The Isles of Samhain (DnD Story)
The Isles of Samhain: The largest series of Island chains to the extreme west in the Equinox Seas "where the sun goes to die" and the shadowfell's effects are the strongest, is known as the Samhain Islands (some pronounce it Saw'win other Sagawon other Sam Hain). This is a long series of Islands that go from the south near Lughnasa Isles all the way to the North touching the Yule Isles and the all the Islands together appear like a crescent moon on a map. Other terms of the islands is the "Hag's moon islands" or "Crescent Moon Islands". (Think of Japan or the British islands going far to the North and South but not extraordinarily wide, extremely mountainous with harsh terrain and dark pine and sycamore forests, it takes months to travel from south to north but from east to west maybe two weeks). This land is dominated by the "Crones curse", which was a Curse placed upon the good folk, the hated Nordic Invaders and their giant masters and even the land of Samhain itself when the fae folk begged the Ancient Crones (Three cloud giant Hags who are sisters from Johtunhiem, the land of the giants to the far north, also cursed by the dark shadowfell. These three sisters represent different aspects of time and fate; Wyrd aka Urdr the Crone of the Past, Verthandi the Crone of the Present and Skuld the Crone of the Future, They sit atop the Bald mountain in the center of the Samhain Isles and weave the "fabric of mortality" on the great "Loom of Fate"...every year during the Winter Solstice there is the black sabbath where hags and witches across the land with their familiars come to pay respect and dance around great bon fires to the Ancient Three).
There are various former Seelie and Pict provinces now dominated by the Unseelie Fae; these provinces are named Ullapool, Argyll, Jura, Mull, Dumfries, Galloway, Dundee and Skye)
(A great hook to get the players to the Samhain Isles is to have them sailing on the sword coast when a strange storm with green and purple bale-lightning sweeps up and capsizes the ship...players go unconscious and suddenly awaken on a shore in the Samhain Islands preferably on the provinces of Connacht or Albion... Safe from the Curse of the Crones. from there they discover the last two remaining tribes of men known as the Picts and Tautha and their relationship with the humble Fae of Hearth, Sky and the Seelie Court... they can also learn of the accursed lands beyond the twelves Duns in the rest of Samhain.)
(The Seelie court are a loose alliance of "good" fairies who are lovely, charming and mischievous while the Unseelie Court are all the monstrous and savage fae who hate humanity and stand in opposition to the Seelie Court. It doesn't mean the Seelie can be cruel or malicious at times, especially during a wild hunt or when tricking those who dishonor them or have broken a truce between fae and mortal.)
(The Unseelie court or the "bad" fae generally hate humanity and either attack with lethal force or enjoy tricking and sabotaging the journey of mortals near their lands. They can only be appeased by strange rituals requiring donning masks and dancing in circles, animal sacrifices, crafting gourds and tuber into jack-o-lanterns and very rarely giving an infant as payment to create a changeling for a wish... and this can only be from human tribes that have ushered in some type of truce with the feral and capricious fae of the Unseelie...)
The Unseelie were Seelie once but completely rebelled against their teachings and ways after the "Nordic Betrayal" and the "Curse of the Three" deformed them and their ancestral autumn lands of Samhain. Originally the Samhain house was another mighty Seelie House that represented the Autumn seasons, they adopted tribes of mortals into their lands in the Northern Islands where Nords from Johtunhiem (The frozen Northern Polar region of frost giants and hardy human warriors)... These islands are now named the Orkneys but they where a cold yet tranquil series of islands where both boars and seals came to rest, breed and feast on the rich abundance of sea life kelp found there. This brought various Nordic fishers, whalers and seal catchers. Suddenly this migration of nordic sailors and fishermen brought the attention of the Giants from Johtunhiem and a great invasion of Nords and their giant masters invaded Northern Samhiem to feed the never ending greed and appetites of the warmongering giant tribes from the far North. This invasion was so mighty it simply swept aside the proud Elven Knights, Pictish warriors and Tautha defenders.
The Seelie Fae realized that the only way to save them from an invasion of the Nordic Host (The Gunnar, Saxons, Thuringians, Varangjars, Thorbjorns, Ulfsaarks, Hjortur..etc) was to commune with the Ancient Crones. The Three Crones were addressed and demanded a payment of the firstborn from the various Archfey Lords and Ladys of the nearby Islands. This mighty Curse was so potent yet it afflicted nearly everything and everyone in the Samhain Islands whether friend or foe.
