The Tales of the Tri-ringed Fort
Story written By Anon
And edited and co written by Reason
A few things you need to know before reading this fan-fic. I have made some assumptions and there are some things you need to know.
1. This fan-fiction will have an assortment of original characters. However, it is the same AOT story we know and love but told through their eyes. They do not change any major events, roles, or deaths in the series. If you don't like it, don't read. Though all the original characters are named and heavily based on Celtic gods or heroes, they are not these gods. Therefore, there will be no plot twist with them being a titan shifter, god or demi-god.
2. This story has a huge Celtic influence. It is based on how Anon thinks Celtic warrior and druid culture would have evolved in the walls and how it would be perceived, how others would react to it and how the AOT world would be with it in it. That is one of the big reasons, if not the main reason, Anon deiced to write this story. This story is just as much about Celtic culture as it is AOT. Anon feels that the Celtics get this bad reputation as these barbarous, stupid, and uncivilized people, which is not true. The Romans and Catholic priests (who are our main source of primary written sources about them. have portrayed them as such. The Celtic people were an extremely divvied people with a similar culture. So creating a pan Celtic culture is hard, so something might be off. So, if you're not interested, don't read.
3. The walls are somewhere on the European mainland (Possibility modern day Germany or Denmark).
4. The titans appeared roughly after or before the fall of Rome. After the wall was erected something similar to the scientific revolution and enlightenment happened within the wall.
5. They had no contact with the Americas despite having things like potatoes. (Fun fact: potatoes originally came from the Andes mountains. Not native to Europe. )
6. This story assumes you are up to at least chapter 51 in the manga and that you have watched the anime. Anon loves to use dramatic irony. If you are not up to date you will miss a lot of it and have a lot of spoilers.
7. There will be pairings in this reading. Do not like the pairing(s) do not read. We will not change based on comment
8. When something is italicized and in quotations, it is being spoken in Gallic.
9. Hope you enjoy. We have a lot of fun writing it, devolving the OCs , and expanding and speculating on the world of SNK.
Chapter one: The Village of the Sacred Tree; Finna.
The Celts are descended from the warrior and druid Celtic upper class that migrated to the main land from the British Isles and other parts of Gaul. They are most noted for the military power. Most reside in all Celtic villages in Wall Maria. Due to there kind treatment to the recon corps many Celtic villages have recon bases just outside of them. Usually their Celtic knots, flashy clothing, accents, and tattoos identify them. They are seen as heretics and a threat to the public peace. Most people only contact with Celts are when they hire them to take care of bandits or bounties. All Celts from the age of 5-12 are taught: to read and write Gaelic and common, use of a short, medium and or long-range weapon of their choice, warrior morals, Celtic pre-wall history, nature (its use and respect for it), Celtic culture and religion, and basic military strategy. Teachings are done by the village druid and or bard.
Year 842 Bridget:
I woke as the morning sun's rays hit my face. I rolled over to see my older brother, Ogma, in his bed across the room. I quietly slipped out of bed and crept over to see if he was awake. His light chestnut hair was the only thing I could see of him. His blanket covered his face. I let out a grin. Today was the first day I could start doing stuff for my self. Since Ogma was going into the training core today, he could not baby me over every stupid thing any more. Usually he woke up before me so now was my chance. I hurried over to the dresser. I did not have weapon practice today so I could wear a dress. I picked out the red one Margwase had made for me. I ran my fingers over the intrinsic embroidery at the bottom. Margwase was like an aunt to me, she was a really good tailor and good a housekeeper to boot. Margwase said she would teach me to sew sometime. That would be nice. That way any time I had ripped my clothes I did not have to go to her to fix them. I started to put over my head but I soon felt to being taken off a new one being put on.
"You should wear this nice green dress I bought you it goes with your eyes." Ogma said. Although I did like the deep green color but I felt it looked too plain and the cut was strange. Ogma had always dressed plainly. It was very strange to me. Other the telling of legends he had no apparition for art. He was donning his plain black tunic as I ran out to the kitchen to make breakfast before he could.
