The Copper Crown

by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison

  This was the Golden Age of Keltia. The mass emigrations ended at around Terran year 1350, and the dream of Brendan seemed achieved. There was complete equality, as he had intended; a strong central government and representative local governments; the beginnings of a peerage democracy; great advances in magic, science and art.

  *

  It could not last, of course. By Terran year 1700, increasingly vocal separatist movements sprang up in each nation, and, a hundred years later, the Archdruid of the time, Edeyrn, saw in the unrest the chance to further his own power, and the power of the Druid Order. A fiercely ambitious and unquestionably brilliant man, Edeyrn succeeded in engineering the discrediting and ultimate dissolution of the Fainne, in forcing the monarchy into hiding, and in installing those Druids loyal to him as magical dictators on all levels. Civil war broke out all over Keltia, and the realm was polarized by the conflict.

  *

  This was the Druid Theocracy and Interregnum, which was to endure for nearly two hundred unhappy years. Edeyrn and his Druids were joined by many politically ambitious and discontented noble houses, who saw in the upheaval a chance for their own advancement.

  There was of course a fierce and equally powerful resistance, as many Druids remained loyal to the truths of their order, and joined forces with the Ban-draoi, the magical order of priestesses, the Fianna, the Bardic Association and some of the oldest and noblest Keltic families.

  This resistance was called the Counterinsurgency, and it opposed Edeyrn and his Druids with strength, resource and cleverness for two centuries. Consistently outwitting the aims of the Theocracy, the loyalists managed to preserve the fabric of true Keltic society. Through the efforts of the Bardic Association, they also succeeded in salvaging most of the important lore, science, art and records of the centuries of Keltia's settlement, and the records from Earth before that.

  The terrors of the Theocracy raged on for two hundred years, with the balance continually shifting between Theocracy and Counterinsurgency. The general population was sorely torn, but most did in fact support the loyalists, in their hearts if not in their outward actions. Then full-scale alien invasion, by the races called by the Kelts Fomori and Fir Bolg after their old Earth enemies, hit Keltia, causing enormous destruction and loss of life. But even in the face of this appalling new threat, Edeyrn continued to dominate, and some even said he was responsible for the invasions. Though he himself was by now ancient beyond all right expectation, his adopted heir Owain served as his sword-arm, and Owain was as twisted as ever Edeyrn was.

  Though their most immediately pressing need was to repel the Fomori and Fir Bolg invaders, the Kelts had first to break free of the grip of the Theocracy; and in the midst of that chaos, a mighty figure began to emerge.

  *

  Arthur of Arvon, a minor lordling of a hitherto minor noble house of the Kymry, rallied boldly the forces of the Counterinsurgency. Arthur proved to be an inspired leader, and, more importantly, a military genius, and he quickly smashed Owain's Druids in the Battle of Moytura. The Theocracy, its military power broken, caved in, and Arthur was named Rex Bellorum, War-Chief, by the hastily reconstituted Fainne and the newly restored monarch Uthyr. Arthur then led the Keltic forces out against the invaders; the aliens were not prepared for such a concerted counterattack, and Arthur succeeded in utterly crushing the invasion.

  *

  But King Uthyr had died in battle. Arthur married the royal heir, Gweniver, and with her assumed the sovereignty of Keltia by acclamation. The wars behind him, at least for the present, Arthur turned his genius to political and social reform, establishing elective bodies of legislators, the Royal Senate and Assembly, restoring the House of Peers, formulating a new judicial system on the remains of the old brehon laws, and laying the groundwork for a standing battle force. He commanded a purge of the Druid Order, setting his closest advisor and old teacher, Merlynn Llwyd, to undertake the task, and he gave new power and prestige to the loyal orders of the Ban-draoi, the Fianna and the Bardic Association.

