Roane

Roane
Etymology
Pronounciation	row-n
Plural	Roane
About
Firstborn	Luidaeg
Element	Sea fae
Habitat	shorelines
Abilities	shapeshifting, soothsaying, stormsinging

“	Of the Roane, only three things need be known: that they see the future, but never clearly; that few of them remain among the living; and that the one disaster they did not foretell was the one which killed the greater part of their number.	”
–Tybalt, Rat-Catcher

The Roane are shapeshifters descended from Luidaeg. They are not inclined to vengeance, and their magic is innate—they’re seal shape-shifters, like the Cait Sidhe, not skin-shifters like the Selkies. They were also formerly critically endangered, as a result of Evening Winterrose's ploy to punish them for their "false happiness".  As of The Unkindest Tide, a majority of the Selkies using their skins have been bound to them, becoming new Roane and bringing them out of near-extinction.

About

The Roane were the children of the Luidaeg and a human man by the name of Ælfweard, who lived frozen in time for more than a hundred years in Cailleach Skerry before he was lured to his death by a mercenary Siren hired by Eira.

The Roane have bright green eyes like carnival grass, with irises too large to be human. Changelings or mixed-blood with Roane ancestry may not be able to transform. They have the gift of prophecy, although some of them, like Mary, have stronger abilities than others.^{[citation needed]} By the 2000s it is said that the Roane never foresaw the massacre that decimated their population, but in the 1600s it was rumored that they allowed it to happen because to prevent it would cause greater tragedy.

According to a Livejournal post from 2012, full-blood Roane tend to have green eyes, changelings tend to be blue, and Mary is a full-blood Roane with blue eyes. The Roane are prophets and stormsingers, almost as skilled at controlling the waves as the Merrow. Toby predicted that the new Roane would cause a lot of unnatural weather while learning how to control their new magic. They can swim without needing air even in their human forms.

Prior to 1666, Evening instigated the massacre of the Roane at the hands of merlins desperate to be a part of Faerie. The children of those merlins exacted vengeance on their parents on behalf of the Luidaeg, who then made them into Selkies. The surviving Roane were the ones who were in close proximity to the Luidaeg, who in turn faded into history to protect the survivors. Some survivors of the initial massacre include a man of Aulay's line whom Elizabeth Ryan was able to track down and conceive Diva with, Saltmist's personal Roane Mary, the Roane child who assisted Tybalt in his quest to end a curse that plagued Daoine Sidhe and Cait Sidhe, and Naia, the Roane who foretold the fires of Londominium.

As of the Unkindest Tide, a majority of the Selkie population have been bound to their skins, becoming Roane and repopulating the race out of extinction as a result of the Convocation of Consequences.

According to the Luidaeg, Roane are technically air-breathers, but like many denizens of the Undersea, they are able to control the currents with such skill that they can call air bubbles to themselves in order to breathe without having to surface.

Characters

Living

• Mary, fortune teller of the Duchy of Saltmist, pre-Convocation Roane
• Aldridge, pre-Convocation Roane
• Diva Ryan (formerly changeling, shifted by Toby)
• Gillian Marks (formerly Dóchas Sidhe thinblood)
• Elizabeth Ryan
• Elsa (formerly Selkie-kin, became Roane during Convocation of Consequences)
• Nathan (formerly Selkie-kin, became Roane during Convocation of Consequences)

Deceased

• Ross Hampton, Julie's ex-boyfriend
• Firtha, youngest of the Luidaeg's children
• Aulay
• Elaine
• Owain
• Emrys (Merlin of Roane heritage)
• Emrys' mother
• Beathan
• Unknown Roane woman who was Malvic's partner and bore countless Cait Sidhe children

Status Unknown

• Roane boy from Blind Michael's Hunt
• Naia (survivor from initial massacre or descendant of one, succeeded by Mary as Undersea prophetess)
• Roane child who helps Tybalt
• Luidaeg's first son
• Ulchel
• Tibbe
• Suanach
• Merraid
• Eilidh, mother of Aldridge
• Paden, father of Eilidh, son of Aulay

Note: Most of the former Selkies are now Roane as of April 2014.

In the Series

Rat-Catcher

Naia, a Roane girl who descended from one of the survivors of the Roane massacre, warns the Divided Courts and Cait Sidhe of Londinium of the upcoming fire.

Our Trial Patience

A Roane child helps Tybalt on his quest.

Drown the Lamenting

Elizabeth Ryan meets Aldridge, a Roane man who has foreseen that he will become Diva's father.

Rosemary and Rue

Ross Hampton is dating Julie. He is killed when Toby is attacked at the Tea Gardens.

An Artificial Night

One of Blind Michael's victims is a Roane child.

One Salt Sea

Toby learns that the Roane are the Luidaeg's lost descendants. She meets Diva Ryan, a half-Roane half-Selkie child who will not need to use a sealskin to transform. She also meets Mary, a Roane with the power of prophecy.

The Winter Long

Mary predicts Evening being a danger at Goldengreen, which spurred Dianda and some Undersea guards to check up on Dean.

Suffer a Sea-Change

Gillian Marks speaks with Firtha, who tells the story of the Roane and helps Gillian adjust to her new life.

The Unkindest Tide

The Luidaeg calls together the Convocation of Consequences, where the Selkies must give up their skins. October Daye helps her find a compromise, using her Dóchas Sidhe magic to bind the selkies to their skins and make them Roane.

A Killing Frost

Almost all the Selkies and Selkie-kin are Roane now. Elsa, Nathan and Diva are adjusting to their new status as pureblood Fae, Liz is still resentful towards Toby and the Luidaeg and still drinks to cope with her past.

Mythology

"Roaninish" is Celtic for "seal-island," with "Roan" translating to "seal."