaughter, Aoife, who is just coming of age.

Rathnaskilla has a large guest house and while it is not in any sense a trading town it does see Celtic travelers from the Celtic valley heading into Christian Highland.

Sneem

About 60 miles north of Rathnaskilla is the river-town Sneem, the southernmost Celtic ferry-crossing across the Fawn River. The next crossing to the south is at Fartown.