"Here in the forest, dark and deep - I offer you eternal sleep."
There are many theories behind the legend that is the Banshee, but not one has been confirmed the absolute truth unless the individual is a Banshee themselves. Other supernaturals speculate the origin of the Wailing Women but it is a secret that Banshees hold very dear. To understand why, we must start from the very beginning, back to the 8th Century in Ireland.

The graveyard was were you'd find them, a group of six middle aged women who had a knack of triggering many whispers to echo throughout town; whispers to name a few consisted of the women being ladies of the night, as well as witches yet there was little evidence of the latter for the council to act upon it. The women were all unmarried and lived together on the very outskirts of the village - close enough to the graveyard of those who had their lives taken either by causes of nature or cruelly by another person. The women also lived in walking distance to the hidden, more neglected graveyard for those who took their own lives; the village saw that as a sin, thus, shunned them to an unholy grave. The Women called themselves The Keeners. Despite the lack of evidence, The Keeners, were indeed, kissed by the Devil himself and blessed with magical blood to channel the dark arts. They were particularly interested in death, and often offered their services at funerals; where families would hire them to sing as their loved one was lowered into the ground. The Keeners would not take money as a form of repayment for their voices, but asked for alcohol instead; due to the nature of this, the Council highly frowned upon the form of payment and soon closed The Keeners funeral services.

This frustrated the six women greatly, that the town could take something as precious as death from them; for weeks they processed this and happily began to plot something that would forever keep them connected to death. What they came up with would change the game of death in so many ways, for better and for worse; and it would make others fear death more than they already did. It took several attempts to achieve their desired goal, but once they got the taste of it, they knew they couldn’t just stop at one. The Keeners had made a pact with The Devil to connect themselves to any girl who had died tragically, to bring the soul back from the Land of the Dead to be their Death Harbinger. Once they had the connection approved through blood magic, they brought their first girl back to life; watched as she crawled out of her grave, confused and dazed. It took years to mould her into what they needed and wanted but the final results were perfect - the girl had the ability to scream at an upcoming death as well as experience symptoms of how that individual would die. Upon every death that the girl would scream made the power of The Keeners stronger and thus, encouraged them go make more, what they later called them - Banshees.

The first Banshee became like a Mother figure to the new girls and was later titled The Matron; as she became stronger she took over a lot of the responsibilities for her kind, thus, The Keeners (Now known as The Elders) took a step back to enjoy their creations from afar in their old age. As the population of Banshees grew - The Matron hungry for more children, she moved them out of the house The Keeners shared and moved all the girls to Hallows Hill Manor. Years later, The Keeners all passed due to old age and their creations, their daughters moved their remains onto the grounds of Hallows Hill Manor so they were close to their power source. The location of The Keeners bodies are unknown but to a very few; for if their remains were destroyed, the Banshee line would lose their power and their souls would return to the Land of The Dead; their bodies evaporating to ash and dust - it would wipe the Banshee species out.

To this day, The Banshees continue to scream for death but are also known to scream to kill; they are a species kissed by death and therefore can become addicted to the phenomenon. The Matron still rules over her children; but do they follow her out of respect or fear?

SCREAM
Their scream is their most powerful ability. It is a weapon in its own right and after training, a Banshee can will their scream without a looming death being present. It is effective against every single species. It causes immediate and painful disorientation and can reach pitches high enough to shatter glass.

PREMONITIONS
Banshees have the ability to know when a death is coming by screaming.

IMMERSION
Banshees are also able to experience the said death themselves. Ie. If they scream a death and said individual will drown, the Banshee will experience choking on air.

COMMUNING WITH THE DEAD
A Banshee can also communicate with the dead, but this uses up a lot of their power and can render them weak/sick for a few days.

IMMORTALITY
Banshees are immortal since they are essentially dead.

ADVANTAGE
As Banshees are technically dead, many of the other species' abilities have no effect on them. An example would be their blood not being tempting to a sanguine. If a sanguine were to feed from a banshee, the sanguine would fall ill for a day or two.

PHYSIQUE
Banshees are not as physically strong as other species. Their physical strength is no greater than a human's.

ETERNAL DEATH
The only means in which Banshees can die through violence is by decapitation or a pierce to their heart.

ELDERS' REMAINS
If their Elders' remains are found and destroyed the Banshee will die. Even if their remains are damaged, it will affect the Banshees power to see death and will weaken them.

VULNERABILITY
Banshees are susceptible to other species' abilities, but not as powerful as they would be against a human, including- a mystic's magic, a gypsy's illusion, a fae's magic, a drake's breath, and an eternal's affinity.

APPEARANCE
Banshees are very much human in their appearance, the only noticeable difference being their eyes; their eyes are tainted with an eerie grey mist.

COMMUNITY
Banshees continue to live together at Hallows Hill Manor and it is very rare for one to move out.

ANTISOCIAL
They are antisocial and silent creatures who are typically found roaming around at night or by graveyards either by themselves or accompanied by one of their sisters.

TIME WARP
A Banshee is normally mentally stuck in the time that they originally died and can be confused at the modern way of living and dressing.

FEAR
Other species often fear Banshees as the aroma of death lingers around them. It is said that even the sight of a banshee can make an individual delirious.

BECOMING A BANSHEE
To become a Banshee, your character must be female and would need to have died in a tragic and traumatic way. Banshees are made not born.

THE MATRON
The Matron is currently an NPC - if you wish to write her in your RPs but are not sure on how to write her, please contact Ciara Devlin and she will help you.

COUNCIL INFO
name. Ciara Devlin
application. Link