Banshee?

[Lucheek]

In this comic "Migrating Banshee's" are referenced. I'm somewhat a Banshee fan, and I have to ask:

Are there such thing in Furrae, or was this made before definite species were set?

[Ren Gaulen]

It might have migrated from the other Universe! Just kidding.

[Rafe]

Banshee is the English spelling of the Celtic "Baobhan Sith", which just means a woman fae.  Baobhan Siths, while they're usually beautiful, are more dangerous than your average fairy, though.  They're more like a sucubus or vampire, and tend to drain blood from people.

I've been wondering if any other Celtic fairy-folk would ever show up here, like Cait Siths (yes, in English it's pronounced "Caytshee"), Fear Deargs, or at least a Leprechaun.

[Lucheek]

General Banshee folklore tells of ghostly white-woman with screeching voices...that, yes, drain blood.  I havn't heard of any of the others... -goes to look up-

[Rafe]

There was a Cait Sith in Final Fantasy VII (and no one ever pronounces the name right). Lots of Celtic Fairies have animal forms.  Cait Siths are cats. 

But you've never heard of Leprechauns?  And it was just St. Patrick's Day too.

One of my favorites is the Púca.  It's a shapshifter, but always an animal.  It's usually a horse, black with glowing yellow eyes.  It can also be a rabbit, a dog or a goat, but pretty much always with dark fur.  From Wikipedia :

"If a human is enticed onto a phooka's back it has been known to give them a wild ride. But unlike a kelpie, which will take its rider and dive into the nearest river or lake to drown and devour him, the Púca will do the unfortunate rider no real harm. The Púca has the power of human speech, and has been known to give advice and lead people away from danger. Though the phooka enjoys confusing and often terrifying humans, it is considered to be benevolent."

[Aisha deCabre]

I thought Banshees were also, in Irish folklore, spirits who are messengers of death, coming to the door of anyone about to die and known for making a horrid wailing sound...

Still, it would be interesting to see the DMFA equivalent; it could just be any Creature we know which could have different names, like I remember in the whole "night angel=vampire or Cubi" discussion.

Or it could be a Fae bard whose only crime is a bad singing voice. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

... I still like Terry Pratchett's banshee.

It was... scared of coming out in the open, so it carried a door around with it to hide behind, and slipped notes under the door saying "ooooOOOOoooOOOooOOoooOOOooo"

[thegayhare]

... I still like Terry Pratchett's banshee.

It was... scared of coming out in the open, so it carried a door around with it to hide behind, and slipped notes under the door saying "ooooOOOOoooOOOooOOoooOOOooo"

Well thats just one banshee and he was shy.

In going Postal they introduce a wild banshee and explaine why people die when they hear a banshee's wail... Usualy it's because it's barreling down on you teeth and claws bared.

There are alot of Irish fairies that could be particularly scarey.  Almost none of the fairy folk are particularly nice, and lots of them don't mind killing people

[Alondro]

If you meet one, you just have to sing "There's Got to Be a Morning After" backwards, and it'll get pulled back into hell. 

South Park has the answers to all life's little problems.   

[Brunhidden]

There are alot of Irish fairies that could be particularly scarey.  Almost none of the fairy folk are particularly nice, and lots of them don't mind killing people

a quote i am reminded of is "anyone who thinks fairies are nice has not read many fairy tales

to understand things better you must understand that fey are not all the same.

theres the seele court, the unseele court (completely forgotten spelling), and unaffiliated fey. the first is the 'good' fairies who usually follow laws you don't understand and heavily deal with the punishment of people who don't understand those laws or bartering deals for human slaves. the second are the 'bad' fey, much akin to those featured in the Terry Pratchett book 'lords and ladies' and just really like hurting people. the third make up so many other kinds that it kind of makes the first two pointless

for instance you have the original goblins, which translates into 'friends of the dead' and are far more lethal then the fantasy novel versions, in particular one strain called a 'redcap' who ambushes people, slits their throats, and collects their blood in a bowl to dye their hats red which gives them improved power.

then theres knockers, helpful beings who look more like we are accustomed to thinking a goblin looks like, which live in mines and warn miners of cave ins and deadly gas by knocking on the walls of the cave. miners who respect and thank them often found that the knockers lead them to rich ore veins too. however one mountain had evil knockers, known as kobolds, who made damned sure anyone trying to get the massive amounts of ore inside the mountain rarely returned as ropes were cut, support beams were gnawed at, and lanterns knocked over. the element 'cobalt' was so named after kobolds that when it heated up it released a toxic gas and was likened to the evil spirits who killed miners.

theres also small and friendly looking gnomelike fey who are the children of an oak tree and only really come to existence when their mother tree is killed, and try to take revenge by offering any found in their wood delicious smelling foods made of poisonous mushrooms

and of course theres a great deal of fey who largely couldn't care less about humans, find us a peculiar oddity, and just simply don't know what we can, cant, wont do or that simple things like aging a hundred years in one night or dancing for a week would kill us



personally i think mabb could fit under any, better check if she has slaves, shrooms, or a spiffy red hat

[AndersW]

I wouldn't put shrooms out of the picture

[thegayhare]

I'm temped to pull out som of my old fairy books...
I remember a few bits and peices like Redcap had chicken claws for hands.  and I can remember some of the other fea.

