DM-Nastics #145: We're After Ye Lucky Charms!

10. Shamrock



1. What is the connected legend in Dayeimbe?

The Shamrock, also called fey carpet and pixie prints, is akin to grass in the fey lands. It is said to creep into Dayeimbe where the borders are thin and frequent passing occurs between the two planes. Often times it grows thick where fey folk reside, have recently had a revel, or over a hidden fairy mound. Sometimes it appears even before the fey arrive, as a carpet is prepared for a grand entrance.



2. How is it perceived by the people in general?

You should be wary around fields of shamrocks as things might not be as they seem, invisible presences may be felt and things become displaced. One might wander upon a patch of Shamrock in the dark and have their feet turned backwards or their gender swapped, or show up the next day speaking in rhyme of impossible happenings for the rest of their lives.

Some who are very brave or very foolish may sift through a field of shamrock hoping to find a fabled 4 leaved specimen, said to make you as lucky as a Halfling.



3. How much of it is true?

Fields of shamrock grow thick and hardy throughout the fay lands, as common and wide spread as grass in the Dayeimbe.

It is a fast growing invasive plant species, often carried unknowingly by travelers between the planes. The lack of innate magic in most regions of Dayeimbe prevent shamrocks from becoming wide spread, however it will quickly outgrow many native Dayeimbian species in areas affected by magic or hiding very potent magical weapons, and even a single drop of fairy wine spilled upon a seedling will cause it to burst into life.



4. How does the legend propagate?

The legends are more or less true; fey living in the material plane (especially those who go barefoot) often feel more comfortable in a field of Shamrock then one of grass or fallen leaves, along the same lines shamrock also grows very well in the presence of fey and their magic.

Stories are told of people wandering into a field of shamrock and becoming enchanted, surprising a drunk pixie, or if you are very unlucky being accused of trespassing and destroying property too small to even bee seen.



5. Any relevant mechanical statistics?

A healthy growing Shamrock plant would probably have some resistance to destruction by magical means.

Four leaved shamrocks will not make you any luckier they you were before (perhaps more confident though).



6. You do you.

It’s leaves can be used to make a potion granting true seeing if you know the recipe. Shamrock leaves may be used to carry a boon from a fey.

7. Macha, Goddess of Horses

(That is Macha, an incredibly cool painting by Stephen Reid for Eleanor Hull's The Boys' Cuchulainn)
Introduction
When I saw Macha, Goddess of Horses I knew immediately had to pick her. It's such a cool name, and I love gods and goddesses of horses, and horses in general. I don't know if people have noticed, but horses are incredibly important for Indo-European mythologies, and perhaps all mythologies across the world (though I'm not sure about that). The Baltic people place a special importance on horses, and I know the Latvian people even had a god of horses: Ūsiņš, and sacrificed horses to their deities. As the Baltic peoples are the closest to the Indo-European culture and language (especially Lithuanian), I (and I'm pretty sure other professional Indo-Europeanists) suppose that horses were an important part of Indo-European religion and mythology.

Macha is also one of the three Morrígna, which are also supposed to be (along with many other things) fate goddesses, and definately come from the Indo-European (or at least western Indo-European) myth of the three fate goddesses which appear in Baltic mythology (though, at least in Latvian mythology, people mention usually Laima as the main fate goddess), the three Norns in Norse mythology, the three Fates in Greek mythology and other western Indo-European mythologies. Indeed, there seems to be a trope in general of having three sister goddesses of something, like the three Graces or the three Furies. It seems like in Irish mythology many of these triad sister groups melded together into the three Morrígna, goddesses of war and fate, and the Morrígan became central to the triad and the other two goddesses slowly faded into the background (Badb and Macha). This is similar to Latvian mythology with the centralization of the Latvian goddess Laima, and the others - Kārta and Dēkla fading into the background.

Needless to say, as you can probably already see, I really like the goddess Macha and all that she entails.

