#Finvarra

[plasmagrrl]

Finvarra

[joemerl]

Writer's Month 2024, Day 19: "Chess"

Original fiction, specifically "the Fairy/Changeling WIP" Word count: 402 Author's notes: Gotta start this vignette at an awkward spot to avoid spoilers.

Terrance stood panting after his screaming fit. Dorothy glanced at Finvarra, terrified that he would strike her brother dead with a flick of his little finger. But the fairy king watched him calmly, his lips slightly pursed. Which automatically made him nicer than a lot of other fairies whom she'd met.

"What you're asking for," he said slowly, "is a boon. A boon which my queen would not like me to give you."

"I don't care! Are you going to help, or not?"

Finvarra's face remained impassive. Finally, he sat down at the table with the ornate chess set, motioning for Terrance to take the seat across from him.

"How about this? I'll grant your boon, if you can beat me in a game of chess."

Terrance sputtered, his voice rising into high-pitched hysteria. "I'm not here to play games!"

"I can hardly give you what you want, my boy. Oona would never forgive me. But if I can say that you forced me to..."

The edges of his mouth twitched the smallest bit. Terrance glared, then dropped into the chair.

"What happens if I lose?"

"Yes, what? It simply cannot be done, offering something so valuable for nothing in return." Finvarra considered for a moment, then leaned forward. "How about, if I win...you give me your soul?"

Dorothy sucked in a breath. Terrance, his face red from anger, blanched back to his usual pallor.

Finvarra threw back his head and gave a booming laugh.

"Kidding! Ha ha, your face, my boy!" He winked. "After all, what would I want your soul for? No offense, but I'm sure I could find better."

Terrance's face turned red again, and he pounded a hand on the table, causing the jeweled chess pieces to jump.

"I'm not kidding around!"

Finvarra held up a hand. "Alright. Then how about...a hair?"

"A hair?!"

"Yes, why not? One hair from your head for every match that I win. That way, if you lose the first time, you can try again."

His not-quite-smile had returned. Terrance, still glaring, snarled "Fine."

"Terrance," said Dorothy. "Do you even know how to play chess?"

He growled through gritted teeth. "I'll figure it out."

Finvarra smiled properly now, waving his hand over the jeweled board. "White moves first."

Within an hour, Terrance was grinding his teeth, while Finvarra had a small pile of black hairs on his side of the table.

[sillylilfairy]

My OCs Jacqueline and Finvarra. Been working on getting better at art and script writing these last few years so I can finally create a folklore and fairy-tale inspired Webcomic with these two. Jacqueline is the granddaughter of Jack The Giant Slayer and is searching for the giant who attacked the royal family and kidnapped her mother as a child.

He may very well hold the key to tracking down her mother, but requesting help from the fae always comes with a price.

Finvarra is based on the amorous Irish fairy King of Connacht of the same name and has strong associations with horses, ensuring good harvests as well as death. He has a penchant for "borrowing" mortals who catch his fancy and whisking them away to the Otherworld for a time. He's also the youngest brother of Angus Og and son of The Dagda. And incredibly frustrating to find information on XD Anyway, I'm going to be sharing a bunch of sketches, ref sheets, redoing old pieces and little one off comics as I continue to rework and flesh out the script in the new year. I plan on coloring this too :3 Also, if anyone knows how to put longer posts under a cut, please let me know. I want to info dump about my OCs and giants in folklore so bad but scared of annoying people ;w;

[raenyras]

Finvarra, king of the fairies As soon as I saw the contest theme for Clip Studio Paint I knew I had to join in! Couldn't pass on the opportunity to draw some cute fairies Done in Clip studio paint over the last week or so

[bluesettes]

As we near the end of Autumn, I wanted to share some of my best dragons for the season.

Meet Bett (#72527896) and Buckwheat (#81582270)!

Bett is the beloved firstborne of Princess Baize and while he's easy go lucky, his resemblance to his grandfather Finvarra (#45404647), the Autumn Monarch, means much is expected of him. Much further down the line of inheritance, Buckwheat still has plenty of attitude to spare. He enjoys freedom and has a complicated relationship with figures of authority. His own mother got a fair share of his rebellion, though her equally feisty personality quickly put him in his place. Now that he has left the nest, his hunger for doing whatever he wants knows no bounds.

