Cainen Barahar

Cainen Barahar is a huge white stag spirit, who personifies the end of summer and the build up to the storm. He is a symbol of the death that occurs alongside the season of plenty, and often appears to remind hunters that their success comes at the cost of many lives.

Summary

The tale of Cainen Barahar tells of a powerful hunter who loved the thrill of the chase. She grew rich by selling pelts and meat, and in the summer she would take nobles hunting deer for sport. One day in late Augenol she tracked a group of red deer that contained a young albino buck, as a noble wished to have the unusual skin as a prize. They shot many of the deer in the hunt, and left the bodies of some in the woods as there were too many to carry back.
Over the next few days the town grew tense, as storms rolled across the horizons and the heat got heavy. Then late one evening, a huge white stag appeared on the edge of town, with the velvet hanging off his antlers in bloody chunks and his head and neck covered with red stains. As he walked into town no arrow or sword could mark him, and a panic began to set in. He walked to the door of the hunter's house, and broke down her door with a single blow from his hooves. Thunder crashed as the storm broke and lightning hit the roof of the house and it caught fire, and the flames raged through the straw that had been drying all summer. The rain broke and began to soak the town, but the fire was too fierce for the house to be saved.
The next morning, neither the remains of the hunter or the stag could be found. But the stag kept being seen by the edge of woods and in fields during storms until autumn came, each time accompanied by an electric feeling in the air and a sense of apprehension. He came to be known as Cainen Barahar, and he was seen again the augenol after, and many years after that.

Spread

Known mostly in the north east of tariksan, more common in areas that practice a lot of hunting. Cainen Barahar is a story known to many skalds and elders, told to frigten audiences or recalled upon a sighting of him. However, it's detachment from any religion means it is less popular than it could be.

Date of First Recording

103G

Date of Setting

92G to current