The two sat upon the top of the hill beneath a great spreading oak and looked out across the plain.  The boy and his grandfather shared a bit of flat bread, a bit of cheese and some water from a water skin.  There were birds on the wing, water fowl, a hawk, song birds as well.  The old man enjoyed the quiet for a few moments, but his grandson could not let the moment last.

“Grandfather, what is the Dagda?” Bres asked.

“Not what, but who,” began Dream-Walker, “the Dagda was a giant who lived among the Deer-Riders.  Long ago, before the Gobli ravaged the plain, before we all took to horse, and even before the Deer-Riders rode their herd deer. 

“In fact it was not so much after the first men came down and scattered the grass on the plain and the trees on the hills, planted all that we eat and all that we hunt, this was long and long ago, when Danu’s children moved from the Palace of Glass to Sliebe na Gael down South.  It was the Deer-Rider’s ancestors who were charged with making the world green and it was those same folk who fought the ice wall that threatened to destroy us all.

“Now at this time the goddess Danu made every woman who had borne her first child take a child of Danu’s making.  This was the womb duty and some were good people who just needed to be born, but there were some that were changelings, and some were just evil so that the saying was, “trust a first, a third and a fourth, but never trust a second born nor a seventh.”  That was the womb duty, and that was what they were like, and then some were giants.”

“How could a woman give birth to a giant?”

“Ah, well that shows what you know, a giant isn’t born so.  How big were you when you were born? Not so very, but you ate and you grew.  Isn’t that so?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well that’s how it is with giants too.  They eat and they grow, they eat and they grow, and they eat and eat and eat and they grow grow grow.  A giant is always hungry and if you feed him he grows and he never stops growing until he stops eating.  That’s how it was with a fellow named Eochaid.

“Now this Eochaid was the second child of a man named Calvert Moss and his wife named Mandy.  That is he was a womb duty child, but they treated him as one of their own, and loved him like the rest of their children.  But Eochaid was the hungriest of all their children.  He was always hungry and his loving parents fed him and he grew and grew until he was much taller than an ordinary man even before he was twelve years old.  What made it worse was that none of the other Mosses, not even Calvert or Mandy, was tall.  In fact they were very short.

“The more the Mosses’ fed young Eochaid, the more he grew.  That was clear.  But there were other things that were odd.  Mandy’s eyes and hair were brown, Calvert’s hair was black, and his eyes were green, and so too, all the other Moss children were a mix of one or the other, but not Eochaid.  His hair was firey red, like copper.  His eyes were blue, like ice.  He was tall for his age, but he was born with teeth in his mouth, which went hard on poor Mandy, and too, He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.  SO, how do you know a giant when he is young?”

Bres pondered, “His fingers and his feet, his hair, and his height?”

“All good clues.  And this too, in his mouth you may see that he has two sets of teeth where you or I have only one.  That you may see when he is young, but you will know him as he is driven by his appetite to eat, and when allowed his way, he will not cease to grow.”

“You say you will know him, grandfather, are there no girl giants then?”

Dream-Walker smiled at his grand-son, ”Well that you have asked, for there are no giant females.  These creatures are the Nephilim reborn and they take there wives from among normal men, if you imagine that a woman who would be the wife of a giant is in any way normal.”

“And Eochaid was one of them?  Giants I mean, not giant wives.”

“He was that, but he was the first of them and he was more influenced by his family who loved him than by others.  The giants grew wicked.  Their hunger made them selfish and a bit mad, I think.  Eochaid grew and grew.  He had six fingers on each hand and six toes to a foot, he had copper hair and cold eyes, but Eochaid had a remarkable father and mother and loving brothers and sisters and that made all the difference.

“So, though he grew to be twice the size of a man, and more, he used his great strength and size to help the people who loved him and who he loved.  I’ve told you about the great underground raths of the Deer-Riders.  When the Norfolk fought to save the plains and stood against the advancing ice it was the raths that Eochaid built that made it possible, that kept them safe, that kept them warm.