I quickly took out the pan and threw some logs into the stove. I got the beans and ran to the cold room were meat was store to grab some sausage. I turn around only to see Ogma using some flint and steel to start the fire.
"I wanted to do it" I angrily puffed. He turned to face me and sighed. "Fire is dangerous, and besides you are a terrible cook. Now give me those and I will make breakfast for you." He said as he held out his hand. How was I supposed to get any better if he would not let me try to improve? No one else did this, not Druid Finn, not Lugh, not Taranis, not Mother, not anyone. It seemed to him the simplest of task was too difficult for me to handle. Always doing them for me even when I told him I could and wanted to do it on my own. Ogma clearly saw me as a weakling and it irked me to no end. I knew I was not weak. Druid Finn said I was one of his best students. No one had picked up the use of weapons as quickly as I had in his entire years of teaching and he was really old so he had to have taught a lot of people. In 2 years of training I had mastered javelins and Druid Finn said that if I was diligent I could master the spear in a year. Why did he always see me as weak? I clenched the sausage and beans close to my body. "No" I shouted defiantly. Ogma closed his light brown eyes and took a deep sigh.
"Bridget I am not going to argue this with you just let me cook breakfast." I clenched them harder
"NO!" I shouted. He started to walk towards me. I dashed toward the stove, but before I got there he picked me up. I flailed defiantly.
I heard the door to Mother's room creak open. "The sun has just risen what is with all the ruckus." She said groggily rubbing her storm grey eyes. Mom's long raven black hair was disheveled. She was wearing nothing but a white button down shirt that showed the triple spiral tattoo in the middle of her collarbone and light gray panties that allowed me to see the Dara knot on her outer upper left thigh. She pulled out a chair and sat down.
"Good morning Morgan" my brother said.
"Good morning Mom" I said gleefully. Rubbing her eyes she looked at us.
"Ogma, let her cook; She cannot get any better if she does not practice. She is not a toddler any more she needs to learn to do stuff on her own. If you keep babying her she will become weak."
Ogma protested, "Yes because 8 years old should definitely be dealing with fire" She simply gave him an evil glare. Ogma shuttered. Knowing better then to argue with Mom past this point, he begrudgingly took a book out of his packed bag and sat down. He crossed his legs having the bottom of his boot at the cuff of the other as he cracked open his book.
Once I was done I served it to Mother and Ogma. Mom commented that the beans were overcooked but the sausage came out fine. I tried to make conversation "So Ogma what core are you going to join after graduation?"
Ogma refused to look away from his book for anything. "Don't know maybe the Garrison."
After swallowing her last bite of beans Mom commented, "you know when he was younger Mr. Frowner here wanted to join the recon core."
"Like Mom!" I commented happily. He stood up and said he was going to see his friend in the nearby outsider's town and walked away.
Mom simply said "Like Dagda, sweetie" with a sad tone in her voice. Mom was part of the recon corps and apparently father was too. Mom never talked about him and Ogma would not stop going on about him. He died before I was born but, apparently he had copper hair too and he sounded kind and goofy. Dagda's death must of rattle Ogma a lot. I do not see what he found so interesting about the outsiders town. The only cool thing about it is it was right next to the wall, but they would not even let you get on the wall and if you were clever enough to get on the wall they would simply put you back on the ground. The fortress walls were disappointing. They were not very well fortified at all. All the fort seemed to have going for it was the walls' height, the triple ring layout and the fact it was made of stone. There was no trenches or motes or any other kind of fortification. Who ever built the fortress did a slapstick job. Druid Finn said I shouldn't be to hard on them they did have to build it in a hurry under less then ideal circumstances. It surely was not as impressive as the ones in the stories Ogma read to me when I was younger and considering humanity has had 100 or so years to better fortify the only thing standing between us and titans, you think they would have jumped on that by now.
