#urisk

Monster Manual - Brownie

Named for their woolly brown hair, brownies are small fairies who sometimes live in tandem with humanoids. Like other fairies they can move at incredible speed, become invisible, and possess strength far exceeding their size. They use these talents to keep their homes nice and tidy. Some, especially among humans and halflings, believe that brownies do this out of a servile compassion for the owners of the houses they live in. Nothing could be further from the truth. Brownies consider houses to be their property. The weak, short-lived giants who inhabit it are merely unaware tenants. Their penchant for cleaning up after these tenants is due to their disdain for clutter. Brownies like everything to be exactly where it should be. A hard work ethic is central to their culture. Thus they despise when they find work undone, or worse, not being done at all. Lazy residents may be a target for their ire. Sometimes these can be small pranks, like shouting their name when they're alone or tickling their nose while they're asleep. Angry brownies may take things too far and injure or maim people they don't like. It's always best to keep on the brownies’ good side. Gifts of food are appreciated. Gifts of clothing are a gamble. Some may gladly take them, while others will consider it an insult to their fine brown hair. Even if they do take the clothes, they may cease to work as they don't wish to dirty their new duds. I've found tobacco to be a useful bargaining chip. 

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The Urisk of Moness Burn

From Perthshire Folk Tales

By Lindsey Gibb & C.A. Hope

Before the noise and bustle of the Industrial Age drove them from the land, water sprites lived in almost every waterfall in Breadalbane. Tales of these faerie folk show some people describing them as as goblins while others saw them as wee people with long flowing hair and often wearing bonnets.

Urisks were keen on food, very keen on food! They had a great love of fish and in particular, milk. This may be why they made themsevles useful to mortals by carrying out tasks like threshing their corn or other necessary jobs to be repaid in milk.

You would be mistaken however to assume urisks were always benign, good humoured creatures. They were also well known for their naughty and downright destructive nature if they were upset. Unfortutunately, being unpredictable was another aspect to their character, which sometimes made it hard to live with them as close neighbours.

This tale concerns the urisk they called Peallaidh (the Shaggy One). His full name was Peallaidh an Spuit and he lived among the rocks and waters of the Upper Fall of the Moness Burn, above Aberfeldy. His friend, a fellow urisk called Brunaidh an Easain (Broonie of the smaller fall) lived downstream on the lower waterfall.

Now urisks are known for their longevity and it is claimed Aberfeldy was created by Peallaidh, the original Gaelic name being Obair Pheallaidh - The Work of Peallaidh.

Near Peallaidh's waterfall lived a farmer and his wife. Her turf-roofed cottage was always spick and span, her family well cared for and most days saw her humming away, preparing food over a glowing fire.

She was baking one day when Peallaidh came running in through her open door and snatched up her first batch of cooling bannocks.

The poor housewife was shocked and a little worried. If an urisk came into your home once, it would keep coming back. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the shaggy-haired little figure sitting at her table munching away at her scones. When the ones on the fire were ready she tipped them onto the plate and hoped he would soon be full.

**Continued in Instagram**

I was going to do Trisme but… those questions don’t really apply 😅 so i thought I’d do Oddjack instead…

1. Why is your character's eye colour the way it is? Is it random or not?

- Oddjack’s eyes are beady and dark brown/black the majority of the time. He has a dark amber/rust eyeshine which is because a lot of animals have that color, that share characteristics with him; and it’s also a trait that people would find unsettling if they discovered it

2. Who gave your character their name?

-Oddjack briefly stayed with an elderly couple on a farm, they called him Oddjack - specifically, they called him “the little odd Jack,” because they identified immediately that he was some variety of fae, though they couldn’t quite figure him out

3. Does your character have tattoos? What do they mean?

Event that defines your character's past:

Walking in the Air

Oddjack has a memory of being a newborn fairy and being carried through the air, down a winters mountain, presumably by some fairy or witch. It’s his first memory and his favorite, because it was a moment of wonder and joy, before things started to go badly.

How your character sees themselves:

The Scientist

This song is about a breakup, but Oddjack feels this way when he sort of “breaks up” with humanity all the time. He apologizes without understanding what’s wrong; he tries to puzzle out what he did wrong in a very analytical way, like a scientist, but that’s not helping him connect to people. So he gives up and goes back to the start - sitting in his swamp and wishing he was better at being human.

How others view them:

Someone is crazy

This isn’t EXACTLY right, but it’s the closest I can get to how people feel about Oddjack - they think he’s acting weird and off-putting and it’s kind of his own fault if he alienated himself from everyone. People get exhausted dealing with him constantly messing up at socializing and don’t feel sympathetic.

Their closest relationship (romantic or platonic)

Blomstertid

Song taken sort of out of original context - it’s a Swedish hymn for summer. For Oddjack, it was the first time he experienced joy with another human being, when Tessa asked him to dance this with her at the seasonal festival. They had to practice and very carefully coordinate because Tessa has iron fused to her body, which is poison to fae creatures.

A major fight scene:

Si puedes perdonar

Oddjack is NOT a fighter, but he has intervened sometimes when his companions are struggling. One of his fae abilities is Song - like a bard, he can sing his magic. Oddjack is able to see the secret pain that’s hurting a spirit, and sing it away - though, this always results in the creature’s death. It kind of plays out like the scene in Book of Life.

End credits song:

Winter Light