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F
The Fachan
Aka : Peg Leg Jack
Origin : Scotland.
Element : Air.
Appearance : He has only one head, one eye, one ear, one arm, one leg, one toe, all centered directly down the middle of his hairy and feathered body. In his one hand he carries a spiked club which he swings as he chases away visitors from his home atop the highest Highland mountains.
Friends/Foes : He hates all other living things and chases them away with his vicious-looking club.
Lore : Highland mountains
Farfadet
Aka : Follets
Origin : Britanny
Race : lutins
Function : Guardians of treasures, they also help at home.
Appearance : little and funny creature of 30 cm, aristocrats of Fayriland
Lore : in Brittany under the dolmens or in warm houses during winter
Fays
Aka : Fee, Fada, Fae, Fata, and Fas.
Origin : Greece
Element : Air.
Appearance : tiny, winged seasonal faeries who are born teasers. These faeries have four guises, one for each season of the year. They also love to dance and play with the forest animals.
Function : aid plants through the seasons’ changes by doing little tasks like shaking trees in autumn to help work loose the dead leaves and opening blossoms on spring flowers.
Friends/Foes : capricious but never malicious.
Fin Folk
Aka : Sea Gardeners, the Lady's Own.
Origin : Scotland, Cornwall and Wales.
Element : Water
Appearance : small human-like faeries
Function : gardening and taking care of the underwater world.
Friends/Foes : avoid humans
Lore : the lochs of Scotland
Fir Darrigs
Aka : Rat Boys, Fear Durgs
Race : sub-race of the Formorians
Origin : Ireland. Scotland
Element : Water.
Appearance : fat, ugly faeries with dark, hairy skin and long snouts and tails which give them a rat-like appearance. They wear torn and shabby costumes which look as if they date to the Middle Ages and carry a shillelagh (Irish walking stick), topped with a skull of unknown origin.
Friends/Foes : dangerous
Lore : Along polluted coastlines, swamps and in coastal ruins, damp raths or marshes near the sea. They also enjoy the heat near human fireplaces.
Fireesin
Aka : Farm Faeries, The Harvesters.
Origin : The Isle of Man.
Element : Earth.
Time : they hibernate through winter.
Appearance : nude, covered with patches of brown, coarse hari, and in general are not very physically appealing
Friends/Foes : help farmers, but they are not known for being very bright.
Lore : In fields that are either about to be cultivated or harvested.
Flower Faeries
See Pillywiggins.
Folletti
Aka : Wind Knots, Salvanelli, Sumascazzo and Grandinilli
Race : Weather faeries
Origin : Sicily (Italy)
Element : Air.
Appearance : so small and light that they are practically invisible.
Function : Change the weather. They like to whip up wind storms which they can ride on, or hail storms during which they can be heard laughing gleefully.
Friends/Foes : Folletti love to ride grasshoppers in a game which looks something like a polo match
Lore : hollow oak trees
Formorians
Aka : Formors.
Race : The Formorians were an early faery race which conquered Ireland and was later banished. They were driven into the sea by the Tuatha De Dannan, and condemned to live forever as sea monsters.
Origin : Ireland
Element : Water
Appearance : The bodies of these giant demons were composed of a diverse collection of twisted human and animal parts. Some had animal bodies and human heads, some had only one leg and other four lags and two wings. These Formori were believed to have existed before the Great Flood and were skilled in the magical arts.
Story : Their leader was King Conan and the most evil was Balor whose venomous single eye killed anybody instantly. The Formori were a warlike people which defeated most of their adversaries before they were conquered by a new brave race armed with golden spears and helmets, the Thuata de Danaan, who slaughtered the whole race or turned them into sea monsters.
Fossegrim
Origin : Norway.
Element : Water.
Appearance : smaller than humans, perfectly formed except for their feet, which tend to taper off into a misty nothingness. They are expert harpers and have beautiful singing voices. They appear as attractive, virile men and women, which makes them very alluring to young humans.
