Meet the artist

[gifted_hands]

Name: Tadhg Seamas MacEibhir (Tadhg is pronounced Tieg)
Gender: Male
Species: Púca, a form of Irish horse-fairy
Age: 110 (born 1900)
Height: 6'
Build: Tall and well-muscled
Eyes: Dark brown, see below for more details
Hair: Dark brown
Skin: Medium complexion
Defining Marks: See below

History: The third of the four children born to Ruairí MacEibhir (sonofgranite) and his deceased wife Máire NiStandún MacEibhir, Tadhg is a púca, an Irish faerie who can turn into a horse. He was born and raised in the Connemara region of Ireland, but being the most connected of his siblings to his fairy heritage, he has spent decades traveling Faerie, learning the land and creatures, learning magic and art from his grandmother Gaoth and anyone else who would teach a fey with human blood. He eventually settled in Santa Barbara where he still lives, crafting spells, paintings and jewelry from the home and studio he shares with a variable menagerie of animals. He still travels to Faerie though, and one trip in particular had unexpected consequences, namely his daughter, Caoimhe (lady_hippocamp). He didn't find out about her existence until she was three, but he then claimed his paternal right to help raise and teach the little girl, spending time with her in both the human world and Faerie, and they've grown very close in the years since.

These days magic, art, family and friends form the centers of Tadhg's life, and not necessarily in that order. His paintings have garnered quiet but consistent positive attention among local art aficionados, and he is gaining an even quieter reputation in an even more rarefied circle. Among those who know about magic, word is gradually getting whispered around that a man in Santa Barbara occasionally helps out people with supernatural unusual problems.

Personality and Quirks: Tadhg often comes across as being a little disconnected from the here and now, though that's mainly the product of his seeing the world differently than a mortal human, and even rather differently from his brothers and sister. When something catches his attention, however, his focus is absolute and can be disconcerting. He draws little distinction between art, aesthetic, beauty, creativity, magic and life itself. All are interconnected, all are essentially the same. This can make having a conversation with him ... interesting, to say the least.

As for quirks, let's just say that it's a good thing that his neighbors barely bat an eyelash if they happen to glance over the fence to find the man sitting cross-legged in his back yard, stark naked and apparently meditating. He chose to live in California for many reasons, tolerance for the unusual being one of them.

Appearance and Abilities: Like most of the rest of his family, Tadhg's most unusual feature is his unusually dark, animal-like brown eyes, which he keeps hidden with an illusion spell. He also has an assortment of tattoos that very few people know about. Each one was magically self-applied and enchanted so that he can pull the ink deeper into his skin, leaving himself looking unmarked. Each one has special uses, helping focus and magnify his powers in some way.

Those powers are varied and subtle, or at least he tries to use them as subtly as possible. In addition to the púca abilities inherited from his father, he can shape magic into spells of illusion, communication and protection (aka wards). He can affect the material world in various small ways, and he can tell things about a person by looking at their "patterns", the channels of their life energies that are only visible to those with particular sensitivity and training. Physical contact gives him more information, connecting his patterns to someone else's and reading deeper signs of what's going on in their body and mind. Tapping into sources of magic in the environment, he can then use that power or channel it into another. He imbues some of the art he creates, usually jewelry, weapons or tattoos, with magic. He has other abilities, some as yet untapped, but Tadhg is still young for one of the Fair Folk and still has much to learn about himself.

PLAYER'S NOTE: If you have questions about how Tadhg's abilities might affect your character, comment here or ping me in AIM, and we'll work out the details.

Special Skills: Tadhg is an artist of the mundane as well as the magical. He's best known in art circles for his paintings, pastels and sketches, but he also crafts in metal and creates body art. He usually gifts his enspelled jewelry, blades and tattoos only to family or close friends. He can ride, effectively wield a sword and speak in Irish, English and Fae.

NOTES: I've made a glossary of terms in both English and Gaeilge that will crop up in all the MacEibhir-related journals. Also, if anyone wanders over to the livejournals of Ruairí and his family, bear in mind that while everything recorded there has happened, the timeframe for all those events has been compressed in the Visions Dancing versions of the characters.