So ... there is progress, of sorts
I find that I cannot continue until I know more about the world around Dragon Valley; to be precise, the extent of the kingdom of Àrd, the names and locations (roughly) of the surrounding minor kingdoms (heck, I don't even know in which kingdom the county of Strathdric (Dragon Valley) is located!) and the names, compositions and politics (VERY roughly) of surrounding kingdoms.
The mountain range that extends down the east coast of the USofA is called the Mother of Dragons by the people of Àrd (Iomadathig by name - it should be Ildathig according to the old tales ... more about those later ... but I'm more comfortable with Scottish Gaelic than Irish and ... personally, I think "im-a-da-hig" sounds better than "il-da-hig", ymmv but I'm the one writing this). They consider her to be a sort of protecting spirit. While Iomadathig does extend down the whole length of the eastern coast, Àrd does not; it seems to be from Novia Scotia, New Brunswick down through parts of New York and perhaps Pennsylvannia (which reminds me ... where are my maps?).
The old tales ... yes ...
I had decided that Brendan the Navigator had been the one to "discover" Aircthech (the Bountiful Land - seems more portent than "the New World"). But in the wikipedia entry there was mention of an earlier tale, The Voyage of Bran. It is from this account that I have taken some of the names. And I've decided that it was this account that inspired Brendan to sail off to the West.
Brendan would have inspired settlement in the West, ... well, the north-east of the eastern coast - from St. Lawrence River down. I imagine a wild land above the St. Lawrence, settled by Fennians (size-shifters) and Ice Giants (Norsemen), filled with wild folk (natives) and creatures ... including drakes and wyrms and dragons. To the far west of the North and down the western coast are settlements of Nippon and the Orient and of Russia. I am quite sure that there is trade between them, though.
The middle of the country is ruled by tribes of Native Americans. From the far South (Central America), the Aztecs (ruled by a great feathered serpent) send raiders for treasure and slaves.
Florida and much of the Gulf coast were settled by kingdoms of Africa who are in trade with the Aztecs. They also send raiding parties up north, for slaves. The lands from Pennsylvania to Carolina were settled from France, Spain and Italy. France follows the Rule of Columcille (the Celtic Christian Church); Spain and Italy follow the Rule of Rome (Roman Catholic Church, RCC). The Church of the Iron Cross is a sect of the RCC.
Back to the old tales ...
The entry on Brendan mentions names ... Ailbe and St. Malo, to be specific. Ailbe is mentioned as an island, but when I looked it up, I found St. Ailbe of Embly, who died in 528.t the end of his life, a supernatural ship came and he boarded to learn the secret of his death. Returning from the faerie world, he went back to Emly to die and be buried.
Back to the entry on St. Brendan and I find "If it happened, this would have occurred sometime between AD 512-530"
But wait, there's more. Did you read the entry on St. Ailbe all the way through? his mother's servants-ordered by the king to put the baby to death-instead placed him on a rock in the wilderness where he was found and nursed by a she-wolf. Long afterwards, when Ailbe was bishop, an old she-wolf being pursued by a hunting party ran to the bishop and laid her head upon his breast. Ailbhe protected the wolf and thereafter fed her and her cubs every day from his hall."
It's a stretch, but I'm claiming him for a werewolf ... or, rather, wolf-shifter. (btw, the Latin form of Ailbe is Albius - but let's leave Hogwarts out of this, okay?)
But what of St. Malo (aka Machlou, aka Mac'h Low, aka Maclovius; b. 520, d. 621)? Well, here, Idon't even have to stretch, because the legend states it straight out Supposedly, Maclovius was a dead giant, who Brendan revived with his holiness. Brendan then baptized him, before allowing him to return to being dead.[3] It was supposedly on the occasion of his second voyage that he evangelized the Orkney Islands and the northern isles of Scotland.
I'm going to just ignore the "dead" part and make Machlou a young ... very young, size shifter; one of the Fennians (or Fingolians) descended from Finn McCool and his men. I'm taking the earlier date as the day he was baptized into the faith by his foster father, St. Brendan, but that he is still very young - in ward to the saint, in fact.
Another bit of folklore that has excited me involves two other of the so-called "Twelve Apostles of Ireland", St. Ciáran of Saigir Folklore also relates many charming tales of St Ciarán's influence on wild animals. Tales tell of a fox, badger and wolf who worked with Ciarán and his monks to cut wood and build huts for the brothers. One day the fox stole Ciarán's shoes; upon which Ciarán ordered the badger to retrieve them. The badger found the fox, and bound him from head to tail, returning him to his master; the saint ordered the fox to repent for his sin as a monk would, and to return to his tasks as before.
and St. Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. as a student, a young fox would take his writings to his master, until it was old enough to eat his satchel.
