Meidhbhín - Original Character
Monday, 8 February 2016 23:43![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impendingsCharacter Information
Name: Meidhbhín (formerly Ní Eoghain, formerly Mhic Caomháin)
Species: Wightfolk - Banshee (formerly human)
Gender: Female
Age: Over 600, looks early/mid 30s
Personality: Quiet, highly observant, strong-willed but knowing when to keep her tongue. Tends to look down on those who are cruel and rude to others. She seems possessed by a distant sadness and a strong sense of wanderlust. She doesn't speak very much, but doesn't shy away from interacting with people. Meidhbhín doesn't tell people of her Wightfolk nature, but she's unable to deny it if they find out and ask about it. More than anything, she fears losing her human roots, and tries to put as much distance between other Wightfolk entities and herself as she can, though sometimes they drag her kicking and — sometimes literally — screaming back into the fray.
Family: Husband, Árdghal Mac Caomháin (deceased), daughter, Éile (deceased)
Skills & Abilities
In addition to typical Wightfolk magics such as being able to glamour herself, to redirect mortal gazes either away or toward her, to purify water, affect good or bad luck, and to control animals to a degree, Meidhbhín has specific abilities relating to the bean sídhe.
Brief History
Six centuries ago, in the village of Lhanbryde, in the land of Rónnach, a young family lived peacefully. Árdghal Mac Caomháin was a tanner, working with leathers and furs, his wife Meidhbhín kept the house and taught music in the evenings, and their daughter Éile was happy and healthy. Yet it was fated not to last.
On an evening where storms broke torrential and furious over the land, and sent the rivers surging over their banks, Meidhbhín woke to the howl of a banshee over the roar of thunder. Realizing that its warning was meant for their whole family, she rushed into the storm and threw three coins of different metals into the wind, said the only way to challenge a faerie to appear and sing for her. The banshee appeared, and Meidhbhín challenged it to a song, on the wager of letting her family live the night. The banshee, knowing know mortal could match a Wightfolk song, agreed and began to sing, not in a death wail, but in an unearthly beautiful voice.
Meidhbhín also knew that she could never hope to craft a song good enough to best a Wightfolk creature, but she was clever, and she sang the exact counterpoint to the banshee's song. When the banshee switched songs, so did she, and again a third time. At the end of the third song, she knew she'd won; the banshee couldn't say its songs were better, because it had been the same songs. Furious at being tricked, and bound by geas to honour the deal, the banshee screamed into the night and disappeared... only to force its power and essence into Meidhbhín.
Although only Meidhbhín knows precisely what happened that night, the people of Lhanbryde speak of the death of one banshee and the rise of a new one in its place. Cursed by a Wightfolk trick to take on the banshee's mantle, Meidhbhín has drifted through the lands, trying to hold onto her human heritage.
Name: Meidhbhín (formerly Ní Eoghain, formerly Mhic Caomháin)
Species: Wightfolk - Banshee (formerly human)
Gender: Female
Age: Over 600, looks early/mid 30s
Personality: Quiet, highly observant, strong-willed but knowing when to keep her tongue. Tends to look down on those who are cruel and rude to others. She seems possessed by a distant sadness and a strong sense of wanderlust. She doesn't speak very much, but doesn't shy away from interacting with people. Meidhbhín doesn't tell people of her Wightfolk nature, but she's unable to deny it if they find out and ask about it. More than anything, she fears losing her human roots, and tries to put as much distance between other Wightfolk entities and herself as she can, though sometimes they drag her kicking and — sometimes literally — screaming back into the fray.
Family: Husband, Árdghal Mac Caomháin (deceased), daughter, Éile (deceased)
Skills & Abilities
In addition to typical Wightfolk magics such as being able to glamour herself, to redirect mortal gazes either away or toward her, to purify water, affect good or bad luck, and to control animals to a degree, Meidhbhín has specific abilities relating to the bean sídhe.
- Death Sense: As a banshee, Meidhbhín can sense those closely associated with death. This could include people who've had brushes with death, or have died and been revived, or whose time is limited, or those who've killed enough that it stains their essence.
- Sidhe Form: When in the immediate presence of someone dying, Meidhbhín loses her ability to maintain a human form, becoming a ghastly hag clad in tattered rags, with long bony claws and a skull-like face. Depending on how violent the death is, it can be some time before she can resume a human glamor.
- Cursed Voice: As part of the curse, if Meidhbhín sings along with her playing, she involuntarily weaves Wightfolk magic into her voice, which makes her music elicit strong emotions and the urges to act on them in people who have a weaker will. She has no control over this other than not to sing, so this is an ability she is loathe to use, and only does so in dire situations.
- Weaknesses: Now of the Wightfolk race, Meidhbhín now possesses the same weaknesses of cold iron, name binding, and other folkloric restrictions. Exposure to iron can also disrupt her glamour, and prolonged contact or injury by it can also keep her from being able to resume a human appearance.
Brief History
Six centuries ago, in the village of Lhanbryde, in the land of Rónnach, a young family lived peacefully. Árdghal Mac Caomháin was a tanner, working with leathers and furs, his wife Meidhbhín kept the house and taught music in the evenings, and their daughter Éile was happy and healthy. Yet it was fated not to last.
On an evening where storms broke torrential and furious over the land, and sent the rivers surging over their banks, Meidhbhín woke to the howl of a banshee over the roar of thunder. Realizing that its warning was meant for their whole family, she rushed into the storm and threw three coins of different metals into the wind, said the only way to challenge a faerie to appear and sing for her. The banshee appeared, and Meidhbhín challenged it to a song, on the wager of letting her family live the night. The banshee, knowing know mortal could match a Wightfolk song, agreed and began to sing, not in a death wail, but in an unearthly beautiful voice.
Meidhbhín also knew that she could never hope to craft a song good enough to best a Wightfolk creature, but she was clever, and she sang the exact counterpoint to the banshee's song. When the banshee switched songs, so did she, and again a third time. At the end of the third song, she knew she'd won; the banshee couldn't say its songs were better, because it had been the same songs. Furious at being tricked, and bound by geas to honour the deal, the banshee screamed into the night and disappeared... only to force its power and essence into Meidhbhín.
Although only Meidhbhín knows precisely what happened that night, the people of Lhanbryde speak of the death of one banshee and the rise of a new one in its place. Cursed by a Wightfolk trick to take on the banshee's mantle, Meidhbhín has drifted through the lands, trying to hold onto her human heritage.
