Setanta Ulster

Personal Information
Name: Setanta Ulster
Alias(es): Cu Chulainn, The Sluagh King, Patron God of Belfast
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Pansexual
Species: Fae (Deity)

Appearance
Hair Color: Brown
Eyes Color: Blue
Height: 6'4"

At first, there were only the Celtic deities within the lands of the Celts. They lived countless years unaware that there were other people within the lands outside their own, but they did not remain this way forever. Some of these people found their way within the Celtic lands. They had fled their native lands, and hope to carve a new life for themselves within the ones they found themselves within. They did not expect to find these lands already occupied.
It didn't take them long to discover that the natives of these lands were different from them. They did not die of old age, and they had abilities and powers that the newcomers did not possess. Shortly after this discover, those that had arrived from the other lands begun to worship the original residence as gods. They existed this ways for many years until once again people from other lands found their way into their own.


This second wave of people from the other lands were different than the first in the fact they were more like the natives. They did not die of old age and they possessed special powers. They had spread across the lands, converting the residences of these lands to worship them instead of the deities they had been, and hoped to do the same with the Celtic people. The Celts were not easily swayed to the idea of revering different gods than the ones they had been for countless years nor were their gods keen on the idea of giving up their place of reverence.

A great war broke out between the two pantheons that raged for many years. During this time it was discovered that there was a difference between the two. While both sets of deities never died of old age, The Celtic ones could be killed on the field of battle. The invading pantheon tried to convince the Celtic people that this was because they were true gods and unable to be killed by any means---whether or not this is true or not is another story. They ended up killing the king and queen of the Celtic pantheon along with other of their gods. They hoped these death would convince the Celts to declare them to be nothing more than false gods.


It did not. The Celtic people refused to denounce their gods, and nothing the other pantheons tried--including banishing the Celtic gods to another realm called Annwyvn--would convince them to. In spite, being banished to another realm the members of the Celtic pantheons were still able to influence the lives of those that worshiped them. It was probably this fact along with other details that made it impossible for the invading pantheon to gain a foothold within these lands. They eventually cease putting so much effort into gaining the Celtic people as their followers, or rather they changed their method.

They believed that a quieter method would be a more effective way of convincing the Celts to
worship them instead of the pantheon they were currently worshiping. It did increase the numbers of cults devoted to them within these lands, but the Celtic people as a whole still very much revered their original pantheons. Time drifted on and the Celtic people begun to neglect the old traditions and rituals. This upset the queen of the Celtic pantheon greatly. She believed that something should be done, but her brother did not agree. He saw nothing wrong with them moving away from the old ways. They fought over the issue until the queen eventually left her brother's court, and started her own. This is how the seelie and unseelie court came into being.


Setanta was born shortly after these events. His father was Lugh--god of the sun--and his mother was a human named Dechtire. She was the sister of the king of Ulster, and was married to the previous king's brother--whom her brother had tricked to relinquish his throne to him--when Lugh met and fell in love with Dechtire. Her brother had thought that marrying his sister to the previous king's brother would silence any hard feelings over what he had done, but he was wrong. The old king wanted nothing more than to make Setanta's uncle to pay for what he did. Lugh came to his uncle and told him that he would help him with his problem if he agreed to give him Dechtire's hand in marriage.

His uncle refused. He knew how much his sister loved her husband and would not ask her to sacrifice her happiness for his sake. Dechtire caught wind of Lugh's offer to her brother, and went to him. Believing that this was the only way to save not just her brother but her people as well, she agreed to his term. Lugh left with her that very night, and the next day the tides of war turned for her brother. He emerged victorious against the previous king. Her human husband learned what she had done and vowed to bring her home. He knew that Dechtire was unhappy where she was at and while he could endure his own misery the very thought of her suffering in any way was too much for him to bear.

The quest to find Dechtire was not an easy one for her human husband. Lugh did everything within his power to ensure that he failed but nothing the god threw at the mortal deterred him from his goal. He pushed on until he found where Lugh had been keeping her. He prepared himself to face Lugh upon the field of battle but found the sun god had taken a stance of surrender when he approached him. Dechtire had fallen into a state of depression ever since coming to live with Lugh and everyday her depression grew worse. Lugh did not wish to see her die. Even more he did not wish to see his child growing within her womb die.

