Ruairi the Dark

This is the story of an ancient Chieftain known as Ruairi the Dark. It is a tale that teaches the lesson of honoring the laws of the Tribes.

This is the tale of Ruairi the Dark, a great Chieftain of long ago whose reign was cut short by becoming his own enemy. Ruairi was born to proud parents of the Marcaigh Tribe. His mother was a village farmer who tended the fields, and his father was a preparer of food for the communal gatherings. They were long time lovers, and Ruairi would be renewing their Life Bond for the third time. He was a special birth, a light in the darkness, for in the previous weeks, the Marcaigh Tribe had been set upon by an especially bad plague of Wild. They had lost several villagers to the forest. Ruairi's healthy birth was a welcome gift, helping to raise the spirits of the otherwise downtrodden Tribe. As if a tribute to those lost, Ruairi was born with the same dark, black hair that would follow him for the rest of his days. Even as a newborn, his deep, green eyes had the twinkle of Wild in them, and the whole village knew that one day, Ruairi was going to go on to do great things.

As Ruairi aged, it become quite clear that he was indeed something special. Ruairi wasn't particularly gifted physically, but he was smart. He could absorb even the smallest bit of knowledge in no time. After playing for days near the Druid's home, watching him teach his apprentice, Ruairi was able to teach himself to read. He was able to best any Elder in the village at a game of Stones at the age of five. By the age of seven, he was offering advice to his father on how to prepare the communal meals, something which the belly of the Tribe appreciated greatly! By the age of 10, he was advising the Elder Council. He was indeed, a miracle of the Wild. Ruairi was chosen to apprentice to the Chieftain of the Marcaigh Tribe because everyone in the village understood that Ruairi was special.

And so it was that as time passed, Ruairi's advisement to the Elder Council turned into real leadership. Ruairi grew into a handsome man, and his deep, black hair was a marvel to the women of the Tribe. Perhaps he didn't start with the charm of a Chieftain, but Ruairi simply had the ability to learn it. When it was his time, the entire Elder Council agreed that Ruairi would lead the Marcaigh Tribe, and he was only the age of 19. They gave him the name, Ruairi the Dark.

Under his lead, the Marcaigh Tribe began to grow extremely prosperous. Ruairi's gift of thought would help the Tribe in every way. He would watch the field work for days, suddenly coming up with a new idea on how to move crops or plow the fields in such a way as to increase yields. He would watch the cloth workers, days later inventing new devices which made twisting thread easier. He would watch the stone workers, developing a new stone, chipping axe that was easier to swing and with greater precision. Ruairi was able to transform his Tribe, and it wasn't long before it was on the path to great prosperity.

The neighboring Tribes began to take notice that the people of the Marcaigh Tribe were doing very well for themselves. This was not something they were used to as Marcaigh had always been low in their eyes. They began to grow jealous of Marcaigh and wanted to know exactly what it was that Marcaigh had discovered that had made them so great. They began to send travelers there, offering trade deals the likes of which Marcaigh had never been offered. Yet, what they did not understand was that the Chieftain they would be dealing with was the true source of Marcaigh's growth, and Ruairi was a deft negotiator. No matter how hard they tried, Ruairi would always best them in deals. They always seemed to get the short end of the stick, and they never did quite learn what it was that Marcaigh had discovered that was making them prosper so.

There were two neighboring Tribes who grew very jealous of Marcaigh. They were also led by two Chieftains who were brothers, Lachtin and Cailean. These two brothers came from a family of Chieftains long known for their aggressive ways, and their father had been the conqueror who had placed his sons in charge of the Tribes. Lachtin and Cailean set out to learn the secrets of Marcaigh, and they began to undermine Marcaigh, publicly despoiling their honer and failing to deliver timely on deals. It was just enough that Marcaigh could not call the Rangers, but Ruairi could not stand by and let his Tribe be disgraced so. Ruairi called a Gathering, and he met the brothers face to face. They were crude to Ruairi and refused to negotiate their positions. Instead, they threatened war if Ruairi would not tell them of the secrets of Marcaigh. Ruairi did tell them in fiery oration that what they were doing was against Tribe law, that they were failing on their agreements and inciting violence among the Tribes, but the brothers did not care. They were ambitious and thought themselves above the law. And so it was that war broke out.

Ruairi, angered by the lack of respect for the ancient laws, summoned the Rangers, but they did not come. He did not know at the time, but the brothers had already spent weeks poisoning the mind of the nearby Rangers, telling them that Ruairi's Tribe had somehow become possessed by The Wild. It was the only explanation for their continued prosperity. They had piled on deceit, making it appear as if Marcaigh had gone mad. And so, when the brothers gathered their warriors and marched to war against Marcaigh, they brought with them the forces of the very Ranger Outfit that Marcaigh had been paying duty to for years. This struck Tribe Marcaigh a blow. Ruairi was especially taken aback that his Tribe would be so accused of such things to elicit such a betrayal. Moreover, he simply could not understand what it was that he had done wrong. Ruairi was not used to missing such details or to being so outplayed, but he simply did not consider the possibility that the forces of evil in the world would sometimes use treachery above honor to get their way.