His great grandmother, Princess Baize, has caught wind of his ambition and invited him to her side to learn the inner workings of court politics.

[robindegrayves]

How it feels in trance at the “crossroads.”

Dream in Ether

[lumiinousbeingsold]

tag drop - celtic lore

[eclipsecrowned]

remembering that if i were to weld an au to a canon, then i have the strangest possible inter-muse connection writing with edric.

and that is there is a verse where i can say nuala is crane's stepmother.

[bite-sized-writing]

How Do Authors Start Their Story?

You finally have your outline or plot ready. You want to begin writing your story but you have no idea how you want it to start.

That's my problem right now, so I put down a few examples of the beginning of books as inspiration!

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Finvarra's Circus by Monica Sanz

Leanna Weston looked down at the age worn ticket in her hands and abandoned all prior belief that there was nothing worse than a broken heart. Her heart, however, was not one ruined by the unrequited affections of a boy, nor failure to secure a husband. It, in fact, had little to do with love at all. No, Leanna learned long ago that no man would ever want the sister with a damaged heart, not when there were two other healthy, lively ones in the stable.

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Voice of The Blood by Jemiah Jefferson

All the best tales begin with rain. In reality, this is the end of the story I am about to relate to you, but I begin here, because I'm sitting waiting in the pitch-dark parlor of my old house, bare feet with their long nightmare toes peeking out from beneath an appropriately literary white eyelet nightgown. The rain is picking up outside from a sleepy waltz to a tarantella, and often when it rains like this, my lover John returns to me for the night. My lover—the unfortunately feral and tragically beautiful—may join me here, for he hates being out in the rain in the mulchy graveyards and unwholesome underpasses where he ordinarily stays.

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The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real by Neta Jackson

The call of nature��Willie Wonka's, not mine—got me out of bed at the bleary hour of seven thirty, even though the New Year's Eve party upstairs had kept me awake till after three. Three a.m.! But Willie Wonka's bladder was on dog-time—old dog time at that—making sleeping in on holidays a moot point. Stuffing my feet into my scuffs and pulling Denny's big terry robe around me, I stumbled out of our bedroom mumbling thinly disguised threats at our chocolate Lab as he led me out the back door.

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Rosehead by Ksenia Anske

Lilith Bloom had a peculiar feeling that the rose garden wanted to eat her. She surveyed it through the open car window, unable to look away. The garden seemed to survey her back. It was enormous. Its red blanket surrounded a solitary mansion at the end of Rose Street, Rosenstrasse in German. No other houses stood in sight, only a distant forest. Apart from tires grating on the gravel, it was eerily quiet, too quiet for a hot summer afternoon.

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Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

My grandfather used to tell me he was a werewolf. He’d rope my aunt Libby and uncle Darren in, try to get them to nod about him twenty years ago, halfway up a windmill, slashing at the rain with his claws. Him dropping down to all fours to race the train on the downhill out of Booneville, and beating it. Him running ahead of a countryside full of Arkansas villagers, a live chicken flapping between his jaws, his eyes wet with the thrill of it all. The moon was always full in his stories, and right behind him like a spotlight.

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Appointment In Jerusalem by Derek Prince

The last glow of the setting sun had faded from the sky behind me, leaving the streets of Jerusalem dark and empty. The silence was broken only by the scuff of my shoes against the stones. The damp, wintry air felt raw against my cheek. Instinctively, I clutched closer to me the bundle that I carried.

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Below by Laurel Hightower

It came out of nowhere.

Addy’s hands shook, the band of her grandmother’s wedding ring tapping an erratic rhythm on the edge of the chipped porcelain mug she held so tight. The coffee within had long gone cold, but she couldn’t make herself let go.

It came out of nowhere.

She clutched the cup harder, knuckles whitening as they had around her steering wheel when the dark blue van appeared in the middle of the road, facing the wrong direction. Her fingers were stiff: she’d had to pry them from the wheel once she’d pulled into the truck stop parking lot. Her heart raced, her breathing erratic, stopping every so often until her burning lungs reminded her that no, she hadn’t died, so she still needed air.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes You Grow Into Your Books

I was objectively too young when I picked up this book at like, ten or eleven, having just read Terri Windling and Ellen Steiber's The Raven Queen and wanting more faeries with some edge to them, and read my way through four novels about magic and fairies in Canada and Ireland. On that first read, solidly 80% of it went straight over my head, and I couldn't figure out why. (Reader, the reason is because I was a tiny human who was still at a middle grade level and this book is pretty firmly YA but literally nobody ever told me no where books were concerned--and thank you to everyone who supported my reading from a young age!) That said, there was something about the book that wouldn't stop worrying at the back of my mind, so over the next three years, I kept reading and rereading, and slowly the stories took shape in my head and I learned why the books stayed with me. I spent a long time with this book, so let's talk The Golden Book of Faerie.