Function : guardian spirits of waterfalls
Friends/Foes : their mood and intent is often unpredictable.
Lore : In and near Norway's waterfalls and fjords.
Magic : change in a heartbeat from one sex to the other.
Fylgiar
Origin : Iceland.
Element : Air.
Appearance : A Fylgiar can only be seen by its human familiar just before the person dies.
Function : familiar
Friends/Foes : was said to be the shadow familiar of children born with a caul over their head. The Fylgiar serves this person, and it is believed that the person also serves the Fylgiar while asleep or when making deliberate astral projections. He also accompanies him to the Valhallah, the Nordic Land of the Dead, when he dies and remains until the human soul is comfortable and accepting of his demise.
G
Geancanach
Race : Pixie
Origin : Ireland. Scotland.
Element : Fire
Time : At night
Appearance : depicted as being very small (a few inches in height), with huge eyes that curve upward on the ends and large pointed ears. They also have small wings but prefer to move from place to place by dematerializing.
Function : guardians of home hearths.
Friends/Foes : They sometime help but have a tendency to play pranks. Enjoy drinking fresh milk
Lore : Around a blazing fire at your hearthside.
Ghillie Dhu
Aka : Gillee Doo or Yoo
Race : guardian tree spirits
Origin : Scotland.
Element : Fire.
Time : At night.
Appearance : disguised as foliage
Friends/Foes : dislike human beings. People traversing enchanted woods must take care not to be grabbed by the long green arms of a Ghillie Dhu, or they could be enslaved into the service of the guardian forest spirit forever.
Lore : In trees, especially birch trees.
Gianes
Race : wood Elves
Origin : Italy.
Element : Earth.
Appearance : They wear old-fashioned peasant clothing and large, pointed hats made of animal skins. They are nearly always seen with small spinning wheel spindles in their back pockets.
Function : They are master cloth weavers
Friends/Foes : very shy and scared about humans machines
Lore : In woodlands, especially enchanted woods in the forests of northern Italy.
Magic : Foretell the future byscrying into their moving spinning wheels. Italian folklore says that possessing a small piece of their woven cloth is a powerful good luck talisman.
Gitto
Aka : Griffith, Griffin, Gryphon, Geetoe, Phookas
Origin : Wales, Ireland
Element : Air.
Time : In fields at harvest time after sundown
Appearance : have the heads of horses and the bodies of goats, but speak and laugh like humans. They have no wings but can fly for short distances.
Friends/Foes : Malevolent faeries
Magic : Gittos like to blight crops and claim for themselves all crops left in the field after sundown on Samhain
Glashtin
Aka : Hawlaa, Howlies, Howlers
Race : goblin
Origin : The Isle of Man, Scotland
Element : Air.
Time : During storms.
Appearance : half cow and half horse. If the head part is a cow his is stupid; if a horse, he is shrewd and cunning.
Function : appear during storms and probably raise them. Usually howl loudly just before storms hit.
The Glaistig
Origin : Scotland
Element : Water
Function: tutelary guardian of the site to which she is attached
Time : At night.
Appearance : She is a woman of human race, who has been put under enchantments, and to whom a Fairy nature has been given. She wears a green dress, but her face is wan and grey, whence her name Glaistig, from glas, grey. As a monster she appears half woman and half goat.
Friends/Foes : The Glaistig lures men to dance with her before she feeds, vampire-like, on their blood. Her nature is typically faerie-perverse for she can also be benign and gently tend children or old people. She will also sometimes herd cattle for farmers.
Lore : in castles and around houses and stables
Gwyllion
Race : Goblins
Origin : Wales
Element : Earth
Appearance : small men-like mountain faeries
Friends/Foes : sit amongst the rocks along mountain paths and stare evilly at those passing by, creeping the travellers out.