Faced with no other choice, Ruairi mustered his warriors. He told them that they would not only face the brothers, Lachtin and Cailean, but that the Rangers would be there as well. He told them that, somehow, their enemies had painted the Marcaigh as a Tribe of evil, and that they would not let that stand. Marcaigh was strong now, and they would right theses wrongs or die trying. Ruairi, in a famous speech, bestowed upon his warriors the greatest sense of purpose and fervor that they had ever felt. They sharpened their weapons, built their shields, and they met Ruairi in the fields just outside their village, prepared for war.

There would be but one great battle in this affair. Ruairi, a genius, could not be undone. He concocted a battle plan so cunning that his enemies were completely caught off guard. His warriors hid themselves in the Great Forest, disguised in cloaks of bark and leaves. They waited for days in silence as their enemies came closer to their village. When the time was right, Ruairi sprang his trap. Through his own invention, the entire forest around the enemy had been trapped, full of deathly spikes and poisonous gas plants. As the first enemy warriors encountered the traps, it caused great confusion. During this confusion, Ruairi led his warriors into a brutal charge, and they cut the enemy down as they tried to flee in terror. Tribe Marcaigh crushed their enemies. They released the Rangers, letting them know that Tribe Marcaigh had been falsely accused but that further, they would no longer stand to be trifled with. Lachtin and Cailean were both executed. Ruairi gained his first taste of what it felt like to be a conqueror.

Ruairi was emboldened by his first, major victory. The Tribes of Lachtin and Cailean were rightfully his, and he established vassals there, installing his own chosen Chieftains. The Marcaigh were catapulted into the status of a Great Tribe. Overwhelmed by the sensation of victory and lauded into the status of a legend by his Tribe, Ruairi grew to love the feeling of conquest. He became obsessed with it, believing that through him, his Tribe could be the greatest Tribe of all time. Perhaps, he even dreamed, it could be him that would one day unite all the Tribes. So, Ruairi began to conquer. He led the Marcaigh to victory over many Tribes, amassing wealth and power. Ruairi was so gifted that he was unbeatable.

As we know, even the brightest among us can be blinded by the emotions of greed and ambition. This was also the fate of Ruairi the Dark. As his conquests began to mount, he also began to become the thing which he had first sought to destroy. He began to employ the very same tactics that Lachtin and Cailean had done to wage war against Marcaigh. He began to violate the oaths and honor of the Tribes to lay justification for his conquests. As the power of Marcaigh continued to grow to seemingly unstoppable heights, he began to outright ignore the laws of the Tribes and built a conquering army of warriors that would sweep from one village to the next, bringing them all under his control. Ruairi truly became the dark.

With a mad conqueror on the loose, the Tribes entered a state of panic. A great Gathering was called among Tribes in all regions, and a great movement of people began to take shape. Afraid of the mad conqueror, Tribes from regions as far away as the Spine began sending their warriors. A great alliance was forged between hundreds of Tribes, and they were able to create an army so large that the animals of the forest would flee as it marched. Facing this heavy-handed, military might, Ruairi was shocked. Such a terrible force was surely outside the laws of the Tribes, but it was then that it also began to dawn on him that it was in fact he who had caused this. He was the one who had become what he had once hated. His lust for conquest had poisoned his mind, and now, the justice of the Wild was coming for him.

Against such a terrible force, the death on both sides would be unfathomable. Ruairi, his vision cleared, understood this better than any. He had never intended to be a bad man, but somehow, the call of power had lured him to a place that was astray the laws of the Tribes. Unwilling to let this continue, Ruairi surrendered himself to the alliance in an unprecedented display of honor. His Great Tribe was split apart, each village returned to its rightful people. Tribe Marcaigh continued to thrive under a new Chieftain, but their days of conquest ended. Ruairi was and still is held as an example of the greatest honor as although his wrongs were many, his one great right to atone was without equal.

It is still not known if perhaps Ruairi the Dark had never been so wrongly brought to war by the brothers if he would have been possibly the greatest Chieftain there ever was. Some believe that because Ruairi was born clearly gifted by The Wild, and that it was inevitable that his first tastes of blood would lead him down such a dark path. However, others still hold up his final actions as an example of how the human spirit can conquer The Wild if it is strong enough. What is clear, though, is that even Ruairi the Dark, the most gifted mind the Tribes have ever witnessed, came to understand in the end that the laws of the Tribes and of honor are paramount to us all. All that lies in wait for those who choose to ignore it is the darkness.

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--Neil (talk) 17:46, 24 October 2016 (AST)