Hygwydd ab Iaen

Hygwydd ab Iaen is a Dyn a drowyd yn flaidd/Fianna.^[1]

Overview

Hygwydd ab Iaen was an elder of the Dyn a drowyd yn flaidd near Oswestry two centuries before the Norman invasion. A brash youth, his wisdom as a sept leader was hard-won. But he had the blood of heroes and the touch of leadership, and earned the respect, and later allegiance, of the Garou of Cymru. His sept never wanted for warriors, as young Garou from across the land gathered to his standard. More than once his followers urged him to challenge for the kingship in Tara, but his heart was rooted in his native woods. In fact, he insulted the Ard Righ; commanded to appear at Tara for a feast, he replied that he'd seen the palace and it held nothing for him he couldn't find on his own soil. His casual defiance crystallized the rift between the Irish Fianna and the insular Dyrn a drowyd yn flaidd, and set a precedent that was often repeated for several hundred years.

Hygwydd was quite active against the Get of Fenris in a local blood feud that had already lasted a dozen years and deprived both septs of valuable warriors. Saxons on the border had reason to stay out of the forests during the day and behind barred doors by night, for Hygwydd's pack hounded Get Kin as often as they quested for the Wyrm. But years of strife cost Gaia many Garou and more Kinfolk, and the elder leader's wisdom cooled his heart's cry for vengeance. As warriors massed in Caledonia for the final battles against the Black Spirals, he secretly met with the Get's sept leader, who agrees that there were worthier adversaries than each other. So they planned to seal the rift by fighting side by side in the far north. They were ambushed by unknown Garou - to this day no one knows which side did it - but when the Fianna arrived, they found their foe dead and their leader unconscious and dying. The local fae could heal him, but it would take a year and a day to do so. He and his closest retainers were placed in a burial mound. It was decided to let the Get think he was dead so that he could surprise them in the future. A sidhe by the name of Kerenhyr ap Gwydion vowed a mighty oath to guard the dun until his son Degan pronounced the magic phrase to awaken his father. The words were known to Degan only, so when he died in battle two months later, that caused a problem. No other knew the righ's whereabouts or even that he was still alive. A few centuries later, the sidhe left the world... but not Kerenhyr, who waited faithfully, his powers keeping the place hidden and timeless.

But now, the fae lord's powers are failing. The valley is being developed, the Weaver drains the enchantments. He knows that sooner rather than later people will stumble upon his place and all will be lost. Unless a Fianna discovers and speaks the words of power, reviving the slumbering warriors and freeing the ancient fae before the modern world withers him....

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