Otherwoods

Long ago, before even the most long-lived can remember, all of the Aes Sidhe once lived among human beings. They left the magicless Void and the humans that lived there and traveled beyond the Veil. They found that the lands were imbued with magic and it granted them wondrous powers and abilities. They also found other beings existed in the Veil: they were the embodiment of the lakes and rivers, the woods, the hills, the forests; some were nearly indistinguishable from the land and animals, and just as wild, some were powerful ancient magical spirits, as old as gods. They were equally as fascinated with the sidhe as the sidhe were with them. Together they lived, sharing the lands and magic freely beyond the Veil, and soon enough the spirits and the sidhe came to take on traits of one another.

But all things must die and the God of Death, Crom Cruach, came to the Sidhe lands searching for those who had escaped him. They would not hide forever, he told them, though they were beautiful and clever and he would allow them to live in their new lands. While beyond the Veil, they would not know sickness or pain to be lasting, they would heal easily, and they would not know death unless they inflicted it upon themselves or each other. But they could not return to the Void unless they wanted to wither, age, and die like humans. They would find it was now poisonous to them, having grown strange and alien in the millennia since they left.

In this small way, Crom Cruach corrupted most of the sidhe and spirits alike. Though the magic of the land and the spirits had been freely given, they realized that they wanted to possess it, control it, and own it. Factions and tribes divided, each wanted the lands and power for themselves, and they waged war against the other to control it.

Crom Cruach claimed many, gleeful at his trickery, for death was his domain and only he would eventually own all in the end. And why wait for death, why not own everything beyond the Veil, all of its beauty, magic, and mayhem? The Darkest One, they called him, twisted the land and its magic until almost nothing remained for the spirits, the sidhe, nor imbued in the lands beyond the Veil. He tapped into the magic of the Veil, drank deep, and warped it to his will. He gifted those that worshiped him with a portion of his magic, promising them eternal life and power. But the twisted magic of the Darkest One corrupted everything that it touched. The land blackened and decayed. Spirits of the Veil and sidhe beings became deathless, but they were no longer imbued with life and its magic, merely Animated vessels channeling death magic at the command of Crom Cruach.

Crom Cruach’s followers spread over the Veil lands, devouring life and magic in his name. Nothingness remained in their wake, the lands they touched were even more devoid of magic than the human lands. Without life there was no magic and without magic there was no life. For the sidhe there was no escape; those who left to the Void suffered from its poison then withered and died. Only to be Animated and join the numbers of the Darkest One.

The remaining Veilborne spirits and sidhe banded together against the Darkest One. Three strongest led them: one of the beings who were still more spirit than sidhe, one who remained more sidhe than spirit, for they had intermingled so much that few beings remained that were purely spirits or only sidhe, and one representing beings that were neither and everything in-between. The three vowed to return the balance of life and magic within the Veil.

They stood against Crom Cruach and his army of death mages with their Animated and aberrations and they battled. They knew it wouldn’t be possible to win. He was powerful, skilled, and cunning – and ruled over all death; As soon as one of theirs fell in battle they were his.

The last of the sidhe, united against death, knew that their only option was to trap Crom Cruach. So they did, and locked him away. Then the three returned to the land, giving their lives and magic to restore the waning magic of the Veil.

One surrendered their life and magic to the Veil lands become the Terroir of the South, imbuing the region once again with the magic of light and warmth, bringing back the seasons of Seelie and Seelie. The tribes that settled on these lands were more sidhe than spirit, they became the Seelie.

The second infused their life and magic with the Veil lands to become the Terroir of the North, imbuing the region once again with the magic of shadows and chill, bringing back the seasons of UnSeelie and UnSeelie. The tribes that claimed these lands were those more spirit than sidhe, they became the UnSeelie.

The third was joined by all the remaining spirits and sidhe. Together they pooled their magic to create the wild lands once more. Their forest spread as far as it could reach, growing everywhere and nowhere, neither part of the Terroir of the North nor South, covering the borders between the Seelie and UnSeelie regions and stretching into the Void. They became the Great River and Otherwoods.

Each Terroir chose one being from their land to be a steward and the next keeper of the restored magic to protect it from Crom Cruach or any like him. These Keepers of Magic shared the Terroir with the Seelie and UnSeelie beings so they would not war with one another to control the lands and their magic. The power of the Terroir waxed and waned naturally with the changing of the seasons and with it did the Keeper’s and their people’s powers. In this way it would be balanced: no Keeper nor one Terroir would hold power for more than six months of the year nor would the responsibility to protect the Veil burden only one. When they grew old and tired they would return to the land and release their magic back to it and the Terroir would choose another Keeper.

The third and the others created the Great River and the Otherwoods, embodying wild lands once more. They had none that was sidhe left among them so from the Seelie and UnSeelie they chose a Guardian of all paths, passages, and doorways in between places. Their Guardian would oversee all the passageways between the Veil and keep Crom Cruach’s resting place a secret, for even if the magic of the Terroir was ever out of balance, the Darkest One could not be released.