Fae
The people of the Outerworld, spawn of the Huldra and Mainar who crossed from their world into this one. From the line of Sylren and Thallan and who presently live both among mortals and gods in the world and in the otherworld of Arallfyd under King Nivalis.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Mostly taller, more slender, and less physically muscular than common humans, fae can differ greatly in appearance and vary highly depending on origin and environment such as forest fae adopting more green skin in blending into their chosen environment and swamp-dwelling fae adopting a more aquatic lifestyle.
Genetics and Reproduction
Fae largely reproduce in a similar biological manner to humans, however, an inheritable gene exists among the fae population that can sometimes produce a higher fae between two lesser fae parents. As the fae folk themselves originate from another universe entirely, some aspects of their biology defy what is known of the biology of other races.
Growth Rate & Stages
Reaching maturity faster than an average human, both lesser and greater fae spend a majority of their lifespan in their physical prime. While lesser fae age and die at a normal rate, greater fae rapidly reach the end of their long lifespans for an unknown reason.
Ecology and Habitats
Choosing deep, secluded forests, swamps, bogs, and generally isolated areas as their habitats, fae nevertheless form small communities in areas of their settlement.
Dietary Needs and Habits
The fae are hunters, trackers, and trappers and are adept at pursuing game through the dense overgrowth of their forest dwellings. Fae are also known to share their food communally.
Biological Cycle
The biology of the fae largely depends on their ancestry, those fae most close to the line of Sylren and Thallan age much slower than "lesser fae". Typically reaching maturity around their hundredth year, these greater fae typically live for around six hundred to over a thousand years but some are known to be much older. Lesser fae still maintain a lifespan much longer than humans, around five to eight centuries is a typical lifespan for them.
Additional Information
Social Structure
The primary social structure of the fae are their families, clans of fae united by a common ancestor or immediate parent. The largest of these clans are the Huldra and Mainar but smaller divisions exist based on lineages and interfamily dynamics. In earlier days, the eldest ruler among them was called "Elder King/Queen" and commanded a great deal of respect and reverence.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
One place one won't find fae is out in lush, rolling plains as this is largely known to them as the abode of humans. Fae prefer the secluded forests, swamps, creeks, and other isolated areas as their residences. Cold weather is also something not suited to their biology and they largely remain in areas of hotter climates.
Average Intelligence
Though it has been said that fae are smarter than men, this can simply be attributed to the differing lifespans of the two species.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
All fae possess higher perception and sensory capabilities that allow them to process their environment and surroundings at a seemingly superhuman level. Greater fae take this further and are biologically more intune with residual magics and a sort of environmental feeling. This allows all fae, a degree of sense that is untouchable by humans and can make the fae appear supernaturally quick and lightfooted.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Fae naming conventions are thought to be fairly similar to those of neighboring communities they border. For example, the Bhradain Fae are similar in culture and naming conventions to the old Areuls, the descendants of the Vendaoine. Where this differs is in the use of epithets in place of common surnames, for example, the Queen of the Bhradain fae is Crerva af Venrel Fenrir or Crerva "Of the Venrel Fens".
Major Organizations
Currently the largest group of fae are those of the Mainar in Arallfyd, where they have been very prosperous and have built a realm rivaling any in the world. However, they remain extremely isolated and away from the affairs of the world, ignorance and complacency have overtaken what could have been a great homeland for the fae people in the new world they are in. In the world proper, many fae havens exist in all corners of the world, the most well-known are the fae of Bhradain and their Queen Crerva. The fae of the Ironwood in the south of Iola remain but their numbers dwindle as with the fae of the Black Mountains nearby.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Tafod y Fae or "Tongue of the Fae" is the Arish word for the language largely spoken by the fae of Bhradain. The language has striking similarities to the Areul Arish tongue and even uses many of the same words verbatim which suggests Arish is derived from the older Fae folk tongue. However, the major dialects of the fae come from the split between the initial Mainar and Huldra fae with Tafod y Fae only being a branch of the Huldra tongue of old.
Common Etiquette Rules
Fae can be hostile, not by nature but by necessity as they remain a distrustful and paranoid people largely weary of outsiders.
