Each Uisge

"*He was expected to look predatory and pretty around a lake that he’d nurtured, to saunter about in human form on the banks, or occupy his underwater home; which despite its location, was dry and protected from water by a magical green dome of his own making.*"
―Augus Each Uisge[[Deeper into the Woods, Chapter 1: I - The Waterhorse]]
The **Each Uisge** is a subspecies of waterhorse, of which there is only ever one in existence at any time. The most well-known Each Uisge in the *Fae Tales Verse* is Augus Each Uisge, who is not only unusually civilized for his kind, but also the most powerful Each Uisge to ever live.

## Physical Description

The Each Uisge is almost always only ever seen in human-form or true-form. A hybrid-form has never been described in canon.

They are always male, and they are generally attractive, as seduction is sometimes part of their hunting technique. They always have long, black, straight manes in their human-form, with green waterweed (a unique species of Elodea), as well as green eyes. In true-form, they appear as black horses, from sleek Arabian-style horses, to heavier Freisians, with sharp, ugly teeth. Their black manes are always wet, and only ever completely dry out in near-death situations.

## Abilities

Each uisge have the innate ability to compel people with their voice into doing and feeling what the Each Uisge wants.

'[W]aterhorses had an ability to stick people to their pelts. They did it while hunting, so that any human who touched them couldn’t get away without ripping their skin or limbs off.'

Each uisge can shoot waterweed out of their wrists, and have an ability to tear through it more easily and naturally than anyone else.

Each uisge can communicate with local ecosystems and use energy to favor growing certain plants over others.

Each uisge can sense out water sources, and some - like Augus - can create rain, fog, and lakes where none existed previously.

Each uisge can create underwater domes which enable a dry space for a human-like home to exist.

The waterweed that grows from the head of each uisge has healing properties, or at least elodea, which is the kind of waterweed that grows from Augus' head, appears in the fae realm as a kind of plant that can be used for healing.

All each uisge can make poison, and envenomate victims through their bites.

Each uisge must fully submerge in water in order to successfully teleport. Also, because they must travel to the human realm to hunt and feed, each uisge are able to teleport as soon as they are able to hunt, which is unusual for underfae.

## Characteristics (culture, habits)

The Each Uisge is a reincarnating species of fae that cannot biologically reproduce in any form, due to there only being one in existence at any one time. They are traditionally from the fae side of Scotland, with the exception of Augus, who was born in Wales.

Each uisge are very protective of their lakes and do not like to stray from them. They cultivate their lakes to often look pretty and attractive, partly to draw humans towards them, but also due to their own need to harmonize with an ecosystem.

All each uisge - like some other waterhorses - crave human-style comforts, including beds, bedrooms, bathrooms, fireplaces, feeling warm, and feeling dry (even though their manes are never dry). Even previous, more predatory incarnations of the Each Uisge still made underwater cottages for themselves.

The Each Uisge is generally solitary, and has no blood family of any kind. They are birthed in lakes, and often struggle to make close connections to others, with the exception of Augus.

Each uisge characteristically become extremely hostile around all other horse fae and waterhorses, sometimes to the point of experiencing an uncontrollable urge to murder them in order to secure their lake and their territory.

Each uisge are always Unseelie, and must eat humans to survive. They hunt in the human realm, and then drag their prey back to their lake - often having used compulsions to secure them - before ripping them apart and eating every part of them, except the liver, which is fatal for them. It takes them approximately three to seven days to digest their food. Previous incarnations of the Each Uisge were notably bloodthirsty, and were considered malicious even by the standards of other Unseelie fae.

Augus noted that his inner waterhorse is, 'a part of me . . . He is behind my bloodlust and my hunger and my passion to fold lakes into my being and let them emerge whole and hale. But he thinks differently to the way I do. The more I do for him and his pleasure, the more in harmony I feel, the better connected I am to the environment and the land around him.' Gwyn ap Nudd noted that Augus is quite separate from his inner waterhorse, and that 'the schism is profound, and creates issues.' The Glashtyn noted that, '*the Each Uisge is far more comfortable hunting, and I believe Augus supports that need to hunt.’* The Glashtyn also noted that although Augus used to be one being, Augus Each Uisge, Augus and the Each Uisge also split, like Ash and the Glashtyn.