H
Hamadryadniks
Aka :Hamadryads
Race : Dryads
Origin : Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Greece
Element : Air
Time : Daytime
Appearance : tree spirits who appear as living foliage
Friends/Foes : hate humans
Lore : In trees
Magic : For them to touch the earth at night is to vanish forever.
Heather Pixies
Aka : Moor Sprites
Race : Pixies
Origin : Scotland, England.
Element : Earth
Appearance : Pixies carrying golden auras and delicate translucent wings
Friends/Foes : attracted specifically to the moors and to the heather which covers them enjoy spinning flax.
The Holly King
See Santa Claus.
Huldrafolk
Aka : Huldras, Hulda, Dark Elves
Origin : Scandinavia.
Element : Earth.
Friends/Foes : hostile
Lore : in the burghs and damp caves in the many mountains of Scandinavia.
Magic : blight humans with deformities with a lick of their dark brown tongues. Baldness or a crooked nose are their favorire tricks.
Story : there was once a farmgirl who came across a woman giving birth in a field. She helps her to deliver the baby and is rewarded with an apron full of woodchips. Disgusted, the girl dumps them out and returns home. Then a look at her skirt reveals that the chips still stuck to her apon had turned to gold. She went back in search of the rest of the woodchips but they had disappeared.
IJ
Jenny Greenteeth
Aka : Peg Powler, Lorelei with green tresses
Race: water nymphs
Origin : England
Element : Earth
Appearance : a green water Hag with long hair and sharp teeth.
Function : These tales were meant to scare young children away from the precarious banks of rivers and streams
Friends/Foes : She is fond of grabbing the ankles of those who stand too close to or wade into the water and pulling them underwater to drown.
Lore : the River Tees
K
Kelpies
Aka : Uisges, Fuath, Shoney, Nickers, Nuggies, Goborchinu, Afanc, Endrop, Each Uisge, Anthropophagi
Race : Water horses. There are two kinds: the horses of the sea (Hippocamps) who serve Poseidon and the lake or river horses who are demonic creatures.
Origin : Scotland, Ireland, Germany
They are the steeds of the Goddess of the Sea (Sjofn) and the God of Night (Celtic) or have been created by Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.
Element : Water and moon
Appearance : They are shapeshifters who can assume a number of forms. In horse form, it is a splendid young steed with backwards pointing hooves having the tuft on pastern reversed. As a monster, he has the head, foreparts and front legs of a horse and the lower half nody and tail of a fish. Sometimes, it appears in human form, usually with seductive body to lure its victim. In Ireland, the Kelpie becomes a woman after coming on land and shedding her seal skin.
Friends/Foes : A Kelpie will wait by te waterside until a unsuspecting traveller sees it and tries to mount it. Then, he dives suddenly in deep water, leaving its unfortunate rider to swim or drown. The Ech-Ushkya from Ireland is impossible to dismount and usually eat itsvictims after tearing them into pieces, except for the liver, which they leave on the shore.
Lore : North Sea ands the Lochs of Scotlands
Magic : Someone who knows the wiles of a Kelpie can overcome it. The trick is to exchange its own bridle for an ordinary one and the Kelpie will become tame and obedient to his new master. But it should not be kept for too long or it will curse its captor and descendants forever.
They can be detected in human form because they are unable to keep their hair from appearing like seaweed. Any mortal man who manages to steal the selkie's skin will have power over her to such an extent she has been known to marry and bear children to mortal men who manage the theft. Once she finds her skin, however, nothing, not even marital devotion, will keep the selkie from the sea. This tale bears a resemblance to the many tales of mermaids who may be controlled through the theft of their combs, their mirrors, their musical instruments, or their cloaks or caps.
Killmoulis
Race : Brownie
Origin : Germany, Belgium, Holland
Element : Earth
Appearance : He is characterized by an enormous nose and no mouth. To eat he presumably stuffs the food up his nose
Friends/Foes : Although a Killmoulis works hard for the miller, he delights in practical jokes and can therefore be a hindrance rather than a help.