Mom broke my line of thought by saying that Lugh and Taranis would be helping their father with an order of spurs and that Druid Finn had some business to attend to so I did not have classes today. I was about to leave but mom stopped me put a dagger in my I was not allowed to leave the house unless I was armed. Mom was very strict on that. I wanted to practice with the spear but, I was not allowed to train with weapons unsupervised; not after what happened last time, so I guess I could study healing and go pick some flowers for the solders' rooms. They liked to see something pretty in their rooms especially if they were bed ridden from an injury. Sometimes I would make crowns or bracelets for them, which they smiled at. I was trying to think whom I should invite. I went to the stable " Hello Mrs. Moo would like to come with me to pick flowers today." She looked up from her breakfast and mooed. Mrs. Moo Moo was not very good a picking flowers. She mostly ate them but she was a good listener and did not trot away like the horses. They were cool for more athletic activities.
We walked to the edge of the village. I picked mostly field flowers and tried to remember what each plant did. When I felt I had picked enough I decided to head back home. Mrs. Moo Moo's barn was on the opposite side of the island where the bridge was. Once in the middle of the village I saw the tree of knowledge and stopped to stare. It is a beautiful hazelnut tree in the middle a small pond with river fish swimming around the tree's root system. It was the idol of the village of Finna and the pride of the village "Isn't it beautiful Mrs. Moo Moo " I asked. I noticed two kids my age at the edge of the lake. I found it strange. Considering I had lived here my entire life, I think I would have noticed if there were kids my age in the village. As far as I knew I was the only Celt my age in the southern part of the first ring. The shorter one had one of the taken a fish from the lake. The taller one had taken a small wooden arm that was in the lake.
"What do think this is? " He asked the shorter one.
"I don't know but, you should keep it." The shorter one replied. I soon realized that they were outsiders . No Celt would ever commit the blasphemous act of taking an idol from the pond. The taller one put it in his pocket. I could not watch this blasphemy any longer.
"Put that back! He won't heal properly if you take it out!" I shouted at them as I rushed at full speed toward them. Throwing my basket to the ground. The taller one looked at my necklace, a witch's knot.
"It is a Celt! Run!" The shorter one dropped the fish and it flopped back into the lake. They ran towards the village and I was close behind them. They ran between two teenagers talking about the interiorer and how some mother wasn't able to take care of her daughter. I quickly rushed in between them making sure to not lose sight of the ones I was pursuing. The two boys ran into an alleyway. I let out a small smirk .I knew how to cut them off. As usual there was a stack of boxes that could be climbed up on so one could get to the roof. I climb up on to the roof and jumped down on the taller boy. The shorter one screamed and abandons his friend.
"You blasphemous bastard, give that back, the water will not heal him if the idol is not in the lake." I said as I kept punching his head repeatedly.
"Why should I worry about being blasphemous to a heretic?" He shouted back. That was the last straw I was going to give him one punch with all my strength to his mouth. I imagine punching the earth right behind his head and then I felt my self being picked up.
"Bridget calm down!" My brother ordered as he bear hugged me so I could not punch or kick him or the boy. I bite down on my brother's arm as hard as I could. Ogma winced and told his friend to go get his brothers.
"What is going on here? " I heard Mom say sternly. She looked at me and said, " Titans bite darling, not humans." With her words I allowed my jaw to loosen.
"His friend's little brother took an idol from the lake." I blurted before Ogma could say anything.
"Did he now?" Mom said in that semi-calm voice that you knew was the clam before the storm.
"Did try using words instead of fists? " Ogma inquired with an angry tone in his voice.
"He simply ran and called me a heretic." I replied.
Mom turned to Ogma, "tell your friend, his brothers are not allowed in Finna if they are not going to respect our traditions or religion. If Druid Finn saw this little fiasco he would be furious." Ogma's friend returned holding his brothers' hands. He turned to the taller one.
"Zackary " he said sternly. Zackary pulled the idol out from his pocket and gave it to me.
"Sorry for taking your stupid thingy." He said disgustedly. Having got what I came for, I deiced to ignore his calling of an idol a 'stupid thingy' and walked away to put it back but, Mom stopped me.