One of my favorites was the Green man.  He's not a nice fea at all, one of his nicer non leathal (or atleast immediatly non leathel) traits is he can rot potatoes with a touch

[Lucheek]

There was a Cait Sith in Final Fantasy VII (and no one ever pronounces the name right). Lots of Celtic Fairies have animal forms.  Cait Siths are cats. 

But you've never heard of Leprechauns?  And it was just St. Patrick's Day too.

One of my favorites is the Púca.  It's a shapshifter, but always an animal.  It's usually a horse, black with glowing yellow eyes.  It can also be a rabbit, a dog or a goat, but pretty much always with dark fur.  From Wikipedia :

"If a human is enticed onto a phooka's back it has been known to give them a wild ride. But unlike a kelpie, which will take its rider and dive into the nearest river or lake to drown and devour him, the Púca will do the unfortunate rider no real harm. The Púca has the power of human speech, and has been known to give advice and lead people away from danger. Though the phooka enjoys confusing and often terrifying humans, it is considered to be benevolent."

Haha, no I've heard of Leprachauns.  I ment the other information of Banshees. (I've never played Final Fantasy, but I've heard of Cait Siths.)

Another intresting Banshee myth I've heard of is they comb their hair with a silver comb. But if a Banshee drops their comb, and a human would to pick it up, the Banshee would spirit them away to the land of the dead. (This myth relates to Banshee's being messengers of somebody is about to die.)

Then theres also the Selkie (another one of my favored....hm. Irish...) a human that can put on a seal skin and turn into a seal. They were suppoesd to be very pretty women, and that people would steal their seal-skin so they couldn't return to the sea (and thus became a reluctant house-wife.)

I imagine a DMFA Banshee would be a kind of demon, instead of a whole new race all together....Hmm...

[LionHeart]

One of my favorites was the Green man.  He's not a nice fea at all, one of his nicer non leathal (or atleast immediatly non leathel) traits is he can rot potatoes with a touch

Which you can imagine being a serious threat if you live somewhere where potatoes are a major part of your diet...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

... I wonder if he appeared around the time of the Great Potato Famine...

[Naldru]

According to the Wikipedia, the Green Man is a god from Celtic folklore that makes vegetation grow in the spring.  It would make sense that it also made the vegetation die in the winter, although it doesn't mention that in the article.  (In the same way that Kali is the goddess of both life and death.)

[Brunhidden]

nature is nature, you have to take the rot with the grow and the winter with the spring



although, my vote is still for 'mabb has a spiffy red hat we have not seen yet'

[Sofox]

True enough about rotting potatoes being quite lethal, especially when you consider Ireland in the mid 1800s (one of the reasons America has so many Irish descendants).

[thegayhare]

thats why I said it wasn't immediately lethal

but with Ireland's reliance on potato as a staple it could be very easily fatal.  The green man was known for to kill in quicker ways as well.

And a wikipedia artical won't give you the be all and end all of a subject like the green man.  He'll have grown and mutated, over the centuries.  He may have started as a celtic god but over time he'll have changed and shifted, molted.  Old gods do knew work.  they are given new roles, take on new duties

[Brunhidden]

curses to wiki- those like me who spend years reading musty old tomes and pick up such perverse knowledge on subjects like this are rendered obsolete by two paragraphs that barely cover half a definition and don't even come close to giving an in depth knowlege of a subject


fume fume fume, and rage at uselessness

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Pfft.

Anyone with sense realises that Wikipedia is merely a -starting point- for research. Even rough grasp of a subject is merely glance at wikipedia and then go look in google for more detail.

[Sunblink]

Pfft.

Anyone with sense realises that Wikipedia is merely a -starting point- for research. Even rough grasp of a subject is merely glance at wikipedia and then go look in google for more detail.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Lucheek]

It twas a water mold.

[Hanii Puppy]

theres the seele court

Someone's been playing Nethergate <3

[Brunhidden]

theres the seele court

Someone's been playing Nethergate <3

nope, the seele and unseele court have been in the mythology of the brittish islands and surrounding lands for nigh unto six centuries or longer


......i have no clue what nethergate is

[Kasarn]

theres the seele court

Someone's been playing Nethergate <3

nope, the seele and unseele court have been in the mythology of the brittish islands and surrounding lands for nigh unto six centuries or longer


......i have no clue what nethergate is

http://www.spidweb.com/nethergateres/index.html
It's a cRPG based on Celtic mythology so, naturally, it includes the Seele Court.