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| Species | Bean Nighe (plural Mnathan Nighe; also called Nigheag, Nigheag Bheag a Bhroin) |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Wild Hunt |
| Sphere | Death |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; mnathan nighe have deathly Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Isolated streams or ponds |
| Food | Souls |
| Description | Mnathan nighe appear to be women with one large, protruding tooth, one nostril, red webbed feet, long hanging breasts, and green clothing. They stand about 4'6" tall. |
| Procreation | Mnathan nighe reproduce by converting the souls of unwed women who die in child birth into new mnathan nighe. |
| Esoterica | Mnathan nighe are beings of the gates, b'qar, poioumenon, and dream energy or uafas. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use other Damaskian powers, soul energy, mystery, ancestral memory, kor, currents aether, light of purification, fate, doom, milk energy, blood energy, fear resonance, spirits, yahas, shadow, long path, and nommos. |
| The Tradition | Mnathan nighe have these basic fey powers:
A bean nighe can tell that someone will die if asked politely. They can speak to the souls of the dead if they have something beloved by that person. They can grant one wish for their children if that child has their milk in their mouth, no matter the age of the child, and this includes foster children. If given three answers to three of their own questions, they must answer three questions of the answerer, and vice versa. Bean nighe have incredible stealth and can enter buildings without using doors or windows. If they have the clothing of someone about to die, they will wash it in order to draw the soul of that person to them. Often, the clothing will take on the semblance of blood when the bean nighe touches it as an omen, proving their intuitions correct. They will then leave the clothing out neatly for to be used as grave-clothes. The souls they capture are sent to the afterlife after seven years contained in them. These give them special powers. If someone tries to sneak up on her and fails, they will lose a limb. A bean nighe's mournful singing will make anyone who hears it freeze with fear. |
| Glamour | Mnathan nighe can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. If a woman near a bean nighe dies during childbirth, the bean nighe can take their image to glamour into for the rest of the intended lifespan of that woman by eating the caul of the child. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, manthan nighe lose their True Names. They have a fortnight to recover it or they become targets of the Wild Hunt, corrupted into another kind of fey, or turn into a hag or boggin. Iron or steel will bind a bean nighe into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a bean nighe from entering a house. Most mnathan nighe detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Msawhat harms them. If all the clothing of the person about to die is clean, the bean nighe will not be able to take any to the stream. If someone sees her as she is doing the wash, they can prevent her from taking the souls of her targets by distracting her with questions. If the clothing they are washing is stolen from them or they are prevented from accessing it, they will be powerless except to grant wishes to the one who has trapped them. |
| National Culture | Mnathan nighe live in small communities called deirfiuracha (singular deirfiur). They are led by cron (plural croin), ancient elder women who have captured so many souls they no longer see the mortal realm. Every bean nighe in the community is raised by the whole community, usually born to a bean nighe at the behest of the cron. Children are raised only as women, though some gender variation is allowed. By age of 25, they are taught their roles and mystic arts and considered adults, allowed to vote and gather souls on their own. Unlike other Wild Hunt fey, mnathan nighe are not truly hunters, but psychopomps whose role is to ensure the souls of those endangered by corrupting energies or traumas are passed along to the proper afterlife. However, this is a cultural imperative not a physical or metaphysical one. Many mnathan nighe do as they please with souls. Whole communities take on different roles. When a bean nighe senses a great violent tragedy coming, she will seek to gather as many clothes as possible--especially if she fears it will result in undead trauma--so that she can gather souls to herself. When not out gathering, mnathan nighe tend their own communities, doing the work of keeping their huts and cottages well tended, crafting and fixing, watching the children, and studying ancient rites, spells, and prayers. Most communities are deeply devoted to Death Herself, though not all. Each cron is in touch with all of the other croin in a region, and together, they choose three croin to lead the region, and those three choose one to attend a national council called the ciorcal domhain anam. This council of four has absolute authority over the mnathan nighe, though they rarely exercise it. Mnathan nighe trade wishes and information for the other things they need for their communities; otherwise they are entirely devoted to their washing. |
| Wild Hunt Culture | The mnathan nighe serve a special purpose for the Hunt. They ride out in the days before the Hunt to gather clothing to wash, gathering souls to themselves so that they can prevent a mass rising of undeath in the wake of the Hunt. They are honored by the Master of the Wild Hunt for their role and allotted a certain number of souls each Hunt. |
| Other Courts | The mnathan nighe are feared by every other Court and refused entry, even into the Kindly Court, though members of every court sometimes seek them out for information. |
| Mortal Interactions | The mnathan nighe interact with mortals as they do with anyone with a soul, seeking to take their souls before they are sent to the Grey Lands (if that be their fate). They predict death and tragedy, and they can grant wishes. |
| Notables | Seanmhathair, the Washer at the Fords |
| Special Classes | Washerwoman, Cron |
| Sample Stats | PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 9 AWA 11 WIL 14 ROG 12 Sneak/Hide 14 Vanish (30 seconds) Glamour 7 Whistle 7 Washing 16 Questions Game 11 Dirge Singing 11 Wish Granting 16 |
GrandGuignol
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