The Westwing (closed)

[Jaxen Marveet]

Jaxen laid the mini-Wallet on the transfer pad, syncing the two devices together. Within a few minutes, he had the entire contents transferred to Manix's servers, with a spare copy for his own personal use. Not that he was interested in reading about fairies, but the descriptions of the sword of light might get a second look.

"These are excerpts from the few keyword searches I was able to do. Half of it looks like nonsense to me, but maybe something will catch your eye."


Like maybe that sword of light.

Of course, Jaxen was putting more and more stock into 'nonsense' these days. A five foot tall snake woman transported him to another realm for starters.

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Excerpts from the Atharim Library

The lost pages of the Book of Leinster

Tuatha Dé Danann as described in the Book of Leinster, a medieval Irish manuscript formerly known as the Lebor na Nuachongbála "Book of Nuachongbáil" was written by a "man of learning," an abbot, from the court of an ancient irish king and an Atharim scholar. Almost a third of the book's pages were lost in the last thousand years, but the Atharim secretly confiscated the pages to sequester the truth of its contents from public eyes.

Those lost pages described the true history of the Tuatha Dé Danann, not as fairies as they had come to be known, but as people that lived in harmony with the land. Myth said these fairies were of royal lineage. Others said they were once worshipped as gods. Although they had supernatural powers, they were considered to be a neutral group: neither good nor evil.

A pantheon that nurtured the land, they were skilled craftsman and worked the land without harming it. They arrived in what would become known as Ireland after overthrowing the native tyrant inhabiting the area and freed the people from his rule. Their first leader, Nuada, carried one of four sacred treasures: The Sword of Light. Other heroes of the region carried equally as impressive treasures, and the 'missing pages' from the Book of Leinster described them in detail, although they were eventually confiscated by the Atharim of the region to be hidden, their current whereabouts were unknown.

The four treasures of Tuatha Dé Danann:
The Dagda's Cauldron
The Spear of Lugh
The Stone of Fal
The Sword of Light of Nuada.

The ancestors of the Tuatha Dé Danann, those of the pre-celts, were the aos sí, an older form of aes sídhe, the Irish term for supernatural beings thought to be the spirits of the ancient gods and goddesses. They guarded their abodes fiercely, enchanting them with spells that would later be known as fairy rings, but were actually powerful wardings of great power. It was thought that the lost treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann were buried in one of the many aes sídhe burial mounds. They even had a sacred white tree of life that they congregated around, one that dispersed contentment and relaxtion by standing beneath its branches. These trees are now extinct.

The lost pages of the book also describe the nature of the relations between the Tuatha de Dannan and neighboring pantheons, including those isolated on the Isle of Man. One name was mentioned specifically, Manannán mac Lir, son of the sea. In the tales, he is said to own a boat named Scuabtuinne ("Wave Sweeper"), a sea-borne chariot drawn by the horse Enbarr, a powerful sword named Fragarach ("The Answerer"), and a cloak of invisibility (féth fíada). Legend said he was necromancer possessed of power to envelope himself and others in a mist so that they could not be seen by their enemies.

The lost pages of the Book of Leinster:

Cú Chulainn is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore and associated with the god, Lugh. At the age of seventeen he defended Ulster single-handedly against the armies of queen Medb of Connacht in the famous Táin Bó Cúailnge ("Cattle Raid of Cooley").

It was prophesied that his great deeds would give him everlasting fame, but his life would be a short one. Cú Chulainn shows striking similarities to the legendary Persian hero Rostam, as well as to the Germanic Lay of Hildebrand and the labours of the Greek epic hero Heracles.

He carried a supernatural spear called the Gae Bulga. It was made from the bone of a sea monster, the Coinchenn, that had died while fighting another sea monster, the Curruid. Although some sources make it out to be simply a particularly deadly spear, others (notably the lost pages from the Book of Leinster) state that it could only be used under very specialized, ritual conditions: The Gáe Bulg entered a man's body with a single wound, like a javelin, then opened into thirty barbs. Only by cutting away the flesh could it be taken from that man's body.

