The History of the Shee-Slaugh Court

by

Druken Shee-Slaugh

Forward
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Lhiannan Shee-Slaugh, Queen of the Slaugh and august avatar of the Great Spirit Night, is a proud woman. Her machinations are aligned entirely with the Great Spirit's, whose beauty and cunning Lhiannan emulates in volumes. She and her brother avatars, Glumki Thorneye and Gwyllgi, Hound of Darkness, sit at the right hand of Mother Night and are worshipped by the Great Commune Glomdoring; unlike her avatar brethren, Lhiannan's blood is not limited to her veins alone.

What inspired the Queen of the Slaugh to weave the plot that would inevitably become the history of the Fallen House and the Rise of the Shee-Slaugh Court may never be known, for her mystery is the root of her power. What is known lies in these pages. Read on with caution, for the lesson you will learn when dealing with the slaugh is the difference between survival and anguish.

A Tale of Tragedy and Triumph
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Imagine a creature whose beauty and grace is only outdone by the matriarch of shadows, the Great Spirit Mother Night. Broaden your perception of this creature's existence by considering the terrible beauty and flawless terror that Mother Night Herself exudes as She reigns in Her rightful place as the ruler of the heavens. Let the dark imaginings of this alluring creature fill your hearts and minds with whispers of indomitable manipulation, unbridled strength, and the graceful kiss of a pleasurable death.

This creature is the slaugh.

A fae by origin, the lesser known history of the slaugh's plight is shared across the Basin, chronicled in tomes that contain stories of the Elder Wars. This fable of their creation is unjustly repressed and poorly woven in an effort to construct a weak-willed image of the "dark fae", who were ultimately banished from a connection to the Maeve, Queen of the Faethorn Realm. For too long, this is the story that has been repeated, but I will enlighten you now to the truth.

As the story goes, the "tainted" fae were sealed in the Wyrdr Glade for rehabilitation. They were cruelly shorn from their roots by a spiteful majority that feared progressive potential, but it was ultimately to the slaugh's benefit that they be forced to undergo this trial. For, like the Glomdoring, the slaugh were chastised and called weak; but this derision became a powerful illusion behind which both the Glomdoring and the slaugh could rally, cultivating their power and strength unmolested.

Remember that the fae are all embodied in the Maeve. The spirits of the fae, individual, tangible entities, are constructs of the Maeve. She is the collective mind to which they are all subordinate, and she commands them with her influence made manifest. They are, in a sense, alike to the shadows of Mother Night - for instance, we know that every shadow is Her possession by virtue of Her existence, and it is the same for the fae, who are all freely living and reproducing, but they are still connected to the Faethorn Realm by virtue of the Maeve's existence. The slaugh, as fae themselves, were included in this connection until the Great Rift.

The slaugh were ripped from this Faethorn Realm construct. Imagine a shadow torn from Night's glory by rough, unclean hands and then thrust into the middle of a cage of light that was forged by the Sun's rays. This was the slaugh's true plight, justified and glossed over in the known histories as somehow "helpful to the nature of things". The slaugh, however, like the underestimated power of the Glomdoring, rose gracefully above the arrogance of their neglectful caretakers. They took command of their newfound freedom by deftly orienting themselves around a new leader - a true slaugh Queen who would take the place of the Maeve, assuring the tangible continuation of their hidden might.

And they prospered.

The Rise of the Shee-Slaugh
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The Wyrdr Glade proved to be a fertile space for the slaugh to thrive. Their natural cunning and their easy manipulation became the tools they used to establish themselves as the true power of the area, artfully subduing the various other creatures that were incapable of simple organization. As the strength of the slaugh grew, guided by their new Queen, the slaugh - in their dignified way - sought to adapt to the changing landscape of the Basin into which they were thrust, desiring to become renowned for their inherent beauty and their resolute charisma.

It was with this gift of adaptation that the ever-expanding royal court created a measurable - and somewhat mortal - culture around itself, adopting the honoured surname Shee-Slaugh. The slaugh recognized the power of words, for it was with words that their banishment was deemed appropriate, and thus it was with the addition of the Shee-Slaugh name that would solidify the slaugh's command of the glade, causing all who came to know it to become tormented by the beautiful horrors that were surely to follow in its wake.

Little by little, the glory of the Shee-Slaugh line consumed the Wyrdr Glade. The common goal, as set forth by the reigning Queen, was to change the very nature of their prison, ensuring that the slaugh would never again be considered expendable. For years, they reigned in peace. Then the glade was freed.

