The History of the Eolande

I remember hearing the stories as a child from my Aunt Darla. The history of how we came to be. She would curl up next to me by the fire and tell me of our great creatress, the Goddess Danu. The most ancient of all divinity and mother of the Tuatha Dé Danaan; her children with her consort Bilé became the Gods of the Celtic world. Her son, Nuada, the God of War was the first King of the Tuatha Dé Danaan.
Our ancestors, the Tuatha Dé Danaan, arrived in Ireland concealed in clouds of mist and enchantments, attacking the reigning tribes of the Fir Bolgs; driving them into hiding. But the Fir Bolgs became wise of their powers and broke through their enchantment.
On the day of the Summer Solstice the two armies launched into a bloody four day battle which ended in the death of the Fir Bolgs king and Nuada losing his hand. To this day, we still celebrate the solstice to commemorate our great victory.
But the ultimate defeat of our ancestors finally came at the hands of mortal men; the Milesians, who would not have been able to defeat their enemy without the assistance of a Druid Priest. The Tuatha Dé Danaan were driven underground and became known as the Daoine Sidhe, or the People of the Hills. The Gods became the Fae.
Many years passed before the Fae would do more than occasionally involve themselves in mortal affairs, but there were those who jealously coveted the mortals’ lives in the physical world; these Fae would enchant and seduce humans. We, the Eolande, are the result of their lust.
The Daoine Sidhe, when they became aware of our existence, formed the High Council. This council is made of the Daoine Sidhe, and now the Eolande Elders; their purpose is to monitor the activities of the Eolande within the mortal realm; to insure that our existence is not exposed; that the humans we live amongst are not unnecessarily put in harms way.
When the witch hunts and inquisitions hit Europe our people were the first to be persecuted, tortured, killed. Most ran, leaving our homeland for distant shores – in the hopes of finding a safer land to call home. My mother was born in Donegal Ireland, but left soon after. I returned to our family home in this small town only ten short years ago.
Not all of our kind left; some stayed in the hopes of fighting. But as more Eolande blood ran, their decision to stay and fight became a thirst for the blood of their enemies. They lived only for vengeance; drinking the blood of those who would kill us. They evolved into the Leanansidhe; a vampiric race who bestow gifts on their victims only to drain them of their life’s blood in order to retain their beauty and immortality. Stories of the Leanansidhe are still used today to keep wayward children in line. The human’s version of the boogieman I suppose, except this boogieman isn’t a figment of our imaginations; their threat is quite real.
The High Council gathered together all of the most powerful of the Eolande into a secret administration to hunt the Leanansidhe and return them to the High Council residing on Avalon for reparation. My aunt would never discuss what reparations were demanded, and I never asked.
My mother was among this administration. She, as I, have – or had, an elemental affinity; very rare among the Eolande, but exceptionally useful to the High Council. This is what killed my mother, which is why I refused to work for them. The Fae have natural affinities with the elements; their name, Sidhe which is said to be derived from the Hindustani word Siddhe means, something which controls the elements.
There are others as well, the Kailen, or shifters. These are the warriors. They have the rare ability to shape-shift at will. It is their job to protect the Elementals as they hunt the Leanansidhe. My mother’s Kailen wasn’t there to protect her as she labored to bring me into the world; so I suppose you can say we both had a hand in her death; which is something I’ve lived with my entire life.
But this is our history, how we came to be; and this is all I will say for now – I don’t want to ruin the story.

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