Reukh that angered the Allmother Nin of Illandrach were converted into her personal army of murder unicorns. A history of bloodshed at the tree's will has condemned the Bansidhe to being seen as war machines, eventually filtering into society after Illandrach's hold on them was transferred to the more peaceful Ienoch.
Biology
Once a tribe of Reukh, Illandrach used her pathogens to kill them off, the men dying but the women survived the madness and developed a single crystalline horn that connected them to the trees. Over the epochs Illandrach's new minions developed into an even larger, more powerful race of taothomet. As their kind cannot bear males they kept themselves alive by interacting with the other clans nearby, usually the Nechihan, and sometimes Valbourg.
Their renaissance forms are reminiscent of their old Reukh genes, but Illandrach—accidentally—gave them the gift of flight in the process of mutating them into her servants, not realising that is exactly what happened with the Shenuankh. The horn controls everything heka-related, an extremely sacred part of the body for them. If one's horn has been vandalised against her will in any way the Allmother grants her a new one.
History
Epochs passed by with the nin world tree Illandrach living in "peace" with other creatures. Till an annoying, strange little creature known as a Reukh began chopping down her saplings and hacking at her roots and making her wood into such horrible things like weapons and homes. Retaliation came in the form of a fungal pathogen fuelled by heka, intent on killing the lot of them. Only it seemed just half of them died while the other became susceptible to her will, an interesting development. Planning on keeping them around till they died off entirely, she soon realised they kept themselves alive with other taothomet.
They called Illandrach "Allmother" and heeded her will and she sent her children to fight other tribes, becoming addicted to the chaos, and never satisfied with how far her borders reached. Nin did not like the nutrients provided by the corpses of taothomet and wanted them to die elsewhere, so pushing them out of her territory was her original aim, becoming bent on destruction along the way. When taothomet began pushing back her war machines by uniting their militaries in combat, her final solution was to summon the currently passing asteroid, Uiestemach, which struck the continent Zalohir. Obliterating the region where the allmother resided, she inadvertently killed herself with the impact.
Remaining Bansidhe flocked to Ienoch on the northern continent, the eldest sister sapling of Illandrach. Ienoch was less concerned with war, spending most of her time worrying about her silent younger sisters. Quietly allowing the Bansidhe clan to grow, their customs and habits eventually adapted less war-like tendencies and they made their way back into taothomet society.
Culture & Society
Bansidhe mostly stay amongst themselves. Very few interact with the other taothomet, the only thing that keeps their clan going, as those that choose to reproduce will always have a Bansidhe daughter with almost no characteristics of the father, and no known scions have ever existed. Mostly sylphs are known to reproduce as they have the most exposure to other races, whereas many Bansidhe have never seen a male or just never realised they have.
The Bansidhe’s land is known as Halcyon and they almost all live in the city Illandrach, adjacent to and interacting with the roots of the Allmother Ienoch. The architecture is reminiscent of Georgian and Art Deco, the style following over to their clothing as well, and wearing mostly just kilts and sporrans with the occasional spencer-styled jacket. The two clans they tolerate and share their lands with are the Nechihan, who respect and worship the nin, and the Gattling, who often venture outside Clarion, a hinterland the Bansidhe protect. Relations with the Valbourg is usually strained although less so than other taothomet.
They celebrate many things with vocal music: new nin saplings, when the Allmother speaks, declarations of war, entering battle, and the birth of new Bansidhe. They learn to play instruments from a young age, namely chordophones. Coming of age comes in the form of an induction ceremony into the battalion, celebrated with fasting and song initially, and then yearly by spending a night with the Allmother, an older tradition from their days with Illandrach when they were constantly spread out and at war.
Mythology & Folklore
They have less to do with mythology and more to do with traditions, as they have their direct link to a record of theirs and Umeon's past. With Ienoch meddling the least in their affairs than the other Allmother, the Bansidhe have slowly started opening their minds up to the concept of creativity, such as folklore regarding their past and that of their Allmother, and hobbled together fables from other taothomet.
The Vox is the branches of the nin and regular Bansidhe below her are regarded as incarnations of nin leaves. She keeps the Bansidhe united while she is kept up by the Allmother.
Language
The language of the lands where the Bansidhe reside is briathar, the Nechihan runic language.
Lexicon
Aria
Aria are heads of battalions. These battalions are made up of 30 to 300 Bansidhe.
Siren
Usually the one who is in charge of a ward, or assigned a levy to collect. These Bansidhe act almost like constabulary in other cultures, but normally regarding other taothomet and not other Bansidhe.
Ward & Levy
A ward is someone that a Bansidhe either owes a debt to, or regards highly enough to give her assistance or time towards. A levy is when someone owes a Bansidhe, usually for harm to her or a nin. This also comes into account when the Bansidhe vote for one to be placed on someone if their crimes are dire.
Sylph
Each sapling has a liaison known as a sylph that will periodically check on their well-being and state of taothomet affairs in the vicinity. If taothomet activities get too close to a sapling the sylph’s job is to negotiate terms of them either protecting the tree, leaving the area, or suffer a Bansidhe incursion. Most peoples and sovereignties cooperate with them given their past and nature, also due to the myths they have formed around the Bansidhe.
Vox
The Vox—which the hinterlands of Vox are named—is the speaker and voice for nin, leader of the Bansidhe.
Bansidhe