Lore : mills
Klaboutermannikins
Aka : Water Mannikins
Origin : Germany, Belgium, Holland
Element : Water.
Appearance : invisible
Function : guarded the ship from sickness, rocks, storms, and dangerous winds. If a ship with one of these faeries aboard sank, the faery sank with it and then aided the souls of the sailors out of the waters and into the Land of the Dead. Dutch sailors once believed that to sink without a Klaboutermannikin meant your soul was condemned to the water for eternity.
Lore : in the figurehead of any ships which they chose to protect.
Knockers
Aka : Coblynaus, Wichlein Paras, Black Dwarves, Koblernigh
Origin : South Central Europe
Element : Earth.
Appearance : have a reputation for frightening the miners by showing up unexpectedly and making silly faces
Function : get their name from the knocking sound they make when directing miners to a rich vein or some trap. They announce the death of a miner by tapping three times. When a disaster is about to happen they are heard digging, pounding and imitating miners work.
Lore : In caves and mines. Some mines in Cornwall have been closed doe to the Knockers who wish to keep a few of these underground places to themselves
Magic : they are treated with great respect, and food and drink are left for them regularly.
Kobolde
Aka : Kobauld, Cobald, Kobolde, Kolbalds, Hutchens, Heinzelmannchens, Nis, Niagruisar,Para
Race : Brownie
Origin : Northern Europe
Element : Earth.
Appearance : dwarf faeries wearing little brown knee pants and caps.
Friends/Foes : untrustworthy, can be very helpful but will turn abusive if ignored or belittled
Lore : when not in human homes, Kolbalds live in hollow trees, caves or mines
Magic : sometimes held responsible for poltergeist activity when making noise and throwing things about.
Korrigans
Aka : Corrigans, Korils, Poulpikans,Teuz, Kornikaned
Races : Kornikaned dwelled in forests, Kornikaned on moors, Korils in swamps and Teuz prefer human houses whose inmates are human.
Origin : Brittany, Cornwall.
Element : Earth
Appearance : little and ugly men that are able to inflate to a huge size and shapeshift. They have two horns, the feet of a goat and claws like a cat. Despite their small size, they are stronger than 2 men.
Function : guardians of treasures
Tricks : Shapeshifters, thieves and villains, they rob humans and children and cast storms. Enjoy dancing all night around faerie circles and dolmen.
Lore : under Karnach and Plendren and the cliffs along the Britanny shore.
Kornbocke
See Phooka.
Korreds
Aka : Korrs, Kores, Pyrenee
Origin : Brittany
Element : Earth.
Appearance : They have wild spiky hair and long pointed noses. Compares to the rest of their body, their facial features are huge. Their hairy bodies resemble those of monkeys, and they have cloven feet and loud hooting laughter.
Function : guardians of the dolmens (stone altars) and standing stones of Celtic Brittany.
Friends/Foes : Scaring humans is a big part of their life, and they take their task seriously.
Lore : In the standing stones of Brittany
L
Leprechauns
Aka : The Gentry, Monaciello, Fir Darrig, Cluricaune, Logherima,
Race : treasure-hoarding faeries
Origin : Ireland. Originally coined by Thomas Keightley in The Fairy Mythology (1850) from the Irish "Leith bhroyan" or "Leith phroyan" meaning "one shoemaker," comes the name Leprechaun.
Element : Earth.
Appearance : solitary dwarf male faery wearing green clothing of a costly material and green tri-cornered hats. Infamous hoarders, they are loathe to spend a single penny, which probably explains their poor appearance in spite of their great wealth.