Lugh told Dechtire's mortal husband to take her back to the kingdom of Ulster, but he did have one request for him. Lugh asked that he name his son Setanta and tell him the truth of his heritage. Dechtire's husband promised to do this and was allowed to take his wife home. She made an immediate recovery once she found herself back home and gave birth to beautiful baby boy shortly later. True to his words, Dechtire's husband ensured that the child was named Setanta but he failed to keep the second part of the promise. He did not break it on purpose. He had every intention of telling Setanta the truth, but had grown to care about him over the years. He came to love Setanta as if he was his own biological son and feared that he would lose him if Setanta learned the truth.


He grew into a fine young man known for his prowess upon the field of battle. It was impressive
fighting skills that help him earn the nickname Cu Chulainn. His uncle had been invited to a banquet at a blacksmith named Culain's house and asked his nephew to accompany him. Setanta, who had been playing a game of hurling at the time, told his uncle that he would catch up with him once he finished. His uncle arrived at Culain's house and when the blacksmith asked if all the expected guest has arrived his uncle forgetting Setanta haven't yet arrived said yes. Culain released his huge hound to guard his estate.

His only only remembered his nephew when he heard the dog howling and rushed outside expecting to see Setanta torn to pieces by the furious beast. Instead he found his nephew standing over the dead beast. He had used his hurling stick and ball to kill the animal when it attacked him. Culain was both impressed by what Setanta had done but also grief sicken over his dead dog. While he did not blame Setanta over his dog's death, Setanta still felt it necessary to make amends for what he done. He told Culain that he would take the role of guard dog until he could get a new one trained. He was so good at the job that he became known as Cu Chulainn--Culain's hound. He loved the name so much that he took to using it over Setanta.


Setanta was not just known for his talents as a warrior, but also for prowess within the bedroom. It didn't help that he was considered to be an extremely handsome man. Some even rumored that he was the most gorgeous in all the lands. The men of Ulster fearing that their own wives would find it impossible not to climb into his bed encourage him to marry. The woman whom he picks to be his wife refuses him, claiming that while his talents upon the field of battle were fine and dandy they were not impressive enough to make him worthy of being her husband.

He wishing to make himself worthy of being her husband set out to find the goddess Scathach. She was rumored to be one of the greatest warriors within all the lands, and was extremely  picky on whom she took as her students. She required them to pass a series of test even before she considered teaching them. This was done by forcing them to trek through a perilous obstacle course to her place of residence. She had watched Setanta progress through this course and was so impressed by him that she agreed to train him without a second thought. The training was a trying one but he managed to press though it---impressing his teacher with each turn.


Just before he left to return home to Ulster, Scathach's sister Aoife came to settle the rivalry between them. Setanta asked his teacher to face Aoife on the field of battle as her champion, but she refused. She believed that he was an extremely talented warrior but did not believe that he was skilled enough to defeat Aoife. She slipped a sleeping potion within his drink, hoping that it would knock him out for the entire duration of the fight. It did not. He woke up and arrived where the battle was taking place in the nick of time. He managed to get between the two just before Scathach was killed by her sister.

Setanta and Aoife engaged in battle. Neither one of them managed to gain the upper hand that was needed to end the combat for many hours, but eventually Setanta emerged as the victor. However, instead of killing Aoife as was expected, he told her that he would spare her life if she promised to sleep with him and bear him a son. Aoife agreed, seeing this as the only chance to revenge on the only man to ever best her in battle. She placed a curse upon her son when he was born that made it impossible for him to tell anyone whom he was when asked and set him out to find his father when he came of age.


After his fight with Aoife, Setanta return to Ulster to marry the woman whose hand he asked for
before he left. They were happily married for many years until the day his son found him arrived. Believing his son to be a stranger, Setanta asked him who he was, but his son was unable to answer this question due to the curse that his mother had placed upon him. This enraged Setanta greatly as it was extremely disrespectful not to tell someone whom you were when you approached their place of residence. He pulled his sword out and attacked his son.

