Tír na nÓg - the Celtic lands.

Tír na nÓg in the language of the Celts, means "Land of the Young". The origins of this name are lost in the mists of time, but the celts still use it to refer to the two islands that they live on. Albion is the greater of the two, a well known isle off the north west coast of Bretonia. While Albion used to be inhabited by the Celts, gradually over the years different cultures from Norsca and Bretonia have taken over the southern half and the Celts do not refer to most of Albion as part of Tír na nÓg anymore. The northern part of Albion is known in the Celtic tongue as Alba, and this area is still highly populated by Celts. It is a very mountainous and rugged area, so invasions or gradual assimilation by other nations hasn't happened.

The smaller of the islands is called Eriu and is the main place where the Celtic people live. It is a very wooded island, with very few towns. It is split into four different tuathaímhóra, or large provinces. These four provinces: Ulster, Chonnacht, Mumhan and Laighean, each have a king that rules over them, but his kingdom is split into about fifty or so smaller tuathaí governed by small chieftains. This means in the whole of Tír na nÓg, there are over 150 small independant kingdoms broadly governed by five larger kingdoms (including Alba as the fifth tuathamhóir).

The system by which Celts live is quite different to the other kingdoms of the Old World. The Celts are a largely rural people and to a large extent dislike towns and urban life, although over the centuries many towns have developed. The Celts value their freedom, their individuality and thier clans which mean on the whole they do not like large governing bodies. To this affect the political system (or lack of it) has remained the same for hundreds of years with the 150 or so small tuathaí remaining the same (although some change has happened, largely due to clan feuds and inter-clan marriages). While the Celts enjoy small kingdoms and the freedom of not having to be ruled by one single monarch whom they pay taxes to, for the safety of Tír na nÓg a larger infastructure had to be formed. It was high king CúChulainn, one of the rare high rulers chosen by the gods that split the kingdom into the five tuathaímhóra and thus establishing five more important kings (or ArdRí) that could gather in times of nationwide problems. To maintain the balance however most of the ArdRí have little more powers than the average chieftains of the tuathmhóir with the added bonus of being its figurehead. This is the way of life that the Celts deem fair and maintains the balance between the many small kingdoms within Tír na nÓg.

Of the small towns that do exist in Tír na nÓg, most are built around a Rath or a Dún. A rath is a large ringfort, surounded by a large dike or a mud wall that contains a small self sustaining village. In the centre of the fort would usually be a large stone building where the leader resides. A Dún is a larger version of the same idea, usually having stone walls and a large castle like keep in the centre. Dún's are usually found in towns where kings or chieftains live.

Laighean.

Laighean is the biggest of the four tuathaímhóra in Eriu, and contains the largest town, Dubh-Linn. Laighean is a largely wooded area, and contains a greater portion of the large inland forest choillmarnoch, where in the centre is rathchulainn, the large town that the Celtic warrior Cúchulainn ruled as high king. In the south of Laighean is the largely moutainous tuath of Cill Mhaintáin where the rebelious MacDermot clan have always lived and governed, and below that is the inland lake, loch mheasa. This is reknowned as a holy lake and it is said there is an island in the centre where the oldest zoats dwell, pondering the deep magics of Tír na nóg and contacting the gods. As Laighean is the biggest tuathmhóir, it contains by far the largest population which is mainly scattered across the countryside, most being farmers of some sort. While the bulk of the population wouldn't fight in the local chieftain's warband, all of them would be proficiently trained when young how to handle a sword well and to fight in massed combat, so in times of need good fighters are not hard to come by.

Dubh Linn.

