Magical History of Uisneach

According to The Book of Leaves, the island of Uisneach was one of the first creations of Maker. It rose up out of the blue ocean on the breath of dawn. It was a beautiful, green land of shining mountains, tall trees, cozy harbors, sheer cliffs, long sandy beaches, deep and mysterious valleys and a thousand waterfalls. Mist covered the land every morning, and the sun shone upon it every afternoon. Maker’s imagination ran wild as flying, swimming, walking and crawling creatures were created to live among the hills and waters of Uisneach. It was peaceful and abundant - Maker’s finest creation.
In the middle of the island stood one tree, more significant than all the others, for it was the Uisneach tree, the Tree of Life, that connected the physical and spiritual domains of Uisneach. The magnificent ash tree had roots that grew deep and wide under the earth into Otherworld and a canopy of leaves that reached far into the sky, toward Maker. It was the center of the world and the source of magic that fed Uisneach. It was believed the faeries came from the Uisneach tree, and should the tree die, so would the faeries and magic.
Five races would eventually live on the island of Uisneach: the magical folk, faeries and other nature spirits; the gnomes; and the three races with human blood: the Eiriens; the Divine Practitioners; and the Moherians.
The first to appear Uisneach were the magical creatures - faeries, pixies, brownies, dryads, nyads and the sort – who came through the tree. They lived for many centuries in harmony. Gentle, joyful souls, they contributed much to the beauty and magic of Uisneach. The first king and queen of Faerie, Talisorin and Urelian, ruled peacefully over seven tribes of faeries, each specializing in certain forms of elemental magic to create and care for Uisneach. They inhabited the trees and created some of their own. They built little hills and carved caves into cliffs. Faeries wove spells to give some of the animals the gift of speech, thinking it would be lovely if they could communicate with them. From the faeries came runes, musical instruments and rainbows. They slept much of the day but at night they gathered around faerie bonfires, dancing, singing and storytelling.
While the Uisneach tree is the source of magic, it is the combined energy of four faerie created magical treasures that generates the magic: the Uisneach tree; a beautiful sword made from Evalonian metal and carved with the history of Uisneach; the runes of the Uisneach tree and carved with the symbols of life; and the flaming arrow, which is actually a golden arrow that will ignite in the hands of the one meant to destroy evil.
Then came the gnomes, the first non-magical inhabitants of the island, who simply appeared without evolution or genealogy. A large group from the beginning, all with the same last name and an affinity for comfort. They loved to garden and got on well with the faeries. Perhaps because it was warmer in the south, or because they loved apple wine (the trees grew abundantly there), they congregated in Appleduir, which in time came to be called Wellsland. A peaceful and pastoral people, they coexisted with the magical beings for thousands of years.
A day dawned when everything changed. Strangers appeared on the shores of Uisneach, humans who were much more complicated than the gnomes or magical beings. The other races named them the Eiriens.
The Eiriens gave rise to the kings and queens who would rule the land. Taller, stronger and more determined than the other races, they built many things that changed the way the island appeared and functioned. Land was cleared for villages and cities, the rivers became congested with their rafts and boats, and many of the animals withdrew to the mountains. Overwhelmed by the frenetic energy of the Eiriens, the magical folk found it necessary to hide in little mounds, inside trees and watery caves. It was a long time before the humans felt their absence. By the time they did, much as their joyful spirits were missed, a schism had formed between the races and the nature spirits were rarely seen or heard. The only exception was one tribe of faeries who joined forces with the humans to use their magic to fight the invaders and enemies who would find their way to Uisneach’s shore.
The Divine Practitioners were a powerful mixed race begun when Maker sent Olama to Uisneach. He began a line of magically gifted people who seemed destined to live a peaceful existence with the other people and beings of Uisneach. They were druids and shapeshifters, healers, musicians, storytellers and dancers, with legendary names like Oirion, Duirchlann and Amuira, all with special gifts.
