Playing Deidriu

Deidriu is my favorite character of all time. Based in part on the Celtic legend of Deidriu of the Sorrows, she is intended to be an epic and tragic heroine. She became even more so with her star crossed love with Letharion, a exiled elf with a tragedy of his own, when I played her in the on line role playing game on #Queen_Anne's. Alas, the game died out and the story remains unfinished. I intend to write up the story of Deidriu in fictional form as I did for many of the other characters but it is a intensive task so I will just present the outline and details here. Please keep checking back as I will be adding things here and I sincerely think that Deidriu is worth the wait.

Intro

I was there the night Deidriu O Neill came to Queen Anne's. As a mortal, I went unnoticed, just one of the mortals that came to the club each night for a drink, to listen to some music and socialize but as Garou Kinfolk, I saw enough to know that I was watching history. Queen Anne's in itself was a special place. To the outside world, it was just another NY nightclub, to those who knew, it was a meeting place of legends. Vampires, Garou, Wizards, Elves... they all came to Queen Anne's. It was a safe place where outside feuds and hatreds were checked at the door. Set up as place where a supernatural could find help, information and/or a place of safety without fear. The regular patrons strictly enforced a no hunting policy. On the streets, two people could be trying to kill each other but within the walls of Queen Anne's... it would be death to make an attempt. And so each night, the hunters and the hunted came to Queen Anne's and both left alive and unscathed. That in itself made Queen Anne's amazing. With such a patronage, there was bound to be extraordinary events happening almost every night, and there was, but it was Deidriu O Neill that was destined to become a legend and her short year here caught Queen Anne's up into that legend.

Deidriu O Neill was an exile from her Ireland home. Cast out, not in shame but in a quest thrust upon her, she wandered the earth for 8 years. It is rumored that she lived for a time in the fairy realm among the fey, and to look at her, you could believe it. It is also rumored, that she had also been sent to live among the wolf packs out in the few patches of wilderness left. To see her move, and to see her angry, you could believe that as well. It was known that she had studied and learned her craft with more masters than I could name here and to hear her sing, you knew it to be true. Deidriu was the most famous bard of her time. Even among the mortals she was famous. Among my Kin, she was already a legend at age 26 and her coming to NY made the Galliards swoon and the caerns buzz with excitement.

She was coming to NY to search for a powerful item called the Tome of Talisen. Supposedly, it was supposed to contain the souls of ancient galliards who had sworn to preserve the ancient knowledge and prevent it from becoming lost or distorted. It sounded good in theory but as the Tome was later stolen and never found again, maybe there was a few flaws in the theory. Anyway, through some quirks of prophecy, it was decided (centuries after the fact) that Deidriu was the one to find the Tome, cleanse it of any and all taint it may of acquired and then eventually join with it herself in order to update it with any information that came about since the last time the Tome was in Garou hands.

Deidriu did not come to Queen Anne's for friendship nor did she come for love. In her mind, they were liabilities to her quest and were to be avoided at all costs. Its not that she did not want these things. In truth she craved them desperately. But she feared that having such ties to this world would make it impossible for her to merge with the Tome when the time came. Because she viewed her quest as essential to Garou survival and as making a vital difference in the war against the Wyrm, she could not allow herself to fail. To fail was to betray her people. At that cost, personal happiness was too expensive for her. She chose to remain distant and strong rather than risk temptation.

It was a tragedy indeed that she met Letharion. An exile like herself, he was able to touch her as no one had since her quest was laid upon her. She fell in love with him and he with her. Love weakened her defenses and Deidriu was unable to keep out friendship. She found in Queen Anne's a home and a new family, one that did not make such demands of her. A lesser woman would have been happy, but her responsibility lay heavy on Deidriu's heart and she was torn.

Letharion tried to help but he had troubles of his own. Exiled from his world, he was bitter about the loss of his people and was being drained of  life by this world. He was also cursed. Possessed by a creature, known as Kane, that he kept from taking over his body by sheer will alone. Convinced that their love had no future, he tried pushing Deidriu away from him but could not force himself to do so. 

Life continued, as it always does. Deidriu came to the club nightly, to perform for the patrons there, to gather what information she could and (although she would not admit it) to see Letharion. The two quarrelled often. During one such fight, Letharion lost control and Kane was able to manifest. He attacked Deidriu, who faced him down unafraid. Not willing to fight and not willing to harm the body of her love, Deidriu was able to call out to Letharion's spirit and help him regain control. Together, they called on the gods of both her people and his and were able to defeat the monster within Letharion.