Unsælie Fae (un-SEE-lee)

Hailing from the Courts of Winter within the Shadow Plane, the Unsælie faeries are known for their dour and serious demeanor and loathing for all things happy and vibrant.
The Unsælie enjoy parties as much as any fae, but instead of lively gatherings with bouncy music and joyful dancing, the Unsælie celebrations tend to be black tie affairs. The music is usually slow and dark, the participants serious and conniving. The similarity to certain aspects of mortal culture is undeniable. But many a foolish mortal has met their end thinking they could hobnob with the Unsælie court.

Court of Winter

The Court of Winter is the home of the Unsælie royalty. It is more stable than much of the Shadow Plane due to the imminence of fae royalty, but the realm is known to change dramatically based on the royals' whims and moods.
As with the rest of the Mirror plane, navigation is based not on survival skills or reading terrain, but on the traveler's instincts and primal drives. In the Court of Winter, wandering will take you to the place that best matches your instinctive drive, for better or worse. This effect can be overcome with sufficient willpower if the traveler focuses their instinctive will on a particular location.

Winter Royalty

The Court of Winter is ruled by the Three Queens of Winter, who are supported and challenged by the Winter Prince.

Mother Winter

Little is known about Mother Winter. She is a being of immense power, seemingly restricted to her realm, bound by some unknown fate to use her power as that fate demands. She rarely gets directly involved in the political actions of the Unsælie court, serving primarily as councelor to the Winter Queen.
Mother Winter is most often known to take the form of a bitter, frail old hag. This form belies the depths of her power. Some legends say that she occasionally takes the form of a great famine or blizzard, sweeping devastation across the lands. Other legends say that it was Mother Winter who taught Ilgradnis how to properly snip the threads of fate.
Some scholars believe that Mother Winter was once the Winter Queen. How such a transition might have occurred is a mystery to even the wisest of scholars.

Winter Queen

Ruler of the Courts of Winter, the Winter Queen is weaker but less restricted than Mother Winter. She is called Mab and is said to shimmer with a dark beauty that can strike a mortal dead in an instant. Mab's rule sets the status quo for the Courts of Winter. Only a fool risks disobedience within her realm.
The Winter Queen is most commonly known to take the form of an unbelieveably beautiful, ageless woman with skin like snow, eyes like the dead of night, hair like blood, and a dress like the light of a full moon. She is known both for calculating cruelty and vicious justice. Scholars believe that many storms on the material plane are generated by Mab's eternal conflict with the Summer Queen.
Some scholars believe that the Winter Queen was once the Winter Lady. How such a transition might have occurred is a mystery to even the wisest of scholars.

Winter Lady

Said to be the future Winter Queen, the Winter Lady is weaker and less restricted than the Queen. She is daughter to the Winter Queen, though whether this is merely a metaphor has been a subject of scholarly debate for ages. In faerie politics, the Winter Lady is heavily involved, honing her skills by trying to outmaneuver her mother, the Queen, without disobeying her outright. This leads to somewhat of a rivalry between Queen and Lady, despite their being ostensibly on the same team.
The Winter Lady usually takes the form of an unbelieveably beautiful young woman. Her exact appearance varies from century to century. According to some scholars, this change in appearance is not merely aesthetic. Instead, it represents the Lady being replaced by a different candidate. This may happen because the Lady's youthful vigor puts her in a situation that ends in her untimely demise, or because her rivalry with the Queen gets out of hand, or for any number of other reasons.
Though the Lady is the weakest of Fae royalty, her power should not be underestimated. Her power may be less than the Queen or Mother, but her proximity to Mortality grants her the ability to use her power in a far more direct manner than the other royals.

Winter Prince

Though he dwells technically within the Winter Court, the Winter Prince has his own domain, seperate from those of the Mother, Queen, and Lady. As with other Princes and Princesses of the fae, the Winter Prince's domain is less broad than his female counterparts'.
The Winter Prince is also often called The Grand Giver. He commands a legion of scholars and craftsmen known as the Workshop. The Workshop draws its stock from among fey and mortal alike, as well as numerous strange creatures with a propensity for craftsmanship.
The Workshop spends most of its time inventing strange objects of all kinds within their halls. Sharing stories of invention and creation, and of the result of the giving of such objects. For the purpose of the Workshop is not hoarding, but giving. Periodically, the Giver gathers his craftsmen together and chooses the finest crafted wares to give to lucky, or unlucky, mortals. Some scholars believe that the quality of gift given, as well as the danger it poses to the recipient, are based on some kind of unknowable moral code that only the Giver truly understands. Other scholars refute this, saying that the gifts are given at random according to the Giver's whims.
When it comes to fae politics, the Winter Prince is usually absent. However, he does occasionally show up to court to act as a sort of contrarian to the Queen's wishes, or a foil to her designs. This resistance is part of the eternal dance of fae politics and is little understood by mortals. However, there are some scholars who suggest that many, if not all, of such appearances are in some way driven by the Winter Lady, whom the Prince is thought to adore from afar.

Winter Knights

Fae royals can, in times of need, invest some of their power into a mortal to gain greater flexibility in the use of their power. The result is what is known as a Fae Knight. The Knights gain significant power from their liege, and in return are beholden (largely) to their liege's whims. They can resist, and Knights capable of such resistance often prove highly valuable to the royal. Such resistance is very difficult and frequently results in the Knight's death. Or worse.
Knights of Winter are beholden to all Winter Royals, regardless of which Royal invested power into them. They are known as Silver Knights.

Alternate Names

Endonym: Searulic (ingenious/clever)
Scholarly: Unsælie (ungleeful)
Common: Weargs (cursed ones)

Common Associations

Winter
Cruelty
Darkness

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Fae