Function : shoemakers by trade, but their clientele is limited to the faery world and they only work on one shoe
Friends/Foes : trickster who loves to play pranks
Lore : around springs in wild areas with large grassy hills, sometimes in cellars
Magic : Music, dancing, fox hunting, and drinking Irish whiskey are said to be the Leprechauns' favorite pastimes. Once a leprachaun begins dancing to a human's song, it is said that he cannot stop until the tune ceases. His exhausted state may cause him to make outlandish offers, including his crock of gold, if you will please only allow him to stop dancing. Other means of finding his gold include looking at the end of a rainbow, which may lead him offer 3 wishes in exchange for his treasure. His promises of gold alway proves hollow, as the Leprechaun always employs clever tricks in his granting of wishes, often resulting in the embarrassment or injury to the one who expected a bounteous reward.
I caught me a Leprechaun,
and you know what that means!
I got me three big wishes,
and I wanted so many things.
I wanted silver and I wanted gold,
and riches beyong my place,
And castles all in clover,
and love a beautious face.
"So what it be, your wish number one?"
asked the Leprechaun all in green.
"I wish I might have beauty,
the most bewitching ever seen."
"Done!" said the green little Leprechaun,
with a wave of his hand.
"And I wish," I said, "to have riches,
the greatest in this land."
With a flourish and a flutter they did appear,
great beauty and my gold,
And then I wished for a lover fair,
all that my heart could hold.
Bedazzled I was when I saw him there,
my knight in armored bob.
"Thank you, Leprechaun," I gushed with glee,
"You've done a most splendid job."
But the Leprechaun stood near me, seeming unanxious to leave.
"I'm glad you know your mind, lass.
So many waste wishes, you see."
So enraptured I was with my bounty
that I hardly noticed when
That wee little, green little Leprechaun
began chattering away again.
"Tis a bonnie day, is it not, my lass?
Don't you wish, lass, it would bid
To stay like this all year long?"
And I replied ... I did.
The little Trickster laughed with mirth,
and then my face did fall.
"The rules be, lass, if a fourth wish you make,
then you lose them all!"
"The Three Wishes" by Mark Shapiro
Lesidhe
Aka : Leshes, Zuibotshniks, Leshiye, Vodyaniye
Origin : Ireland.
Element : Air
Time : Spring and summer
Appearance : owl, a wolf, or disguised as foliage
Function : a guardian of the forests
Friends/Foes : like to mimic mockingbirds
Lore : deep woods
Lob
Race : goblin
Origin : Wales, Germany or England.
Element : Air.
Appearance : a small dark blob that looks rather like a rain cloud with arms
Function : enjoy raising quarrels and fights
Friends/Foes : The Lob is attracted to ugly, raw emotions and to arguments and fighting.
Lunantisidhe
Origin : Ireland, Rome
Element : Air
Time : night
Appearance : small, bald, old men with pointed ears, long teeth, long arms and fingers which enable them to climb easily.
Function :guardians of the blackthorn tree
Friends/Foes : hate humans with a fervent passion
Lore : blackthorn trees
Lutins
Aka : Follet
Origin : France, Cornwall
Element : Air
Appearance : Lutins are expert shapeshifters who have not held one form long enough for any human to characterize their appearance. They shapeshift constantly into both animals and inanimate objects, but never into the form of humans. One of their favorite games is to shapeshift into a nugget of gold and watch humans chase after them. They move from place to place with a little flash of light.
Friends/Foes : extremely capricous
Lore : some live in human homes and others in trees near water, but they are believed to change homes as often as they change their outward forms.
Ly Erg
Origin : Scotland.
Element : Water
Appearance : He dresses like a soldier and can only be distinguished from a real one by his small size and his red right hand.
Function : It is reported that he will stop his mark on a road or path (especially if it is near water) and challenge you with a raising of his red right hand. The best thing to do in this instance is to retreat, because if you allow him to engage you in combat you will die within a fortnight. His red hand is said to be the result of many years of bloodstains from those he has killed in combat.
Lore : On lonely roadsides near water
M
Mary Player
Aka : Merewipers, Meerweibers, Lorelei
Race : Siren
Origin : Greece, Germany, England.