Olama fell in love with the daughter of the king of the region now known as Cedarmara, Princess Amuira, and they married under the Uisneach tree. It was a magical wedding and the whole kingdom celebrated in joy the union of the druid and the princess. In due time they had a son, Oirion, An extraordinary poet and musician, Oirion became the first bard of the kingdom. He did not marry but fell in love with the dryad, Duiria of the forest, and they conceived a child, Duirchlann, or child of the oak. He became the most powerful of the druids because of his mixed blood. He married an Eirien woman named Nieve and they had several children, all of whom were born with strong druidic and dryadic powers. In time, one of these children, the daughter Catriona, married the faerie king, Kailen, a warrior among the faerie. This union produced a rare and beautiful form of druidism with strong healing power.
But then, the fifth race, the Moherians, arrived in chaos and discord. Warlike by nature, they came by sea in huge, tall-masted warships and scattered across Uisneach, bringing their axes upon the heads of Uisneachans of all races. The first wave of them overwhelmed the Eiriens during the time that would be remembered as “The Great Wars.” Those who survived became the feudal subjects of the Moherians, and Eirien kings were replaced, in large part, by Moherian kings.
Over time the races blended and spread across Uisneach. They created the separate territories now known as Appleduir or Wellsland; Cedarmara; Dromdara, the ancestral home of the Taranian royal family; Tynan Ibor; and Evalon, the Land of Faeries.
Battles were fought and peace accords signed until the time of King Banniman of the Taranian house, Brath’s great-great-grandfather, who brought something enduring peace to Uisneach. One day, a terrible battle arose between two druids. Peace, so hard-won and so long-lasting, was broken by the evil machinations of one self-serving prime minister, Lord Shamwa.

During the Moherian invasion, the High Priestess Glenamore proclaimed a prophecy. Beginning as an oral tradition, it was later put to paper by a secret order of scribes as The Prophecy of the Mouse in The Book of Leaves. Buried in the royal library for centuries, it was revealed when Shamwa cursed King Brath. Shapeshifting crows carried copies of it across the land giving its despondent inhabitants not only hope, but a sense of shared purpose.
The Book of Leaves was taken by the witch, Cailleach, to her forest home, deep in Tynan Ibor, for safekeeping Adding mystery, the prophecy was found with a part missing. A page had been torn from the book and no one knew by whom or when.
The druids had overall been a positive spiritual force on Uisneach, but about two hundred years ago there was a war between two druids, one, from Evalon, who fought to protect Uisneach from the dark forces and one particularly cruel druid who was bent on destruction. The dark druid survived the battle, but there was no mention of what happened to the good druid.
It was Catriona, who battled the evil druid, and realizing that the Evalon line could end, left her husband and went through the tree, with their child and magical runes. Catriona had a daughter in Ireland, Caitlin, who was the mother of Katrina, who is Briana’s mother.
Catriona wrapped the runes in moss and hid them between the stones of a holy well on the hill, where over three generations they hardened into a fossilized stone that looks similar to Connemara marble.
The druidic geaneology is this: Druid Artanin came from the Dromdara line of druids, the witch, Cailleach, from the Appleduir line, Sir Thomas Winge from the Uisneach line and Silas the royal bard, from the Cedarmara line. The great druidic mystery is what happened to the Evalon line.
Evalon is both a physical kingdom of Uisneach and a metaphysical place that energizes Uisneach with magic. It is the home of faeries. It is where magic has been generated for eons and dispensed through the kingdom of Uisneach through the fairie trees and the four treasures. The kingdom of Evalon remains protected by faerie magic but as the trees are destroyed, magic diminishes, and this has become a concern of all manner of magical beings in the realm. When the runes were taken, the trees continued to serve a conduit for magic, but the strength of magic waned with each tree death. The Uisneach tree, deep in the heart of Tynan Ibor, is protected by the permanent guardian dryad, Nionon.
The runes, taken by Catriona to the Hill of Uisneach, in Ireland, must be returned in order for magic to be restored fully.
When the non-magical Lord Shamwa realized he could destroy magic by destroying the trees, he made it his business to find and destroy them, erroneously believing that with the trees gone, he alone would control Uisneach. He did not understand that with the Uisneach tree gone, with magic gone, the kingdom itself died.