The Coronation of Lhiannan Shee-Slaugh
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The Shee-Slaugh, no longer confined, were familiar with having absolutely authority over their surroundings. It wasn't long before the original goal of affirmation became obsolete. The court, no longer having to remain entrapped by the Glade, could roam the Basin of Life freely for the first time. Despite the court's majestic and easy methods of dominion, the Basin was large and they were relatively small in comparison. The Shee-Slaugh recognised their new challenge immediately.

The cunning Shee-Slaugh were not given to Maeve-like whimsy or rampant emotional outbursts. They struck out on their new mission with forthright determination, and instead of admitting their potential weaknesses, as the Maeve is wont to do, they oriented themselves around a greater power.

The might of Mother Night, in Her all-pervasive glory, called to the slaugh, ensnaring their minds. For the first time since the Great Rift, the shadows of Mother Night ignited the hearts of the Shee-Slaugh Court with a ruthless, insatiable passion. It was then that the Shee-Slaugh Court fell into line behind Lhiannan, Avatar of Mother Night, naming her their Queen with all the rights and powers thereby. The machinations of Mother Night became the new mission of the
Shee-Slaugh court, a task that the slaugh family took on with fervor.

The Unworthy House
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The shrewd and powerful Lhiannan Shee-Slaugh, adjusting well to her new and rightful title as Queen of the Slaugh knew how her beauty outmatched the shabby visages of common mortals, and she delighted in using her overwhelming physical superiority to personally spread the glory of the Shee-Slaugh name throughout the Basin. Her lovers were primarily Elfen, beings who could conceivably compare to her grace, and who were thrilled by the chance to dally with such a dangerous fae. The others whom became unwilling victims of Lhiannan's embrace were always men who were easily seduced from their homes by the Slaugh Queen's wicked charms, never to be heard from again. It is thought that these men were so slain in penance for the fickle loyalties they showed their wives and families, a
travesty in the eyes of the slaugh that is reminiscent of the Maeve's banishment from centuries before.

The survivors of Lhiannan's terrible love would sometimes create new children in Lhiannan's image, beautiful slaugh women who could, by tradition, someday claim the Shee-Slaugh crown.

The Shee-Slaugh House became leery of males during its august rule, considering them nothing more than fodder for their desires. Mother Night, after all, is a powerful female, and they have always drawn strength from their femininity. Why should the beautiful slaugh fraternise with men beyond the creation of offspring? Thus it was that the males born from Lhiannan's unions were never truly worthy of her acknowledgement, descendants of the Shee-Slaugh though they may be.
Because they held within their veins the royal blood of the Shee-Slaugh line, they were thus allowed to keep their lives, but they would not keep Lhiannan's name. Instead of sharing in the bounty of the Shee-Slaugh court, they came to carry a different title, one worn with a sense of defiant pride and an overwhelming shame at their own lack: Inseira, a fae word that meant "the unworthy".

The half-elfen, half-slaugh retreated to the Serenwilde, where they would feel comfortable among other faelings. They hid their slaugh heritage out of fear born from the Serenwilde's prejudice of the "tainted fae," but still they grew and reproduced in relative peace, thriving behind their reticence. They retained the Inseira name, and as time marched on, and as the fae language fell into disuse, the original meaning faded with the memory of the Inseira family's connection to the dark fae of Mother Night. Eventually, stories of the terrible Shee-Slaugh Court became nothing more than nightmares that mothers would tell their sons and daughters, a fable that warned against the folly of disloyalty. The Inseira House arose in its own quiet renown, known for their determination and their hard-working service to the Serenwilde Forest.

The Rise of House Inseira
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After the Coming of Estarra, two uncommonly beautiful male faelings, brothers of a family they could not remember, emerged from the mysterious Portal of Fate and claimed the Serenwilde Forest as their home. The forest called to them in ways the cities could not, and they became easily enmeshed in the culture of the peaceful commune. Mere decades passed in relative calm before the brothers realized that their true potential could never be realized in the gentle - and somewhat pathetic - realised wood, and so they emigrated to the southern forest,
the Forest of No Mercy, where they were quickly satisfied by the challenges they faced at their reception.