In Dayeimbe Macha, the Badb, and Nemain all control separate fiefs of a kingdom called which all of them control, in a planar fairy world called the Faerie, which is connected to the Feywild however separate from it. The Morrígan is the Queen of the kingdom, and Badb, Macha, and Nemain serve under her, however they all have great power in their own right, and the Morrígan has to watch her back or else she might be usurped! The three fairy-queens often accept warlocks and the the Morrígna are a patron of many. They are sometimes also worshipped by clerics, paladins, druids and rangers as powerful queens of the fey, almost godlike beings. All of them are powerful in the art of magic and foretelling the future, though the Morrígan is most skilled at those arts, and even weaves her own thread in the tapestry of the world.

The Morrígan
The Morrígan rarely interferes with the affairs of mortals, however her servants do. For this reason, nothing much is known of her in the mortal realm. However, it is said that she weaves the fate of all mortals taking up the art of war, and the results of every battle and every war. It is said that she holds a hall of all worthy warriors who died in battle, and she uses her most faithful servant the Badb to take them up to her court. True Neutral.

The Badb

The Badb is her most faithful servant, and takes the form of a crow when she goes into the mortal world (Dayeimbe). The Badb watches every battle on Dayeimbe unfold, and sometimes says a prophecy that foretells events to come, usually about battles, warriors, and death. This happens either before or after the battle. After the battle she picks up the worthy dead warriors (with the help of her army of crows), and takes them to the Morrígan's hall to serve was undead fey warriors for the rest of time. These spirits can only be truly be killed the Morrígan's realm, if killed elsewhere they just go back to the hall of the Morrígan and cannot go back to the mortal realm for three-hundred years. Lawful Neutral.

Nemain
Nemain is the Morrígan's least faithful servant, and often directly disobeys the Morrígan. The Nemain is also more involved in the mortal realm than her other sisters. She has an army of incredibly powerful all-female fey warriors that she lends out as mercenaries in exchange for money, or something... darker. Nemain is incredibly intelligent, but also incredibly insane. She goes to random battles at random times and wreaks havoc amongst it, filling people with the lust for blood. Sometimes she makes one side turn against each other, or have turn warriors into cannibals and have them start eating each other up, and other chaotic things like that. In D&D terms, she has the highest Intelligence possible (a 20? a 30? I've forgotten) and an alignment of Chaotic Neutral.

Macha
Macha, in stark contrast of her sisters, is of Lawful Good (50%) to Neutral Good (50%) alignment. She generally wants humanity to fare well. Macha has the largest stable of horses in the world, including spirit horses in the likeness of the spirit warriors of the Morrígan's court. She almost always follows the orders of the Morrígan, however Macha has her own projects going on in the mortal world, and while she doesn't meddle with affairs in Dayeimbe as much as Nemain, she does sometimes supply equipment, warriors, and especially her powerful horses to the sides of a battle she deems the most worthy. She is known to have an ongoing feud with her sister Nemain, and though it never escalates into a full-out war for fear of instability on Macha's part (as she would then be just as bad as Nemain), they often have border raids on their two fiefdoms.

Many sacrifice horses to Macha before a battle, to garner her support, and all those sacrificed horses in Macha's name, go up to her court to remain there as spirit horses. Macha detests the killing of horses in battles that aren't their own, though she doesn't mind using them in battle if they won't get killed. For this reason, for every battle she sends down her servants to catch as many of the dead horses' spirits, and bring them back up to her kingdom so they won't "die".

Macha is also the goddess of women and women's power and liberty, and is often called by the people the "Sun of Womenfolk". Women in need, particularly if it's because of a patriarchy, ask for Macha's help and blessing. Macha tries to help all who she can, and those in great need she meets in person. Otherwise, she sends her servants to help. She sends her servants for the cause of general goodness as well, though specifically for the liberty and cause of women.

Macha is also known to help rightful and good kings and queens, and blesses and helps those good kings and queens, and curses and goes against all other kings and queens. For this reason, before their coronation, most kings and queens pray to Macha as if she were a goddess, and ask for her blessing and aid. If Macha accepts (and she rarely does, for only the very pure and goodhearted she accepts), she meets in person with the ruling monarch, and helps him or her in every way possible.

For all these reasons, Macha is often a figure worshipped by many clerics and paladins.

Sorry for such a long post, I hope people enjoy it and use it in their games!