The Fae's Bargain and the Rift of the Oileanda

Cultural event

In ages long past, the fae offered the humans living on the Isles of Seanachai a deal, promising musical talent beyond mortal limits. Opinions on whether they should accept their offer were divided, and the resulting split forever altered the people who lived there.

During a time in the distant past before the Blight ravaged Cairne, there lived a race of humans on the Isles of Seanachai called the Oileanda. Not much is known about this culture, as the history of this ancient people was passed down through a rich oral tradition and never written down, and what cultural artifacts that haven’t been lost to decay are unable to be recovered because of the Blight.   What is known is that the Oileanda placed a large cultural importance on music. Ancient cultures with a written tradition noted that their musical stylings had a level of technical skill and ornamentation that made them fit to perform for a nation’s king. So beautiful was their music, in fact, that it had attracted the attention of the fae that once inhabited the islands before they retreated back into the Lands of Faerie hundreds of years prior. They offered promises of musical talent unlike anything that had ever struck mortal ears and the ability to touch the hearts and minds of others in much the same way the fae were able to. The caveat, however, was that the Oileanda were to never use their abilities for ill-begotten power.   The Oileanda were divided on whether they should accept their offer. Many believed that the fae were sent by their patron god, Bodi, to be their teachers and that they were meant to accept, seeing this as a great blessing. Still, others believed that dealing with the fae would bring great misfortune upon them as a people, urging their fellows not to accept. Their efforts would prove futile. It was up to individuals whether they accepted or rejected the fae's offer, and the majority of the island's residents accepted.   The Oileanda relished the benefits of their newfound gifts, and the fae became more heavily involved in Cairne than they had in generations, concentrating on the Isles of Seanachai. Fae energy permeated the islands and fundamentally transformed the land - and its people. Those who made bargains found their physiology altered, gaining the ethereal beauty and otherworldly grace of the fae, and within a generation or two, even children being born to parents who never made bargains expressed these traits.   Those who had rejected the fae's offer were deeply disturbed watching this happen. As the islands and the people around them began to transform, becoming more fae-like by the day, they felt as if they no longer had a place on the Isles of Seanachai as Oileanda, strangers in their own homeland. If they wished to remain free of the fae’s influence, they knew they had to leave.   Several extended families, under the leadership of their elders, organized their exodus from the islands. The remaining untouched Oileanda sailed east across The Ephemeral Sea, escaping what they viewed as an undesirable fate. With no permanent place to call home, they became a nomadic people traveling in bowtop caravans between the Gaul Do Shah forests and eastern human settlements, seeking comfort and guidance in the goddess of travelers, Volri, leaving their old god Bodi behind. They had begun to call themselves The People of Volri, for no longer did they consider themselves Oileanda. In their desire to remain true to who they were as a people, they became very protective of their culture; the elders of the families enforced a strict adherence to their values and way of life. They grew hyper-vigilant about letting any outside influences affect their people, lest they succumb to a fate like their islander cousins. In life, there’s a place for everything, and everything must be in its place.   Meanwhile, back on the Isles of Seanachai, the transformed peoples enjoyed the vibrant energy and abundant life that the fae's influence had brought them. They even discovered that their own lifespans had lengthened, allowing them an even greater mastery of their abilities. Their enchanting music had a magic of its own, and their charms wove their way into their poetry, art, and artistry in due time, granting them international renown as the greatest creatives that Cairne had ever seen.   The fae, for their part, eventually grew bored of their mortal playthings, as they are wont to do, and disappeared back into the Lands of Faerie once more after two hundred years had passed. The transformations to the land and the people, however, were permanent, and the gifts of the fae continued to be passed down from parent to child. The former Oileanda were no longer humans; they were something different, something more. When placing a name to what they had become, they took the name of one of their highest and most revered positions in society, one that required a level of artistic mastery they had long since surpassed, and decided the connotations associated with the role encompassed who they were now as a people. They thus called themselves Seanachaisians.