There is an ancient vampire who lives in Britannia. She is a goddess to the druids.

Her temple (haven) is great hill in a background of rolling countryside. It is cave set in a dark grove of trees near the top of the hill. The foot of the hill is lightly wooded. There is a lake amongst the trees.

The entrance to the cave is closed by a great boulder. This huge granite rock has been worn smooth by centuries of hands. There is a second entrance; a water cave under the lake.

The Druid Goddess is said to wield many magical powers. (Some are real enough.) She can read minds, teleport, create a skirt of mist, shapechange and cause the past to be forgotten.

The Druids worship their Goddess. She is presented with human sacrifices at dusk on the night of the new moon. Her priests roll back the boulder, chain the sacrifices to the walls of the cave and retire. The boulder is replaced with greate ceremony.

All the sacrifices are evil people. They are criminals, cheats and defeated enemies. The Goddess is does not accept sacrifices who are good and honest. If an honest man is given to the Goddess he will appear at the foot of the hill before dawn. When this happens the priests become very distressed. The Goddess may take the priest who convicted the honest person.

Aspects of the Goddess

She is worshiped as a Trinity by the Celts, and is known as 'the Three Mothers'. She is associated with the Moon, and reflects the Virgin/Mother/Crone triad of more ancient beliefs which stretch back to the Stone Age. Her three aspects are:

1. Balb Catha: goddess of war and hunting. She is associated with the colour white and the goddess as Virgin Huntress. She is worshipped during the waxing of the moon. Services are always held to her before and after battles. Prisoners of war are sometimes sacrificed, but usually only if they are not British Celts, as all the Celtic peoples of Britain are considered to be under her protection.

The only exception to this is when the Goddess orders the punishment of a village or tribe for some crime against Her. The last such time was a generation ago, when a group of young nobles made a drunken raid on a sacred lake and killed a druid who tried to stop them. In such cases (and sometimes during invasions) the Goddess may be seen fighting in battle. Her aspect at such times is truely dreadful, as she tears among the enemy, sometimes with sword or spear, and sometimes with her bare hands.

2. Danu: goddess of poetry, skill and learning . She is associated with the colour red and the Goddess as Mother. She is worshipped during the waning of the moon. During this time she has been known to appear among her followers, sometimes disguised as a beautiful woman, to hear new songs and sagas. On a few well remembered occasions, she has sung herself, always presenting a new song.

Poets and bards who especially please her often receive prophetic dreams and sometimes material gifts. A master goldsmith will dream of the Goddess, who describes to him the design of a torque or other jewellery and commands him to make the item and deliver it to a certain poet. When the goldsmith awakes, the materials for the item will be in his workshop. It is considered extremely ill-advised to fail to deliver the goods. Sometimes, other crafts may be similarly rewarded. No-one in living memory has attempted to 'fake' a gift from the Goddess.

The possession of such items is greatly prized. Once the owner dies, it is considered appropriate for his heir to travel to the Goddesses main sacred site and throw the gift into the sacred lake there.

Festivals held in honour of Danu most often happen on the full moon. It is said that it is on this night that the Goddess is most likely to walk among her followers.

3. Macha: goddess of justice and lawmaking. She is associated with the colour black and the Goddess as Crone. She is worshipped during the dark of the moon, when she is believed to darken the moon in order to move among her peoples undetected, seeking out wrongdoers.

Services are held in her honour once a month on the rising of the new moon, when human sacrifices are presented to her at her haven, the seat of the Dridic Faith (see below.)

Lunar eclipises are usually taken as a sign that Macha has been angered by some wrongdoing. As it is almost always true that someone has done something wrong somewhere, an appropriate victim can usually be found.

The Goddess has thoroughly absorbed the beliefs of her people. Therefore she maintains the appropriate physical appearance using Obfuscate in each phase of the moon. During the dark of the moon, she never leaves her haven but uses her extensive Aupsex powers to scan her lands. At this time, she often remains awake during the day in order to learn more. Since on those nights, people who have commited evil acts are usually filled with fear and guilt, it makes it easier for her to spot them using Auspex!