  *

  Arthur and Gweniver reigned brilliantly and successfully for nearly fifty years, and had two children, Arawn and Arwenna. Then, in Terran year 2047, he was betrayed by his own nephew, Mordryth, and the infamous Owain's heir, Malgan. Their treachery let in the invading Coranians, descendants of the Telchines, who had evolved into a race of sorcerous marauders whose savagery made the Fomori and Fir Bolg look like sheep. This was Arthur's first chance to test his reforms, and he was well aware that it might be his last also. He dealt with Mordryth and Malgan, then led a space armada against the Coranians, with devastating success. Tragically, he disappeared in the climactic battle, sending his flagship Prydwen against the Coranian flagship and taking both vessels and all aboard them into hyperspace forever. His last message to his people was that he would come again, when he was needed.

  *

  In the absence of proof positive of Arthur's death, he is still King of Kelts, and all succeeding monarchs have held their sovereignty by his courtesy and have made their laws in his name... for who knows when Arthur the King might not return?

  The monarchy, after Arthur's disappearance, became a Regency, the only one in Keltic history. Arthur's sister Morgan, his wife Gweniver, and his mother Ygrawn ruled jointly, until such time as Prince Arawn should be old enough to take the crown.

  All three women were strong characters, skilled in magic, but Arthur's sister Morgan, called Morgan Magistra, was the greatest magician Keltia would ever see.

  *

  After taking counsel with the Ban-draoi, Merlynn's newly rehabilitated Druids, the Fianna and the Bardic Association, and with her own co-Regents, Morgan undertook the immense achievement of the raising of the Curtain Wall. There was no other feat like it, even back to the days of the High Atlanteans.

  The Curtain Wall is a gigantic force-field, electromagnetic in nature and maintained by psionic energies; it completely surrounds and conceals Keltic space, hiding suns, planets, satellites, energy waves, everything. Once outside its perimeters, it is as if Keltia does not exist. Space is not physically blocked off, and radio waves and the like are bent round the Wall, but any ship attempting to cross the region is shunted into certain corridors of electromagnetic flux that feed into the Morimaruse, the Dead Sea of space, and now no one goes that way, ever.

  *

  So the Keltic worlds and their peoples became a half-legend of the galaxy, a star-myth to be told to children or to anthropologists. But behind the Curtain Wall, the Regency carried on Arthur's work, and when in time Arawn became King, he proved almost as gifted as his parents. The dynasty he founded was followed in peaceful succession by the closely related royal house of Gwynedd, and that by the royal house of Douglas.

  *

  For fifteen hundred years Keltia prospered in her isolation--not a total isolation even then, for still there were out-Wall trading planets and military actions, and ambassadors were still received.

  In the Terran year 2693, the Crown passed to the House of Aoibhell. Direct descendants of Brendan himself, the Aoibhells have held the monarchy in a grip of findruinna for eight hundred years, according to the law of Keltia that the Copper Crown descends to the eldest child of the sovereign, whether man or woman.

  In the Earth year 3512, a Terran ship, a long-distance stellar probe, approaches the Curtain Wall and is hailed by a Keltic scout ship. Aeron Aoibhell, the seventeenth member of her House to occupy the throne, has been Ard-rian, High Queen of Keltia, for just under three years.

  After three millennia, the Earth has caught up with the Kelts at last.

  Glossary

  (Words are Keltic unless otherwise noted.)

  aircar: small personal transport used on Keltic worlds

  alanna: "child," "little one"; Erinnach endearment

  amada un: "fool"

  An Claideamh Soluis: "The Sword of Light"; a Keltic constellation

  an-da-shalla: "The Second Sight"; Keltic talent of precognition

  An
Lasca: "The Whip"; the ionized northwest wind at Caerdroia

  anwyl: "sweetheart"; Kymric endearment

  Annwn: (pron. Annoon) the Keltic religion's equivalent of the Underworld, ruled over by Arawn, Lord of the Dead

  aonach: an assembly, gathering or fair

  ap: Kymric, "son of"

  Ard-eis: the royal High Council of Keltia

  Ard-rian, Ard-righ: "High Queen," "High King"; title of the Keltic sovereign

  astar, pl. astari: gold currency unit of the Imperium

  athair-talam: "father-of-the-ground"; a magic herb used by healers of the Fianna, with narcotic/analgesic properties

  athiarna: "High One"; Fianna form of address to a superior officer

  aurichalcum: (Hastaic) a type of metal-stone mined on the Imperial planet of Alphor and used extensively in building there

  ballach: a saddle pass leading from one mountain to another

  ban-a-tigh: woman householder

  Ban-draoi: lit., "woman-druid"; the Keltic order of priestess-sorceresses in the service of the Mother Goddess

  bards: Keltic order of poets, chaunters and loremasters

  Bawn of Keltia: the space enclosed within the Curtain Wall (bawn: the area enclosed by the outer barbican defenses of a fortress)