Dubh Linn is a large town on the East coast of Eriu, by the large river boyne that flows into the centre of Eriu. Dubh Linn literally means black-pool and it got its name long ago from a small dark lake that was in the southern half of the town, but is now partially underground after the hundreds of years of building around it. Dubh-Linn was intially a traders town built by the Norse when they came to Eriu. Over time the traders village turned into a big town where many roads lead to. The town was intially a very non-Celtic town (it could be said that the whole idea of towns is very non-celtic anyway) as most Celts stayed away from it. When the Norrans came in the 1200's, the town grew even larger but the celts who lived there and in the surrounded lands didn't like the forced inhabitance. As Norran culture became a way of life in dubh-Linn after half a century, the Norrans tried to launch a colony attempt at Eriu. This was met with fierce resistance and was eventually stopped, after that many of the Norrans left Dubh Linn and lots of Celts took their place to make sure the city would no longer be a soft spot for invasion. Nearly a century later king Rudraige of Laighean decided to build a large Dún in Dubh Linn and announce it the new príomhrath (capital) of Laighean. Many peole in the former príomhrath of Rathchulainn were not pleased as it was still the general feeling in the rest of eriu that Dubh-Linn was a foriegn town. More recently, Dubh Linn has become a massive prosperous town, even after the Bretonian capture and colony, plus the battering the town got in the final battle of the seven years war. The town is the largest in Eriu and although it might have a slightly different culture than the rest of Eriu, it is still an important príomhrath to be proud of.

Chonnacht,

Chonnacht is the westernmost tuathmhóir, and the smallest. It is very mountainous and has a bleak grey landscape, quite different to the usual green lush landscape of the rest of Eriu. Chonnacht is quite like Alba in many ways and while the rolling hills of west chonnacht mightn't match the highlands of Alba, the folk are quite grim and hardy in both provinces. The largest town in Chonnacht is the príomhrath of listrámór on the west coast. It is a small town where the MacDonnagh clan have ruled over the twenty-six tuathaí of Chonnacht for centuries. In the South of Chonnacht is the mouth of the river stoírian, the largest river in the land that spreads from the mountains of Cill Mháintáin in Laighean across through Mumhan, through the golden valley out in the great sea in Chonnacht. At its mouth is a large enough fishing port with a small dún known as trábháin. This dún is ruled over by MacRoth clan who have the largest tuath in chonnacht, larger even than the ArdRí (the high king) himself. Although disputes and raids are common because of the large tuath of the clan Macroth, they nearly always manage to keep it by the justification that they are the direct descendants of Slaine MacRoth, the first high king of all Eriu.

Mumhan.

Mumhan is the southernmost tuathmhóir and has probably the best land in Eriu. It is full of lands and tuathaí of farmers who grow all sorts of crops, while in most of the other tuathaímhóra farmers breed cattle and sheep. While Mumhan does have good land for growing crops, it is not all like that, and the western areas are more rugged like Chonnacht and the MacMoore tuath is full of mountains and hills spreading out into the other tuathaí. Around the coast of Mumhan there are a number of small towns that depend on the large amount of fish that are caught year in year out by the expert fishers that are raised there. The príomhrath in Mumhan is Dún Bhiogaire in the centre of the province on the river Lee. It is quite a large town in Celtic terms and houses a good lot of people including the king of Mumhan, who resides in the magnificent large dun from which the town gets its name. To the North of Mumhan near the border with Chonnacht is the sacred Golden Valley. In the golden valley is a large stretch of land with the best crops in their entire world, to eat of them is to eat of the fountain of youth, it is the most amazing taste one could ever experience, but to eat of the fruits of the golden valley is to call upon the wrath of the earth goddess Danu, for this land is sacred to her. According to the ancient texts of the dawntime, no being can live in the sacred valley let alone eat from its fruits, except for a band of holy warriors who must keep the land pure for the goddess. This band of holy warriors is still maintained today led by a high druid who controls thirty of the best huntsmen in the land. All hunstmen train in the distant goal of being a member of this band who keeps sacred the land of the goddess. The huntsmen continously survey the lands in the golden valley, day and night keeping it free of any being and making sure none of its fruits are eaten. the Celts are not stupid and would be too frightened of legend except the most daring to enter the valley, so the huntsmen's time is spent chasing the many wild animals that will enter the land, such as grazing cattle, wild deer, roaming horses and the teeming hordes of birds who don't understand their plight as they enter the sacred golden valley.

