Fairies
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Faction | Faewild (Titania) |
| Lifespan | ??? |
| Population | ??? |
| Average Height | ??? |
Background[edit]
Just as the Demons obey Vul'Karik and the High Faerlan serve Oberon, Fairies are the immortal executors of Titania's Will. They are the smallest of the planar races known, their stature measured in single digit inches. They possess gossamer wings reminiscent of butterflies, dragonflies, or other insects, and choose to travel by flight. They are considered to be exceptionally whimsical, erratic, and sometimes capricious. Most Fairies will readily engage nearly anything in an argument or a conversation, from plants to house pets, and they take high interest in meddling with the lives of mortals in every rare opportunity they find. When it comes to interfering with mortals, the Children of Titania often act as their name implies; they engage in tricks and mischief that is often brought on by goading their target to engage with them. Some of these can be incredibly vicious, but it is rare for a Fairy to cause permanent harm so long as Hospitality is upheld. On occasion, particularly lucky mortals have been known to gain their favor, and the Fair Folk are incredibly generous when truly pleased.
It is said that it is impossible to trust a Fairy to do what you expect, unless you expect them to forget what they were doing.
Despite this, or perhaps in part due to it, art and expression are inextricably bound to their people. Fairies love art. They love poems and verse, story and song, paint and dance, and there are few among them who do not engage with at least one creative obsession. These pursuits take many forms, and though many of their kind hew towards the traditional, there are just as many Fair Folk who will spend a score of years perfecting the impression that a traveler might gain when looking at the knots of wood meticulously grown in pattern on a random tree. It is sometimes said of many great artists that they were touched by Fairies when completing their great works, though in most cases this is simply meant to convey that the artwork in question was inspired and compelling, rather than any accusation of planar malfeasance. Since the days of old, the Fairy peoples have taken credit for spreading the first works of art through the planes. There is little evidence available to mortals toward this ancient claim, but it is known that the only sure way to cause a Fairy to take immediate offense is to dispute this to their face.
A famous children's story, The Poet and the Wicked Folk, is a cautionary tale about a woman who spoke against a visiting Fairy Muse who claimed to have heard the first poems ever made. The woman replied that the Dragons had made such wonderful things, and that the Fae, envying the bounty of Rhyst, stole it from them. The Fairy became enraged, and with their magic they placed a curse upon the poet such that they could never speak of what their heart felt ever again. This is one of the oldest fairy tales, though most hold the belief that it is a simple story meant to teach children that it is not always safe to speak what they believe as true.
Most stories involving Fairies feature them casting strange and incredible magic, and indeed, they are known across the three planes to possess the greatest - and most volatile - levels of magic potency among any race. A Fairy who has blossomed fully into their power is capable of casting more magic than any other being, though their spells often produce odd outcomes. Fairy magic is inherent chaos, unbridled creativity and creation, and though this grants a level of power that others cannot reach, an errant slip of thought can lead to catastrophe. A member of the Fair Folk is able to grow hundred-year oak in the span of a single wingbeat, and a traveler in their lands can sometimes find ancient evidence of this backfiring; a Fairy's shocked expression carved perfectly out of bark, fused with the tree that grew around them.
Realm of the Fairy Courts[edit]
Among the myriad lands of the Faewild there are passingly few locations that are untouched by the influence of Oberon in at least some way. Where there is civilization, there are His soldiers, and their power over the King's Magic allows them to hold dominion over whatever they might find. Of course, there are pockets of resistance, so-called death throes from the Eidolons that were defeated and stripped of Name, but those as wilderness more than anything else; regions where madness stirs in crystal dunes and vales that are flooded with the spilt blood of battle older than history itself. These regions are death, filled only with the lost. Of the 'safer' Faewild, it is said that the Perfect King's host extends to every corner of the plane, and that nigh-uncountable High Faerlan legions can be found in every region but one. One redoubt held by the Mother of Yggdrasil, Eidolon of Life and Growth. One endless forest, so vast that it may as well be an ocean, trees reaching kilometers high and wide, yet still only one. It is known by many names: the Infinite Forest, the Seeming, the Prism Wood. This glade of endless life, its trees prismatic; of every shape and color, yet goes by one name over all others. The one that all know it by, and the reason why Oberon has yet been unable to claim it.