"Are we forgetting something? They are trying to make peace." She said in a calm tone.
"But I did nothing wrong!" I protested. Mom gave me a glare and I turned to face Zackary.
"Sorry for punching you in your stupid face." I replied disgruntled. Zackary did not take this well and we instantly got into a scrap.
After we were pulled apart Ogma went with his friend to take his brothers home and go to the training core. Mom asked if he wanted us to see him off but he refused the offer and decided to lecture me on mundane things like making sure to brush my teeth and to not bring wild animals home. I decided to let him blabber about this stuff and just look away and nod.
Mom smiled slightly and said with a tint of sadness, "Dagda would be very proud of you right now". Ogma stopped dead in his tracks.
"I do not want to hear that from you." He said with an angry snarl. I was about to say some angry words to him but Mom turned me around and told me we should get Mrs. Moo Moo. I just realized I left Mrs. Moo Moo all alone. What kind of friend was I? Mom threw the idol back into the lake as I went to apologize to Mrs. Moo Moo. Mrs. Moo Moo was so forgiving. I had to take her home. Mrs. Moo Moo was not much for adventure so she was probably tuckered out. After we had returned Mrs. Moo Moo to her stable, we went by the smithery to pick up Mom's spurs. Taranis was working the counter and stroking his beard. He looked at me and stopped stroking his long red beard.
"Did we get into a fight?" he asked, noticing the bruises forming on my face. I looked down at the ground.
"Yeah" I replied.
"Did you win?" Taranis asked.
I looked up excitedly and said "Hell Yeah!"
As he gave me a high five, he said "That a girl!". Lugh came out of the smithing area with his smiting apron and kilt still on. He was blond like his father. Both Taranis and Lugh had the same burly body of their father but only Lugh had his blond hair. Taranis had his mother's red hair.
"How is our little ember? Morgan I assume you're here to pick up your spurs and reign. We are supposed to be leaving for the expedition at seven in the morning, right?" Lugh questioned, handing Mom her spurs and reigns with his right hand that had a dara knot tattooed on to it.
I hugged Taranis's leg "Be safe you two, ok?" It was always scary seeing them and Mom leave for an expedition. I know the twins were eleven years older then me and Mom said that they were very strong but I still worried about them. I wanted to be helpful. I wanted to do more then just taking care of the animals and putting flowers in the soldiers' rooms. Druid Finn said that I was good at my studies of healing but my knowledge was not enough for it to be helpful yet. Taranis put his big left had with a dara knot on top of my head.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine." I had heard that before from other soldiers and then they came back dead. I wanted to do something to help ensure that they would come back home alive. Then I got an idea. The adults would more then likely turn it down because of my age but I knew I would be able to be helpful in this way.
"Ok, let's stop frowning" Lugh said as he blew air on to my arm. It tickled and I started laughing. Taranis started to tickle underneath my arms. My mother and I were about to leave the twins father, Goibhniu stepped out of the smithing area.
"Morgan before you leave I am making a torc for Margawse for our wedding anniversary and I need a woman's thoughts on it." He said as he passed my mother a sketch. My mother gave a small smile and said it was beautiful. Mom had such an awesome friendship with Goighniu and Margawse. It must be cool to have friend your age.
I thought we were going home but to my surprise as soon we got home mom donned her 3D- maneuvering gear. She slipped me into the back part and said with a smile, "I want to show you my favorite part of the forest, it is easier to get there by maneuvering gear.". As soon as we got outside the village, mom wired us to the closest tree. I could not contain my joy; I let out a yahoo. This is what it must feel like to be a flacon. Mom flew with the grace and precision of a bird of prey. I hoped when I grew up, I would be just like my mother: strong, skilled, beautiful, kind, respected, and fighting to end this war with the titans. Mom took me to a beautiful lake in the forest that was illuminated by the setting sun. There were two big stones right next to each other near the lake. After we landed Mom put a small rock on each stone as I ran around the clearing. There were so many trees that I would be able to climb and a lake I could swim in. I loved this place. We decided to bath in the lake. I was swimming while Mom stayed stationary under the willow at the side of the lake .I swam past Mom and she grabbed me to hug me. I stopped swimming and hugged her back.
