The Copper Crown
Page 44
riverhawk: very fierce, large sturgeon-like fish native to the Great River on Alphor
ros-catha: battle-cry
saining: rite of Keltic baptism
saining-pool: another name for crochan (q.v.)
Salamandri: the Salamander-race, Firefolk; inhabitants of the volcano planet Kholco
Samhain: (pron. Sah-win) festival of the beginning of winter, celebrated on 31 October
sgian: small black-handled knife universally worn in Keltia, usually in boot-top
shakla: chocolate-tasting beverage brewed with water from the berries of the brown ash; drunk throughout Keltia as a caffeine-based stimulant
Sidhe: (pron. Shee) the Shining Ones; a race of possibly divine or immortal beings
silkies: (Sluagh-ron) the seal-folk of the Out Isles
Six Nations: the six star systems of Keltia (excluding the Throneworld system of Tara); in order of their founding, they are Erinna, Kymry, Scota, Kernow, Vannin and Brytaned (or Arvor)
sluagh: a hosting, as of an army
Solas Sidhe: "The Faery Fire"; a natural phenomenon similar to the will-o'-the-wisp, usually seen in the spring and fall; also, a magical wall of fire, created by sorcerers as a means of attack or defense
Spearhead: the polestar of Tara
Stonerows: the lower circles of Caerdroia
sun-gun: moon-sized laser cannon used to defend planets or systems
sunmice: tiny, brightly colored schoolfish native to the Great River on Alphor
taghairm: "echo"; magical trance technique used by Druids and Ban-draoi
Tanist, Tanista: designated heir of line to the Keltic throne
Taoiseach: the Prime Minister of Keltia
telyn: Kymric lap-harp
torc: massive neck ornament worn by Kelts of rank; a heavy, open-ended circle usually of gold or silver
usqueba: "water of life"; whiskey, generally unblended
Warrior: the star Sirius
Yamazai: "Amazon"; warrior-woman race of a matriarchal system, whose homeworld is the planet Aojun
Yr Mawreth: "The Highest"; Kymric name for Kelu or Artzan Janco, the One God who is above all other gods
Keltic Orders and Societies
The Dragon Kinship
The Dragon Kinship is a magical and military order of adepts, under the authority of the Pendragon of Lirias. Members are the most accomplished adepts of all Keltia, elected strictly on the basis of ability. All professions and ranks are equally eligible.
All those of the Kinship are equal under the Pendragon; no formalities are observed, no titles are used, no precedence of rank is followed. The only other office is Summoner; chosen by the Pendragon, this officer is what the name implies--the person responsible for calling the Kinship together on the Pendragon's order.
The Pendragon is chosen by his or her predecessor to serve for a term of seven years; this choice must be confirmed by a simple-majority public vote and may be renewed only by a unanimous secret vote of the entire membership (not surprisingly, such a renewal has never taken place). At the moment, Gwydion Prince of Don is Pendragon; he was preceded by a farmer from the Morbihan, a poetess from Vannin, a weaver from the Out Isles and a bard from Cashel.
To call someone "Kin to the Dragon" is the highest tribute possible. Most members are public about it, some prefer to keep it a secret, but all possess a certain unmistakable and indefinable air of apartness and assurance. It is a severely demanding society: More than any other power, save only the Crown itself, the Dragon Kinship is responsible for the well-being, the welfare and the quality of life and spirit of Keltia, on all levels. As a magical order, the Kinship takes precedence over all other factions; much of its membership, in fact, comprises members of other orders such as the Druids, Ban-draoi or the Bardic Association. It is truly a cross-section of Keltic society, for it reaches from royalty to farmers to artists to techs to soldiers to artisans to householders. There are no age limits either upper or lower, and no entry requirement save the possession of psionic Gift.
That Gift must include all psionic talents, and feature supreme proficiency in at least one: healing of body or mind; seership; broad-band telepathy, either receptor or sender; magical warfare, attack, defense or strategic: energy control; psychokinetics; retrocognition or precognition; shapeshifting; transmutation; pure magic; or any other magical discipline or talent. Members are recruited through observation and direct approach by a current Dragon. There are generally no more than ten thousand members at any one time, though in time of war or other great emergency the membership may be increased, if acceptable candidates are available.