The Realm of the Fairy Courts[edit]
Deep within, deeper still than mortal foibles such as distance or geography, there lies a manse of Fairies hidden. Worked of living wood and stone-made-friend, the Court is held within halls both ancient and new. As the cycle of seasons turn, so too does their seat, dying as the Court crumbles, built anew in a single day under ancient pact and promise of the next. They have done this since the times before mortality itself, since the primordial age, and they intend to carry on until Forever ends. This is the Fair Folk's seat, the Grand Theatre and Endless Revel, their place of Summer and Winter. Inside these halls, each Fairy is a part of their respective Court, each with a role to play in the endless game they have crafted for themselves. There are courtiers innumerable, counts and viscounts, servants and dukes, serfs and duelists. For each season comes a dance that the Fair Folk know well, for every one of them has learned it at least a hundred times, each wishing to their peers that this year, this Court, they will dance it best of all. That they will beat out all others in wit or brawn, or love and sorrow, such that even their great Lord of Summer or Lady of Winter may take notice. Even then, it is only for a single cycle. For nothing stays the same, even if you try. That doesn't mean it was pointless. For those who choose to attend, the theater of the Fairy Courts is terribly real and delightfully fake.
A Traveler's insight into the Grand Theater[edit]
In essence, the Courts are an eternal game in which every Fairy plays; mockery of mortal order where they pit themselves against one another in a hundred different ways. The Court, in this way, is equal parts artifice and reality; the lines between whether it is truly a 'game' for the Fairies who take part in it often unclear to the rare mortals who are invited. Certainly, their ire if one does not play along is very real. Of course, not every Fairy attends every single Court. A Fairy may play their favorite roles for a dozen cycles only to be distracted by a project or be called to some duty, taking them away for what might be decades. When they return, it is as it ever was, and yet always so very different.
No Fairy has the same roles in both Summer and Winter. While a member of the Court may be the great and terrible Duke of Meadows in the summer, it would not be unusual to see them be the pitiful servant for the young and cruel Count of Morning Frost at the next turning of the Court. There is little ego when it comes to who a Courtier is, only interest and experience, though it is generally accepted that the more broad their titles are in concept the more powerful a Fairy is. The rulers of either Court exemplify this, and it is no secret that they are the strongest among Titania's children. Despite such coordination, rare happenings do occur where the conceit of role is fully broken in the midst of Court. There are many records of this, in fact, and Fairies will talk on the subject with much glee; there is nothing more entertaining to them than the opportunity to ridicule some poor fool they once witnessed storming out of Court six centuries past because someone had embarrassed them, especially if they are telling a mortal about it.
It is said that Titania held the First Court herself at the base of Yggdrasil, which lasted for one year and one day, and at the end of it the first souls began passing through the First Tree. This legend of the Fairies is impossible to verify, and many of their own even claim it to be a lie.
The Whole of Two Halves[edit]
In the Courts, battle happens often between different factions within. It is cutthroat and ruthless, at times even shocking to the rare few who witness the sheer viciousness a Fairy can carry out against one of their own. They revel in that drama, and the wars and skirmishes that occur outside the Court are considered highlights of the season to them. Though many 'die', it is exceedingly rare for a true death to occur, given that it would breach the rules of hospitality. From the outside, it looks as if these diminutive beings are fractious and dysfunctional in the extreme.
Woe to they who attempt to invade their home.
Titanic hordes of Shimmerbeasts, grand High Faerlan legions, and Horrors amalgamated from the corruption of Aurora. These, greatest of the threats that the Faewild has to offer, have come to the Realm only to be shattered before them in the depths of the forest. It is said that when the Lord or Lady of the current Court steps up to make a declaration of war, the forest trembles as the Fair Folk cast aside their beloved game, for they hate nothing else than for their enemies to interrupt them. Though their garden may be invaded time and again, the Fairies will not suffer the uninvited. The forest they tend has risen to swallow armies, with every Child of Titania working in concert to direct it, compelling endless nature to be their weapon of war. There has only once been a successful incursion into the deep center of the Fairy Queen's domain.