  Beltain: festival of the beginning of summer, celebrated on 1 May

  bodach: term of opprobrium or commiseration, depending on circumstances

  brehons: Keltic lawgivers and judges

  brugh: a fortified manor house, usually belonging to one of the gentry or nobility; in cities, a town-palace of great elegance and size

  bruidean: inn or waystation, maintained by local authorities, where any traveller, of whatever rank or wealth, is entitled to claim free hospitality

  Cabiri: (Hastaic) Coranian magical order of adepts, similar to the Druids or the Ban-draoi

  camur: feral scavenger canine; usually runs in packs

  cantrip: very small, simple spell or minor magic

  cariad: "heart," "beloved"; Kymric endearment

  cath, pl. catha: military unit of 5,000 warriors

  cathbarr: fillet or coronet; usually a band of precious metal ornamented with jewels

  ceili: (pron. kay-lee) a dancing-party or ball; any sort of revelry

  Chriesta tighearna!: lit., "Lord Christ!"; name of the Christian god, used as an expletive

  cithog: "port," as on board ship (cf. deosil)

  clarsa: Keltic musical instrument similar to Terran harpsichord

  clochan: dome- or yurt-like structure used by the Fianna in the field

  coelbren: magical alphabet used by Druids

  coire ainsec: "the undry cauldron of guestship"; the obligation, in law, to provide hospitality to any who claim it

  Coranians: ruling race of the Imperium, hereditary enemies of the Kelts; they are the descendants of the Telchines, as the Kelts are the descendants of the Danaans

  coroin: unit of Keltic money (large silver coin)

  corp-dira: fine exacted, according to the brehon law, for honor-price violations

  Crann Tarith: "Fiery Branch"; the token of war across Keltia. Originally a flaming branch or cross; now, by extension, the alarm or call to war broadcast on all planets

  creagh-righ: "royal reiving"; in very ancient times, the traditional raid led by a newly crowned monarch to consolidate his rule

  Cremave: the clearing-stone of the royal line of St. Brendan

  Criosanna: "The Woven Belts"; the rings that circle the planet Tara

  crochan: magical healing-pool that can cure almost any injury, provided the spinal column has not been severed and the brain and bone marrow remain undamaged

  crossic: unit of Keltic money (small gold coin)

  culist: "back-room"; traditional best chamber in Keltic farmhouses

  cursal: very fast light warship of the Keltic starfleet

  Curtain Wall: the artificial energy barrier that encircles and conceals Keltia

  Cwn Annwn: (pron. Coon Annoon) in Keltic religion, the Hounds of hell; the red-eared, white-coated dogs that belong to Arawn Lord of the Dead, that hunt down guilty souls

  daer-fudir: "outlaw"; a legal term, used in banishment of a malefactor

  dan: "doom"; fated karma

  deosil: on board ship, the starboard side (cf. cithog)

  Dragon Kinship: magical-military order of Keltic adepts

  Druids: magical order of Keltic sorcerer-priests

  duchas: lordship or holding; usually carries a title with it

  duergar: in Kernish folklore, an evil elemental or place-spirit

  dun: a stronghold of the Sidhe, the Shining Ones (also liss or rath)

  enech-clann: brehon law system of honor-price violations

  Englic: unofficial galactic Common Tongue

  eraic: "blood-price"; payment exacted for a murder by the kin of the victim

  faha: courtyard or enclosed space in a castle complex or an encampment

  Fainne: "The Ring"; the six system viceroys of Keltia

  fetch: the visible form taken by the spirit-guardian of a Keltic family

  Fianna: Keltic officer class; order of military supremacy

  fiant: royal mandate which cannot be altered by parliamentary action and from which there is no appeal

