The Ballaharra

The Ballaharra is the Ruling Cabal of the Consilium of the Isle, and has been since the Consilium first grew large enough to require formal organisation into multiple cabals. Membership is primarily Awakened though some officers are of other supernatural forms, including Fafhrd, the Admiral. Technically speaking, the only thing required to join the Ballaharra is to face and survive the Ritual of Attunement, though in practice the Ballaharra is almost entirely composed of descendants of former members, and such descendants are granted 'Membership Expectant' at the moment of their birth.

History
Formed at a time when written records were almost never kept, the Ballaharra was the first loose catchall gathering of Mages on the Isle of Man, who banded together to educate one another in their ways. It is believed that it was at this time that the group began to incorporate non-Awakened beings, striving and ultimately failing to learn from them. They soon faced an issue with the patch of ground now known as the White Horse, and were able only to hold its threat at bay, spreading the word to avoid further loss of Awakened life.

Not long after that, their discovery of Tass in the water led to substantial gains in power among the Ballaharra, and the Fer Tochee (a term which has become equivalent in the Consilium of the Isle to Hierarch) of that time is believed to have become the Isle's first Archmage. This made the discovery that the Tass was also being harvested by members of the Consilium by the Bay particularly aggravating to the Ballaharra, and open conflict began, after which time the two Consilia began to develop, experiment with, and adapt Cabal structures.

That structure chosen by the Consilium of the Isle was strictly hierarchical, and the inner circle of the Ballaharra became the full membership, with other Cabals always being designed in secondary roles. At the death of the next member of the Ruling Council, there arose the question of who would take their place in the Ballaharra, and it was suggested by a non-Awakened member that candidates who wished to enter submit themselves to something they called the Ritual of Attunement. This was adopted cautiously, but when only four of the first twenty candidates died, it became the typical method.

It is unknown at what time the Ballaharra extended Membership Expectant to its offspring, but it cannot have been before the seventeenth century, and cannot have been long into the eighteenth. Since that time, the amount of candidates for membership rising up from other Cabals has dwindled substantially as tradition dictates that Awakened offspring of the Cabal and its inhuman allies' brood get the first chance, and it is more and more visible that the Rite of Attunement leaves deep mental scars.

It is accordingly more common for Silver Ladder mages of the Isle with a mind to advancement to marry a Ballaharra member and ensure their offspring has the chance to pass the Rite.

Membership
Current members include:
 * Cadwallon
 * Fafhrd
 * White Horse
 * Smokey
 * Redfoot