The Seasons[edit]
There are few cycles more important than the cycles of the natural world. The Fairies believe this, for their Mother grew the First Tree that would become part of the Cycle of Souls, and the plane she helped forge out of the shattered corpse of the Infinite Void is one marked above all else by the concept of change. The seasons are an endless cycle, showing the same world in different shades, and as each cycle of the Court does the same, it seemed only sensible for the Fair Folk to marry the two. When the seasons change, so too does the Court, falling in one day and rising elsewhere in the next. One may be surprised that there are 'seasons' in the Faewild. There are, though they are considerably less rote than that of Rhyst. On occasion, there are variants. Summers of Bloody Sun, Winters of Silence, Dread Spring, and Anti-Autumn (where the leaves fall back up onto trees) are some examples of this.
The Court of Summer represents both summer and autumn, rise and decline, passion and its consequences. It is vibrant and engaging, loud and bright. The Fairies representing this Court are considerably more prone to friendliness, rage, curiosity, and cruelty. Epics are sung, great battles described in gory detail, and frequent hunts are carried out upon the scattered interlopers that often try to sneak into their forest. Their seat is said to reside in the heart of a vast meadow, bright ribbons of gold and orange fluttering like rays of fire from its parapets. It is a time of glory, held under a quiet and careful Lord, for when they shout the forests listen and the sun itself is said to burn.
The Court of Winter is that of winter and spring, death and regrowth, dispassion and youth. It is introspective and artful, silent and stark. The Fairies representing this Court are known well to be more troubled, creative, manipulative, and respectful than their counterparts. This is the time of quiet reflections, of moonlit dances upon the frozen surface of a lake, of watching an animal die slowly from the cold so that they may bury them after. Of hearths, and hidden warmth. Their Court is to be found in the deepest part of a silent forest, an endless manor done gothic in the way of dead empires and inspired artists. It is a time of reflection, held under their forthright and inextinguishable Lady, who is said to be the original mortal muse, the first origin of a heartbroken death.
The Rules of Hospitality[edit]
Sacred Rites of Guest and Host
- 1. Be polite and courteous to all who you see, giving proper greeting and goodbye.
- 2. Treat a host with respect for their home and hearth. Offer succor to guests and turn none away.
- 3. Speak no falsehoods, tell no lie, neither to you or yours or me and mine.
- 4. Cause no permanent harm, no killing by one's own magic or might.
- 5. If you are asked for your name, you must truthfully speak it.
- 6. Never refuse a gift freely given.
- 7. Only eat food that has been offered.
- 8. Never accuse another of breaking these rites without fair cause.
- 9. Speak not of that King's name or his deeds, unless warning of attack or planning one's own.
- 10. Say not the words 'thank you', for though it is no breach it shall be a debt.
The Fair Folk respect only one set of rules, handed down by Titania for dealing with both mortals and one another. No immortals other than Fairies are protected by guest right. These are not laws as mortal kingdoms reckon, nor truths are the High Faerlans must serve, but instead expectations that are never to be broken. There is no magic to them, not truly. Despite that, no Fairy breaks hospitality willingly. In almost all cases throughout history, Fairies only break hospitality themselves when tricked into it. They who do so lose all protections from their people if revealed, becoming ostracized until they can atone. If they break hospitality with a mortal, their wagers are lost without contest, deals annulled unless otherwise wished, and a debt heavier than all but life or death is thusly owed
Mortals are subject to the rules of hospitality, and it is expected that they know it. A Fairy is not obligated to warn them or teach them, and it is a rare one of them who takes time out of their day to educate what they think should be obvious. However, they should not be discounted as a mere quirk of these beings. If one expects they may ever cross paths with a Child of Titania, these rules should be learned at all costs, treated as a matter of life and death.
Fairies will never knowingly break hospitality against one who abides by them. Yet if the mortal does, if they break hospitality and it is noticed, the Fairy is freed from all expectations and obligations of courtesy. They are able to kill, to curse forever, to lie and deceive and betray without consequence. And it is a rare, rare member of the Fair Folk who does not take severe offense to their rules being broken.