Aodh MacLachlan (ɯː ˈmakˈɫ̪axl̪ˠan)

"I choose to be fearsome, not fearful."

— Aodh MacLachlan

Aodh MacLachlan is cousin to King Aedan MacLachlan, Laird of Dun Carraig, and heir to the throne of Rheged. He is rarely at the Royal Court at Caer Rheged, as the King finds his presence unnerving and unpleasant. Instead, he spends most of his time in Dun Carraig in northern Rheged, in the shadows of the mountains along the border. He is a dedicate and Avatar of An Dia Liath, the Grey God of Beinn Neimh.

Early Life

Aodh was born in the castle at Caer Rheged during the reign of his grandfather, King Niall. His father was the King's younger son, and young Aodh was fourth in line when he was born, after his uncle, cousin, and father. His mother Teàrlach fell ill when Aodh was three, and he knew her only as a pale invalid confined in a shadowy room.

He was a quiet and watchful child, frequently remaining unnoticed for hours simply by standing still and silent while the business of the court went on around him. He watched as fear ate his grandfather, and as the Duffian Foresters did their best to keep the monsters of the forest from escaping. He found it difficult to sleep, and would often drift through the castle at night, looking into rooms and secrets forbidden to him in daylight. Once he learned to read, he spent many of those nights in the library, reading histories by moonlight.

He learned how Solis had cursed Rheged, and why all the people around him lived in fear of the Cully Dhorcha. And a great anger took root inside his heart.

He did not show his rage to others, but they could tell something was different about him. He was not free from fear, but his anger kept it chained. He considered joining the Duffian Foresters, but after watching them closely rejected the notion, as they were no less fearful than other - simply more courageous. He returned to his books, and went in search of others, to find a way to truly break fear's grip on the soul of Rheged.

Laird of Dun Carraig

When he was 20, his grandfather died and his uncle took the throne. Aodh saw the Stone of Destiny for the first time during the coronation, and took the opportunity to examine it. He knew that it had been created by the Witch of Rheged, and that it bound the King to the land, and to the people of the land. But as he puzzled out the ancient and weathered sigils, he truly realized what that meant in a land like Rheged. The King bore the land's fears. Perhaps the Witch meant for the King to cast them off, but in practice he was crushed by them. Aodh looked at his uncle, already sagging with the weight of Rheged's fears, and judged him unable to carry them long. Nor did Aodh hold much hope for his cousin Aedan, whom he had always known to have a weakness at his core. One day, Aodh would have to sit upon the Stone himself, and he planned to be ready.

Upon his 21st birthday, his uncle the King chose to grant Aodh a title. He made him the Laird of Dun Carraig, a fortified town at the opposite end of the kingdom. It was a great honor - Dun Carraig is the second largest town in Rheged and stands on the border with Cait - but most believed that the King's true motive was to place his unsettling nephew as far away as he could manage. For Aodh's part, he welcomed the role. He wanted a place that was his own, where he could rule as he saw fit. And he may already have been thinking of the mountains that overlooked Dun Carraig, and making his plans.

Under his leadership, Dun Carraig did well. It was not wealthy, but he made shrewd bargains on the town's behalf and kept starvation at bay. He convinced the foresters to maintain a three-day dance twice a year so that loggers could work the Cully Dhorcha, and sold the timber to shipwrights in Dunfirth. And he acquired books and tales, especially about the mountains. He learned of the Fir Dorcha and An Dia Liath, and why they called Beinn Neimh the Mountain of Malice.

In his fifth year at Dun Carraig, Aodh married Aoife MacFaileas, a half-Albidosian who was the daughter of a book merchant. She was a small and dark-haired woman, who had been raised in Cait and had no fear in her. Aodh did not ask his uncle for permission to marry, and when the King learned of it he forbade Aodh to visit court - an empty gesture, since the Laird of Dun Carraig had not returned in the five years since his appointment. But when the King died three years later, his cousin Aedan MacLachlan rescinded the banishment, and officially noted that Aodh was now heir to the throne of Rheged.

Shrouded in Mist

During the first eight years of this marriage to Aoife, Aodh had put aside his researches into the mysteries of the mountains. But when he was officially named heir he knew he must act. There was no way to predict how long his cousin would last, now that he had sat upon the Stone of Destiny and bore the terrors of the nation on his heart. Aodh knew that the time had come to risk it all.

In the spring of 3974, Aodh MacLachlan ascended Beinn Neimh to meet with the Grey God, An Dia Liath. He traveled alone, at first. As the mist surrounded him, he could see shadows pacing alongside him, and knew them as the Dark Men of the Mountain, the Fir Dorcha. He spoke to the Fir Dorcha, using ancient and secret words that commanded darkness and mist, and they retreated from him, so that he might climb the mountain unhindered.

Two weeks passed before Aodh returned with a god in his heart. He came shrouded in mist that covered Dun Carraig, swallowing light and sound. When he entered his hall, the fog came with him. When he ordered it to lie down, the mists laid low on the floor so that he might be seen and heard. When he addressed his court, his voice was without fear. "Fear not the forest." he said. "I have become what the forest fears."

In the eleven years since, Aodh has learned to control the powers granted to him by An Dia Liath. He no longer fills every room with fog unintentionally, and he can host a meal without panicking his guests. He and Aoife have had three daughters, ages 7, 5, and 2. He rarely goes to the capital, but always seems to know what has happened there. And monsters do not enter Dun Carraig. Now he waits for word that the throne has broken its occupant under the weight of Rheged's fears. He is prepared to take them on, and more.