Druids in the Third Age of Man

This is an article on the History of Feyworld
Years: 120 NC to 2012 NC
Age: The Third Age of Man
Continent: All
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The Druids of Feyworld
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The Recession of the Tuatha	Druids in the Dark Times

At the dawn of the Third Age of Man, humanity had all but fully returned to the worship of the Old Gods, who appeared to have learned the lessons of the past. The Old Gods were no longer capricious and domineering, instead choosing to guide their mortal worshipers to fulfill their aims. When the Septiad founded the city of Zeth and thus started the Third Age, the druids and the Gaels had retreated to only five small regions of the world: Llanyeon in the far north of Aurea, Calmergh in southeastern Duria, Hageria in the remote southern reaches of Gallorea, Ludaeg in western Gallorea and among the Iceni in the extreme northwest of Duria.

Llanyeon and the Three Kingdoms

Llanyeon, which ironically was the remnants of the empire Math Mathonwy had founded, quickly fell to civil war after Math’s defeat. After decades of bloody strife, Cunedda Gwynedd defeated the various factions and was proclaimed King of the Gaels (the people of Llanyeon assumed they were the only ones not affected by the Curse of Ten Tongues). Cunedda and his descendants ruled relatively peacefully for about fifteen hundred years, during which time the Llanyeons became peaceful farmers.

Around 500 years after the foundation of Zeth, while the Zetians were embroiled in the Gabinian War on the northern coast of the Aurean Sea, the first Danic dragon-ships appeared in the coastal waters near Llanyeon and began raiding the coastline. The raids were, at first, bloody and brutal but rare. Eventually, however, the Danic people realized what easy prey the Llanyeons were and their attacks began to increase in frequency. The people of Llanyeon became panicked and fearful, particularly when the Danic people established a base from which to raid the mountains of northern Llanyeon.

When Riwallon ascended to the Oaken Throne of Llanyeon, he quickly began to organize his people against the Danic threat. He formed the Warriors of the Cudgel, a semi-druidic group whose main objective was to defeat the Danes and drive them back into the sea. For the most pat, the Warriors were extremely successful, mainly because the Danes were forced to defend territory, something they were not accustomed to. In the Battle of Greysea Mountain, the Danic fort was breached and destroyed, the Danic troops who survived escaped into the mountains and eventually became part of the culture there.

Unfortunately, Riwallon gave his own life in that final battle and had no clear heir to assume the Oaken Throne. The Warriors of the Cudgel appealed to the druids for guidance and they decided to divide Llanyeon into three separate kingdoms: the mountainous Caledon, the heavily-forested Ywys and the plains of Donnagh. Each kingdom would, when dealing with an exterior threat like the Danes, unify under a High King, who held his position for life. When a High King died, his heir would choose one of the other two Kings to become the new High King. Eventually, the throne of the Caledonii lay empty and that land now is dominated by isolated clans with no central rulership. Until relatively recently the seat of the High King switched only between Ywys and Donnagh.

The Three Kingdoms continued for centuries living in relatively obscurity. They had limited, but friendly contact with the Dracians to the south, sometimes found themselves in conflict with the Mitarians and still suffered the periodic Danish raid from the south. The eastern territories were threatened by the orcs of Tazgrat, but natural barriers there kept all but the most persistent orcish raiders out of Donnagh. When the Great Empire conquered Dracia over a millennia later, few in the Three Kingdoms were concerned, particularly since relations with the Dracian nobility didn’t really change.

Eventually, however, the Great Empire looked to conquer the Three Kingdoms, starting with Donnagh. The King of Donnagh, Dwywg ap Gruffydd, turned to a dark cult of witches who worshiped Queen Mab, mistress of the Unseelie Fey, for support against the Empire. After ten long years of conflict an Imperial assassin murdered King Dwywg in his own bed. His Queen, Cartimandua, took the reigns of power and galvanized Donnagh to her banner. Rumored to be one of the Mabean Witches herself, she fought against the Empire for another twenty years before finally falling to Imperial forces in the Battle of Storms. It is said that, rather than let her favored witch fall to the Empire, Queen Mab herself sent a bolt of lightning down into the battle and spirited Cartimandua away to Otherworld.

For over a decade, Donnagh, which was renamed the Mabean Marches by her conquerors, remained under Imperial rule. For a time, the Empire turned her attention to Ywys, but under the leadership of King Dafydd Dda, Ywys resisted Imperial aggression. Eventually, the Empire bored of its wars in the north and, under the clandestine direction of the Mage-King of Lun Dorak, signed a treaty with Ywys and sent its armies eastward into Koramia. When Lucas “the Heretic” became Emperor and was eventually defeated, the Great Empire quickly fell into its Fourth Succession war. Taking advantage of the distraction, an Imperial trained Mabean by the name of Tancorix took the reigns of power in the Mabean Marches. The druids crowned him as King of Donnagh, successor to Cartimandua (despite Tancorix having no known blood relation to the dead Queen).

Calmergh

Hageria

Ludaeg

Icenia