The Gaels had a legend of a man who used his strength to benefit his people and this “good god” or “the Dagda” had a great appetite and used his strength to make great ring forts.  They called him the Dagda but the legend says that he was first called Eochaid.  Strange to think them both named the same, but the new Eochaid came to be called after the old, a rath builder, enormously strong, good, they called him the Dagda.”

Bres eyed his grandfather skeptically, “Really Grandfather, do you think that story is true?”

Dream-Walker carefully got to his feet, “I do, I believe that and more.  But right now I believe that we have a fish to catch.”

“The Bass of Knowledge?”

“The same.”  And hand in hand they walked down to the pond.

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.

This is how the Tuatha de Dana came to Tir na Nua

-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 went out on the plain with the craft of the druids, of the oak men. There food grew for man and for beast in abundance.  It was a pleasant land and children were 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   -   Far in the north a party of the dru meet with tragedy.  One of them is killed, but he is animated by the god of the earth to speak to them.  That there is a necromancer of great power is clear and so the dru cleanse the place with fire.  This is the custom in the north, to burn the dead.

12   -   The wise of the Tuatha de consult with the great goddess, Dana and it is decided to meet the Necromancer and his minions with fire For a time this necromantic 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.  (DB nearly dies in child birth, at 53 yrs old.  Meds warn her against pregnancy.)

20  -   the generation of Llyr takes wives and husbands.  (about 100 pairs)

19  -  There was a woman of Sin, Mitsuko, who delved into the knowledge of life and stole from the great Dana a life.  This one, finding himself in the womb of the Bramble Sidhe, the Norfolk, lived among them until it was his time to wander, as do his brothers and sisters, though he did not know them by name or face.  Much later he would learn his name, Tuan.(His mother Adelade is 17, a first gen Norfolk.)

20  -  Soon after birth, Tuan goes with his Norfolk family to the roots of the Western mountains.

20  -  Llyr and Brigid are handfasted.  Now Brigid was long in flowering as was the way with many of Dana’s own children, but not so for Llyr.

30  -  Most first gen families were begun.  As they say, one hundred wombs four fold and again twice four hundred.

39  -  The ship master, Baily dies. (84 yrs.)

40  -  This is when the second generation began to take husbands and wives.  Then there were but two hundreds and fifty of all the peoples, Celts, and Rus, and Sinoese, and Norfolk Umircen, and too of the lesser folks.

42   -   The Rus were proud, and unhappy with the allotment given them by Dana and the rig Llyr.  They made to take preminance over all the Tuatha de, but they were thwarted and cast down by Llyr (41) and the shieldmen of Llyr.

43  -  Now Weyland/Loki focused his efforts on finding all manner of metals and rocks and powders of same for his magics and his pranks. (for this reason he was called Loki)   So he went to the mountainous regions of Sliebe na Gael.  There he delved its and found great treasure.

45  -   This year Brigid began her moon rites and a wedding was prepared.  This seemed ill to Lugh and he took Brigid, A moon time and a two day times they eloped and then Brigid was found by the Shieldmen and returned to Llyr.  This was when Llyr’s heart was darkened to Dana’s plans and all her ways.   Llyr’s anger was awful to see and his rage may not yet be cooled, who can say?

46  -  Brigid bore Mannanan (Mac Llyr).  In all this Llyr’s anger did not cool.  Having given Llyr an heir, Brigid rejects him.  For this and because he has no love for her at all Llyr dissolved their bonding.  For this reason Dana takes with her Brigid her child and they lived among the islands of the inner sea.  In her anger, Dana caused children to be born to Brigid without husband. 

49  -  Brigid bore Epona (8)

51  -  Brigid bore Scota (9)

51  -  Mannanan is sent to Llyr in his crystal palace at his insistance.  Then Llyr became rig of the Tuatha de Dana, for Dana herself kept to the islands of the inner sea, and to Eire itself, and nolonger came to the crystal palace or ever to her people at Sliebe na Gael. 