The Dragon Kinship have their own brugh in Turusachan and rich lands on Brytaned and Dyved; their main training establishment, Caer Coronach, is in a remote part of Caledon. A Dragon is by tradition named the sovereign's Magical Champion, as a Fian is always named Military Champion.
The Druid Order
The Druid Order is, with the Ban-draoi, the oldest order in Keltia, founded by St. Brendan himself in the direct tradition of the Terran Druids. The Order is limited to men only, who may present themselves for membership beginning at thirteen years of age. As with the other orders, preliminary training is begun as soon as a child begins to show promise of talent, sometimes even as early as three or four years old.
The Druids are an immensely powerful body; they concern themselves with sorcery and politics, not necessarily always in that ranking. There are three degrees of Druidry: Novice, Ovate, Master. Head of the Order is the Archdruid, who is chosen by his predecessor upon his deathbed, and who then rules until his own death. The Archdruid sits in the House of Peers as Lord of Carnac, and is a member of the High Council which advises the monarch.
The training is long and intensive: all forms of magic, lore, herbalism, alphabets, correspondences, alchemy, psionics, chants, music, healing, seership, trance mediumship, and other occult disciplines. A fully qualified Druid is a master of magic, and very few can manage to withstand him when he puts forth his power.
There have been a few doubtful passages in the history of the Order, most notably the appalling two-hundred-year period known to infamy as the Druid Theocracy and Interregnum.
At a time of unusual political polarity and turmoil, the Archdruid, a brilliant and devious man called Edeyrn, saw in the divisiveness a chance to seize power for his Order--which is to say, for himself. A series of battles and massacres called the Druids' Wars followed, effectively demolishing all semblance of civil order in Keltia, and Edeyrn installed himself as magical overlord. He was supported in this by his fellow renegades and quite a few equally opportunistic noble houses. He was opposed by the remnants of the Fainne, the Ban-draoi, the Bardic Association, the Fianna, most of the noble houses and many of his own Druids who had remained loyal to the teachings of their Order. This opposition was the Counterinsurgency, and they were very, very strong.
This horrific state of affairs existed for nearly two centuries, with the balance of power continually shifting from one side to the other, until the invasion of Keltia by Fomori and Fir Bolg space fleets resulted in enormous destruction and panic. The Theocracy, now led by the ancient Edeyrn's heir Owain, tried to make a deal with the invaders but failed, opening the way only for full-scale war.
Arthur of Arvon, himself a Druid, rallied the Counterinsurgency in one great desperate throw and defeated Owain's forces at the Battle of Moytura. With the help of his chief teacher and advisor Merlynn Llwyd, who assumed the Archdruidship, Arthur went on to pull Keltia together and become King of Kelts, as has been told elsewhere. But throughout his long and glorious reign, Druid precepts remained Arthur's guide to action.
The Druids, under Merlynn Llwyd, began a period of severe purge and purification, and eventually were restored to their former high standards.
The current Archdruid is Teilo ap Bearach; the ranks of Master-druids include Gwydion Prince of Don, Aeron's uncles Deian and Estyn, and her cousins Alasdair and Dion.
The Druid Orde
r has a brugh of its own in Turusachan, and its chief college is at Dinas Affaraon on Gwynedd.
The Ban-draoi
Equal in rank and antiquity with the Druid Order, the Ban-draoi are the evolvement of the incomparably ancient Goddess-priestesses of the most deep-rooted Keltic tradition. The Order was founded in Keltia by St. Brendan's mother, Nia daughter of Brigit, who many said was of divine parentage herself, and who became the ancestress of the House of Dana in Keltia.
Divine or not, Nia of the Tuatha De Danaan was brilliant, beautiful, foresighted, and incredibly gifted in magic, and the Order she established had power, respect and influence right from the start.