This is a spoilery post, so be aware if this book is for some reason on your TBR!

A word I didn't know when I decided I wanted to read this book is omnibus, but that's what this book is--an omnibus edition of four OR Melling novels.

The Hunter's Moon is the first of the four books, and it really sets up the complex relationship between family and faerie that will permeate the rest of the books. It follows Gwen and Findabhair's (fin-ah-veer's) reunion in Ireland after a while apart, and Findabhair's entanglement with Finvarra, a faerie king. Finvarra either falls in love with/selects for the Hunter's Moon sacrifice Findabhair, and Findabhair decides she is in love enough to go through with it. Gwen basically decides that no, this is not acceptable, and finds help fron Dara, cute guy and folkloric king of Ireland; Granny (Grania Harte, not Granny Weatherwax) who is a fairy doctress; Katie Quirke, who is a farmer with big dreams; and Mattie O'Shea, a middle-aged Managing Director of a firm who is also a married new dad. I would be absolutely remiss to point out the resemblances to Lord of the Rings here, because Gwen quite literally pulls together a fellowship to try to save Findabhair and faerie.

The fellowship faces down Crom Cruac, the Great Worm. It...does not go great. I wasn't kidding when I made the LotR comparison, there is no great, glorious, heroic battle at the climax of this book. They are overpowered and beaten to a pulp, and Findabhair gets Laterose-ed into the ground, and suddenly the company's reason for fighting lies dying. Finvarra chooses a heroic sacrifice, and the rest of the company takes itself home to recover. A year and a day later, the Company of Seven gather again to mark to day, and Finvarra--a notably human Finvarra--returns.

The overarching mood of this story is of how love and grief intertwine, and it is really truly well done.

The Summer King shifts protagonists to focus on Laurel and Honor Blackburn, a pair of twin sisters violently separated by what seems, on the surface, to be a hang-glider accident. We find later that it was, in truth, a faery attack, but for the long year between Honor's death and Laurel's introduction to Faery, all Laurel knows is that her sister is dead. And the kicker for the family--although this is implied rather than stated explicitly on page--is that they didn't even have a body to bury because Honor crashed into water, and the glider took her too far down to be recovered.

Along for the ride with Laurel is Ian Gray, troubled young pastor's son and the new--and EXTREMELY reluctant--Summer King. He and Ian more share a body and mind than are the same person, so poor Ian is fighting a massive battle and Laurel is still so wounded by Honor's death. The pair bond a bit on Grace O'Malley's ship, and even when it is revealed that Honor was a casualty of the Summer King's violence, Laurel and Ian still work together to light the midsummer pyre and keep the human and faerie worlds together.

Dead is dead in the human world still, so Honor cannot return to her life. But thanks to Laurel, she can live on in Faerie. And Laurel also grows enough to pull Ian back from the edge as well.

So as the eldest of three girls, literally the worst thing I can imagine is losing a sister, so this book made me SOB. But the compassion required for forgiveness and healing stuck, and the book expands the theme of the intertwining of love and grief while giving it some nuance and complexity by weaving in compassion and forgiveness.

The Light-Bearer's Daughter is possibly the closest thing to a traditional "fairy tale" in this book, because Dana is all of eleven in this book, far younger than the teen protagonists of the last two. That is why when Dana stumbles ass-backwards into the woods and is handed a mission by the Summer Queen--none other than Honor Blackburn, for those of you playing along at home--she ends up terrifying her single dad by bailing on him right before a move from Ireland to Toronto to complete her mission.

This book is very much a fairy tale because it's Dana learning, growing, getting square with the fae mother who left her and her father, and then accepting the move to Canada. This is possibly my least favorite of the three novels, but it's important background for Dana for the next book.

