Post by phrostphyre on Mar 7, 2011 20:59:03 GMT -5
One thousand years ago, there was a group of soldiers. Armed with primitive iron swords, shields, and light armor, they managed to completely destroy a way of life that had existed in the Gaelic islands for a thousand years before that. According to tradition, they were led by two men: Lugh and Nuada Silverhand. Lugh’s spear was not a normal spear, in the legendary cycle of Invasions. To keep it from destroying everything around it, it had to be kept asleep by steeping it a solution of ground poppy seeds freshly ground. “When battle was near, it was drawn out; then it roared and struggled against its thongs, fire flashed from it, and it tore through the ranks of the enemy once slipped from the leash, never tired of slaying, never tired of killing, and was always struggling to be free.” – From the Chronicles of the Invasions , by an unnamed monk. The sword was wielded by Nuada Silverhand, and once drawn from its sheath; no one could resist it, nor escape it.
The Tuatha Dé Danann, or quite imprecisely, “Peoples of the Goddess Danu”, were warriors, sailors, farmers, and herders. They swept through Erin, or Hibernia, and then set their primitive longbow’s sights on the rest of the islands. According to the oral cycles, they came from farther north than had ever been explored, including by the Skandians. One hundred years after the invasion of Hibernia, the language of the goddess Danu’s people was spoken by over ninety percent of the population, with the numbers of speakers of the original language declining yearly.
For nearly three hundred years, these people lived their lives. However, one misty morning, four Skandian long ships appeared from the north, loaded with warriors. They burst onto the shore, and slaughtered their way two hundred miles inland. At the site of their landing in Hibernia, they founded a city that would later become a center for commerce and culture. It was Dublin.
This pattern of Skandian invasions, being routed, and founding cities continued for several decades, before a man by the name of Harold Wulffengang Christiansen attempted to take complete control of Hibernia. The Hibernians promptly rallied behind the banner of Laochra. Fittingly, his name meant “warrior”, and that was the only name he needed. The Hibernian army threw the Skandian invaders half way back to Skandia, including on the ocean. The lords promptly declared him High King and paid Laochra tribute for twenty years, before he was assassinated by a Lord wanting the throne for himself. Hibernian politics being what they are, there was no clear winner of the following civil war thirty years later. This continued in much the same cycle for about one hundred years. A High King would declare himself, fight for his throne, hold it for about two years, and then be deposed, and the cycle would start over.
It was in this era of political turmoil that people began identifying themselves with a common land area, eventually forming into the modern clan system, where a chief, chieftain, or Laird would protect the tenants, land, and castle through the use of his men at arms, while the tenants paid tribute. It worked. This system spread to the rest of the Gaelic Islands; however, nearly all grown males have served time as men-at-arms, giving them valuable experience in soldiering, and giving the Laird a large population base that has experience in soldiering to call on, should he need to.
The Tuatha Dé Danann, or quite imprecisely, “Peoples of the Goddess Danu”, were warriors, sailors, farmers, and herders. They swept through Erin, or Hibernia, and then set their primitive longbow’s sights on the rest of the islands. According to the oral cycles, they came from farther north than had ever been explored, including by the Skandians. One hundred years after the invasion of Hibernia, the language of the goddess Danu’s people was spoken by over ninety percent of the population, with the numbers of speakers of the original language declining yearly.
For nearly three hundred years, these people lived their lives. However, one misty morning, four Skandian long ships appeared from the north, loaded with warriors. They burst onto the shore, and slaughtered their way two hundred miles inland. At the site of their landing in Hibernia, they founded a city that would later become a center for commerce and culture. It was Dublin.
This pattern of Skandian invasions, being routed, and founding cities continued for several decades, before a man by the name of Harold Wulffengang Christiansen attempted to take complete control of Hibernia. The Hibernians promptly rallied behind the banner of Laochra. Fittingly, his name meant “warrior”, and that was the only name he needed. The Hibernian army threw the Skandian invaders half way back to Skandia, including on the ocean. The lords promptly declared him High King and paid Laochra tribute for twenty years, before he was assassinated by a Lord wanting the throne for himself. Hibernian politics being what they are, there was no clear winner of the following civil war thirty years later. This continued in much the same cycle for about one hundred years. A High King would declare himself, fight for his throne, hold it for about two years, and then be deposed, and the cycle would start over.
It was in this era of political turmoil that people began identifying themselves with a common land area, eventually forming into the modern clan system, where a chief, chieftain, or Laird would protect the tenants, land, and castle through the use of his men at arms, while the tenants paid tribute. It worked. This system spread to the rest of the Gaelic Islands; however, nearly all grown males have served time as men-at-arms, giving them valuable experience in soldiering, and giving the Laird a large population base that has experience in soldiering to call on, should he need to.