52  -  That same witch of the Sinoese, Mitsuko, takes a life from Dana and holds it in her own womb.

52  -  Also Brigid, sick of her mother’s use of her, took up a knife and opened her veins.  Hearing this Lugh who haunted the fringes of the world, made his way to Eire to make her free.  Before Brigid will leave,  she destroyed the remaining lives that Dana had held.  Lugh wants Brigid to travel with him, but she is wroth and goes off on her own.

53  -  Mitsuko the leech bore Kazuki.  (51 yrs.)

56   -   The gods were good and made to grow upon the face of Tir na Nua much that was good, more land than the Tuatha de Dana could hold so that there was much that grew wild.  Still the Norfolk, learned of the Dru, brought seed and made new to spread what was good still farther.  They became known as the Briarwood Elvish, the Deer Riders, the Sidhe.

59  -  At this time the seas of Tir na Nua were exceeding warm and on the land mountains burst forth with smoke and fire.  The lights of the sky were dimmed and ice prevailed greatly on the face of Tir na Nua.

63  -  The Sidhe fought the advance of the ice to help the things that lived on the land.  Norfolk range east and west of the crystal palace of Llyr.

65  -  This is when the ice forced the Tuatha de to all go to the South. Then Llyr’s folk lived at Sliebe na Gael.  Also at this time Rus and some icefolk fled north onto the ice.  Llyr with his sheildmen pursued them, but they were defeated by the ice and snow. 

66  -  Then the crystal palace was covered over with ice and lost. Much that was known and much that was made was lost.  In grief perhaps Dana dies. (103) 

67  -  Llyr without restraint began to oppress those not of the Gael.  He takes from the smiths their tools and makes of the learned men farmers and workers. 

70  -  Weyland/Loki delved into the Western mountains.  In the face of Llyr’s prohibition he gathered the tools of the smiths and braziers and preserved some of the knowledge of the wise.

70  -  Many people hated the oppressor Llyr.  Umircens began to make for themselves a place upon the plains and east and west along the great ice up to the Western Mountains and the Disputed Lands.

98  -  The witch/leech Mitzuko leads the Sinoese defection. (96-yrs.) Most of the men of the Sin are cut down by Llyr and his Shieldmen.  At this time Llyr became their captain to hunt the Sinoese and cared little for leading the Tuatha de Dana.  He calls his men the Bloody Hand and they are as a people apart and above their brothers of the Tuatha de.  At this time the people said, “He is no king, he is like a Balor.” This was said because of his actions and because his father’s name had been Bailey.

100  -  Scota established colonies over the Yellow, her people try to be seperate from Llyr (Balor) and his bloody hand who are setting up camps to raid against the Sinoese.

126  -  Llyr/Balor and his Red Hand warriors begin to oppress brown skinned folk.  Along with enslaving Sinoese he reduces many others to servitude if not out right slavery.

145  -  The fifth generation is fully born.  There are 100,000 – 150,000 men and women on the face of Tir na Nua.

158  -  This is when the Ice prevailed most on the face of the land and then a great warm summer began to melt it away.

164 -  Peoples continue to go out from Sliebe na Gael.  Balor’s privations continued. This year an Umircen, Chip Wilson, finds his passage across the mountains.  Balor made cities to take slaves in the disputed lands to the sea.

173  -  Balor’s Red Hands, other folk begin to call them Fomorians, begin to raid Scots and even some among the central Gaellic peoples.

175  -  This year the first of the Darklings and Gobli came into the disputed lands against Balor’s cities and his Fomorians.

176  -  Browns and Blacks defected to the South across the Freedom River.  There are others who escape, led by Billy Two-Feathers, into the mountains of Amerinds and Umircens.

180  -  The great Darkling Wars began in earnest.  Hordes emptied Central Gael except for the Horse folk who will became the Scythians.

187  -  This was the Darklings and their Gobli Hordes 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 north of the Freedom.

This begins a rough first draft of a timeline of the Celts, known as the Tuatha de Dana, who took Tir na Nua.

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.