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| Species | Dyn Corniog (Dynion Corniog, plural) |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Wild Hunt |
| Sphere | Nightmare |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; dynion corniog have terrifying Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Woodlands |
| Food | Meat, souls, and fear |
| Description | Skin palest white, with rotting flesh in the face that is dark blue and black, and massive horns or antlers. |
| Procreation | Dynion corniog reproduce sexually with each other, other fey, and mortals. |
| Esoterica | Dynion corniog are beings of b'qar, fear resonance, uafas, and poioumenon. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use other Damaskian powers, infernum, msawhat, imperium, gossamer light, quaestus, thorn energy, shadow, rending, arnum, feirua, cacophony, autumn and fallow aether, winter aether, desperation, doom, black nommos, misfortune, rubedian aether, pattern aether, greenlight aether, bestial aether, earthpower aether, lunar aether, mystery, the gates, gebvel, shebv heya, ancestral memory, mijjit, mansam, blood energy, other humors, viscera, Raesian energy, soul energy, kor, yahas, and spirits. |
| The Tradition | Dynion corniog have these basic fey powers:
When a dyn corniog captures a fey, one of these things happens:
Dynion corniog can control cwn annwns. When they Hunt, the baying of the hounds can cause death by terror in those weak of heart. They can go invisibly upon battlefields where unseelie fey fight and gather souls there to turn into undead hunters. They also control owls and some spirits. Every being they control, they control through their black whips. They can control lesser demons and undead with their hunting horns, as well as summoning the Hunt. When they ride, a fell wind blows at their backs. Dynion corniog have seven special night charms:
They are very skilled warriors. Their pale skin glows during the midnight hour. Their horns or antlers, when drenched in blood, cause phobias in those that aren't killed by them. A group of 13 dynion corniog can create a hunllef circle out of black jasper stones, toadstools, and blood. This circle will open a gate to the realm of nightmare. For a non-dyn corniog to enter Annwn, they must invoke the Name of a dyn corniog. |
| Glamour | Dynion corniog can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, most dynion corniog 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 dyn corniog into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a dyn corniog from entering a house. Dynion corniog detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Uncorrupted dream energy harms them, as does glory energy and bravery resonance. Radiant water especially harms them. |
| National Culture | In the dark forest of Annwn, sitting upon the edge of nightmare and the Hells, live the dynion corniog, the horned riders of the Midnight Hunt, the remnants of the Hunt as it was at the end of the original Cernunnos's life. They lived in the shadows until the rise of the Black Hunter in the wake of Starfall. At that time, the eldest of them, Stelciwr Gwyn, invoked the Lord of Nightmare and transformed the remaining hunters into the dynion corniog. Stelciwr now rides as the leader of the Midnight Hunt; he rides Du y Moroedd, a white cheval mallet standing five hands over the tallest horse, and keeps Dormarth, a massive, ruddy-nosed cwn annwn, at his side. They hunt on Samhain. They hunt mortals and other fey, focusing on those they deem sinners and unprotected by the older powers or faith, young unmarried women, and any who cross them. Unseelie warriors who die in battle are often met by dynion corniog, who give them a chance at being part of the Hunt and a second life, though this always turns out to be in the form of undeath. They spare young women who sleep with them. When not hunting, dynion corniog live in talaith, or tribes, in the deep woods of Annwn, making war on each other, fishing, and hunting boar. Fishing and boar-hunting are their primary sources of food when not on the Hunt. They often feud with each other over women, whom they treat as property unless they prove themselves in combat. Most women (or non-conforming dynion corniog) are kept by the lead hunters in each talaith, called saeth iasbis, and used as rewards for their favored hunters. The women of the tribe form a close bond in their captivity, taking refuge in mystic arts. These mystics are called orddu. Even in slavery, they form a council called the ffwrnais. This powerful circle has much influence in the tribe and is feared even by the saeth iasbis, but they believe that the weaker women deserve their servitude. The only way to be truly out of slavery is to become a warrior to rival the men, and this is made difficult through access to weaponry and training. However, some women do succeed, becoming merched y bwa. They are usually more brutal and contemptuous of women, mortals, and prey than the men. The feuds between the talaith often find dynion corniog fighting over women who are especially prized (the paler the skin). These feuds can last millennia. It is traditional for captured tribal leaders to be forced to eat the heart of their captured fathers, if possible, as punishment for possessing women wanted by the captor. The blood of an orddu is extremely powerful, imbued as it is with fear resonance, uafas, and b'qar through an ancestral chain. They attain these ancestral chains through a dream journey called the cerdded. Male dynion corniog who take this journey become dewin iasbis and have incredible powers as well. Children are raised by the enslaved women. Girl children are raised to be servants and slaves, unless the ffwrnais or a merched see something special in them. Boy children are raised, brutally, to be hunters. By the age of 13, they are expected to be skilled enough to hunt on their own. Those girls who are chosen by the ffwrnais are expected to be skilled enough at mystic arts by the age of 13 to be independent as well. Each year, the Midnight Hunt takes place on Samhain, led by Stelciwr and his most elite hunters, each one chosen the year before during the last Hunt. Anyone who disappoints him is killed. |
| Wild Hunt Culture | When all of the Hunts come together for the Great Wild Hunt, they answer to the inmortal Master of the Wild Hunt (at present, the Erlking). This happens every seven years. The united Hunt is chaotic. All national, social, and cultural boundaries dissolve as the Hunt rides out throughout all of Lyrilla to take fey, vaettir, and mortals who have violated The Law of the Hunt, an ancient law about when, where, and why one must hunt, but which has implications beyond the mere act of hunting. The seven parts of The Law of the Hunt are
This can be taken metaphorically, however. For instance, a police officer who makes a wrongful arrest (5), a lord who is too stingy (7), a wasteful farmer (3), a builder whose materials are not good enough (6), etc. will be likely prey. Those captured during these Hunts belong to the Master of the Wild Hunt alone. The Master will decide their fate. The role of dynion corniog is to harrow and terrorize the most awful of the prey, those who most deserve horrors. They are sent to hunt those who should be holy but have betrayed their holiness, or those who have committed the worst crimes. |
| Other Courts | Dynion corniog are feared in every single other Court, though they are feared and revered by the unseelie. They are not members of the Unseelie Court, but they are welcomed as guests. Unseelie warriors honor them. |
| Mortal Interactions | Dynion corniog treat mortals as they do any prey. |
| Notables | Stelciwr Gwyn, Dyn Corniog Manifest; Mam Welw, White Mother of the Hunt; |
| Special Classes | Dewin Iasbis, Saeth Iasbis, Orddu, Merched y Bwa, Hunter, Pysgotwr (fisher), Priodfab (groom) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 15 ATH 12 STR 12 AWA 12 WIL 12 ROG 15 Vanish (30 seconds) Glamour 8 Whistle 11 Night Charms 12 Soul-Gathering 12 Black Whip 12 Blooded Horns 12 |
GrandGuignol
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