Element : Water
Appearance : lovely young woman faery who sits on the cliffs and sings, luring sailors to their deaths in the rocks below
Lore : on islands or on the seashore
Melusina
Aka : Melusine, Serpentine
Race : Dragoness, Fea, Water nymph
Origin : France, Germany, Switzerland
Melusina is a famous nymph that married the heir of the Lusignan family in France and gave birth to eight children with animal marks on their bodies.
Description: Because of a curse placed upon her mother, Melusine is born to become half woman, half serpent on Saturday. The rest of the week, she can live as a normal human but has to conceal from any sights when taking her bath on saturday. When she left the castle of Lusignan, she was portrayed as a dragon with four heavily clawed legs, bat-like wings, doted serpent tail and a monstrous head.
She met a husband who swears not to gaze upon her when she is locked in her bathing chamber. Eventually, he does sneak a peek, and sees her, as she steps into her bath, transformed into a hideous creature with a huge fish's tail. Melusine then escaped flying from the bathroom and never came back to Lusignan.
Element : Water
Story : Elinas, King of Albania, to divert his grief for the death of his wife, amused himself with hunting. One day, at the chase, he went to a fountain to quench his thirst. As he approached it he heard the voice of a woman singing, and on coming to it he found there the beautiful fay Pressina.
After some time the fay bestowed her hand upon him, on the condition that he should never visit her at the time of her lying-in. She had three daughters at a birth: Melusina, Melior, and Palatina. Nathas, the king's song by a former wife, hastened to convey the joyful tidings to his father, who, without reflection, flew to the chamber of the queen, and entered as she was bathing her daughters. Pressina, on seeing him, cried out that he had broken his word, and she must depart. And taking up her three daughters, she disappeared.
She retired to the Lost Island, so called because it was only by chance any, even those who had repeatedly visited it, could find it. Here she reared her children, taking them every morning to a high mountain, whence Albania might be seen, and telling them that but for their father's breach of promise they might have lived happily in the distant land which they beheld.
When they were fifteen years of age, Melusina asked her mother particularly of what their father had been guilty. On being informed of it, she conceived the design of being revenged on him. Engaging her sisters to join in her plans, they set out for Albania. Arrived there, they took the king and all his wealth, and, by a charm, enclosed him in a high mountain, called Brandelois. On telling their mother what they had done, she, to punish them for the unnatural action, condemned Melusina to become every Saturday a serpent, from the waist downwards, till she should meet a man who would marry her under the condition of never seeing her on a Saturday, and should keep his promise. She had more sever judgements on her two sisters. Melior is said to keep a hawk in a remote castle in Armenia until the Judgment Day. Palatina is enclosed on the Canigou mountain with her father’s treasure until a knight, strong and bold to kill the monstrous guardians come to reconquer “the land of promission”. Only a Lusignan was capable of such a fit, Geoffroy died before departing.
Melusina now went roaming through the world in search of the man who was to deliver her. She passed through the Black Forest, and that of Ardennes, and at last she arrived in the forest of Colombiers, in Poitou, where all the fays of the neighborhood came before her, telling her they had been waiting for her to reign in that place.
Raymond having accidentally killed the count, his uncle, by the glancing aside of his boar-spear, was wandering by night in the forest of Colombiers. He arrived at a fountain that rose at the foot of a high rock. This fountain was called by the people the Fountain of Thirst, or the Fountain of the Fays, on account of the many marvelous things which had happened at it.
At the time, when Raymond arrived at the fountain, three ladies were diverting themselves there by the light of the moon, the principal of which was Melusina. Her beauty and her amiable manners quickly won his love. She soothed him, concealed the deed he had done, and married him, he promising on his oath never to desire to see her on a Saturday. She assured him that a breach of his oath would forever deprive him of her whom he so much loved, and be followed by the unhappiness of both for life. Out of her great wealth she built for him, in the neighborhood of the Fountain of Thirst, where he first saw her, the castle of Lusignan. She also built La Rochelle, Cloitre Malliers, Mersent, and other places.
