The Teign, or "sacrifice to hell," is an ancient custom among the Sidhe used to ensure their immortality.
Overview[]
Long ago, so they say, the sidhe used to pay a tithe to Hell (or Hel, according to the Scandinavian fae) as the price for faerie immortality. This tithe, or teign, consisted of the sacrifice of one of their own to the spirits of the dead. In return, the fae could, after they own mortal deaths, walk The Bright Road through the Underworld and emerge into the physical world as reincarnations of themselves. This practice disappeared with the Sundering, and with it, most of the sidhe interest in the ghosts of the Underworld vanished as well. Still, those sidhe of the Ritualist faction seek to reestablish that lost connection through the revival of the teign.
The Mists have obscured many details of that ancient ritual, so recreating it (not to mention finding sacrificial victims) has proven problematic. Some believe that in the oldest times, the reigning ruler of the Seelie Summer Court did not merely set aside their crown in favor of the Winter King or Queen but instead sacrificed themself on the flames of the Samhain bonfire. Whether or not this is true, it certainly goes a long way to explaining the reluctance of the Seelie fae to turn over power to the Unseelie at mid-year.
A small, secret group within the Shadow Court called the Pilgrims of the Bright Road have secretly reinstated this practice, or a least an attempted version of it.
See Also Vengeance Night.
References[]
- CTD. Pour L'Amour et Liberte: The Book of Houses 2, p. 19.
- CTD. The Shadow Court, pp. 32-33.