Reminiscing about the past is not something I am fond of doing, given all that has been lost. At one time I was a king, but that kingdom has been laid to waste. At one time I was one of the most celebrated deities of the Celtic Pantheon, but the pantheon crumbled under the weight of its own diseased power struggles. I lost family and friends in the desolation.
At one time I was the Champion of the Sidhe and defender of all fey. I was a hero. I was revered. My reputation preceded me. I was the greatest of the high race of fey known as the Sidhe. Now the fey survivors are scattered to far flung realms of existence. I have found few Seelie fey, those of the lawful alignment like myself. I hope some Seelie Sidhe still live and are just in hiding. The Unseelie have coped with their change in circumstance far better. Their chaotic spirits adapt easier to the environments where they find themselves. The difference between Seelie and Unseelie is more than just the difference between light and dark. It’s the difference between civilization and the wild. Neither is truly ‘good’ or ‘evil’, just motivated by different goals.
I suppose the heroic tendency is not easy to shrug off, even though I have tried. I find myself on a hopeless self-appointed quest to build a realm of magic for all fey. A homeland. Since the old realm collapsed I have discovered a very disconcerting problem. I knew my magic was tied into the realm in which I once dwelled, but I had no idea just how true that was until I was without it. My new vulnerability is disconcerting and I am determined to hide the truth from friend and enemy alike.
For as you may know or have suspected, I am Lugh Samildanach of the Tuatha de Dannan. The Shining One. Son of Cian. Master of battle and sorcery. The Celtic god of the sun. I am the greatest of the high and glorious race of fey. Champion of the Sidhe. And the once and future king of the Seelie court.
(Read more about Lugh in his mini-series Champion of the Sidhe)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Your Guardian Angel
Here's an awesome song for the heroic Lugh, our very own Champion of the Sidhe. A big thank you to the beautiful and talented @RFLong for this suggestion.
Have a song that would be perfect for the The Glamour Club? Email archer@sidhetouch.com
Have a song that would be perfect for the The Glamour Club? Email archer@sidhetouch.com
Monday, November 21, 2011
Pantera - Walk
Sunday, November 20, 2011
New Release!
Champion of the Fey
The fey are Fading. Extinction is inevitable. Lugh, one of the few fey to survive the Collapse, is already beginning to suffer the effects. Only a long shot quest to recover the artifacts might be able to restore the source of fey magic. And the first artifact Lugh seeks is dead in the heart of wizard territory.
Get it on Kindle
Get it in all ebook formats at Smashwords.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
What Are The Sidhe?
The Sidhe are a proud magical race of elven people. They basically are the top of the upper crust. The Sidhe classify themselves into two Courts: Seelie and Unseelie. The Seelie are sometimes seen as the good guys and the Unseelie as the bad guys. Although both can be seen as good or bad depending on what aspect is being looked at. The Seelie and the Unseelie have an ever present hatred for each other. The Seelie considering the Unseelie as wild and uncivilized. The Unseelie seeing the Seelie as arrogant and oppressive.
The Sidhe as a whole are beautiful people, and know it. They are not above using that beauty to get what they want.
As far as powers go, there are three powers that ALL Sidhe have in common: Glamour, the Touch, and Teleportation. Teleportation, obviously, is simple teleporting from one location to another. Of course the more experienced you are, the better you can teleport. Those who have just learned, will have difficulty teleporting outside the building they are in. Those who have been around a while and know the full extent of their powers, may very well be able to teleport to the other side of the planet. To teleport somewhere, it must be a place they have seen before. Whether it is with their own eyes, in a picture, or even in a mental image, such as through the the Touch.
The Touch, is a conscious release of magical energy through physical contact. Physical contact, holding hands, touching a shoulder, any kind of touch, is not always the Touch. It must be a conscious release of energy, willingly giving that energy to the person they are in contact with. This release of energy is pleasurable for the one receiving it. All magical beings can recieve the Touch, but only Sidhe can give it. The Touch must be through actual skin to skin contact. Thoughts and emotions are often transferred along with magic during the Touch, but the pathway is one way. Always going from the Sidhe to the one being Touched.
Now Glamour, is fairly simple. All Sidhe are elves. They posses elfin traits, like the slight points to their ears which would be obvious to anyone who saw them without some form of disguise. Glamour is the disguise used by most fey. It is our way of altering our appearance so that we fit in with the locals more easily.
The final point about all Sidhe is that every individual has a unique power that pertains only to them. Although there is no limitations to what that power might be, those who are Seelie lean more towards powers of Light. Where as Unseelie lean more towards powers of Darkness.