Druken, the progenitor of the family he knew was to come, allied himself immediately with the shadows, yielding his mortality to the powers of Mother Night in Her entirety. Through this union, Druken sought answers to the questions that haunted him about his lineage: how could he be so beautiful and charismatic, but not boast a true connection to the Glomdoring? How could his imposing demeanour and undeniable power be coincidental, and worse, accidental? How could he serve Mother Night in ways beyond those of his peerage?

In a burst of energy, the answer appeared in his mind, swirling in an array of letters and power: "Inseira". Thinking it was the beginning of his family's glory, Druken bonded with his brother formally, creating the infant House Inseira.

Druken's plans for the house were simple - they would worship the darkness of Mother Night, forever heralding the might of the Glomdoring in all that they accomplished. To the Inseira House, truly nothing mattered but Glomdoring, and they used the tenets of Mother Night to mark their passing through the Basin of Life. By Druken's direction, they would be beautiful in mind and body; they would be cultured and honourable, for the glory of the Glomdoring; they would aspire to
greatness and achieve it in all of their ventures; they would be a paragon of greatness, and selective in their unions. The Inseira family thrived in these guidelines, and Druken's plans became a living reality. The answers to his questions, however, were still unknown. The Inseira House oriented itself around Druken's quest, knowing itself to be a true font of power that had yet been uncovered. For more than two centuries, the House of Inseira followed Druken's example, but it was time that it learned where the example came from. Druken sought to impress upon his family the true wealth of its existence, beseeching it to look inwardly for the answer as he did so when the family was first established: perhaps one of them might have a similar revelation?

When no discoveries were had, Druken became troubled by this mystery. Seldom were the shrouds of Mother Night too enigmatic for him to comprehend, and that he could not divorce himself from this belief that he and his family were more than what they appeared proved to be agonizing. And then, one fateful evening, the stories of the Shee-Slaugh Court reemerged.

The Redemption
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When the Wyrdr Glade returned to mortal perception in modern times, Druken and his family were enamoured with it. How simple a place, how quaint a location, and that it was connected, in its way, to the Faethorn Realm made it even more enticing to study. Study he did, and the more Druken encountered free slaugh who were not in direct service to Mother Night, the more Druken wondered at their origins. The more he lingered in the Glade, the more he noticed how strangely the fae stared at him as he introduced himself by his full title: Prince Druken Inseira, Curator of Shadows.

Made curious by the reproachful stares, Druken consulted one of the slaugh politely in passing, inquiring about their culture. She pointed a slender, imperious finger at him and sneered "Unworthy" before returning to her reverie. This provided the scandalized and still unwitting Druken with more pieces to his puzzle. Finally, when the Tale of the Shee-Slaugh Court was shared by the denizens of the Glade, and the Court's rumoured dalliances with mortalkind were whispered in fear, Druken's beliefs were solidified: his family, uncommonly beautiful and devout of Night, was descended from the same royal House featured in the fae stories.

Initially, he disregarded this connection as a pleasant fantasy. He lied to himself, unable to believe that his blood held slaugh blood, and he lived on in discomfort, ignoring the signs that seemed to appear everywhere after his original assumptions. The torment from these imaginings drove Druken to the brink of his sanity, until finally, he approached the so-called Queen of the Slaugh - his sovereign Great Spirit's own avatar, Lhiannan Shee-Slaugh.

Her scoff rang throughout the Ethereal Glomdoring. She chastised him, comparing his inadequacies to her unparalleled glory, reminding him of his place in the way of things. Druken pressed on, however, determined to captivate the avatar's attentions for long enough to explain his theories.

A battle of words ensued, wherein Lhiannan waged war with implicit truths to combat Druken's theories that were wrapped in colourful praises of the Shee-Slaugh court. When neither creature could overcome the other, a thick silence grew between them, and it was in this silence that Druken revealed the power of Lord Nocht, Creator of Night, showing Lhiannan the might of the avatar who stood in her presence.

The battle of words resumed, but with a different tenor: Lhiannan, seemingly impressed by Druken's bold displays, contextualized her history against Druken's simplistic mortality, to which Druken riposted with a vision of the glories that could abound, for Mother Night, for the slaugh, and for the Glomdoring, if she would only acknowledge the family she shunned in the same way that the Maeve shunned the slaugh.

His words rang true within the mighty avatar of Night. Lhiannan greeted Druken then as family, welcoming him back into her court as Druken Shee-Slaugh, Head of the Mortal House of Shee-Slaugh.

The family exists ever after, duty bound to protect the glory of the Glomdoring with the might of the Shee-Slaugh name.