Work in Progress  –  Expect change

Re-thinking the Time Line  — I will need to work out some birth rates and distributions of different genetics.  The 2 and 5 womb duty is planned for honest randomness, but three factors work against the plan. 1) The original designer,  Bridgit Collins, is not there to administer it 2) Dana Bailey focuses on a pure Celtic breeding program for her core which forces the Sinoese and Russian reactions and 3) the ice-age causes technological losses.

-2   -   The great ship of the Gael sailed swift through the tightening grip of star light.  The Tuatha de Dana all slept.  Then ship master Bailey alone was awakened, he sensed the fearful threat.  The great tuath ship rushed above the clouds, toward the shores of the new country, Tir na Nua.  Looking ahead, it was barren of life, in chaos and storm, but the great magics of the Tuatha de Dana would put it right.

-1   -   With their far sight the Druids of the Tuatha de knew that there was a good land here.  What had seemed a clear in their seeing was made more difficult as they approached.  There were two lands that seem to be inhabitable.  One is sparse, a wasteland, but stable and at peace. The other seemed to be a fair land, but it was moon struck, star crushed, mountain whelmed, a great shaking of earth, a vast cascade of waters.  For the brave Celts it is ideal.

0   -   Driven by a fierce wind, Bailey took the steering oar and made to split the nine waves.  No doubt the landing place is rough and inhospitable, rocks on every hand, but the great oarsman god of the Tuatha de steered their ship through the nine waves.  Each wave roared its displeasure, each howled its resistance, each washed the deck in fury seeking to carry away the unwary.  So it was that the leech, Bridgit Collins, was carried away. In fear, three gods defy Bailey and fled to the quiet land.

Others would have lost heart, but ship master Bailey was undetered.  He mounted the nine waves and rode out the nine troughs to steer the great Tuath ship to rest upon the face of Tir na Nua between the great height of Slieb na Gael and the expanse of the Mountains of the West.   (DB 37 yrs.)

1   -   Then the Oak men blessed the land, the Druids of the Tuath de made formings and green places.  First the birch and the alder grew in the meadows of grass, then the willow held to the streams, then too the oaks set down roots and sacred woods were formed by the Oak men of Dana.  Then too salmon were brought forth and the red deer and swine roamed among the seedlings. In the West, in the fair plain away from the burning of the ship of the de Dana the wise men and stewards made a habitation for the Tuath.  Not to be outdone Dana herself births Llyr (1).

2   -   More and more the people of Dana go out on the plain with the craft of the druids, of the oak men. There grows food for man and for beast in abundance.  It is a pleasant land and children are born to the Tuatha de Dana.  (25 wombs four fold as they say, 100 at the end of the generation.

3  -  Lugh (2) is born.  He is remembered first for his many skills and that he did good.  (40 yrs. and he took up arms. I would lay my weapon there)

6   -   This is the way it was with the Tuatha de.  Each wife with her husband had a first born, but second, Dana gave a child.  The women bore this womb duty so that children of the gods were born.  Second and Fifth were borne as womb duty for the Tuatha de Dana.  But Dana favored the bright celtic stocks for her kings and queens.  Dana herself bare Brigid (3) not the betrayer who fled, this was the true born daughter of Dana herself.  Rus and Sinoese did not do their duty to the De Dana but selfishly made children of their own.  

8  -  Teutates (4) is born

9  -  Morrigan (5) is born. Difficult birth for DB.

11   -   Terra-forming party encounters All-Mind.  Interaction through dead party member causes alarm, sterilization.

12   -   Much time and effort is devoted to assessing and senario problem solving the issue of Alien life.  The All Mind withdraws and avoids contact and the violent reaction that usually follows.

13  -   Weyland, known as Loki (6) is born

16  -   Gwynn (7) is born.  Dana Bailey nearly dies in child birth, she is 53 years old.  Meds warn her that she can not carry anymore babies.

20  -   First generation of births begins to breed.  There will be about 100 pairs

19  -  Curious about DB’s special embryos and her upset that she can’t carry anymore, a bio-tech administering womb duty emplants one of the babies in the remotest host she can find, a terra-forming party member.  The Bio-tech is 17, a first generation Sinoese named Mitsuko.

