Tara (WTA)

History

In the days between the coming of the Garou to Eire and the coming of Christianity, there were three great fortresses called Tara. Of High Tara, the palace of human kings, nothing more than grass-mantled mounds remain. Another, also known as “Iron Tara,” was the seat of power of the Daoine Sidhe; at the time of the Shattering, it slipped into the mists of the Dreaming. The third, variously called Middle Tara, Silver Tara (“Airgetteamhair”) or simply Tara, is the seat of the High King of the Fianna Tribe of the Garou.

Second Battle of Tara

While Cromwell campaigned in Ireland, others followed him seeking to deal a telling blow against the werewolves which “infested” the land. A farmer known to truck with the beasts-which is to say, Kin- was captured, tortured and his family threatened. Broken at last, he agreed to guide his captors to the gates of Tara.

Early one morning, a small army drew up before the citadel. Were they Cromwell’s soldiers, the Fianna would have had no problem dealing with them. But though their dress appeared that of English soldiery, their armament certainly was not. In their hands were flintlocks finer than the heavy matchlocks of the New Model Army; their brace of cannon lobbed exploding shells an advance unknown at the time over the walls. Fiann who pressed through the withering hail of shot faced swords that burned like silver.

Several packs spit themselves on enemy pikes or fell to the leaden hail before several Fianna stepped from the Umbra into the midst of the soldiers. Thus beset, the invaders were vulnerable to the spears, arrows and stones that thinned their ranks until finally the soldiers broke. A counter charge from Tara turned retreat into rout, and then into slaughter. Few of the foes escaped the field, and the rest never asked for quarter as if the Fianna would have given it, with their blood up.

To this day, the Fianna know little of their attackers, save that they were more than simple soldiers. Some of their trophied swords and armour decorate the North Hall. The traitor received a traitor’s death at a Fiann’s hand, and his name was forgotten.

Third Battle of Tara
 In 1976, at dawn after the Beltane revelry, an army of Black Spiral Dancers converged from all sides of the ancient palace with claws and weapons both ancient and modem. Many Kinfolk and hung-over Fianna staggered out of the halls only to fall in the corrosive greenish-yellow cloud of poison gas launched from mortars smuggled out of the Soviet Union. Survivors mounting the parapets to repel the invaders saw a force of Wyrm Howlers larger than Gaian Garou had seen in some forty years.

 One Black Spiral charged through a rain of arrow and spear to the outer wall, over a hundred kilos of plastic explosives strapped to his body. Laughing insanely, he detonated his load, taking two packs and a good section of the wall with him. Soon the breach was focus of a bloody meat grinder as both sides threw their bodies into the fray. Other Fianna packs and a few fae allies manned the walls as the Wyrm Howlers scaled the ramparts withc law and silver-loaded submachine guns. Meanwhile, Fianna and spirits took to the Penumbra to battle great Banes summoned from Malfeas for the assault.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Ensconced in his hall, the high king blew his great antler-horn to summon the tribe from the four corners of the earth. As the battle wore on, the defenders along the walls were dazzled by the silvery flashes of light from inbound moon bridges the tribe was gathering for battle. The Spirals knew their surprise attack had failed, and lost heart. In bitterness they withdrew, still spitting venom and loosing poisoned arrows.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The battle was won in less than an hour, but at a horrific cost. Some of the most renowned Fianna of the time lay dead, claws still dug into their vile foes. A great mound was thrown up for the Fianna fallen, while the Black Spiral bodies burned in cleansing pyres except for their heads, which were spiked along the parapets they had endeavored to capture.

<p class="MsoNormal"> How the enemy surprised Tara has been the subject of many fireside conversations. The accepted theory is that a fallen Fianna led the way through the enchantments and traps, but the identity of the traitor was never revealed. Some close to the court whisper that the culprit was none other than Ard Righ Brendan’s only Garou son, Gair, lost in an unsuccessful probe of a Wyrm Howler hive in England. In Brendan’s time that kind of mmor could get a Fiann kicked out of the tribe or worse, and Bron would likewise crush any hint of scandal regarding his mentor. <span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">

Fourth Battle of Tara
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">In early November of 2000 large assault force of Spirals struck Silver Tara. No one knows for sure how they pierced the veil that hides the great palace from prying eyes, though one Ahroun on the walls that reported a vulture-like creature flying over the advancing enemy. The Ard Righ was forced to blow his horn, summoning Fianna from around the globe. Soon the air fairly shimmered with moon bridges, and after a bloody struggle the monstrous foes were turned back. In the wake of the retreating Spirals, the green ground in the valley turned black and foul, and repeated rituals have not yet revived the land. This telling strike at the very heart of the tribe has everyone on edge; some of the more paranoid of Tara’s defenders swear they hear a faint

<p data-parsoid="{"dsr":[2510,2969,0,0]}"><span style="color:black;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">Scratching and chipping in the ground beneath the hall, as if someone was excavating tunnels. But it gets I even worse: Ard Righ Brendan O’Rourke and his pack I left on a secret Umbral run, and no one’s seen them since. Word has it they’re fulfilling a mission from Stag himself. Before he left, he handed his crown to his successor, Bron MacFionn. I’ve personally never met the man, but I hear he’s solidly in the Tuatha de Fionn’s camp, bringing more Fae into Tara than it has have seen in hundreds of years.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Since the attack on Tara, there have been several hit-and-run attacks on the bawns of caerns from Brittany to, the heart of France. Many elders suspect these are at best feints, at worst training maneuvers, for the reclaiming of Scotland. Already a couple of caerns have fallen, and packs from around the world are headed there to bolster the defences. The fact that they aren’t turned away by the normally independent Highlander Garou says something about the situation’s desperation.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:24px;"><span style="color:black;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">The latest strike against the Fianna’s palace is notable for as before this attack. No enemy had yet found Tara on his own. In each of the past battles, the fortress was betrayed by friends (or former friends) of the Fianna: first the Wyrm Howlers who prior to their fall were occasional visitors; then a Kinfolk under duress; and finally by a Fianna (whose identity remains unknown). No such culprit has yet been found in this latest attack, leading the elders of the tribe to wonder if they have a new, hidden enemy... or far worse, if the ancient enchantments on the great Caern are finally beginning to fade.

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