The "Curse of the Three" ravaged the faire-folk's bodies but gave them monstrous power ... they fell upon their northern human invaders with a fury and ambushed them across the now mist covered and boggy highlands... this slowed the Nordic Clans but the Nordsemen already besieged the great Autumn Palace (The Capital of the Seelie Elves and Eldarin (Elven aristocracy aka Sidhe (shee) society that rules over the fae folk and they generally have gone through metamorphosis like growing giant butterfly wings or great stag antlers to affirm their position of reagents over their local domains.)... slew every elf, elfwife and changeling child.
The "Curse of the Three" also afflicted the Nords and turned half of their brethren into vicious Pig faced humanoids known as Hogsmen or Korks in the local Tautha Tongue (In Scottish or Irish Celtic pig and boar is "ork" and "kork")... This is also how the islands of Northern Samhain received the moniker of the Orkneys. The Curse upon the Norse warbands made their greed and hatred incarnate and their bodies fused and twisted with the domesticated boars they raised. These new bestial men had coarse stiff fur like Boars, with porcine and tusked faces and turned on their former kin using their cold iron weapons (Korks/Hogsmen are one of the few fae that can actually use cold iron weapons, generally this material burns Fairies terribly).
(It is debated to this day if the Hogsmen aka Korks are the ancestors of the Orcs who travel in great warbands across the steppes and mountains of this era. Never Tell an Orc that it's ancestor is a pig faced Kork though or you will have to fight a duel to the Death, only Orcs can make such jokes to fellow orcs of the same clan.)
The Crones also called upon the favors of the imprisoned Formori and their chained leader Balor to attack the Norsemen and repulse them from the Samhain Palace. The Fae Folk of Samhain Isles where victorious but at what cost? the once fair elves where slain and turned to the undead Ben Sidhe (aka Banshees, "women of the fairy mounds in Old Irish" Sidhe aka Shee is another term for both Elves and their Evolved aristocratic piers the Eladrin, hence Sidhe can be used to describe various hosts of Elves or even the cursed Drow)... the noble and industrious Dwarves became blood-thirsty redcaps (A group of barbaric fae known for murdering wandering people and dying their caps and clothes with their red blood), the playful sprites turned into swarms of cannibalistic slaugh that could strip a cow to bones in the blackest of nights (Slaugh also have a mischievous streak like sprites and slyphs and frequently enjoy abducting people who wander the middle of the night to abandon them far away on another province of Samhain or even in the nearby islands of Yule or Lughnasa) , the honorable Kelpies turned into the horrific and skinned Nukalevee riders that haunt the highlands and even the powerful yet gentle Firbolg became cursed and warped into the cyclopean Fachan who prowl the mountain passes ambushing any that come near their highland homes. The humble farming Boggins where warped into nasty and sadistic Boggarts, common Goblins who love stealing food from human farmers but also enjoy farming the strangest crops of bloated crickets, multicolored mushrooms, molds and even massive, soggy gourds in their peat moors and marshy valleys. Strangely enough the Drow who fled persecution from Arcadia found refuge here in the islands of Samhain, away from their arrogant Elven and Eladrin brothers who persecuted them for worshipping the Three Crones. When the Drow arrived in their Ivory, Gossamer and Spider-silk ships to the shores of Samhain they underwent metamorphosis from the "Curse of the Three", their skin became purple in color, their eyes turned a deep red and darkness was their refuge, their hair turned silvery or white and they moved into the cavernous regions of the Feydark below the misty highlands and vales of Samhain.
These Unseelie fae hate humanity to this day because of the Nordic Betrayal and slaughtering of the Sidhe (Elves and Eladrin) at the Autumn Palace. Only the local tribes of Tautha ad Picts in provinces of Connacht and Albion (Ruled over by Scathach and her twin sister Aife respectively.) are allowed to stay east of the Twelve Duns.
After the War was won; The Three Crones then flew on storms clouds south to the Seelie Islands of Beltane and Imbolg and they marched before the Palace of Lord Nuada and Lady Rhiannon in the royal city of Ulster. The Crones demanded their payment of the firstborn from Lady Rhiannon but Lord Nuada ordered his Elven knights to attack the Norn Sisters. The Knights rode across the marble and amber tile to impale the Giant crones with their Lances and greatswords of Moonsilver but Wyrd, Verthandi and Skuld (The Three Crones) turned their foul Curses upon this host of Fae Knights and warped them into the horrific Dullahan Riders... a host of ghostly black knights who now ride across the lands smiting any who does not pay their debts to the Crones. These new Black riders turned upon the court and fought off waves of Elven Unicorn knights and smote them with their vorporal blades. Prince Nauda finally relinquished after witnessing the flower of Elven chivalry slain before him, and he wept bitter tears when these dead riders rose with their mounts to become the flayed Nukalvee, horrible abominations of undead riders and mounts as fused and flayed terrors to haunt the misty highlands and lowlands of the Solstice Isles during the full moon or when mist from the Equinox sea descends upon the land.
