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I've been wondering, what does "Aossi" mean?
It comes up in a few places, related to Eiren, but I haven't found out why.
First place is the Chain Slash Login Theme.
In the game files, it's referred to as "Title_Aossi_Ver.mp3"
The second I've found is the BGM for the boss fight inside the special Peaca dungeon area, called "boss_Aossi.mp3"
And then the third I've found, if you try making a MabiNovel with the Chain Slash Collection Book, and choose Eiren as the NPC, one of her portraits/facial expressions is called "aossi".
But... what does that mean?
Is Aossi a name?
I thought her name, even over in KR Mabinogi was Eiren. Or "Earen" or something.
So where did Aossi come from?
I don't remember seeing that word during the storyline.
Comments
Examples in Mabinogi (not a full list - despite what you think, we've consistently had new aos sí added in almost all the chapters and storylines of the game):
- the Banshee in Peaca Basic is probably the most obvious one (shee = sidhe)
- the Hellhounds in Math dungeon
- the Cait Siths in Rundal Siren and RAHM
- the Leprechauns in The Other Alchemists
- the Dullahan in Ghost of Partholon
- Merrow!
- and the Sluagh, of course, making Eiren one of the few members of the aos sí to befriend us. (I say one of the few because I would argue that Aer and Enn are also aos sí, but I have no real basis for this)
The word sídhe itself is more properly used as a place name, to refer to the places where the supernatural beings lived. Mabi has those too - Sidhe Sneachta and Sidhe Finnachaid. Maybe people thought the shapeshifting bear was a supernatural creature?
Considering Shape-shifting creatures like the Selkies and Phooka are counted as Aos Sidhe, that would make sense for Sidhe Sneachta's Name.
Also "Aos Sidhe" is often used interchangeable with the word "fairy", and water Spirits are often considered Fairies. So Calling Aer and Aos Sidhe isn't incorrect.
Duly impressed with this post. You have my kudos madam.
I always thought that the Cloaker, or even Ghosts, in the game is the actual representation of Sluagh (Sidhe) but then they made Sluagh into a main character.
Aren't imps, goblins and trolls, and even giants and elves part of the fae or sidhe race? Mileisans, since we can transform, are we some sort of variation of them too?
You are Correct. Imps, Goblins, Trolls, elves etc are all considered Sidhe in Mythology.
However, In Mabinogi it seems the Devs decided to use the term Fomorian over Aos Sidhe to explain everything supernatural and non-human in Mabinogi.
In Mabinogi the Developers created 3 Main Categories (excluding Gods):
Tuatha de Danaan Races: Consisting of the Humans, Elves and Giants
Milesans: Foreign Entities that take that form of one of the 3 Tuatha de Danaan Races
Fomorians: Everything else that isn't a Milesan or Tuatha de Danaan
Under that Fomorian Category we would find all those Sub-categories like Aos Sidhe, Undead, Demonic, Animal, etc.
So yes we can call the Imps, Goblins and trolls Aos Sidhe if we want, but for the Elves... I don't think? we can within Mabinogi.
Sluagh sidhe is just how Scottish-Gaelic refers to Scottish fairies collectively. It translates to Irish as “aos si”.
It translates to English as “fairie folk” or “sidhe”. I prefer sidhe. Lowland fairies are very similar to highland fairies. This suggests a common origin. But English fairies are very different from Scottish fairies. This is not because they are different types of fairies. It is because they are two words from two different languages (or dialects) that look or sound the same but mean very different things. (Scottish-Gaelic faire; Middle English fairy)
There is nothing even remotely irrational or supernatural about the sidhe. They were just roving bands of hunters. Each was associated with a particular habitation. Each habitation represented a hunting ground or sidh.
Things like imps, goblins, and trolls are blatantly English. And the banshee is not a sidhe despite the name. Orginal Irish folklore does have a bean-shidh (female sidhe) who sang laments for the recently departed in certain Irish families. But the banshee was an invention of English speakers.
Elves ... it depends on what you mean by elves. Mabinogi elves are town folk, not fairie folk. Scottish elves were sidhe. In the south-central highlands of Scotland are the ruins of crannogs and ring forts. This was once the most peaceful and prosperous community in all of northern Britain. The Gaels referred to them as "daoine sith" (men of peace). It was said they preferred to hunt and ride rather than defend the kingdom. Their story co-evolved with the Arthurian legend leading to the romanticized sidhe that inspired romantics and neoromantics like Tolkien. In the 13th century some folk fancied the ruins as ruins of castles of elf knights. Elf in this sense most likely referred to their location in the upper part of Alba (lol ... Alban knights). Anglian albi evolved into Northumbrian aelf.
Scottish folklore isn’t really all that elaborate or complex.
The most prominent trooping fairies are the fairie folk and the selkie folk. Both are quite human and roved in bands.
The most prominent solitary fairies are water spirits: kelpies and brownies. Water spirits were ubiquitous to Scotland. Every stream and waterfall seemed to have one. Their natures were as varied as the waters they inhabited. Kelpie was originally just a generic term for these water spirits. And Scottish brownies (uruisg) were essentially just kelpies that became more social towards the end of the harvest and hung around the farms. During this period libations were made to them similar to those made to household spirits elsewhere. Later the term kelpie became equated with large bodies of water and they consequentially became more dangerous. But then they also helped millers. With nature, things are seldom as simple as black and white.
Anyhow, the game borrows words from British and Irish literary traditions. But that’s about it. The Sluagh in the game is just a possessing spirit. That's not a very "Celtic" explanation at all. Spirit intrusion = soul loss or what we would call loss of mind. Good job. But for a Celtic feel you'd want to be able to explain with a breach of taboo theory instead like the Scottish-Gaelic geas or Welsh tynged.
Since my main is a Scottish elf she would probably say someone put a tynged on her.
The Sluagh thing was nonsensical, which kind of threw her off at first. Her understanding was that Eiren was a bean-shidh (woman of the fairies) under a geas. In the end the geas was removed.. Whether this is true or not i don't know. But it worked really well. That was the first story I've played through so far that actually felt "Celtic'.