The Book of Dreams takes Dana as its protagonist again, but now she is a troubled thirteen who has not adjusted to life in Toronto. It also weaves in the major players from the three previous books, because whether Dana is ready or not, something big enough to threaten the existence of faerie is coming, and Laurel and Gwen need to make sure that this teenager survives to battle this.

The best part of this book is how the mythology and lore expands. We get the Irish/English faerie lore that we've been accustomed to in three previous books, but thanks to the multiculturalness of Toronto, we also get First Nations and Indian (that's as in India, not as in Native American) lore as well, and the three work together beautifully. This was the first time I had ever seen Irish and North American Indigenous mythologies together, but CE Murphy does a version of it in the Walker Papers, and these two seem to work together really well.

I also love the way the different threads of this book weave together, although we are never free of the balance between love and grief and the costs of having a foot in both the mortal and faerie worlds.

Overall, despite being objectively too young for this book when I first picked it up, it was foundational in shaping what I prefer in faerie stories (and actually probably explains part of why how the fae in the Dresden Files are handled pisses me off) and it really helped show me that there was nothing that was too hard for me to read. It might take spending some time with a text and rereading and reflection to parse my responses, but this book really was my first experience with a challenging text that I had to work to really get through, understand, and appreciate.

It's the combination of the lesson on how to approach challenging texts and the vibes that I learned to appreciate that really made this book stick with me, and I adore The Hunter's Moon unreasonably.

[artstar1997]

Here’s my Valentines Day Specials for this Faebruary. I drew my favorite ships here. I love Broppy, especially Coossy (@jade-green-butterfly’s shipping), and Emi x Prince D (@groovinyeen’s ship).

Judging by their outfits, the seven troll tribes as fairy courts in my fantasy au have different patterns and aesthetics on their fashion. The fashion of the fairies, the elves, and the rest of the fae kingdom is inspired by the renaissance, and the 14th and the 15th century high medieval fashion with different designs and patterns used on their outfits.

The Platinum Court are the top wealthiest fairy court and they are the dominant court (their past rulers, Finvarra, Oona, Oberon, Titania and Mab are the members of the court) of the fairy kingdom so their outfit has shimmering patterns of constellations, stars, suns, and moons, which show their mastery in light magic.

The Funk Court are the second wealthiest because they are technologically advanced and they benefit from the Platinum Court due to their trades with the elves and other species. The patterns of their outfits are more psychedelic themed and retro themed because they master mind magic.

The Classical Court are the third wealthiest and they display their affinity for air magic by wearing outfits with feather, clouds and weather prints.

The Pop Court are obviously into energy magic so they wear clothes with bright, loud colors, but they prefer flower prints and woodland patterns because their kingdom is located deep in the forest. Poppy wears a cone-like hat called a hennin, which she still wears even when she becomes queen. As for Jussy, she wears an escoffion.

The Techno Court have a strong affinity with the sea and the element of water so their outfits have a pirate-like mix and they show it off with aquatic inspired details and fish scale prints.

The Hard Rock Court prefer to show their pride in their warrior culture by incorporating armor into their fashion, just like Emi’s customized funk outfit. They show off their warlike strength and their affinity for fire magic by adding dragon wings, horns, armor, and spikes with their clothes in black, gray, red and in muddy shades of different colors, usually blue, purple, indigo and many more. The prints they use are usually dragon scales, flames, and lava prints.

The Country Court are the most humble of the fairy courts because they were primarily farmers and they look nice but don’t let it fool you, they are also formidable warriors and they are known for their hunting and riding skills. Their fashion also reflect their agricultural way of life through beige tone colors, flower, leaf and plant prints and patterns.

Jussy belongs to @jade-green-butterfly Emi belongs to @groovinyeen Trolls belong to Dreamworks

[cielomist]

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laszlo/finvarra || 28 || it/its

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hello, i'm the person best known for submitting an absured amount of propaganda for vexen in the @/fuckable-old-man-battle and @/fuckable-kh-men-battle (now @/cringefail-kh-battle) and helping lead him to victory in season 1 in the latter. #vexensweep

this is my main blog where i post about whatever. i have several more focused sideblogs, but those see significantly less use lol.

i don't have a byf, i will just block if i decide i don't want you interacting.

(header credit)

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collection of my insane vexenposting working

[joemerl]

Faebruary/Februfairy 2024: "Presents"

Queen Una looked pensive, then asked, "Would you like to hear the story of how I fell in love with Finvarra?

