Places in Tír na nÓg
by Cab DavidsonFiddlers Green
At the centre of the isle is a 20 mile flat expanse of fenland known as Fiddlers Green. Rain falling mainly around the edges of Tír na nÓg drains down to Fiddlers Green along numerous deep valleys to maintain the complex network of marsh, fen and bog at the heart of the Isle. The land is rich and fertile, touched by the Fair Folk (as is all of Tír na nÓg) to produce abundant fish and game, wild cattle, horses and boar are plentiful. Wild fruits such as blackberries, apples, raspberries, bilberries, elderberries, pears, blackcurrants, bilberries, plums and cherries grow, and great willow trees line the banks of slow flowing rivers, with meandering brooks and marshes around them, upon them the bright yellow chicken of the woods fungus and around their roots wine cap mushrooms, with wild mustards, nettles, sorrel, burdock, sweet cicely, cow parsley and endless other varieties of wild herbs thriving. It is a place where with little work the good folk may thrive. But such drainage, such splendid fertility, must be maintained.
This is the work of the tiddy, a race of fey uncommon across most of Mystara but who call Fiddlers Green their home land. They make no permanent settlement there, but they reside in the pools and marshes of the Green. They use their ability to control the depth of water to keep the plain moist and clean but sufficiently well drained to remain habitable, and flooding caves below the surface of Tír na nÓg (eventually cascading through the island to the clouds below) to discharge excess water.
For reasons unknown, none who dance on fiddlers green every tire of it. Those who choose to dance and who are unaccompanied by musicians find that their activity conjures up the sound of a fiddler keeping time to their movements. Many is the evening that the Tiddy are heard to dance through perpetual twilight thus.
There are three villages on Fiddlers green, inhabited by descendants of settlers from all over Mystara. Most (80%) are human, with some being halflings (10%) and the remainder being a mix of races.
Village of Meirion
Meirion is the largest village in Fiddlers Green, having a population of 500, all human. They are an industrious folk, living on the coast of Lake Berwyn where they fish, and they farm the land around their homes raising cattle and growing grain to supplement the plentiful fruits and vegetable so be found on Fiddlers Green. Bees from the hives of Meirion travel across Tír na nÓg for nectar, and produce honey that is in demand across the whole land. There are no Inns in Meirion, and the rare visitors who come are usually offered a bed for the night in the home of one of the residents. There are two taverns in Meirion, the Green Man and the Weyland (named for the immortal many believe led their ancestors to this land), both serving excellent ale, mead and food.
The people of Meirion are an eclectic mix of folk who have found their way to the land from across Mystara. Most found themselves lost on land or at sea and simply found themselves wandering Fiddlers Green, but a few are colonists originally from the Hollow World itself. Over many years they have inter-bred and now are integrated into a single, fairly pale skinned and red headed people primarily speaking an accented and harsh sounding form of the Neathar tongue.
The people of Meirion have few iron tools or goods, that material being rare on Tír na nÓg, but they trade with the bluecaps for the metals they need to make bronze, and most of their metal work is in that alloy. The few steel items they have are highly valued for their robustness and reusability. They maintain good relations with the Tiddy by leaving tributes for them to feast upon, and in return the Tiddy ensure that they have good harvests to enjoy.
Hamlet of Nimble
A single halfling clan of around 50 souls lives in a single extended burrow in a mound on Fiddlers Green. The clan goes by the name Nimblefingrs. They were, generations ago, friends of the leader of the tiddy, Tiddy Mun, and with his blessing were transported to Tír na nÓg by the halfling immportal Coberham Shadowglint at the moment of their destruction at the hands of a pack of rampaging goblins.
The Nimblefingers clan are friendly farming folk, preferring not to travel the swamps of Fiddlers Green more than they must for fear of the grindylows that stalk the land. They are friends of the faerie folk of Annwn, and of the humans of Meirion, but are wary of the more varied ihhabitants of Crux. They have a single tavern, simply known to them as Grannys.
Hamlet of Crux
Crux is, simply, where everyone on Fiddlers Green who isn’t fey, a human, or a halfling resides. There are around 50 souls there, but few are permanent settlers, and most seek to move on to other lands sooner rather than later. They have either been trapped on Tír na nÓg or they are temporary residents, and most live a meagre existence trading their services with the humans or the halflings and foraging the abundant foods of Fiddlers Green. There are no taverns or inns at Crux, but there is ample shelter, with both the tiddy and the dunnies having no interest in seeing displaced creatures coming to harm in the swamps. At any one time there are variously groups of dwarves, gnomes, lupin, rakasta and occasional other folk who find one of the paths to Tír na nÓg. Evil humanoids such as orcs and goblins are usually lost in the swamps before finding the shelter of Crux.