20  -  Soon after birth, Tuan goes with his Norfolk family well away from DB and her Celts.

20  -  Llyr and Brigid are handfasted. It is clear that they are maturing at a different rate. Llyr is developing almost normally, but Brigid and Lugh both lag.

30  -  Most first gen families begun.  100 pairs will eventually yield about 400 pairs.

39  -  Capt. Baily dies at 84.

40  -  the first of the  Second Gen pairs begin to breed. Population nearing 250 individuals. * need to work out population expansion rate *

42   -   Rus attempt a take over of the colony, but are thwarted by Llyr (41) and his Gaellic military group.  Celtic security force formalized and Rus excluded from vital, technological, or military areas.

43  -  Weyland/Loki focuses his efforts on finding and exploiting mineral wealth.  He begins the exploitation of a giant extinct volcano and the surrounding foot hills. His mines and underground conveniences will be the basis of Sliebe na Gael.

45  -   Brigid finally reaches sexual maturity and a wedding is prepared. Lugh elopes with Brigid, but after a few weeks she is found and returned to Llyr. For his part Llyr has been a very strong advocate for Dana Bailey’s vision, but he is very upset by the elopement and Brigid’s dislike of him.  DB is extremely upset with Brigid too, she is ruining her plans for a Celtic godhead.

46  -  Brigid gives birth to Mannanan (Mac Llyr).  Having given Llyr an heir she rejects him.  DB and Llyr are both furious, Llyr coldly so.  He dissolves their bonding and seems likely to murder Brigid who seems willing to egg him on to that point.  DB removes Brigid to islands of the inner sea and begins to use her to birth more of her uber celts. 

49  -  Brigid gives birth to Epona (8)

50  - 

51  -  Brigid gives birth to Scota (9)

51  -  Slow developing Mannanan is finally weened and DB sends him to Llyr at his insistance.  Llyr is defacto leader of the colony, but very much at odds with his mother, DB. 

52  -  Same Sinoese biotech who planted uber-celt in a Norfolk family, Mitsuko, emplants one in herself.

52  -  A dispondent Brigid attempts suicide.  Hearing this Lugh, who has been avoiding Llyr, haunting the fringes of the world, makes his way to Eire and frees her.  Before she will leave she destroys the remaining super-celt embyos.  Lugh wants Brigid to roam with him, but she is angry with him almost as much as DB and Lir and goes off on her own.

53  -  Bio-tech’s uber-celt is born, named Kazuki.  Mitsuko is 51.

56   -   Success in Terraforming beyond all anticipation leading to wild lands.  A dedicated group of ecologists scramble to foster diversity/add elements to eco-systems.  This group will become the Norfolk also known as Briarwood elves, the Deer Riders, the Sidhe.

59  -  Warm seas and unusually active volcanism combine to initiate an ice age.  Ice builds rapidly at the North polar region.

63  -  Norfolk focus on trying to maintain biomes at the leading edge of the ice.  Their work groups range east and west of the colony.

65  -  Advancing ice forces colony to displace to the South. The original colony location is abandoned in favor of Mount na Gael.  Rus with some Inuit flee north onto the ice-sheet.  Llyr with his security forces pursue but are defeated by the ice and snow. 

66  -  Even limited access to old colony is lost to advancing super-glacier. Technology loss requires realignment of colony focus from expanding a technological society to bare survival.  Dana Bailey, mother of gods, driving force of the Celtic Colony dies at 103.

67  -  Llyr is in total control. He begins to overtly oppress non-Gaels.  He actually intentionally restricts the use of technology in favor of simpler agriculture and traditional crafts. 

70  -  Weyland/Loki establishes Western mountain mines so he can preserve some technological base and have a base of operations away from Llyr’s madness.

70  -  People (Umircens) begin to defuse out into the plains and east and west along the glacial face up to the Western Mountains and the disputed lands.

98  -  Sinoese defection (led by 96-year-old bio-tech Mitsuko who had an Uber-Celt baby, Kazuki) and Llyr’s response establishes a Warrior Aristocracy.  Opponents begin referring to Llyr as Balor a corruption of Bailey.

100  -  Scots establish colonies over the Yellow, but try to differentiate from Llyr (Balor) who is setting up camps to raid against Sinoese.