The Glashtyn noted that the Each Uisge hates the sky: *‘We are made for lakes, a home with walls, and then lake walls too, pressure all around us, not* air.'

## Quotations

* 'I eat humans,’ Augus said, and Gwyn stared at him in confusion. ‘I eat humans and all of my abilities are designed to make that easier. Compulsions. The waterweed I can project from my wrists. The ability to turn any landscape into a lake when I am more powerful. The poison I produce that is toxic to the flesh of humans and makes them easier to hunt should they escape my bite. As for the lakes, I don’t realise I’m doing it, though I can consciously...direct it; that’s exhausting. I don’t like exhausting. But I always thought it was perhaps to make the lakes more inviting to human eyes, perhaps. A healthy lake is far more agreeable a place to seek fresh water, than an unhealthy lake.'

## Trivia

* Pronunciation: AW-gous (like August) **YACH** or **ACH OOSHKA**
* Augus is the most unusual Each Uisge to have ever lived. It is not only that he is civilized enough to serve on three different Unseelie Courts (first as an advisor, then as King, then as advisor again), but also that he adopted the Glashtyn, who was born in Augus' lake in an unusual and unexplained mishap. Augus also shows far more compassion than previous Each Uisge, and has some issues because of that.
* Augus is the only Each Uisge to have ever chosen a name for himself, and to formalise his species name as a surname.
* The Raven Prince almost never passed up an opportunity to remind Augus of his previous, more malicious and crass incarnations. He also rarely called Augus by his chosen name, but instead elected to call him 'Each Uisge' instead, perhaps because he used to call previous incarnations by this as well. Augus noted that the Raven Prince only referred to Augus by his chosen name when it ceased to matter to Augus.
* The Each Uisge, both in this incarnation and in previous incarnations, is well-known among Seelie and Unseelie fae, and has many tales associated with him. For this reason, Augus was famous simply for being the Each Uisge, and then distinguished himself further by living an unusual and atypical life for any each uisge.

## Folklore/Mythology

'The each-uisge (Scottish Gaelic: [ɛxˈɯʃkʲə], literally "water horse") is a water spirit in Scottish folklore, known as the each-uisce (anglicized as *aughisky* or *ech-ushkya*) in Ireland and cabyll-ushtey on the Isle of Man. It usually takes the form of a horse, and is similar to the kelpie[,] but far more vicious.'

Found 'in the Scottish Highlands, [the each-uisge] has been described as "perhaps the fiercest and most dangerous of all the water-horses" by the folklorist Katharine Briggs. Often mistaken for the kelpie (which inhabits streams and rivers), the each-uisge lives in the sea, sea lochs, and fresh water lochs. The each-uisge is a shape-shifter, disguising itself as a fine horse, pony, a handsome man or an enormous bird such as a boobrie. If, while in horse form, a man mounts it, he is only safe as long as the each-uisge is ridden in the interior of land. However, the merest glimpse or smell of water means the beginning of the end for the rider, for the each-uisge's skin becomes adhesive and the creature immediately goes to the deepest part of the loch with its victim. After the victim has drowned, the each-uisge tears him apart and devours the entire body except for the liver, which floats to the surface.

In its human form it is said to appear as a handsome man, and can be recognised as a mythological creature only by the water weeds or profuse sand and mud in its hair. Because of this, people in the Highlands were often wary of lone animals and strangers by the water's edge, near where the each-uisge was reputed to live.

. . . Along with its human victims, cattle and sheep were also often prey to the each-uisge, and it could be lured out of the water by the smell of roasted meat.

. . . The each-uisge also has a particular desire for human women. Campbell states that "any woman upon whom it set its mark was certain at last to become its victim." A young woman herding cattle encountered a water horse in the form of a handsome young man who laid his head in her lap and fell asleep. When he stretched himself she discovered that he had horse's hooves and quietly made her escape (in variations of the tale she finds the presence of water weeds or sand in his hair). In another account a water horse in human shape came to a woman's house where she was alone and attempted to court her, but all he got for his unwanted advances was boiling water hurled between his legs. He ran from the house roaring in pain. In a third tale a father and his three sons conspired to kill a water horse that came to the house to see the daughter. When they grabbed the young man he reverted to his equine form and would have carried them into the loch, but in the struggle they managed to slay him with their dirks. Despite its amorous tendencies, however, the each-uisge is just as likely to simply devour women in the same manner as its male victims.