Open only to women, the Order of the Ban-draoi (the name is Erinnach for, literally, "woman-druid") has as its chief purpose the worship of the Lady, the Mother Goddess; but they are sorceresses as well as priestesses, and their magic matches that of the Druids spell for spell. All women, whether initiates or not, participate to some degree in the ways of the Ban-draoi, as do all men in the ways of the Druids, since both systems are at their deepest hearts paths of worship. But the mysteries of the Ban-draoi are the Mysteries of the Mother, the things of most awe in all the Keltic worlds. Priestess or not, every Keltic woman shares in this awe, and every Keltic man respects it.
The Ban-draoi were never so politically oriented as the Druids, but when the Theocracy began, they became the chief focus of the Counter-insurgency and gave the resistance movement much of its force. Later, Arthur's mother Ygrawn and sister Morgan, and his wife Gweniver, were all three high priestesses of the Order, and gave him invaluable aid in his task of defeating both Druids and aliens. After Arthur's departure, it was Morgan who raised the tremendous energy barrier of the Curtain Wall, thus protecting Keltia from the outside worlds for fifteen centuries.
Obliged by circumstances to assume a critical political role, the Ban-draoi adapted, and have retained a position of political preeminence down to the present day. Aeron Aoibhell holds the rank of Domina, or a High Priestess of the Order, as does her sister Rioghnach.
The training of a Ban-draoi (the word is both singular and plural) is as intensive as that of a Druid, and includes the same body of magical knowledge. Due to the heritage of Nia, however, it also emphasizes many branches of arcane lore known only to the priestesses. It is not so hierarchical as the Druid Order; an aspirant to the Ban-draoi is initiated as a priestess once her training is judged complete. If she wishes, and if her teachers agree, she may then seek the rank of high priestess, which carries with it the deepest knowledge of all and the title Domina.
The Chief Priestess is elected for life by a conclave of all the high priestesses; she bears the title Magistra, sits on the monarch's High Council, and sits in the House of Peers as Lady of Elphame. The office is currently held by Ffaleira nighean Enfail.
The Ban-draoi have a brugh of their own within the walls of Turusachan, and their chief training school is at Scartanore on Erinna.
The Fianna
The Fianna is a purely military organization, comprising the most skilled and talented warriors of Keltia. To become a Fian, a candidate must pass a series of incredibly rigorous tests of his or her warrior skills: a test of knowledge, in which he or she must demonstrate mastery of a specified body of lore; a test of soul, in which the candidate must face psionic examination by a qualified inquisitioner, who may be Druid, Ban-draoi or Dragon; and finally a formal combat with a chosen Fian of the First Rank.
So rigorous are these tests, in fact, that it seems astounding that anyone at all ever becomes a Fian; but many do indeed succeed, and rightly are respected. Membership is open to all ranks, ages and professions; candidates must be at least eighteen years of age, for physical reasons, though training may often begin at age six or seven if a child shows talent.
Skills a Fian must learn include all forms of combat and martial arts: sword-mastery, both classic and lightsword techniques; fencing; archery; wrestling; four forms of unarmed combat approximating to Terran judo, karate, kung-fu and foot-fighting; boxing; riding; marksmanship with all forms of weapons; tracking; running; spear-throwing; and the piloting of all types of vehicles from Starship to snow-yacht.
The test of knowledge requires extensive study in the fields of history, both Keltic and Terran; literature; brehon law; the arts; heraldry and genealogy; politics; and science, both pure and applied. Fians are expected to be able to speak all seven Keltic tongues, Latin, and as many alien tongues as possible (the minimum is three, and Hastaic, the Imperial tongue, is mandatory). In addition, Fians are taught the secret Keltic battle-language, Shelta Thari.
The test of soul could well be called an ordeal. It involves deep-trance, telepathy, and astral travel, and no candidate, whether pass or fail, will ever speak about it afterward.
The final formal combat is determined on an individual basis by the Captain-General of the Fianna; choice of weapon and combat form will vary, but there is always one armed and one unarmed duel for each candidate. The Captain-General also selects the First-Rank Fian who will oppose the prospective member. No allowance is made for sex or physical size: Women, for instance, are expected to know how to defeat a male warrior who vastly outmeasures them in height, weight and strength.