They fought. It was clear that Setanta was the more talented one out of the two and quickly gained the upper hand. His wife returned home just as he was giving the killing blow. She recognizes his son for who he was but was unable to share this knowledge with Setanta before he killed him. Grief sicken, he decided that he was no longer worthy of being the husband of his wife or anyone's wife for that matter. He gave both his permission and blessing for her to marry another before he set off to wander the lands in search of redemption. He believed that the only way it could be found was dying upon the field of battle.

There were no shortage of opponents for him to face upon the field of battles. Stories of his talents as a warrior spread far and wide, and warriors of every type wish to test their mantle against him. They approached him their own or were encouraged to do so by their king or queen--even the unseelie queen couldn't help testing her best warriors against him. He defeated them all. It did not matter what they threw at him, Setanta always emerged the victory. It was during a combat with one of the unseelie's queen warriors that he caught the eyes of the goddess Morrigan. She feel in love with him and decided that if she defeated him upon the field of battle that he would marry her.

They were perfectly matched for many days but eventually Morrigan emerged the victor. Setanta expected her to kill him but to his great horror she asked him to marry her. He refused. She didn't understand that he was not worthy of her. He was too tainted to call any woman his wife--let alone one as lovely as she. Setanta did not share these thoughts with her. He merely just spoke his refusal. This led her to believe that he rejected her because he refused to acknowledge the feminine power of sovereignty. She became angry and told him that his pride would be his down fall. She vowed that the next time they met she would do more than kill him.


It was some time before she was able to make true this promise, Setanta found himself face to face with not one but multiple opponents when Morrigan decided to carry through with her vow. She did many different things that hindered his ability upon the field of battle. It was all these little things that lead one of his opponents to deliver upon him the fatal blow. He did not die right away, but knew that death was upon him. So, he tied himself to a nearby tree. He wished to die fighting on his feet. He encouraged his opponents to continued facing him and managed to kill a good number of them before succumbing to his wounds.


It was then that Morrigan revealed herself. She landed upon his shoulder in the form of a raven and
told him that he would never know the comfort of death. She cursed him to become a sluagh--the most feared and dread faes of all the courts. Enraged he told her that she would regret what she had done. He joined the sluagh court which was align to Morrigan's court at the time. He rose within rank among the sluagh people until he became king. He took this moment to remove his court from Morrigan's and knowing that that the fae would never allow the sluagh to remain unconnected to a court aligned himself with the unseelie court.


Many years have passed since that day and the Celtic people begun to interact with those outside their borders. The world found itself being fought over by the various gods and goddess of the different pantheons that had popped up over the planet. All these deities believed that the only way they can achieve dominance over the world was to gather the most followers for themselves or even for their native pantheon if they have to. The world became divided by city-states---where each city-state is loyal to a particular god.

A country is only form when two or more city-state of the same pantheon are near each other, but this doesn't make them loyal to each other. A city-state is just as likely to fight a city-state of a different pantheon as
they are one from their own. Setanta has become the patron god of the city-state of Belfast. In spite, the overwhelming anger between Morrigan and Setanta they still had an attraction to each other. One they each gave into time and time again. During one of these times, Morrigan found herself pregnant. She kept this pregnancy hidden from Setanta for many reasons and put her daughter inside one of the witch's covens for safe keeping. She wanted her daughter to be free from all the burdens that came with being the child of two deities.

Many years passed before Setanta became aware of his daughter's existence. He was outraged by the news. He thought Morrigan had kept her from him as further punishment for refusing her all those years ago--an accusation she quickly denied. She explained to him the reason behind her decision and while he is still angry at her for keeping his daughter from him he understands why she did it. Morrigan asked him not to reveal himself to their daughter, but Setanta refused. He will not be content to watch his child from the side lines. He want to be apart of her life, and he set out to do just that. It didn't take long for him to find his daughter. Their first encounter did not go smoothly. He accused her of being just like her mother, but in spite the rough start they managed to settle any disagreements that arose from this first encounter. They agreed they wished to get to know each other more, and made arrangements to do just that.