The Sidhe as a whole are beautiful people, and know it. They are not above using that beauty to get what they want.
As far as powers go, there are three powers that ALL Sidhe have in common: Glamour, the Touch, and Teleportation. Teleportation, obviously, is simple teleporting from one location to another. Of course the more experienced you are, the better you can teleport. Those who have just learned, will have difficulty teleporting outside the building they are in. Those who have been around a while and know the full extent of their powers, may very well be able to teleport to the other side of the planet. To teleport somewhere, it must be a place they have seen before. Whether it is with their own eyes, in a picture, or even in a mental image, such as through the the Touch.
The Touch, is a conscious release of magical energy through physical contact. Physical contact, holding hands, touching a shoulder, any kind of touch, is not always the Touch. It must be a conscious release of energy, willingly giving that energy to the person they are in contact with. This release of energy is pleasurable for the one receiving it. All magical beings can recieve the Touch, but only Sidhe can give it. The Touch must be through actual skin to skin contact. Thoughts and emotions are often transferred along with magic during the Touch, but the pathway is one way. Always going from the Sidhe to the one being Touched.
Now Glamour, is fairly simple. All Sidhe are elves. They posses elfin traits, like the slight points to their ears which would be obvious to anyone who saw them without some form of disguise. Glamour is the disguise used by most fey. It is our way of altering our appearance so that we fit in with the locals more easily.
The final point about all Sidhe is that every individual has a unique power that pertains only to them. Although there is no limitations to what that power might be, those who are Seelie lean more towards powers of Light. Where as Unseelie lean more towards powers of Darkness.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Unseelie Anthem
"It's My Life" by Bon Jovi is the perfect song for the Unseelie. Love those lines "Don't bend, don't break, and don't back down." Especially for the young earthborn Unseelie, in their late teens and early twenties and fighting for their lives just like Kieran and Trip in Aftershock. Running from vampires who would bleed them and wizards who would steal their magic.
Enjoy the Glamour Club's video pick:
Enjoy the Glamour Club's video pick:
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
History in a Nut Shell...
Many thousands of years ago there was the First Realm of Fey, a separate realm where all fey first evolved. There is little known about the First Realm or what caused it to collapse. In the collapse, the fey were scattered into many realms, including the earth realm. Of the surviving Sidhe, there was a woman known as Danu. Her aspect of magic was ‘procreation’. As a Sidhe whose magic was to give life, she took it upon herself to create a new home for the fey.
By gathering artifacts from the first realm of fey and imbuing it with her magic she was able to create a pocket of reality below the surface of the earth. From the outside, the only evidence of this pocket of reality was the mounds, or small hills, hidden within a magical wood. Thus the new realm became known as the Mounds. Within the Mounds existed a whole world until itself, complete with a sky with its own illusion of a sun and moon and stars. A vast expanse existed magically within the Mounds, as large as all of Ireland. Many fey migrated to the Mounds and lived there for thousands of years.
For her part in the creation of the Mounds, Danu became known as ‘mother ‘ to all fey, not only the Sidhe. As before the Sidhe ruled the Mounds, separated into the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Danu, having always aligned herself with the Seelie, favored this Court above the other. Without question the Seelie allowed Danu to appoint their kings. With the long lived race of Sidhe, kings did not die and pass down their crowns to their children. While Danu’s whims determined the Seelie ruler, the Unseelie selected their ruler based on skill with magic and cleverness in negotiation.
After thousands of years, punctuated with brief periods of war between the Courts, the first hint of true devastation emerged in the form of a vision by the Unseelie prophetess, Aoife. The prediction? One day the two Courts would merge and the Mounds would crumble. The Seelie rejected the prophecy as nothing but Unseelie propaganda.
Many Unseelie fled the Mounds and returned to the earth realm. They tied their magic to the ley lines of Earth instead of to the fey realm, unsure of how long that realm would continue to exist. Something about the magic of the earth realm sparked an unexpected increase in the number of fey offspring, rapidly increasing the number of young Unseelie Sidhe. To keep the children safe from all those who might prey upon them many of these Unseelie children were brought up in rural areas and kept away from human children. Many were never even told that they were anything but human, with the intention of teaching them about their true heritage once they were deemed ‘old enough.’