126  -  Llyr/Balor and his warrior aristocracy begin to oppress brown skinned folk.  Along with bringing in Sinoese as slaves he pressures and manipulates until all are reduced to servitude if not out right slavery.

145  -  End of gen 5 births, estimate 100,000 – 150,000 individuals.

158  -  Ice sheet reaches maximum and an extraordinarily warm summer begins rapid recession.

164 -  Diffusion out from Sliebe na Gael and Llyr/Balor’s privation continues. Chip Wilson finds his passage across the mountains.  Balor formally establishes slaver bases in the disputed lands to the sea.

173  -  Balor/Llyr’s permanent slave bases begin to raid Scots and even some in central Gaellic peoples.

175  -  First incursions of Darklings and Gobli in the disputed lands against Balor/Llyr’s permanent slave camps, his Fomorians.

176  -  Browns and Blacks defect to the South across the Freedom River. Not as well known is that Billy Two-Feathers leads an AmerInd and Umircen contingent into the mountains.

180  -  Great Darkling Wars begin in earnest.  Hordes empty Central Gael except for the Horse folk who will become the Scythians.

187  -  Darkling war high tide: only Mount na Gael, Scots wall, Fomorians at sea and in a few coastal forts, Horse folk (Scythians), Gaels who move out into the Oceanic Islands and south to become the Southern Gael and the Sinoese on their pinnacle forts remain.

This begins a rough first draft of a timeline for the world of the All Mind and the Celtic Colony world.

Much was forgotten and much hidden by the priests to give them power over the people.  How else to make them erect temples to far off gods?  This is why my family, a family of scribes, passed knowledge of the ancients by story and poem, passed by memory.

We know what a star is and that we live on a planet and that the planet we live upon that is near there stars is not the planet from which our forefathers came.  We know that our folk came to this place in a great ship and that they slept in a deep chill to preserve them in their long journey.  Perhaps this is why the priest leave young children, tightly bound, in icy mountain top retreats, some perverted memory of our arrival here or perhaps it is just that they love death more than anything.

We write their words and copy their proclamations, we record the annals and publish their oracles.  We know their desires and they are not even to their gods, but rather, they lust for blood, for death, always for death.

The Corn King’s people they call us. It would be truer to say we are the Corn King’s Priest’s slaves if we live and the priest’s victims if we don’t.

What do you mean by Free Celtic Fiction?

Ah, I’m glad you asked.  Is this fiction from Ireland or Scotland or Wales?  No.  The title of my pages, this “blog”, was L. Stephen O’Neill.  Sadly, not so many folks were searching for me by name, so being advised to be more descriptive I came up with descriptive words that I felt would be popular searches as well as descriptive. 

Being at least partly Scots I am personally drawn to the word FREE.  I consider myself a celt, live in Oregon, like bagpipes, tartan, woolens, potatos, I’m CELTIC.  and I’m constructing a FICTIONal, Roman Empire Free, world to let the Celts have another go at world domination.  I think its high time, read about that below.

I am trying to focus my efforts on a few primary storylines.  Because the posts are not always in order I’ve started to organize the storylines on which I’m working on a novel progress page for the Abbott and the Djinn, and a Current Primary Storylines page for Child of Moss, the Deer Riders, and the Red Son of Concubar.

Philosophy of Fiction

Fiction can be truer than real life.  The lives of mere characters, literary constructs, can clarify and instruct a reader, helping them to gain perspective, inspiration, and fortitude for their real life situations.  Their own problems and opportunities are much more complex to be sure, but sometimes the perspective of fiction is a perfect catalyst for positive change. . .

. . . or just a very entertaining read!

These are the stories that I have begun to commit to ones and zeroes to this point:

The Abbott and the Djinn my first draft online novel.

The Red Son of Concubar is an attempt to tell a truely Celtic story, drawing elements from some of the most loved Irish legends.

I’ve found a fragment of a planned novel (actually trilogy) That introduces the point of view character of the UiUilsen Saga.  Meet Hunter Wilde.  I had not planned on sharing things I actually planned to one day publish, but I wanted to introduce you to Hunter.

