Tour a Celtia Hood today:
The ancient Celtic city of Brigantia, located in sunny south Iberia, is the perfect place to vacation - and to live! Overlooking a picturesque harbour and easily defensible, this lovely locale already has several residents you can visit. Also steeped in history and legend, Brigantia is noted for being home to the mythological Milesians. King Breogán, founding father of the Galician Celts, is said to have built a tower so tall his sons could see it in Ireland.


Meet one of our Hood leaders:
Lovely healer, poet and hurley addict Nessa Silures was recently appointed Ceannmor of Cnoc Áine - the sidhe mound of the Tuatha dé Danann goddess Áine. Nessa is also an active member of Bardic College and co-leader of Airmid's Well and is discovering the joys of roleplay writing in the Celtia's latest Hood adventure: Summer of Blood. And she's so excited about Samhain, she has already decorated her home and volunteered to coordinate two events for the coming festivities. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting this vibrant Silures lass, drop by her new Hood home, Gort na mBláth and say hi.


Celtia news flash:
Clan plaques free to good homes.
Adopt yours here today!


Group Scoop:
Come to Airmid's Well, the newest group in Celtia, for discussions on herbs and healing from the past, present and future! Our name comes the legendary well the Tuatha de Danann healers built in Slane, Co. Meath, to restore warriors wounded in battle. Some say Airmid and her brothers still guard this well.
Though our main focus is Celtic, we will also be discussing useful plants from all the Ancient Worlds. Other topics include gardening, wildcrofting, recipe exchange for culinary delights and herb-crafts, and the mystical uses of plants. And we'll be delving into traditional lore and scholarly research. For our first group project, we are compiling our own healer's and herbalist's Ogham, which is sure to be interesting. Join us at Airmid's Well and share the journey!


Archeao News headlines:

3,000-year-old hoard of treasure found in England

Bronze age canoe stops pipeline in Wales

Woodhenge bluestone discovery

Another cash boost for Seahenge

Blair urged to act over Stonehenge

A feature of Stone Pages

War Correspondent: Fenian Niafer
Group Reporter: Moss Niall

Ceannmor MacJot finally flipped his magic switch and put old Fast Eddie Niafer out of business. Sorry folks. No more freebees. Now we'll have to dig deep into our AW pockets and pay to own a Hood home. Heck, those heaps of sestertii we've been hoarding have been burning a hole in our virtual pockets anyway. So what do we lucky few do with our Hood home-threads now that they're redundant? Fast Eddie says keep 'em. Post a text or graphic link to our Hood threads on our new residences.


We can now own Hood homes anywhere in Celtia - or in any world for that matter. Simply go to a Region: Albion, Eire, Gaul or The Distant Realms, explore the Realms of that Region until you find the Settlement that sings "home sweet home" and start hammering and sawing away. Okay, I lied. Gaul doesn't have any settlements yet, so don't go there. Patrons have three fine Iron Age models to choose from: the Bothan (a hut), the Brugh (a manor, a hostel, or a sidhe mound) and the Dun (a hillfort).

This lovely plaque was created by Caoimhe Manach
specially for the residents of Cnoc Áine.
More free Celtia Hood plaques are available here.


MacJot was not going to let Citizens buy Hood homes, but after several Patrons threatened to burn his flying carpet, he finally caved in. Celtia Citizens are welcome to join the fun by buying a bothan to decorate and call their own. The only real difference between the three types of real estate is cost - at least for now. This could change. In fact anything can happen in the Hoods. They've been a living, growing project from the start. Citizens will soon discover they can create boards on their homes but not threads. The reason for this is that creating threads has always been a "Patrons only" feature at AW. Now before you go banging your head on the key board in frustration, please ask a Patron you trust for help. Your safety matters to us.


No, Ceannmor is not the brand name of an Iron Age vacuum cleaner. Ceannmor is the title we chose for our Hood leaders. It's a Gaelic word that literally translates as "big head," but we won't tell them. No no no no nooooo! What we will tell them is that Ceannmor means "Big Chief" and "Clan Head" because it sounds better and, well, that's what it means. In Gealic. Now I suppose you want me to tell you what a Ceannmor does. Aside from not being entirely sure yet? A Ceannmor leads a Settlement by appointment or poll. Anyone can ask to be considered for the position by asking your Scribes, but you have to own a home in the Settlement you wish to lead and be willing to put some time and effort into helping to build your Hood. Guidlines will be available soon. Meanwhile, please don't try to take our new Na Ceannmor apart to see how they work.


No. Really. Na Ceannmor is the plural form, as in more than one, and we have several friendly, helpful Settlement heads already. We also have a growing number of residents and lots of excitement brewing. So far Celtia's Hood hotspots are Brigantia, Cean Tir, Dunscaith, Inver Colpa and Tara. Just think! Next time you're travelling through Celtia, you'll have lots of interesting homes to see and people to meet. Be sure to drop by and say hello. And don't forget the housewarming bribes, er, bobbles...flowers, whisky, chocolate, a trip for two to sunny Iberia.


This Goldfest, all of Ancient Worlds will journey by land, sea, air and even undergound, on camels, ostriches, buffalos, flying carpets, dragons and whatever else we can find to get us from one place to the next. The Celts are taking everyone on a wild ride through the Otherworld on sidhe horses. Plus we're planning to continue the mayhem through to Samhain, that magic time when the veil between this world and the Otherworld lifts and all manner of monsters walk the earth. Rumours abound about bizzare comedy acts, phantom foxes, warriors, goblins and other creepy critter being let loose on our Hoods before Oíche Shamna - Samhain eve. Visit our Planning thread for details and keep your eyes peeled for more haunting news in the special Goldfest issue of Acta this October.


Summer of Blood has been a unique experience for roleplayers in Celtia. Following the inspired example of the groundbreaking Once & Future Brude, the outlaws of Magh Croimor set out from their lair just after Beltaine, each with a grudge to settle. The plan? To launch a series of raids across the land, gathering a cast of characters along the way and setting one clan against another through a chain of ruses and misadventures until all of Celtia is united in chaos!

Led by the crooked bandit-chief Nion, the renegades wreaked havoc at An Caidreamh Suiri in Munster, nearly murdered the venerable innkeeper at Brigid's Bruidean in Cill Dara, roamed boldly at large throughout Tara's Lughnasadh festival, and tried to ambush the Rian of Niafer's entourage on the road to Inver Colpa. Pursued by an ever-growing train of vengence-seekers, the outlaws have now reached the land's end of Eriu. Allies and enemies of the Niafer clan are gathering for battle near Inver Colpa, but what they are fighting for is not very clear. The peak of the raiding season is reason enough.

Samhain will call a truce on Summer of Blood. All the players will sit down together at the feast while praises are sung, boasts are bragged and axes are buried for another year. Until then, there is still time to enlist with your local war band and join in the fun, or test your mettle in the ranks of the renegades. Interested? Contact me or Nion , or post to the OOC thread.

SoB Aboooo!