  fidchell: chess-style game

  fidil: four-stringed musical instrument played with a bow

  findruinna: superhard, silvery metal used in swords, armor and the like

  fior-comlainn: "truth-of-combat"; legally binding trial by personal combat

  fith-fath: spell of shapeshifting or glamourie; magical illusion

  Fomori: ancient enemies of the Kelts; sing., Fomor

  Fragarach: "The Answerer"; moon-size laser-cannon emplacement that defends the throneworld system of Tara

  fraughans: dark-red berries, similar to raspberries, often found growing wild in Keltia

  fudir: "criminal", "outcast"; term of opprobrium

  gallain: "foreigners"--sing., Gall; generic term for all non-Kelts

  galloglass: Keltic foot-soldier

  gauran: plow-beast similar to ox or bullock

  glaistig: on the planet Scota, a legendary demon or hag-creature

  glaive: (from Erinnach, claideamh) lightsword; laser weapon used throughout Keltia

  goleor: "in great numbers, an overabundance"; Englic galore is derived from it

  grafaun: double-bladed war axe

  grianan: "sun-place"; solar, private chamber

  guna: generic name for various styles of long robe or gown

  gwrach: on Gwynedd, a spirit that sings mournfully to lament the death of one of the ruling family

  hai atton: "heigh to us"; the horn-cry that rallies an army

  Hastaic: the language of the Imperium

  Hu mawr: Hu the Mighty; father of the gods in the Kymric pantheon

  immram: "voyage"; the great migrations from Earth to Keltia

  iron-death: curse inflicted upon anyone who refuses to take oath upon the Cremave (q.v.)

  (I)'s e do bheatha: lit., "life to you"; traditional Keltic salutation

  jurisconsult: brehon engaged in law-court cases

  keeve: breaker or barrel

  kenning: telepathic mood-sensing technique originally developed and used almost exclusively by Ban-draoi and Druid adepts

  kern: Keltic starfleet crewman

  lachna: heavy, superdense metallic ore with anti-magnetic properties

  lai: unit of distance measurement, equal to approximately one-half mile

  Lakhaz: the language of the Fomori

  leys: lines of electromagnetic flux found in the Morimaruse (q.v.)

  maenor: hereditary dwelling place, usually a family seat

  "M'anam don sleibh!": lit., "My soul to the mountain!"; Keltic oath

  marana: "meditation"; thought-trance of Keltic sorcerers

  Marbh-draoi: "Death-druid"; Jaun Akhera's epithet among Kelts

  marbh-fionn: "white death"; Keltic name for the virulently
poisonous, non-native snake known elsewhere as the annic

  marca-sluagh: cavalry squadron; usually refers to the bodyguard of a Keltic sovereign or high-ranking commander in battle

  marchra: "cavalcade"; small horsed company of a military or recreational nature

  master-otter: a magical beast used by sorcerers

  merrows: (An Moruadha) the sea people of Kernow

  mether: a four-cornered drinking vessel, usually of wood or pottery

  Morimaruse: vast electromagnetic void; the Dead Sea of space

  moscra: animal of the equine family, similar to Terran zebra

  nathair: generic term for any of various poisonous snakes of the adder type

  nemed: "sacred"; one whose person is sacrosanct by law; usually a royal personage or a bard, according to tradition

  nemeton: ceremonial stone circle or henge

  ni, nighean: "daughter of"

  ollave: a master-bard; by extension, anyone with supreme command of an art

  palug: a graceful, red-furred, lynx-like feline, native to the island-continent of Mon on the planet Gwynedd

  piast: a large amphibious water-beast found in deepwater lakes on the planets Erinna and Scota; the species was known to Terrans as the Loch Ness Monster

  Plumed Dancer: the star Rigel

  puca: mischievous, sometimes malevolent, spirit of darkness

  quaich: a low, wide, double-handled drinking-vessel; can be made of metal, pottery or leather

  rann: a chanted verse stanza used in magic; a spell of any sort

  rechtair: steward of royal or noble households; title of planetary governors; title of Chancellor of Exchequer on High Council

  rig-amuis: Fomori mercenary berserkers

  righ-domhna: members of the royal family, as reckoned from a common ancestor, who may (theoretically, at least) be elected to the Sovereignty