An Anuniaq Tale about an Inuit who meets the mysterious Others, folk of the Ui Uilsen.

The Deer Riders in the far North of the Gaellic plain

Information regarding the Losterlies is background material for the setting of a planned novel, The Man Who Forgot Himself.

Kitsuniko Awakes in the land of the Sinoese, but among these people she is a mystery, even to her self.

the Red Hand of Courage

 The Annals of the Tuatha de Dana

Tir na Nua

I have several stories, novels, that I am in the process of writing.  Most if not all are set in the world of Tir na Nua.  This new world is a world apart from the Earth that we know and has been, there are names and situations that may seem familiar, but though they echo the world we know they are not from that world at all.  For stories specific to Tir na Nua but not included elsewhere you could explore that blog topic: Tir na Nua

Here I plan to gather research material, scene drafts, character development studies, back stories and perhaps short stories that contribute to each of them or at least flesh out this new land, Tir na Nua.

Currently I am focusing on a novel set in a island archipelago, the Losterlies, that is effectively on the opposite side of the world from where humanity was first established and from where it diffused. The working title for this novel is “The Man Who Forgot Himself.”

On the Losterlies are a people known as wanderers or gypsies who are decendants of a particular Inuit by the name of Anuniaq.  “Anuniaq Goes to Sea… …Again” is a tale from his life as is Anuniaq and the Storm Tossed Sea.

People groups converge on the Losterlies and one of the cultures that has great impact are the Inuit peoples, known by the Rus as the Icefolk,  who leave with the Russians and are later enslaved by them.  I want to develop a tale about one of these people, a whale talker, who’s people are annihilated by the iron Rus and who in turn gets revenge and then must rebuild a life afterward.  The working title for this novel is “The Poet and the Ice Princess”.

I have a few stories developing in an area of the world, Northern Umircea, that involves or evolved the Ribbon Wood Elves or UiUilsen as they are known. “the Lost Prince”, “Sasha and Faolan”, and a trilogy of stories, “the UiUilsen Cycle” will develop and expand both the peoples of this part of Umircea, the land beyond the Western Mountains of the Gaelish Central Plain.

I love the movie “a Knights Tale” and would like to write my take on the idea of nobility. I also like the idea of warfare as sport presented in that story (I’m an American Football fan) and think it has application, especially in the gaming community of today, but also to the Celtic lifestyle or my perception of what the Gaelic people were about.  I want to set my knights tale in Umircea, but I may move the setting to the cities of the Disputed Lands though nobility is much less a factor in that wild land.

An important part of the development of my fantasy world are figures who make a huge impact by virtue of their many talents and even more because of their longevity. The children of Dana Bailey are intended by Dana herself to be a Celtic Pantheon. These genetically altered super Celts make contributions both by virtue of their leadership, and also in just being a tie and a memory to a technological past that is being lost and replaced by new progress informed by the past but not dependant on it.  Among the characters stories will touch on: Balor, originally Llyr, who was first born and most willing to serve Dana Baily’s purposes, but came to work hardest against those goals as the leader of the Fomorians; Lugh of the long reach, a wanderer and a philanderer at first, godlike in his self-absorption, his many talents are at last turned to good when he learns responsibility; Bridget, maternal in truth and in temperament, she must learn how to be good at her role; Epona, but more her most impressive daughter, Scythia, who’s leadership gives the freedom loving horse folk of the Gaellic plain a name, an identity, and a mother; Loki the miner and technical genius who’s folk live under the mountains, and many more.

In the Disputed Lands life is cheap.  Warlords carve out kingdoms among the fortified city states of the broken and war torn landscape in a section of the northern continent east of the Safron River that drains much of the Great Gaellic plain, north of Scotia and the fortified wall that splits off the Scots Highlands from the rest, west of the Great Sea that has become dominated by the Fomor, and South of the lands of the Sinoese and most notably the Darklings.  Several stories will be set or will touch this volitile region.  Among them are “Icarus Flight”, “Kitsuniko“, “Led from the Dark or the Blind Deaf Mute and the Idiot” (a story about overcoming disability, frustrated revenge, and simple peace), “Fitch in His Majesties Service”

Stay tuned.  I have been adding material as quickly as I can.

Enjoy,

LSO