But destiny, that would have Melusina single, was incensed against her. The marriage was made unhappy by the deformity of the children born of one that was enchanted. But still Raymond's love for the beauty that ravished both heart and eyes remained unshaken. Destiny renewed her attacks. Raymond's cousin had excited him to jealousy and to secret concealment, by malicious suggestions of the purport of the Saturday retirement of the countess. He hid himself; and then saw how the lovely form of Melusina ended below in a snake, gray and sky-blue, mixed with white. But it was not horror that seized him at the sight, it was infinite anguish at the reflection that through his breach of faith he might lose his lovely wife forever.
Yet this misfortune had not speedily come on him, were it not that his son, Geoffroi with the Tooth [a boar's tusk projected from his mouth], had burned his brother Freimund, who would stay in the abbey of Malliers, with the abbot and a hundred monks. At which the afflicted father, Count Raymond, when his wife Melusina was entering his closet to comfort him, broke out into these words against her, before all the courtiers who attended her, "Out of my sight, thou pernicious snake and odious serpent! thou contaminator of my race!"
Melusina's former anxiety was now verified, and the evil that had lain so long in ambush had now fearfully sprung on him and her. At these reproaches she fainted away; and when at length she revived, full of the profoundest grief, she declared to him that she must now depart from him, and, in obedience to a decree of destiny, fleet about the earth in pain and suffering, as a specter, until the day of doom; and that only when one of her race was to die at Lusignan would she become visible.
Her words at parting were these, "But one thing will I say unto thee before I part, that thou, and those who for more than a hundred years shall succeed thee, shall know that whenever I am seen to hover over the fair castle of Lusignan, then will it be certain that in that very year the castle will get a new lord; and though people may not perceive me in the air, yet they will see me by the Fountain of Thirst; and thus shall it be so long as the castle stand in honor and flourishing -- especially on the Friday before the lord of the castle shall die."
Immediately, with wailing and loud lamentation, she left the castle of Lusignan, and has ever since existed as a specter of the night.
Raymond died as a hermit on Monserrat. The Lusignan prosperity ended and the once richest family became a second-rank country noblety. Geoffroi who could have broke the malediction died before going to Canigou and deliver Paletina.
Merpeople
Aka : Fish-Folk, Mermaids, Mermen, Water Dancers, Blue Men, Merrows, Murduchu
Origin : Universal belief
Element : Water
Appearance : Mermen or Mermaids depending upon their gender. They have the lower bodies of fish and the upper bodies and heads of humans.
Lore : the vast caves of Atlantis and sometimes ghost ships and sunken wrecks where they party.
Friend/Foe : They are usually paceful but their ire can be aroused by persons who desecrate and pollute the seas. Sailors have recorded many tales of Merpeople who have saved drowning people or who have steered their ships clear of disaster. Mermaids had a reputation for luring men to live with them beneath the sea and occasionally took human mates, such as in the popular faery tale "The Little Mermaid." They may have trouble reproducing themselves and need human males to further their race. In Welsh legend, the Gwragedd Annwn were "lake maidens" who married mortal men whom they chose. One malevolent race of Merpeople are the very strong Blue Men from the Muir from Scotland, who have been accused of causing storms in the North Sea and throwing boulders at ships. The best way to dispatch them is by reciting rhymes, which is said to confuse
Magic: A person soon to die by drowning is said to see a mermaid in the water in anticipation of fresh company. Mermaids can sometimes be captured and kept for the knowledge that they can give to humans, particularly their understanding of herbal lore and their ability to foretell the advent of catastrophes, tidal waves and storms. The greatest wish of a mermaid is to gain a human soul but only rarely can she achieve this, as the condition is to transform into an aerial spirit and cause no harm for 300 years.
