Deoch Mass - 4-10-2019

It is an honor to stand here, giving praise to Deoch once again.

May you embrace that which makes you an Aisling, the gift of Deoch and the Inspiration that you have fostered within yourself.


If you were here when I first revived my mass about five Deochs ago, you will have heard the tale I’m about to tell you. But it is an important one, so I like to recite it a few times per cycle.

It is a tale I learned when I was but a new priest well over a century ago and I offer it here for you today so that you may carry it forward and tell it amongst yourselves so that none of us will ever forget the tale of how the Aisling Spark came to be. 

Deoch was a shifting, shapeless being of Darkness and he held incredible power, much more than that of a normal Dubhaimid creature that crawled the lands at the time. He was one of the favored of Chadul and was deployed not to decimate the enemy but to tempt them -- to lure them -- to the side of Darkness. If Deoch at the time was a mindless drone like that of his lesser brethren or not, we do not know for certain, but regardless during his mission he stumbled onto something unexpected that would change his very nature forever. 

One day, Deoch encountered Danaan seemingly by chance. She was cloistered away; no allies protecting Her; She was alone, vulnerable, and looked to be calmly working on something that was taking her full attention. Being the powerful force of Darkness that he was, this would have made a tempting target for Deoch but he did not take the opportunity to destroy his vulnerable foe; instead something compelled Him instead to watch in secret.

What he saw was Danaan pulling threads of Light out of thin air and weaving them into something which Deoch could not see from his vantage point, but still he remained motionless. Transfixed by the Goddess and Her task.

For days... months... years... time passed. This time changed Deoch; Chadul called to him many times but he did not answer, -choosing- to forsake his servitude to his Dark lord instead of pulling his gaze away from Danaan and the mysterious work She had occupied Herself with.

Over a century had passed since Deoch ignored the call of Chadul until one day Danaan disappeared, mysteriously and without warning. In the years leading up to this, Her work had started to become frantic as if She was working against a deadline. Deoch, either through habit or cautiousness, continued to wait. But (Goddess Danaan) She did not return. He slowly emerged from his hiding place and stood before the creation Danaan had left behind. It was a Spark; delicate in its weaving yet strong but… incomplete. If something wasn’t done, it wouldn’t be long before it winked out of existence. The work Danaan had done would unravel and be lost forever.

Deoch knew he couldn’t let this happen -- he loved Danaan and this Spark was all that remained of Her. Filled with sorrow at the disappearance of the Goddess He started to work, inspired by the dedication he had been witness to for so long. Although he wasn’t able to see the full picture of how She had been weaving this creation, the decades he had been watching her outside motions he was certain he could at least approximate her design.

For us, it would seem not much but a blink of an eye, but in that moment Deoch spent lifetimes completing Her work. A delicate blending of style and form of two very different creators. An impossible union of Light and Darkness. When he stepped away, satisfied with what he had done, he thought back on his time watching Danaan and he smiled for the first time as a brilliant flash enveloped him and thus the Aisling Spark was born.