Wyrd pointed her clawed fingers at prince Nauda and reminded him of the debt he owed for the promised curse against the invading Nords and their Johtun masters.
Verthandi swept her massive, gnarled talons to illustrate what just befell his loyal orderly knights who fought to protect his oathbreaking act.
Skuld raised one large taloned finger towards the sky and spoke of a prophecy of the "Warring Twin Sisters of hagborn blood."
All three Crones then pointed at the pregnant Lady Rhiannon and said that they would take no gold, gems, baubles, beasts nor arms and armor... they needed a payment of the firstblooded... promised to them to defeat the Norse Invaders and their Giant Masters and Lady Rhiannon was pregnant with twins. Verthandi immediately snapped her fingers and Lady Rhiannon went into labor... Lord Nauda wept bitter tears but agreed to the terms of the Ancient Crones. Wyrd pulled her hands forwards between Lady Rhiannon's legs and helped deliver the twin infant daughters into her massive and gnarled hands... she Named the baby in her left hand "Scathach the Fierce" and the one in her right hand "Aife the Mighty" and she then handed the twin infants to Skuld who devoured both in one gigantic gulp.
The Seelie court in Ulster gasped at the horror they just witnessed and violently armed themselves with swords, lances, spears and axes of moonsilver and cold iron to slay these three ancient sisters of giant blood from Johtunhiem...
But Skuld quickly held up one massive taloned hand and roared "Silence! They yet live and behold! I am pregnant with them! They will be born mighty and fierce and lead the faire folk to victory against all invaders!" Suddenly Skuld's stomach began to grow and expand, swell to great size and she was now pregnant.
Skuld, Verthandi and Wyrd turned to Lord and Lady Nauda and Rhiannon and spoke "We Ancient Three, who have delivered the curse to the Hated foe, shall travel upon mist and moonlight across the briny seas to our island home of Samhain. There in the Eastern Kingdoms of Albion and Connacht shall be given stewardship to Aife and Scathach when they are born, to govern the Tautha, Picts and fair folk fairly, protected from our curse. There a two great stone strongholds of Dun Scaith and Lennox will be built to rule over the protect the lands of Connacht and Albion in the Twelve Duns from the blights of Samhain."
Suddenly a great mist enveloped the Palace of Ulster and shrouded the three Crones...nobody could see anything in the court of Lord Nauda... but the mist slowly resided... The crones mysteriously vanished... as were their monstrous warriors.
Thousands of years later (The Modern era for the Players) two great warrior women emerged in the Eastern penisula of Connacht. A Great fortress of stone was build in the highlands called Dun Scaith and Lennox and they are protected by the Warring Twins Scathach and Aife.
The Tribal Picts, Tautha, Kauls and other mortals of Samhain dwell in Connacht and Albion east of the Twelve Duns but they must wander past the Twelve Duns at time to take their Cattle to feed on the grassy pastures Samhain. These human shepherds and warriors carry jack-o-lanterns with them to scare away the swarms of lesser fae like Boggarts and Slaugh... but only coldsteel or silvered weapons can fight off vicious redcaps, formori and Fachans.
The Humans keep an uneasy truce with the Unseelie court of fae... Every month during the full moon they have a lunar festival in homage to the Crones, unseelie and ancestors. A cow or pig is sacrificed (Sometimes more exotic fare like great stags or seals) in every village and its bones burned in a great bonfire with it's hide... the flesh is eaten either roasted or in a great stew but the hide and bones are burned... Wheels of fire are built, set ablaze and spun to emulate the passage of the sun. Wild dances are held near the wheels of fire... with masks that emulated the monstrous fae that live in the west of the Twelve Duns. Certain card games and board games are played to commune with the dead or divine the future. Those who do not adhere to the Lunar festivals of Samhain suffer attacks from the Unseelie fae or strange curses said to be placed upon them by ancient hags that haunt the land.