The Castle of Aerten

Aerten is a Goddess of fate who presided over the battles of several Celtic clans. She is often equated to the Three Fates of Greco-Roman mythology. Her symbol is the doubled-bladed axe.

For quite a number of reasons, I find Aerten to be the appropriate patron Goddess.

First, Celtic! I'm slightly obsessed with Ireland, Irish culture, Irish history and the beautiful Irish language. Read the Moira O'Shaughnessy stories and you'll get a hint of that, even though the stories are set in the twenty-fourth century. (And yes, before you point it out, I know the site title is grammatically incorrect. I like it this way, so for those of you who will cringe over ghramadach na Gaeilge as I cringe over English grammar... sorry.)

Second, battle Goddess! What can I say? I think it's cool.

Third, last, but not least, double-bladed axe! In addition to being a historical symbol for many people and cultures, it is, in modern times, a symbol of lesbians and feminists.

where is all the stuff?

Here at Aerten Caisleán, there used to be quite a lot of stuff that had just gotten stale, including the site itself. So all of that is gone, to be replaced by this spiffy new design and content that consists only of creative writing efforts... both those done by myself and those done collaboratively with others. The stories that existed on the old site are still here, as well as a number of new ones. More are being written! And edited!

Hey look! I even figured out how to get some stories of Daxia Yurisdotter up here. The letters between her and her sister are a reflection of her childhood and training, the letters to Kisa are a subjective summary of her adventures since leaving home.

There's an Update page, but unless I win the lottery or retire soon, updates won't happen often. The pieces that I write solo are easier to edit and format than those I write with others. And some of those are easier to edit than others.

The new site design is by Project Seven Development. I was impressed by the elegant yet sophisticated simplicity they offered, and I don't mind paying someone else to do all the heavy lifting. I'd rather concentrate on the writing these days.

The artwork at the top of the page is my own. If you'd like to see more of my art, check on the links in the menu to the left. Or for those of you who are dyslexic, the other left.

Be a good citizen of the 'Net, my friend, and understand that the writings contained herein are the intellectual property of their enumerated authors. Stealing will get you a boatload of bad karma, and possibly a voodoo curse or two. Those sorts of things can't be ruled out, you know.

Or, as Wil Wheaton says, Don't be a dick.