Tara

Tara is one of the oldest towns in Eriu, and was founded in the old times before the forming of the five kindgoms as a neutral holy city between the rival clans. It is a quite large town and resides where the borders between Chonnacht, Mumhan and Laighean meet. Since it is in neither tuathmhóir, it is not under the jurisdiction of any of the three kings, but is a wholly independandt tuath of its own, ruled over by the high druid of Eriu. Being the ancient holy city, Tara has always been the city that the few high kings of Tír na nÓg have lived in and ruled over. While there is no high king (which is the majority of the time, as a high king rarely comes about) the high druid of Eriu rules over the town as each and every druid must come to the high temple in Tara to be initiated into the cult. Tara is marked out as being the only large town in the Celtic lands that does not have a dún. High King Slaine, originally built the largest dún in Eriu at the hill in the centre of Tara, but later in a bitter civil war between high king CúChulainn and Daingean of the Sessair clan the Dún was razed to the ground, and ever after Cúchulainn lived in his old dún in Rathchulainn. After the destruction of the ancient forstress, the druids of tara set about working at it and gradually converted it into what is now known as the high temple in the centre of the town on a large hill. The finest metalworkers and craftsmen worked on building the temple and all around the sides are golden illuminations of different celtic heroes and Gods that can be seen from miles around the town when the sun reflects off it.

Ulster

Ulster is the northernmost tuathmhóir of Eriu and the one that is most rooted with the old Celtic customs and ways of life. The high king of Ulster changes alot over the centuries and changes from clan to clan rapidly, as such the ArdRí does not always sit on the same throne in the same dún, but the most frequently used is Dún Féirste by the scoastal town of Féirste. Ulster is sparsely poulated with not many large towns or cities, the largest being Dún Féirste to the East, Dún Donn in the north and the historical town of Setanta close to the border with Laighean. The town of Setanta was the birthplace of legendary hero and high King Cúchulainn who's original name was Setanta. There are over 60 different tuathaí in Ulster all governed by differnt clans, and each clans warband keeps a regiment of elite scout riders known across Tír na nÓg as Fír Ulaid (literally meaning Ulstermen). When the nation as a whole is under attack and an army unites, each chieftain will send his best Fír Ulaid to join the army of the ArdRí.

Alba.

Alba is a completely different nation than Eriu, being the northern half of the isle of albion, and although it is quite large, it only ranks as one of the five provinces in Tír na nÓg. While Alba is quite larger than the tuathmhóir of Laighean, Laighean would have a greater population as the whole area of Alba is very mountanious and sparsely populated. While the people of Alba are definetely Celtic, their customs and traditions differ somewhat from years of being separated from the mainland Celts. Their speech and accent is slightly different and use of language can vary from the standard celtic tongue (although that varies in each tuathmhóir anyway), also their style of dress is slightly stranger tending for more tartan and chequered patterns compared to the plain dark blues and greens found on Celtic brigga's and kilts. The border of Alba is not clearly defined, although the government sitting in Albion often draws up a defining line which the Celts of Alba usually ignore to some extent (the most recent border line is used in the map shown above). The largest town in Alba is Scór-crinach, a very large town built upon the peak of the mountain Crinach. It is here that the legendary Ardrí of scathach sits, and he is well respected, more so than the other ArdRí of the other tuathaímhóra as he commands an entire nation not just a province. for the last three hundred years the clan MacBáinbríshe have ruled in the line of kings but the balance of power can often shift. Smaller towns in Alba vary as there are more towns in Alba than any other tuathmhóir, ranging from the large religious towns of Rathdanu and Dún Bel to the large seaport of Liscrannagh to the North.

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