Through politics and influence, the Seelie Court finally realized its ambition to unify the Courts. That very day the magic of the Mounds shattered and the pocket realm crumbled in on itself. Very few fey residing in the Mounds escaped the disaster. After the Collapse, those surviving fey that have not tied themselves to the ley lines of Earth began to suffer from a condition known as the Fade. All fey are half physical and half magical. Just as they need food and drink to sustain their bodies, so too do they need a replenishing source of magic. Without the magic of the Mounds to link to, the fey suffering from the Fade became weak. Eventually they will lose the solidity of their bodies, becoming as ghosts, before finally fading completely from existence.
The Unseelie, most of who are of the new generation of 'earthborns' and less than 30 years in age, vastly outnumber the surviving Seelie. Many of these Unseelie are untrained and are easy prey to wizards, vampires and other predators.
While times are dire for the fey, most especially the Sidhe, there may yet exist the barest whisper of hope.
Join the adventure! SidheTouch.com
By gathering artifacts from the first realm of fey and imbuing it with her magic she was able to create a pocket of reality below the surface of the earth. From the outside, the only evidence of this pocket of reality was the mounds, or small hills, hidden within a magical wood. Thus the new realm became known as the Mounds. Within the Mounds existed a whole world until itself, complete with a sky with its own illusion of a sun and moon and stars. A vast expanse existed magically within the Mounds, as large as all of Ireland. Many fey migrated to the Mounds and lived there for thousands of years.
For her part in the creation of the Mounds, Danu became known as ‘mother ‘ to all fey, not only the Sidhe. As before the Sidhe ruled the Mounds, separated into the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Danu, having always aligned herself with the Seelie, favored this Court above the other. Without question the Seelie allowed Danu to appoint their kings. With the long lived race of Sidhe, kings did not die and pass down their crowns to their children. While Danu’s whims determined the Seelie ruler, the Unseelie selected their ruler based on skill with magic and cleverness in negotiation.
After thousands of years, punctuated with brief periods of war between the Courts, the first hint of true devastation emerged in the form of a vision by the Unseelie prophetess, Aoife. The prediction? One day the two Courts would merge and the Mounds would crumble. The Seelie rejected the prophecy as nothing but Unseelie propaganda.
Many Unseelie fled the Mounds and returned to the earth realm. They tied their magic to the ley lines of Earth instead of to the fey realm, unsure of how long that realm would continue to exist. Something about the magic of the earth realm sparked an unexpected increase in the number of fey offspring, rapidly increasing the number of young Unseelie Sidhe. To keep the children safe from all those who might prey upon them many of these Unseelie children were brought up in rural areas and kept away from human children. Many were never even told that they were anything but human, with the intention of teaching them about their true heritage once they were deemed ‘old enough.’
Through politics and influence, the Seelie Court finally realized its ambition to unify the Courts. That very day the magic of the Mounds shattered and the pocket realm crumbled in on itself. Very few fey residing in the Mounds escaped the disaster. After the Collapse, those surviving fey that have not tied themselves to the ley lines of Earth began to suffer from a condition known as the Fade. All fey are half physical and half magical. Just as they need food and drink to sustain their bodies, so too do they need a replenishing source of magic. Without the magic of the Mounds to link to, the fey suffering from the Fade became weak. Eventually they will lose the solidity of their bodies, becoming as ghosts, before finally fading completely from existence.
The Unseelie, most of who are of the new generation of 'earthborns' and less than 30 years in age, vastly outnumber the surviving Seelie. Many of these Unseelie are untrained and are easy prey to wizards, vampires and other predators.
While times are dire for the fey, most especially the Sidhe, there may yet exist the barest whisper of hope.
Join the adventure! SidheTouch.com
Monday, November 14, 2011
Music Video for Magic Addicts
London finds all about magic addiction in "Cursed" The Touch gets under your skin. Moves through your flesh and into your bones. It fills you up with life and light and magic. And once you've tasted it once, you will forever crave it. You'll feel your need for it drag you down and consume you until there is nothing you wouldn't do for just one more Touch. This song by Evanescence captures that feeling perfectly!
Enjoy: Evanescence - Going Under
Enjoy: Evanescence - Going Under
Friday, November 11, 2011
Glamour Club
Been to the Glamour Club yet? It's the hot, new happening place for the fey, and not just the Unseelie. Dance with the hottest fey in Ireland where the music never stops and magic is everywhere. One of the Sidhe might even share the Touch if your can impress them with your moves.
Blow by Ke$ha is the perfect Glamour Club song. Hope you enjoy!
Blow by Ke$ha is the perfect Glamour Club song. Hope you enjoy!
Get Intense!
