Good eve my children, listen close and I will tell you a tale of a most tragic love bonded and then severed…

Long ago, the beautiful and cunning Queen of the Fae, Cliodna, fell in love. No normal man was he that had stolen the queen’s heart; his hair curled and twined with shades dark as deepest night and his eyes glowed like brilliant stars, his skin was pale and fair as snow.  But it was not his beauty that so drew the queen’s eyes, for a fae of love and beauty has access to many beautiful things. It was the audacity of this mortal who returned to the queen night after night and woo’d her with song and gifts, such gifts that she had never received from a suitor before.  She often found on her balcony long beautiful ribbons for her hair, carefully crafted necklaces of  wood and seed, mountains of beautiful and rare flowers from lands beyond her reach in the Seelie Court. The queen would often marvel at these trinkets, and recline on her balcony listening to his gentle songs and poems dedicated to her beauty.

After many cycles this mortal’s charms had their desired effect on the queen and one long night she left the court, and bonded him as her consort. On returning to the court, she looked to all that saw her as if she had won some great prize, and the two lovers spent many a day wrapped in each other’s arms. Such a small distraction left her vulnerable to the machinations of the court and it wasn’t long before someone in the Seelie Court took advantage of this. Her honeyed words were believed to be false promises and dull praises that left many folk soured. So during this slight vulnerability, her enemies rallied and turned the court against her. It was soon after that she was banished across the veil to the Dreamworld, alone, forbidden to ever return to fair Hibernia.

But the rules of others often do not constrain the queen. She still had many agents throughout the land happy to do her bidding. In time, she gathered her forces and sought to return for her love. To guarantee success, she even joined with the Unseelie Court in the Dreamworld, and through her cunning began taking control. Alas, as her power in the Dreamworld grew with each passing year her longing for her lost lover yet outpaced it. Why should she be forced away from her lover, and forced to live away from beautiful Hibernia?  Hibernia should be hers. She should be free to be with her lover. The Seelie Court should be the ones banished. And so she attempted to break her exile. 

Intent on confronting the Seelie Court in Hibernia, she planned a small invasion into the Bog of Cullen as a base of operations. Many of the banished Siabra followed her into the bog to assist her while the rest of her forces continued to consolidate. Tragically, she underestimated the force with which she would be rebuffed. Alas, her vengeful return into the Bog of Cullen was met with force as the Seelie Court were ready.

Her melodic voice could warm the coldest heart and sway the most stubborn mind, but the wise and powerful of the Seelie Court knew well her tricks. They steeled themselves and met her on the battlefield with unwavering veterans, hardened troops who would not back down. Faced with an unrelenting force, she retreated back to the Dreamworld. Her plan ruined and her hidden retainers run out of the Seelie Court, she knew it was only a matter of time. Either she would inevitably return once again, or they would come after her. And so she took over the Unseelie Court once and for all, and began consolidating power.

Oh, but the Seelie Court is not one to leave things as they are. Instead they press forth, knowing that if left to her own devices, Cliodna will return and with a much larger invasion. And so they march, slowly at first as armies tend to do, through the veil and into the dreary night of the world of dreams. They will soon discover the Dreamworld is not merely a reflection of our world, but that it does not take kindly to mortal interlopers.