Bannick are a type of land fae known for their cleaning abilities. They first appear in A Local Habitation.
About[]
"The Bannick are bath-spirits; they’re obsessed with cleanliness, and Faerie being what it is, they can sometimes enforce their own ideas about hygiene. Nothing cleans a person like a Bannick."
Bannicks are friendly fae that love to clean, much like hobs, though the two are physically different. Bannicks' teeth are sharp, mossy, and definitely unsettling.
When they wash their magic over a person, the person is cleaned and minor injuries are healed. The same is true for their clothing.
Characters[]
Elliott[]
Elliot is a minor character who first appears in A Local Habitation. He is a computer programmer at ALH and seneschal of Tamed Lightning. He has healed and cleaned up Toby at various times in her adventures,[1][2][3] and also attended Court events in April's stead. He is a longtime friend of January O'Leary.[4] His cleaning smells like lye.[1]
Unknown bannick[]
Mythology[]
Bannik is the bathhouse (banya) spirit in Slavic mythology. Slavic bathhouses resemble saunas, with an inner steaming room and an outer changing room. A place where women gave birth and practiced divinations, the bathhouse was strongly endowed with vital forces. The third firing (or fourth, depending on tradition) was reserved for the Bannik, and, given his inclination to invite demons and forest spirits to share his bath, no Christian images were allowed lest they offend the occupants. If disturbed by an intruder while washing, the Bannik might pour boiling water over him, or even strangle him.
The Bannik had the ability to predict the future. One consulted him by standing with one’s back exposed in the half-open door of the bath. The Bannik would gently stroke one’s back if all boded well; but if trouble lay ahead, he would strike with his claws.
The bannick is described with remarkable consistency as a diminutive little old man with long, white hair, a long white beard, with a well groomed countenance and a pleasing scent. Though human overall in appearance, there are some cases in which the bannik’s hands are described as clawed and hairy, which would lend a more distinctly intimidating air to what would otherwise appear, at least at first, as an innocuous little old man. Always and without exception male, banniks do sometimes have a female counterpart, who are termed either as a bannaia or sometimes bainikha. Wife or no wife, the bannik is rather lecherous in nature, and is said to take pleasure in spying on young women amongst the steam, and would even snatch away their children if they did not keep a proper eye on their unbaptized newborns, stealing them away to purposes unknown.
Very few persons ever really saw its primary guardian, who generally only revealed himself when angered. Normally hiding away under the benches, beneath the stove, or even within the steam itself, where he can sometimes be seen reflected in the mirror as a misty shadow, the bannik had a large number of ways to hide from prying human eyes. Add this initial stealthiness is a limited shape-shifting capacity, which allows him to take the appearance of village locals as he relaxes right next to unwary customers, and the chances of seeing, much less recognizing, a bannik plummets dramatically.[6]
References[]
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Gallery[]