History

The Goddess does not have Humanity as such - she believes herself divine and behaves accordingly. She could be said to follow a Path of Godhood, in which she has a high rating, as almost all her time is devoted to her worshippers. In her past, she has been a deity to other peoples. When their cultures were destroyed (usually despite her best efforts) she would leave the remainder as 'unworthy' and seek new followers. This last happened around 1000 BC, when she became involved with the Celts, travelling to Britain around 700 BC.

Her recollections of these previous 'incarnations' are hazy, nor does she remember her Embrace well. She tries to fit herself into the creation myth of her current worshippers. Thus, at the moment she believes herself to be the daughter of the Dagda (the 'good god'), although she knows his true and secret name to be Malkav. If treated repectfully by 'other gods' she may well talk about him, as she will assume they know him. She will not be upset to learn of the existance of other 'gods', including others more powerful than herself, as the Celts are a devoutly polytheistic people.

Haven and Sacrifices

The Goddess dwells in an extensive limestone cave system. Much of the system is waterlogged and all entrances to her haven require a long journey underwater, making them quite impassable to mortals. She likes the caverns because of their inaccessabilty and because she finds the constant temperature soothing.

Human sacrifices to the goddess are left chained at one of the entrances to the system as noted above. When the Goddess arrives to receive her sacrifice, she uses Auspex to determine if all are guilty. If they are, they are slain. She sees this as part of her duty to her people. There are at least three victims presented each month. These are usually people who have committed the gravest crimes such as the murder of relatives, druids or those under the protection of the laws of hospitality, the violation of holy sites or any other crime which cannot be expiated by the payment of fines. They are often sent from around Britain to be sacrificed here.

Investigation of their guilt is thorough, as the Goddess does not take well to unjustly accused sacrifices. Is rare cases where innocent men are sent to the Goddess, they are usually found the next day outside the cave. They may carry with them gifts of treasure from the Goddess. Those who knowingly send innocents to the Goddess seldom live long. They often commit suicide in an attempt to deflect the anger of the Goddess. If they do not, they are almost invariably slain horribly on next dark of the moon. Often, all those who had prior knowledge of the unlawful conviction are slain too, unless they have made appropriate offerings in the meantime.

Once the Goddess has drained the sacrifices of their blood, she drags them underwater, deeper into the caves. Bodies are never left near the entrance and no-one has ever explored the caves to try and find them. No-one who ever returned, anyway. Around the tunnel system, there are many 'petrifying wells'. She places her victims under the dripping water until they are nicely petrified. Many are left there but the more 'artistic' she removes and takes to her haven, a huge dry cavern with an extensive collection of statuery (if this was Chthulu, you'd probably need a good SAN roll when you went in.)

In the valley below the cave entrance is a lake sacred to the Goddess. Some of the 'statues' have been taken out into the lake, where they form weird groups on the lake bed. On days when the water is clear, it would be possible for anyone boating on the lake to see the statues below. Not that any sane person would consider actually doing this.

In addition to the sacrifices, many votive offerings, including much gold and silver, are thrown into the sacred lake. One of the exits from the caves leads to the lake, which she regularly inspects for attractive pieces. Thus her haven is also filled with gold and silver offerings and also household and other items which caught her fancy. Some of the items have been used to adorn her statues, making the whole cavern even more surreal.

Using her Auspex powers, she is able to determine the prayers of those who throw items into the lake. If she especially liked the offering, or is just in the mood, she will grant the prayer if at all possible. This does wonders for her reputation among the Celts.

The Goddess maintains a peaceful relationship with the Garou of Britain. Amongth those who are culturally Celtic, some follow her religion, although not usually with a great deal of devotion. Most Garou worship a single aspect Earth Goddess, Gaia, who they believe is responsible for their creation. Even the more powerful among them, who know something of Kindred, can see no protfit in arguing against the divinity of a being so powerful that for all practical purposes she is a goddess.

In return, she respects them as more than mortal. She will never slay a Garou who is sent to the Goddess as a sacrifice, although she has no compunction about doing so in battle. However, they are usually kept in the caverns for a while. Some are even taken to her haven via a long and tortuous route which requires many long underwater hauls. There they are kept, often for weeks, for conversation and entertainment. The experience of being trapped underground by a 4th generation Malkavian who believes herself divine is so stressful and traumatic, even for a Garou, that few are willing to risk it.