The Fianna have their own training establishment, Caer Artos in Arvon, and their quarters in Turusachan, the Commandery, are directly across from the royal palace. Military champions for trial-by-combat are always selected from the ranks of the Fianna; the Royal Champion is always a First-Rank Fian, and the monarch's personal bodyguard is made up of Fians.
The current Captain-General of the Fianna is Donal mac Avera.
The Bardic Association
The Bardic Association has a long and honorable history. From its founding in Keltic year 347 by Plenyth ap Alun, the society of bards has held without stain to its high principles and rigorous requirements, and bards of all degrees have traditionally been granted hospitality, honor and semi-royal precedence throughout Keltia.
Although bards receive a good deal of magical training in the course of their studies it is not emphasized; the primary training of bards is words. Any and all literary disciplines: poetry, sung or spoken; satire; history; sagas; ballads; myths and legends; drama; genealogy: precedent--all belong to the bardic tradition. Unlike magical schooling, the bardic discipline may begin at any age; there are records of peers in old age handing over their titles to their heirs and going to the bardic Colleges to end their lives in study.
Bardic aspirants spend five years as apprentices; five years as journeymen; five years as institutional bards. Having completed the fifteen-year training program (which does not preclude other study; Gwydion of Don, for instance, is both Druid and master-bard), they are then permitted to take the examination for the rank of ollave, or master-bard, if they so wish. If they are successful in this bid, they may then represent themselves as master-bards of the schools and seek the very highest employment. Not all bards choose to seek the status of ollave, however; and many do not remain even to become institutional bards. Any bard who has successfully passed the examination at the end of the journeyman term may serve as a teacher of children, and many choose to leave at this level to work in such capacity.
Bards of all degrees, whether journeyman, institutional bard or ollave, are much in demand throughout Keltia; they are employed by royal or noble families, or by merely wealthy families, as poet of the house and artist in residence, encouraged to recite the old lore and to compose creatively on their own. Exceptional bards of high degree are often entrusted with delicate diplomatic or social missions, including--not to put too fine a point on it--spying; though this last is done only in cases of the gravest national importance, for if too many bards did it, all bards would be suspect. The Ard-rian Aeron makes great use of bards, and gives them greater honor than they have had from the monarchs of Keltia for some years.
Bards have by law and custom several odd privileges: A bard may demand the nightmeal from anyone, in exchange for a
song or a poem; the royal ollave (or riogh-bardain) has the right to a seat at the high table in Mi-Cuarta not more than seven places from the monarch's right hand; an ollave is permitted by law to wear six colors in his cloak (only the reigning monarch may wear more--seven, if desired).
The Chief of Bards is chosen by a vote of senior masters; he serves until death or retirement, and sits on the monarch's High Council. Chief of Bards at present is Idris ap Caswyn.
The Bardic Association has a brugh of its own, Seren Beirdd--"Star of the Bards"--within the walls of Turusachan, and the Bardic Colleges are located on Powys.
Partial Chronology
3400 Fionnbarr born at Caerdroia
3405 Bres born at Tory
3434 Emer born at Coldharbor
3438 Haruko born at Old Kyoto
3442 Quarrel of Bres and Fionnbarr
3455 Fionnbarr and Emer marry
3467 Jaun Akhera born at Escal-dun
Roderick born at Kinloch Arnoch
3470 Gwydion and Arianeira born at Caer Dathyl
3472 Desmond and Slaine born at Drumhallow
3473 Elathan born at Tory
3475 Aeron born at Caerdroia
Morwen born at Kinloch Arnoch
3476 Rohan born at Caerdroia
3477 Rioghnach born at Caerdroia
3479 Fionnbarr's reign begins (death of Lasairian)
3480 O'Reilly born at Sandiangeles
3482 Kieran and Declan born at Caerdroia
Melangell born at Bryn Alarch
3489 Fionnuala born at Caerdroia
3509 Aeron's reign begins (deaths of Fionnbarr, Emer and Roderick)
3512 Arrival of Earth ship Sword in Keltic space
Dates given here are in Earth Reckoning (A.D.); to find the date A.B. (Anno Brendani) or A.C.C. (Anno Celtiae Conditae), subtract 453 and 455, respectively.