A commission of Brigid for @bloodtreachery (awww, it was SUCH a pleasure to do it!). I put an emphasis on her aspect as a poet, hence the fire of poetry ablaze! The poem in the flames is a liberal translation of these lines from The Hosting of the Sidhe into Old Irish (courtesy of my wonderful husband):

...if any gaze on our rushing band, We come between him and the deed of his hand, We come between him and the hope of his heart.

Manannán mac Lir getting ready to remove someone's head.

pov: Lugh Samildánach offers you a game of fidchell. your bet?

Bodb Derg son of Dagda, High King over the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Revisiting Manannán mac Lir in his youth. I suppose if Orbsen mac Allot, aka Manannán mac Lir, was born in our times and in our dimension, he would have collected nerd treasures such as Funko Pops, or vintage comics, or whatnot, like all of us mortals. But when you're a Tuatha Dé Danann prince and a pirate captain (don't take my word on it, check out Sanas Cormaic!), you have to make do with jewelry and elven heads. Sigh.

Celtober 2023 Days 10, 11 and 12: Siblings, Medicine, Sacrifice

Now Núadu was being treated, and Dían Cécht put a silver hand on him which had the movement of any other hand. But his son Míach did not like that. He went to the hand and said ‘joint to joint of it, and sinew to sinew’; and he healed it in nine days and nights. The first three days he carried it against his side, and it became covered with skin. The second three days he carried it against his chest. The third three days he would cast white wisps of black bulrushes after they had been blackened in a fire.

Dían Cécht did not like that cure. He hurled a sword at the crown of his son's head and cut his skin to the flesh. The young man healed it by means of his skill. He struck him again and cut his flesh until he reached the bone. The young man healed it by the same means. He struck the third blow and reached the membrane of his brain. The young man healed this too by the same means. Then he struck the fourth blow and cut out the brain, so that Míach died; and Dían Cécht said that no physician could heal him of that blow.

After that, Míach was buried by Dían Cécht, and three hundred and sixty-five herbs grew through the grave, corresponding to the number of his joints and sinews. Then Airmed spread her cloak and uprooted those herbs according to their properties.

Cath Maige Tuired

Celtober 2023 Days 7, 8 and 9: Dream, Birds and Divination

The druid, then in his sleep, at the end of the night beheld a man stark-naked, passing along the road of Tara, with a stone in his sling.

The destruction of Da Derga's Hostel

One of the most enjoyable commissions I’ve ever done so far - Sreng and Bres as the Barbie and Ken meme. I think they’re a perfect tag yourself meme now!

The Navigator

Enough graveyards for now, here come the princes of the sidhe!

These are young Bodb and young Orbsen, and they’re absolutely not amused.

The changeling prince has made it into the Otherworld, but he still has many perils to overcome till he finds his way home.

A king can afford some attitude.

Askjell Gudmundsson, an enslaved Svartálfar engineer in a draugr-making factory, and a very interesting coin he's just found during a routine inspection.

Celtober 2023 Day 3: Seduction

Morrígan seduces a hero with a bloody and terrible death (hence aided written on the ogham stone in the background), he's duly enthralled, and his fate is sealed.

Can we talk for a minute about how badass Mess Búachalla really is?

I mean, having been of royal birth but disowned, dispossessed and fostered in a very poor family, having experienced hard toil to its fullest, then raped either by some shady Tuatha Dé Danann guy with a penchant for glamouring himself into a bird or by her own biological father even (depends on the text), with an unwanted pregnancy forced upon her, and still she takes back what's hers, becomes the Queen Mother of the whole island of Ireland, and yes, the shapeshifting prick gets what he deserves (hence the bloodied feathers I put under her foot in this one).