"This is my favorite part of the forest. I used to play here when I was your age. I am so glad I can show it to you. I am so glad I got to raise you in Finna." Mom said as she put my head on her breast.
"You really love this forest don't you Mom" I asked hugging her back.
"Yes I do. The forest is so beautiful and it brings back so many good memories." She answered.
I could feel myself starting to get tired as was the moon was rising. We put our clothes back on and headed back to the village. As we were walking home, a women with beautiful dark brown hair put up in a ponytail and dark brown eyes stopped us to talk to Mom. She was wearing goggles and seemed really excited about something.
"Morgan I would like to discuss the finer points of our plan to capture a-." she stopped talking as she noticed me. "Who is this?" she asked.
My mother said, "This is the child of the Fey family*."
The lady looked confused. "Is that not your family name?" She asked, and Mom nodded. "Oh, is she your daughter? What is her first name?" The lady continued to inquire.
"I can not answer either of those questions. I will explain later." Mom replied. The lady looked extremely confused but seemed content with the promise of the answers to her questions would come later. As a child, I had done nothing of merit thus I was merely a member of the Fey family, but once I was an adult and I could do something of merit I could use my name in public. I did not see why it needed explanation.
She got down to my eye level. " Hello I am Hange Zoe. Pleased to meet you." I remembered the rule of thumb with strangers, wings of freedom were good strangers and the ones that wore a unicorn jacket or a gold necklace with three woman's' faces on it were bad. This woman was wearing none of them, just a dull yellow button down shirt and brown pants. I looked at Mom to see what she thought of the stranger. Mom nodded in approval and I shook her hand.
"I need to get her home. I will see you after I put her to bed." Mom said to Hange as she picked me up. Mom walked home and Hange waved good-bye to us and I waved back.
Mom tucked me into bed and kissed my forehead " Behave for Druid Finn while I am gone. I love you. Watch my garden while I am gone. I will see you in month ".
"I love you too Mom. Come back home." I said as I let myself drift into sleep. I woke up before the sun rose. I donned my green tunic riding pants and my riding boots even though the boots still had some mud on them. Today I would be useful towards this war.
Authors Notes:
So, at the end of each chapter, a few fun fact about the Celts will be given. More to explain the events of the story and certain scenes that might confuse you.
Druids are extremely important in Celtic society. On top of being judges, healers, priests, and teachers for their respective villages they are also in charge of keeping the knowledge of the past present and future and guardians of Celtic traditions. To become a druid one must leave their home at the age of 9 and go to a forest for 20 years where along with other potential druids will learn, about the occult rituals, Celtic religion, legends, the gods, use of all weapons, healing, basic science, astronomy, legal matters, pre-wall history, warrior morals, divination, sorcery, advanced military tactics, political science, and Celtic traditions. All of this is passed down orally so all of this must be committed to memory. Most druids specialize in one of these thing but all know who do all of these skills proficiently. It is sort of similar to major and general requirements in modern day colleges. Being a druid is considered one of if not the highest honor in Celtic society. Even if war breaks out, one must never raise a weapon to a druid. It is considered the highest crime in the Celtic society to kill a druid, even more then rape or abandonment of duty/post, the second highest crimes.
The Celts were an extremely proud group of people. A parent wasn't supposed to acknowledge their child in public until they were recognized in their village as a warrior. To be recognized as a warrior, they needed to complete training, which usually lasts from the ages of 6 to the age of 12, where the child is supposed to master a weapon. Therefore, in public the child is simply referred to by their family name (i.e. The child of the _ family...)
Most importantly, if you have any questions about the actions of any of the Celts, don't hesitate to ask, in either a PM or a review and we'll respond in the next chapter (before the chapter begins) or in a PM.
Thanks for reading this far! Hope you enjoyed it.