Famous mergods : Oanes or Ea (Babylone), Nin-Mah (The Sumerian Mother of Universe), Decerto, Aphrodite, Triton, Proteus or Nereus (Greece),
Morgan Le Fay
Aka : Dame d'Avalon
Race : Fea
Morgan also gave her name to the mermaids of Brittany called Maries Morgan or Morganes and the mermaids of Wales called Morgen. The treachery of these aquatic females was so renowned that storytellers carried the fame of these demons as far as Italy, where mirages over the straights of Messina are to this day called Fata Morganas.
Element : Water, Fire and Air
Origin : Morgan Le Fay was a malign fairy or sorceress who appeared in many guises throughout Arthurian legend. A mysterious figure, she has been related to the Irish death queen, Badb, and to the celtic mistress of death and war, Morrigan. She had eight sisters and mothered three children by Urien, an ancient Brettonic deity of war and minstrelsy. In British legend, Morgan le Fay was related to King Arthur.
Powers : Endowed with supernatural skills in the art of herbal medicine, and occult magic powers, Morgan was one of the most powerful sorceress of her time. The t popular tales mentions the source of Morgan's magic knowledge. She was the mistress of Merlin, and had been trained by the great magician in her youth.
Appearance : Either beautiful or with a deformed face, Morgan can shapeshift into a variety of human and animal forms. If so, her beauty could be only a charm. In the legend of Sir Lancelot of the Lake, Morgan appears as a vicious hag, but in the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, she was an imposing crone and remained in the background until she was revealed as 'Morgan the goddess'. In Ireland she assumed the shape of a wolf-bitch or a heifer, crowned with a silver crescent instead of horns. If she was insulted in any manner, she took on the form of a crow that swooped down and stole children.
Lore : Morgan is the ruler of an underwater paradise, the island Avalon but inhabited at times other places besides Avalon. Her chief fortress was Mongibel in England, and she was the mistress of a castle full of beautiful but wicked fairy servants near Edinburgh, called the castle of the Maidens. But her main home always remained Avalon, where she resided with her demon husband, Guingamar.
Story: In Malory's La Mort D'Arthur, Morgan plotted constantly against her half-brother, Arthur, and once succeeded in stealing his magic sword, Excalibur. Ironically, it was she who took Arthur to her island retreat to cure him of his wounds after the fatal battle of Camlan. Another medieval writer described Avalon, which meant the isle of apples, with the following words:
'Avalon, which men call the Fortunate Isle, is so named because it produces all things of itself. The fields there have no need of farmers to plow them, and nature alone provides all cultivation. Grains and grapes are produced without tending, and apple trees grow in the woods from the close-clipped grass...Thither after the battle of Camlan we took the wounded Arthur...with the Prince we arrived there and Morgan receved us with becoming honour. In her own chamber she placed the King on a golden bed, with her own hand uncovered the wound, and gazed at it long. At last she said that health could return to him, if her were to stay with her for a long time and wished to make use of her healing art.'
In one account, Orlando, a great hero, went to rescue the many worthy men who had been imprisoned in Morgan's castle. After overcoming many obstacles, such as dazzling beauty which blinded him temporarily, Orlando gained the silver key to the prison. Morgan warned him to be sure not to break the key in the lock or he would 'involve himself and all, in inevitable destruction.' This made Orlando ponder how 'few amid the suitors who importune the dame, know how to turn the Keys of Fortuen.' On another occasion, Morgan hexed the heroic child, Ogier the Dane, compelling him to live with her for one hundred years.
The Moss People
Aka : Greenies
Origin : Germany and Switzerland.
Time : Late spring and summer
Appearance : both male and female, they have large butterfly wings attached to the little bodies that look mostly human.
Friends/Foes : shy and capricious
Lore : in remote gardens and woodlands
Murdhuachas
Aka : Walrus People, Sea Cows
Race : similar toFormorians but not to be confused with Mermaids and Mermen
Origin : Ireland.
Element : Water
Time : Dawn and dusk
Appearance : fish-like lower bodies, but rather than having humanoid upper bodies, they have the upper bodies and heads of other mammals.
Lore : Sea
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