In the Táin Bó Cuailnge, Cúchulainn received the spear after training with the great warrior master Scáthach in Alba. She taught him and his foster-brother, Ferdiad, equally, except she only taught the Gáe Bulg feat to Cuchulainn.

Lay of Hildebrand:
The Hildebrandslied (lay or song of Hildebrand) is a heroic epic poem written in Old High German alliterative verse. It is one of the earliest literary works in German, and it tells of the tragic encounter in battle between a son and his unrecognized father. It is the only surviving example in German of a genre which must have been important in the oral literature of the Germanic tribes.

The champions of two armies met on the battlefield. The older man, Hildebrand, discovered that the younger opponent is a long lost son, and refused to battle his kin. Instead, he offered gold arm-rings as a peace offering that he had received from the Huns, whom he formerly served. The younger man believed this to be a ruse of impending betrayal and refused the gift, accusing deception and cowardice. Hildebrand accepted his fate and saw that he couldn't honourably refuse battle: he had no choice but to kill his own son or be killed by him. They start to fight, and the public text concludes with their shields smashed. But the poem breaks off, not revealing the outcome. In truth, Hildebrand sacrifices himself, refusing to kill his son, whom slays him in turn. For his sacrifice, Hildebrand is counted among the great heroes of the ancient world, destined to return in its time of need.

I heard tell
That warriors met in single combat
Hildebrand and Hadubrand between two armies
son and father prepared their armour
made ready their battle garments girded on their swords
the warriors, over their ring mail when they rode to battle.

Appendix to the Nowell Codex.

Beowulf, an Atharim hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot had been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After Beowulf slayed him, Grendel's mother attacked the hall and was then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf returned home to Geatland (Götaland in modern Sweden) and later became king of the Geats.

The Fenian cycle

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne was a skilled warrior and a well-liked and valued member of the Fianna who single-handedly killed 3,400 warriors in a battle and saved Fionn and the Fianna. Aengus Óg owned a deadly sword named Móralltach or Nóralltach ("the Great Fury"), given to him by the sea-god Manannán mac Lir (Mananaan Son of the Sea).

In The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne it is said of Móralltach that it left no stroke nor blow unfinished at the first trial. Aonghus gave this sword to his foster-son Diarmuid, in addition to a sword named Beagalltach, ("the Little Fury"). Along with these two swords, Diarmuid is known to have wielded two spears, Gáe Buidhe (Yellow Spear) and Gáe Dearg (Red Spear), which caused wounds that could not be healed. He used Gáe Dearg and Moralltach for adventures which were matters of life and death, and Gáe Buidhe and Beagalltach for lesser battles.

Atharim prophecy: categorized under "The horn that heralds the end of days" and meaning unknown

Heroes serve a pattern as needed, shaping it, and when they die, they return to wait anew.

New heroes may be bound as well, for bravery and accomplishment raises them high above the multitutde, but once bound, lasts forever.

We are bound to fight darkness and death.

The downfall of the Æsir:

The event is referred to as Ragnarök or Ragnarøkkr (Old Norse "Fate of the Gods" and "Twilight of the Gods" respectively, reflecting the impending fate of the future as well as the historical account of the past.

This prophetic text describes recurring cycles of the northern norse pantheon arising and falling in an infinite loop. It is both a foretelling of future events where a great battle will take place, occurance of various natural disasters, and the submersion of the world in water. It is also a historical depicition of the great battle that took place in the past that resulted in the deaths of all the major figures of the norse pantheon, including Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki.

*Added hand-written note by the Atharim Scholar, Pliny the Elder, student of the prophet Zaraϑuštra (Zoroaster), author of the Gathas, circa 1st century AD*
Male Asha, the black, the evil, the foul?
Female Aesa, the white, the pure, the clean?

--Meaning unknown

*Additional notes added in modern script:
See also: the Book Pahlavi on parallels to Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology.
Also: Dēnkard Bundahišn Book of Arda Viraf Book of Jamasp Story of Sanjan.

Jaxen stood up, brows high, and rubbing his chin, peering down at the screen they just read. Blinking. Well huh.

"I call dibs on the sword of light."
And laughed, totally serious.