Intensity drives The Sidhe more than any other emotion. Intense action. Intense emotion. Compacted into a tight, explosive little story that will leave you breathless. Each short story or novella jumps immediately into heart of the character and his or her struggle to survive.
As compelling as each story is meant to be, the best part is that it doesn’t end there. One ride of the roller coaster is never enough for the intensity junkie. The next story in the line picks right up where the last one left off. Building on the drama. Stoking the fire for the next battle.
But that is still not intense enough. Not for The Sidhe. Because each line interweaves with the others. Success for the Seelie is a blow to the Unseelie, and vice versa. The predators hurting the fey will never give up. The Collapse shredded everything the Sidhe held dear, but they can’t stop now. They can’t mourn their loss or their dead. The fight for survival has never been so dire. Their magic, their culture, their entire race brinks on extinction.
And we are just getting started! Pounding action, tight plots, passionate characters all driving toward an intense climax.
More than anything, when you catch your breath, we want to hear you say, “That was intense! When’s the next story coming?”
‘Cause we are intensity junkies, just like you!
As compelling as each story is meant to be, the best part is that it doesn’t end there. One ride of the roller coaster is never enough for the intensity junkie. The next story in the line picks right up where the last one left off. Building on the drama. Stoking the fire for the next battle.
But that is still not intense enough. Not for The Sidhe. Because each line interweaves with the others. Success for the Seelie is a blow to the Unseelie, and vice versa. The predators hurting the fey will never give up. The Collapse shredded everything the Sidhe held dear, but they can’t stop now. They can’t mourn their loss or their dead. The fight for survival has never been so dire. Their magic, their culture, their entire race brinks on extinction.
And we are just getting started! Pounding action, tight plots, passionate characters all driving toward an intense climax.
More than anything, when you catch your breath, we want to hear you say, “That was intense! When’s the next story coming?”
‘Cause we are intensity junkies, just like you!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
A Song for a Touch Addict
Cursed by the Sidhe? Need the magic of the Touch to keep you sane? Then you know exactly how London feels in her series Touched. This song is for you, London! "Breathe into Me" by Red.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Sneak Peek of "Champion of the Fey"
*Enjoy this sample! "Champion of the Fey" coming soon!*
The enchanted gold dust spiraled in a vortex as if a miniature tornado spun within the vial. The glass container itself was not much longer or wider than Lugh’s index finger. Magic twinkled off the dust, as though chips of stars mixed with the gold.
Lugh glanced up from the vial to the row of terraced houses. They had the architectural appeal of bay windows and artistic brickwork. Even still, this neighborhood in Bristol appeared unremarkable compared to most other modern, middle class neighborhoods in England. If not for the reaction of the gold dust in the vial, Lugh would not have guessed that one of the artifacts might have found its way to such an unassuming place. Somewhere in the heart of this mundane humanity, seemingly devoid of even the faintest spark of magic, lay a fragment of the ancient realm of fey.
Even this bit of magic in his hand, this vial of enchantment, seemed ridiculously insignificant in the hands of a Sidhe. And yet held within its simple magicraft it harbored the fragile hope that might save what little survived of the fey. The notion was laughable. The likelihood of success so slim as to be the width of a fairy’s eyelash from total impossibility. Fool’s errand this might be, what else had he? Accept defeat and surrender to the Fade with noble stoicism?
For most of the morning, Lugh watched the house from his perch on the top of a stone garden wall just across the narrow lane. Secure in the belief that his Glamour rendered him invisible to the eyes of mortals, Lugh debated his options. Direct assault? Not his usual strategy, but not beneath him, either. The double-paned, wood-framed windows likely would shatter beneath a precise kick. Then there was the consideration of someone summoning the constables and that was always a needless hassle.
Without having seen inside the building, Lugh could not merely teleport into the house. How ignoble of him to contemplate peeping through the window like a tomcat. Still, if it brought him the prize he sought, then nicety must give way to necessity.
As Lugh debated his options, a young blonde woman emerged from the house. Her loose hair fell in unkempt locks down her back and shoulders. The patchwork peasant skirt flattered her lovely, long legs. The skirt had a gypsy look to it, as did the odd choices of tops. The long, pale blue sleeves flared around delicate forearms, and a dark, tight-fitting top covered it, so the elbow-length sleeves contoured to her thin arms and the feminine curves of her chest.
A seductive grin tugged at his lips. Now charming beautiful women was one of his specialties.
*end of sample*
"Champion of the Fey" coming soon!