Common Dress Code
Clothing varies wildly among fae communities as sometimes communities will forgo clothing altogether, dress in pelts, hard grasses, and moss, and sometimes both as communities differ in approaches to modesty and norms.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
The fae under Sylren and Thallan first landed in the Westlands, a place corresponding to the Meridona of western Archeau today. There Sylren built the first fae city of Tirmagall and where those men who first encountered the fae followed them back. Sylren befriended one of their leaders, a man named Ceior whose line would one day produce Meginil Gieachoir, who would found the first united realm of men. Initially settling in the Southlands, the Mainar built the settlement of Ydalvi where they came into later contact with the Sureno and Aeiota men who they quarreled with. The Mainar however, remained more scattered compared to the centralized Huldra of the north.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
The Fae religion is concentrated around ancestor veneration. The belief among the fae is that through remembrance, love, and dedication to their dead, they maintain the eternal souls of their kin. It is for this reason that Fae typically cremate their dead, releasing the immortal soul from the body and freeing it to journey to the Hall of Síoran. There, Síoran, the guardian of the dead, heeds the prayers of the fae and maintains the souls residing in his hall. To remain forever in the Hall of Síoran is the ultimate goal of Faen belief, as the souls there are said to have shed all their vanities and failings and achieved a sort of peace and tranquility that allows them to remain in the peaceful hall forever.
In the homes and dwellings of the fae, special items and shrines are made for specific or broad use for the ancestors of the fae which are maintained and prayed to.
In the homes and dwellings of the fae, special items and shrines are made for specific or broad use for the ancestors of the fae which are maintained and prayed to.
History
The Fae folk are a people very poorly understood throughout the world. Largely considered an imagined figment of myths and quite literally fairy tales, the fae have endured the ebbs and flows of the ever-changing world. Incorrectly thought to have been a product of magically imbued individuals making their homes in sacred forest groves and swamps.
In reality, the fae are much older and more mysterious than other beings in the world. The first fae were those among the fifty ships captained by Sylren and Thallan, the brothers who fled the dark being Malon from another universe entirely. Malon was a being of unknown power, motivation, and hierarchy in the cosmos as the dreaded monarch of the unknown outer world. Sylren and Thallan led the exiles and made their way into the world of man, giant, and god and despite their foreign origin found themselves at home here. Sylren was often called An Lonrach, meaning the Shining but he was also called Sylren of the Cresent Moon, on account of his wife, the goddess Kavrala, daughter of Erailna, who supposedly dwelled on the primordial moon of early creation before it was split by the smithing god Marien. Thallan, king of the Mainar fae was known as a stoic, brooding, and envious figure and ruled his people separately from his elder brother. The Huldra were known for their line of kings that fought alongside early men against the giants, their number however, dwindled drastically, after the destructive civil war fought after the death of High King Foriael Erá.
The line of the Mainar came to King Nivalis af Arallfyd, Nivalis of the Outerworld, who built himself a beautiful palace between reality where he and his people sought refuge during the wars against the Jotnar. From Nivalis' exiled son Taliesin came Gadfael, who lead her people in the war with the giants. Before she fell at the Siege of Balengar, she gave birth to her son Gydwïyr by the god Mabinog. Gydwïyr would unite the clans of humanity against the giants and finally defeat them and the last giant king Thared in battle at Hautkrig.
Once thought to have been more commonplace in the world, the fae we know of quickly retreated either to safety in Arallfyd after the giants were vanquished or to the safety of their bogs, fens, creeks, and forests as they were targeted and persecuted by humans and expelled from public life in violent purges and pogroms. This created the simmering distrust and anger directed towards humans that fae folk now have towards encroaching humans and why they resist these encroachments so fiercely.
Currently, many of the fae folk have seen their woes ease as magic has violently returned to the world and the overbearing reach of mankind has severely dwindled in comparison to the all-encompassing fist of the old Rasennan empire. Reproduction is nearing all-time highs, food is becoming more easily come by, and fae have little worry of major threats to their way of life as humans seem intent on killing each other more than them. This does not mean that the folk knows no hardship, internally there is a growing divide between the mortal fae, those without special magical qualities, and those magic fae who have elongated lifespans and a general ambivalence towards their lesser kin.