In my mind, each of these tales refers to shape-shifters and the fox (gille-boidhre especially thrills me given the presence of one (Tymon Turner) in my story.
The mountain range that extends down the east coast of the USofA is called the Mother of Dragons by the people of Àrd (Iomadathig by name - it should be Ildathig according to the old tales ... more about those later ... but I'm more comfortable with Scottish Gaelic than Irish and ... personally, I think "im-a-da-hig" sounds better than "il-da-hig", ymmv but I'm the one writing this). They consider her to be a sort of protecting spirit. While Iomadathig does extend down the whole length of the eastern coast, Àrd does not; it seems to be from Novia Scotia, New Brunswick down through parts of New York and perhaps Pennsylvannia (which reminds me ... where are my maps?).
The old tales ... yes ...
I had decided that Brendan the Navigator had been the one to "discover" Aircthech (the Bountiful Land - seems more portent than "the New World"). But in the wikipedia entry there was mention of an earlier tale, The Voyage of Bran. It is from this account that I have taken some of the names. And I've decided that it was this account that inspired Brendan to sail off to the West.
Brendan would have inspired settlement in the West, ... well, the north-east of the eastern coast - from St. Lawrence River down. I imagine a wild land above the St. Lawrence, settled by Fennians (size-shifters) and Ice Giants (Norsemen), filled with wild folk (natives) and creatures ... including drakes and wyrms and dragons. To the far west of the North and down the western coast are settlements of Nippon and the Orient and of Russia. I am quite sure that there is trade between them, though.
The middle of the country is ruled by tribes of Native Americans. From the far South (Central America), the Aztecs (ruled by a great feathered serpent) send raiders for treasure and slaves.
Florida and much of the Gulf coast were settled by kingdoms of Africa who are in trade with the Aztecs. They also send raiding parties up north, for slaves. The lands from Pennsylvania to Carolina were settled from France, Spain and Italy. France follows the Rule of Columcille (the Celtic Christian Church); Spain and Italy follow the Rule of Rome (Roman Catholic Church, RCC). The Church of the Iron Cross is a sect of the RCC.
Back to the old tales ...
The entry on Brendan mentions names ... Ailbe and St. Malo, to be specific. Ailbe is mentioned as an island, but when I looked it up, I found St. Ailbe of Embly, who died in 528.t the end of his life, a supernatural ship came and he boarded to learn the secret of his death. Returning from the faerie world, he went back to Emly to die and be buried.
Back to the entry on St. Brendan and I find "If it happened, this would have occurred sometime between AD 512-530"
But wait, there's more. Did you read the entry on St. Ailbe all the way through? his mother's servants-ordered by the king to put the baby to death-instead placed him on a rock in the wilderness where he was found and nursed by a she-wolf. Long afterwards, when Ailbe was bishop, an old she-wolf being pursued by a hunting party ran to the bishop and laid her head upon his breast. Ailbhe protected the wolf and thereafter fed her and her cubs every day from his hall."
It's a stretch, but I'm claiming him for a werewolf ... or, rather, wolf-shifter. (btw, the Latin form of Ailbe is Albius - but let's leave Hogwarts out of this, okay?)
But what of St. Malo (aka Machlou, aka Mac'h Low, aka Maclovius; b. 520, d. 621)? Well, here, Idon't even have to stretch, because the legend states it straight out Supposedly, Maclovius was a dead giant, who Brendan revived with his holiness. Brendan then baptized him, before allowing him to return to being dead.[3] It was supposedly on the occasion of his second voyage that he evangelized the Orkney Islands and the northern isles of Scotland.
I'm going to just ignore the "dead" part and make Machlou a young ... very young, size shifter; one of the Fennians (or Fingolians) descended from Finn McCool and his men. I'm taking the earlier date as the day he was baptized into the faith by his foster father, St. Brendan, but that he is still very young - in ward to the saint, in fact.
Another bit of folklore that has excited me involves two other of the so-called "Twelve Apostles of Ireland", St. Ciáran of Saigir Folklore also relates many charming tales of St Ciarán's influence on wild animals. Tales tell of a fox, badger and wolf who worked with Ciarán and his monks to cut wood and build huts for the brothers. One day the fox stole Ciarán's shoes; upon which Ciarán ordered the badger to retrieve them. The badger found the fox, and bound him from head to tail, returning him to his master; the saint ordered the fox to repent for his sin as a monk would, and to return to his tasks as before.
and St. Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. as a student, a young fox would take his writings to his master, until it was old enough to eat his satchel.
In my mind, each of these tales refers to shape-shifters and the fox (gille-boidhre especially thrills me given the presence of one (Tymon Turner) in my story.