The aughisky or Irish water horse is similar in many respects to the Scottish version. It sometimes comes out of the water to gallop on land and, despite the danger, if the aughisky can be caught and tamed[,] then it will make the finest of steeds provided it is not allowed to glimpse the ocean.

The cabyll-ushtey (or cabbyl-ushtey), the Manx water horse, is just as ravenous as the each-uisge[,] though there are not as many tales told about it. One of them recounts how a cabbyl-ushtey emerged from the Awin Dhoo (Black River) and devoured a farmer's cow, then later it took his teenaged daughter.'

## Image Gallery

Fanart of Augus Each Uisge in his waterhorse form by nelkitty https://nelkitty.tumblr.com/post/178039100903/not-poignant-uh-so-this-is-my-first-attempt-atFanart of Augus Each Uisge and Ash Glashtyn in waterhorse form by sic-sempervirens https://sic-sempervirens.tumblr.com/post/651913801311158272/sliding-into-mermay-on-a-technicality
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 not\_poignant. "Deeper into the Woods." *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 31 March 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/3652500/chapters/8069799. Chapter 1: I - The Waterhorse.
2. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 24 January 2016. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/1775002. Chapter 2: Retribution.
3. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 October 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2002562. Chapter 20: Nightmare.
4. ↑ Not-Poignant. "Augus Each Uisge has - for me - always been based off..." *Actually A Little Bit Poignant.* 3 Feb 2014, 9:00 PM. https://not-poignant.tumblr.com/post/75542549651/icehooves-friesian-horse-augus-each-uisge.
5. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 11 November 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/5741654. Chapter 17: Life.
6. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 November 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2101316. Chapter 27: Compulsion.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 20 January 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/91136179. Chapter 24: Glashtyn.
8. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 24 September 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/1928111. Chapter 14: Aftercare.
9. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 December 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6096881. Chapter 20: Mirror.
10. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 23 January 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7005020. Chapter 27: Healing.
11. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 26 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7541705. Chapter 32: Limbo.
12. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 31 January 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2363349. Chapter 39: Alone.
13. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 19 October 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/38239544. Chapter 31: The Sky is Falling.
14. ↑ not\_poignant. "Deeper into the Woods." *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 19 April 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/3652500/chapters/8404240. Chapter 6: VI - The War General.
15. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 September 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/5045072. Chapter 9: Amends.
16. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 22 December 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2204791. Chapter 33: Invisible.
17. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 23 December 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/29983488. Chapter 11: Imbalance.
18. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 10 October 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/5386955. Chapter 13: Advice.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 December 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2171754. Chapter 31: Aftermath.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 31 January 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2083339. Chapter 26: Family.
21. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 2 January 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6705320. Chapter 24: Listen.
22. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 September 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/1904254. Chapter 12: Liver.
23. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 January 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2310680. Chapter 37: Recovery.
24. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 9 December 2021. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/88760557. Chapter 21: Hungers.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 3 February 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/91940740. Chapter 25: Monsters Within Monsters.
26. ↑ Not-Poignant. "Pronunciation Guide...." *Actually A Little Bit Poignant.* 20 Apr 2013, 6:50 PM. https://not-poignant.tumblr.com/post/48474677112/pronunciation-guide.
27. ↑ Not-Poignant. "I remember you said in a list of character name pronunciations ..." *Actually A Little Bit Poignant.* 9 Aug 2018, 11:03 AM. https://not-poignant.tumblr.com/post/176807757253/i-remember-you-said-in-a-list-of-character-name.
28. ↑ not\_poignant. "The Nightingale and Terho the Mouse-Lad." *The Fae Tales Verse, Archive of Our Own,* 5 May 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1571246.
29. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 March 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2732377. Chapter 45: Coronation.
30. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 3 March 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7625663. Chapter 33: Confession.
31. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 7 November 2019. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/50852635. Chapter 18: Long Past Due.
32. ↑ "Each-uisge". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Each-uisge. Accessed 8 June 2021.