In reality, the fae are much older and more mysterious than other beings in the world. The first fae were those among the fifty ships captained by Sylren and Thallan, the brothers who fled the dark being Malon from another universe entirely. Malon was a being of unknown power, motivation, and hierarchy in the cosmos as the dreaded monarch of the unknown outer world. Sylren and Thallan led the exiles and made their way into the world of man, giant, and god and despite their foreign origin found themselves at home here. Sylren was often called An Lonrach, meaning the Shining but he was also called Sylren of the Cresent Moon, on account of his wife, the goddess Kavrala, daughter of Erailna, who supposedly dwelled on the primordial moon of early creation before it was split by the smithing god Marien. Thallan, king of the Mainar fae was known as a stoic, brooding, and envious figure and ruled his people separately from his elder brother. The Huldra were known for their line of kings that fought alongside early men against the giants, their number however, dwindled drastically, after the destructive civil war fought after the death of High King Foriael Erá.
The line of the Mainar came to King Nivalis af Arallfyd, Nivalis of the Outerworld, who built himself a beautiful palace between reality where he and his people sought refuge during the wars against the Jotnar. From Nivalis' exiled son Taliesin came Gadfael, who lead her people in the war with the giants. Before she fell at the Siege of Balengar, she gave birth to her son Gydwïyr by the god Mabinog. Gydwïyr would unite the clans of humanity against the giants and finally defeat them and the last giant king Thared in battle at Hautkrig.
Once thought to have been more commonplace in the world, the fae we know of quickly retreated either to safety in Arallfyd after the giants were vanquished or to the safety of their bogs, fens, creeks, and forests as they were targeted and persecuted by humans and expelled from public life in violent purges and pogroms. This created the simmering distrust and anger directed towards humans that fae folk now have towards encroaching humans and why they resist these encroachments so fiercely.
Currently, many of the fae folk have seen their woes ease as magic has violently returned to the world and the overbearing reach of mankind has severely dwindled in comparison to the all-encompassing fist of the old Rasennan empire. Reproduction is nearing all-time highs, food is becoming more easily come by, and fae have little worry of major threats to their way of life as humans seem intent on killing each other more than them. This does not mean that the folk knows no hardship, internally there is a growing divide between the mortal fae, those without special magical qualities, and those magic fae who have elongated lifespans and a general ambivalence towards their lesser kin.
Historical Figures
King Sylren of the Cresent Moon
King Thallan An Teitheadh
Galerain the Smith
Nivalis af Arallfyd
Érenhel Einbrec
Foriael Erá
Ealien Eorglaw
Cerelian Caricira
King Thallan An Teitheadh
Galerain the Smith
Nivalis af Arallfyd
Érenhel Einbrec
Foriael Erá
Ealien Eorglaw
Cerelian Caricira
Common Myths and Legends
Síoran- The guardian of Faen souls and keeper of the dead. Síoran is the eternal watchman, tending the souls of the dead in the peaceful realm of his eternal hall. Síoran's hall is said to be pleasant peaceful and happy, where the fae bask in the light of Cuinhen, a concept of the collective fae's thought and memory manifested. Síoran rides through his domain with his two horses, Anámat and Todhcai mean Past and Future.
Ciaran- Said to be the first fae, the long wanderer who came to the Fae homeworld of Illan on a dream-like journey. Ciaran is said to have come into contact with a being the fae call Nahar which revealed to Ciaran in a series of dreams, the path to Síoran's halls where Ciaran is said to have been the first Fae spirit to dwell in. Due to this, one of the names the fae have for themselves is Naharil, which means children or kin of Nahar.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Relations between the fae and humans have always been very rocky, to say the least, in times when they weren't being actively persecuted, the folk and humans lived in a contemptive tolerance of one another. In times when the folk were being violently expelled from their homes, beaten in the streets, and outright killed, tolerance was thrown out the window and reprisal killings were very common. The fae have a much better relationship with species native to their forests, these include the Metsava, another social outcast of a species, and Synir who often flee into forests when they've grown too large to hide.
(An example of a fae hut, deep in a secluded forest)
Lifespan
~500-1,000 years for lesser fae and beyond this for greater fae
Average Height
Fae are known for their height, on average they tend to be taller than the average man and many even reach as high as seven feet.
Average Weight
Most fae hover under 200 pounds
Geographic Distribution
Related Organizations
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