The enchanted gold dust spiraled in a vortex as if a miniature tornado spun within the vial. The glass container itself was not much longer or wider than Lugh’s index finger. Magic twinkled off the dust, as though chips of stars mixed with the gold.
Lugh glanced up from the vial to the row of terraced houses. They had the architectural appeal of bay windows and artistic brickwork. Even still, this neighborhood in Bristol appeared unremarkable compared to most other modern, middle class neighborhoods in England. If not for the reaction of the gold dust in the vial, Lugh would not have guessed that one of the artifacts might have found its way to such an unassuming place. Somewhere in the heart of this mundane humanity, seemingly devoid of even the faintest spark of magic, lay a fragment of the ancient realm of fey.
Even this bit of magic in his hand, this vial of enchantment, seemed ridiculously insignificant in the hands of a Sidhe. And yet held within its simple magicraft it harbored the fragile hope that might save what little survived of the fey. The notion was laughable. The likelihood of success so slim as to be the width of a fairy’s eyelash from total impossibility. Fool’s errand this might be, what else had he? Accept defeat and surrender to the Fade with noble stoicism?
For most of the morning, Lugh watched the house from his perch on the top of a stone garden wall just across the narrow lane. Secure in the belief that his Glamour rendered him invisible to the eyes of mortals, Lugh debated his options. Direct assault? Not his usual strategy, but not beneath him, either. The double-paned, wood-framed windows likely would shatter beneath a precise kick. Then there was the consideration of someone summoning the constables and that was always a needless hassle.
Without having seen inside the building, Lugh could not merely teleport into the house. How ignoble of him to contemplate peeping through the window like a tomcat. Still, if it brought him the prize he sought, then nicety must give way to necessity.
As Lugh debated his options, a young blonde woman emerged from the house. Her loose hair fell in unkempt locks down her back and shoulders. The patchwork peasant skirt flattered her lovely, long legs. The skirt had a gypsy look to it, as did the odd choices of tops. The long, pale blue sleeves flared around delicate forearms, and a dark, tight-fitting top covered it, so the elbow-length sleeves contoured to her thin arms and the feminine curves of her chest.
A seductive grin tugged at his lips. Now charming beautiful women was one of his specialties.
*end of sample*
"Champion of the Fey" coming soon!
Friday, November 4, 2011
A Song For a Hero
One of the songs on Lugh's playlist is Far Away by Nickelback . It always brings him out when I am writing him. I hope you feel the power and intensity in this song, and in Lugh when you read his stories. Lugh's next book "Champion of the Fey" comes out soon! And his heroic side gets his chance to shine!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The Life of a Scribe
The archives at Sidhe Touch website is manned by our very own Scribe. All of the documentation in the Characters section and the Fey section are compiled by Willem. Though he has worked with the All-Mother and Lugh, both very Seelie Sidhe, Willem is fairly good at maintaining his objectivity with regards to the fey. Here's his brief introduction to the archives. Explored his compiled works at http://www.sidhetouch.com/characters.html and http://www.sidhetouch.com/the-fey.html .
The Life of a Scribe
(By Willem Ghall, Scribe of the First Order granted dominion over the library of Danu and Keeper of the All-Mother’s Archives)
Most Scribes do not include themselves within the histories they keep, as we are more the observers and chroniclers of the times we live in rather than the architects of it. Quite simply, since the Collapse no fey can fully discount their contribution to the future we must forge. For my part, I vow to keep as accurate and detailed a record as I can assemble, either through my own efforts or through documents provided by my colleagues. I shall endeavor to add to this collected work as swiftly as I am able. The works you find scattered here upon these digital pages are my early efforts. I vow to expand upon them as long as I am able, for if the Fade does not claim us all these records and scraps of history will remain to illuminate the live and times of the few survivors, and those who rose to the nobler calling of their hearts to save us all.
The Life of a Scribe
(By Willem Ghall, Scribe of the First Order granted dominion over the library of Danu and Keeper of the All-Mother’s Archives)
Most Scribes do not include themselves within the histories they keep, as we are more the observers and chroniclers of the times we live in rather than the architects of it. Quite simply, since the Collapse no fey can fully discount their contribution to the future we must forge. For my part, I vow to keep as accurate and detailed a record as I can assemble, either through my own efforts or through documents provided by my colleagues. I shall endeavor to add to this collected work as swiftly as I am able. The works you find scattered here upon these digital pages are my early efforts. I vow to expand upon them as long as I am able, for if the Fade does not claim us all these records and scraps of history will remain to illuminate the live and times of the few survivors, and those who rose to the nobler calling of their hearts to save us all.
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