"When I first came from Elfame, he showered me with gifts. Every day he presented me with jewelry or treasures, beautifully wrought or enchanted. He declared his love for me, and pleaded for my hand. It was overwhelming, and to be honest, I wasn't sure if I could trust him. He had offered me asylum in my time of need, but how much of that, or of his suit, came from kindness? Perhaps it was my rank and position that drew his ardor.

"In those days, he often left Tir na nOg to visit the mortal world. After a time, I began to follow him unseen. He had many human friends, great lords and poets, and gave them magical boons whenever he visited their homes. At other times, he would disguise himself and wander among the mortals. That's when I first began to love him—watching him laugh with peasants and play with their children, all of whom thought him nothing more than a common human soldier.

"Finally, I decided to try my own deception. I disguised myself as a beggar-woman, and hid my power so well that even he could not sense who I was. I knelt by the side of the road, dressed in rags, and as he passed, grabbed the hem of his cloak, pleading for a scrap of bread. Of course, he carried a whole feast in his magical satchel. He took out a loaf that could have been dinner for a whole family—one far too large to fit in that small bag—and told me to be at this same spot tomorrow if I needed more."

She smiled fondly. "He always was a show-off. But never mind. I told him that I would rather feast with him back in Tir na nOg, and revealed myself. Then I told him that that loaf of bread meant more to me than all the treasures that he had ever given me. And with that, we were wed within a year."

[sillylilfairy]

Added color! And really proud of how these two turned out! Still not 100% happy with Jacqueline's outfit and have to redo Finvarra's but I think I'm on the right track. I'm probably going to tweak the design of her boots of swiftness some. Or maybe her cloak. They're both based on magical items found in tales of Jack The Giant Killer, but clash with the more modern, fantasy merc feel I'm going for with her outfit.

[cry4nne]

Finvarra, Fairy King

[7serendipities]

Fairy Witching Update!

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post titled “The Less Mystical Side of Fairy Witching” , and I thought today I’d offer an update!

I did, in fact, find a tree and get it planted — well ahead of schedule. I went with a variety of crabapple that is considered “edible” (technically most crabapples are “edible”, they’re just not very tasty or nutritious) and should grow crabapples the approximate size of a golf ball. I’m told they make good jelly! And I’m sure the critters will love them. It had a couple of flowers on it the day it got planted, and then bloomed vigorously for about a week, and is now setting fruit! So, mission complete.

I think my local Fairy Queen is satisfied, too, because her rosebush is blooming up a storm! I call her the Rosegay Queen, and when we first moved in and I was examining the property, it became apparent very quickly that the strange little rosebush (which was barely more than a forked stick then) had an Otherworldly quality to it. I have put offerings near it since then, and that seems to be her preferred location for omens, as well — I once found a strange little antique watch face nearby. Once the crabapple started setting fruit, the rosebush started blooming, which in itself is not very significant because the timing is following the weather, but I have never seen it bloom this much before, and we’ve been here three years now, and this spring we were under drought conditions. I have not watered, fertilized, pruned, or done anything to encourage this rose to bloom, and I’ve watched my grandfather take care of roses my whole life, and they seem to take a lot of particular care, much of the time. I've never seen this one have more than two or maybe three blooms at a time, before. But this rosebush is currently blooming in abundance, and there’s a sense of satisfaction permeating it that I believe is coming from the Rosegay Queen.

I started calling her that after I first spoke to her and she suggested it. I tend to ask for a name I can use and share freely when I begin relationships with the Fair Folk I encounter, and those names are very often drawn from the landmarks or flora of their territory. When I had earlier explored her territory, which follows a nearby stream, I had found that the streambanks are overgrown in many places with wild roses, which seem to be her particular emblem. She claims to be Daoine Sidhe, which hail from Ireland, though she did not explain how or how long ago she came to be here — and I have not asked. I do tend to ask those I encounter what kind of fairy they are, with the intention of better understanding how to interact with them. I cannot be sure that the folkloric understanding of types of fairies actually matches their own experiences of themselves at all, but I try to communicate my reasons, and most of the beings I’ve encountered can at least take a couple of the terms in my head and mash them together or give me qualifiers for a sort of ballpark framework. The Rosegay Queen was very clear on being Daoine Sidhe, though, and claims a connection to Una and Finvarra, whom I have since begun to get to know better.