The Feywild
The Feywild of Andali is a parallel plane to the Mortal Plane. It is full of wild magic that flows freely and powerfully throughout the realm, inundating the earth and saturating its residents in arcane power. The geography of the plane consists of mild echoes of the Mortal Plane; in a place where there is a huge mountain range or expansive forest, so too would there be one in the Feywild. This trend is doubly true for places of moral goodness or otherwise; each location within the Feywild is an exaggeration of its mortal counterpart, and that includes places of darkness, however beautiful they may appear.
The Feywild has been around since time immemorial. It is the divine realm of the Wanderer, although it is unclear if the Wanderer created it or if the Feywild's existence predates even the gods. The realm can be accessed at random throughout the Mortal Plane by seemingly random means; anything as simple as taking a long turn in the woods or forgetting to thank the innkeeper to things as complicated as walking around a specific set of standing stones in a crisscross pattern twenty-seven times while humming "Devil Went down to Georgia."
The Feywild is broken into factions. The Seelie of the fey are generally considered the more reputable of the fair folk, the Unseelie are the kind of fey that are to be blamed when every child in the village goes missing overnight or if goats begin to lay eggs.
The Seelie is broken up into four sovereign courts; the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter courts of the Fey. These courts are official signers of the Accords, agreeing that they would stay out of the deals and conflicts of the Mortal Plane so long as the Mortal Plane also stays out of their conflicts. Each court tends to have a disposition fitting of the season which it comes from. They are bound to follow the Accords to the letter; however, this means they follow them to the letter and no more, regardless of what the spirit of the law may have been. This means they only don't interfere in terms of politics and warfare, so there is nothing stopping them from terrorizing the locals when the Aurora Totalis is at its zenith.
The Spring Court is easily the calmest court of the courts. It is associate with rejuvenation and regrowth after winters' end, and many of the eladrin within this court are vestiges of the Wanderer who patrol the Mortal Plane ensuring the upkeep of various groves and woodlands around the world.
Summer is the most popular court, lead by Queen Titania and King Oberon. They are warm and welcoming and host a multitude of grand balls and masquerades both within the Feywild and among the rolling hills of the Fulminarian Empire. If you run into a being from the Summer court, consider yourself lucky; they are unlikely to wrong you without first issuing a challenge, something that they are wont to do. They also throw insane ragers, due to summer being associated with the insatiable want to give into the burning madness of beings such as Pan. In these Dionysian parties, mortals that find themselves participating in the mad kegger might find themselves turned into various types of wildlife and hunted for sport, inextricably bound to beautiful court nobles, or torn limb from limb by other party goers in the throws of wild ecstasy. The Tuatha de Danann are warriors of this Court, and are sworn to protect the king and queen.
The Autumn court is similar to the Spring Court in terms of its calm nature. Fall is a time of winding down and preparation, but also of drinking spiced meads and harvest festivals. It is sometimes regarded as the most homey of the courts, to the dismay of the residents, but they cannot deny how cozy their season is, if it does come right before the preparation for the season of Darkness.
Some may call the Winter Court a dark reflection of the Summer Court, or even the Dark Court, some even believe it to be an evil court, however, this is simply untrue. The Winter Court conducts itself with great decorum and high standards, seeing themselves as the only things standing between the Seelie Courts and the darkness of the Unseelie. Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, presides over this court as the soul monarch, and she rules it with an iron fist. A slight against Mab is a slight against the nation, as her people are fiercely loyal and more than willing to kill for their queen. Mab is a brilliant wordsmith of silver tongue and fiery wit, and therefore is someone who one might hesitate to make a deal with, as they might certainly expect to get the short end of the stick. This idea rings true for her entire court; every noble within the Winter Court is able to make a deal with the Authority of Queen Mab, and therefore every noble is in a small way party to the devious nature of the Queen of Frost. Deals like this have seen whole kingdoms frozen over, locked nobles in magical slumber, and impressed farmers into service as Winter Knights of the Wild Hunt, all within the bounds of the Accords; they didn't interfere with politics or war, technically: the rulers of frozen kingdoms simply used their kingdoms as collateral and lost them, etc. etc. The Wild Hunt is Mab's fighting force that once per year, when the shadows well up beneath the Feydark and the Darkness roils in its prison during the darkest night of the year, the Wild Hunt is there to keep the forces of night in check. However, this is its one good deed a year. Every other night of the year, the Hunt roves the countryside, terrorizing mortals.
If you thought Winter Court was bad, don't read this entry. The Unseelie are the fey which terrorize humankind for pleasure. They are not bound by the Accords, and therefore have free reign to do as they please to those unfortunate enough to be within their domain. They dwell throughout the deep forests of the Feywild and below it in the Feydark, and some dwell on the Mortal Plane, hidden away and waiting to prey on mortals. These are the kind of fey who both eat babies and steal babies to sustain themselves. They include, but are not limited too:
The Feywild has been around since time immemorial. It is the divine realm of the Wanderer, although it is unclear if the Wanderer created it or if the Feywild's existence predates even the gods. The realm can be accessed at random throughout the Mortal Plane by seemingly random means; anything as simple as taking a long turn in the woods or forgetting to thank the innkeeper to things as complicated as walking around a specific set of standing stones in a crisscross pattern twenty-seven times while humming "Devil Went down to Georgia."
Factions of the Fey
The Feywild is broken into factions. The Seelie of the fey are generally considered the more reputable of the fair folk, the Unseelie are the kind of fey that are to be blamed when every child in the village goes missing overnight or if goats begin to lay eggs.
The Seelie Courts
The Seelie is broken up into four sovereign courts; the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter courts of the Fey. These courts are official signers of the Accords, agreeing that they would stay out of the deals and conflicts of the Mortal Plane so long as the Mortal Plane also stays out of their conflicts. Each court tends to have a disposition fitting of the season which it comes from. They are bound to follow the Accords to the letter; however, this means they follow them to the letter and no more, regardless of what the spirit of the law may have been. This means they only don't interfere in terms of politics and warfare, so there is nothing stopping them from terrorizing the locals when the Aurora Totalis is at its zenith.
The Spring Court
The Spring Court is easily the calmest court of the courts. It is associate with rejuvenation and regrowth after winters' end, and many of the eladrin within this court are vestiges of the Wanderer who patrol the Mortal Plane ensuring the upkeep of various groves and woodlands around the world.
The Summer Court
Summer is the most popular court, lead by Queen Titania and King Oberon. They are warm and welcoming and host a multitude of grand balls and masquerades both within the Feywild and among the rolling hills of the Fulminarian Empire. If you run into a being from the Summer court, consider yourself lucky; they are unlikely to wrong you without first issuing a challenge, something that they are wont to do. They also throw insane ragers, due to summer being associated with the insatiable want to give into the burning madness of beings such as Pan. In these Dionysian parties, mortals that find themselves participating in the mad kegger might find themselves turned into various types of wildlife and hunted for sport, inextricably bound to beautiful court nobles, or torn limb from limb by other party goers in the throws of wild ecstasy. The Tuatha de Danann are warriors of this Court, and are sworn to protect the king and queen.
The Autumn Court
The Autumn court is similar to the Spring Court in terms of its calm nature. Fall is a time of winding down and preparation, but also of drinking spiced meads and harvest festivals. It is sometimes regarded as the most homey of the courts, to the dismay of the residents, but they cannot deny how cozy their season is, if it does come right before the preparation for the season of Darkness.
The Winter Court
Some may call the Winter Court a dark reflection of the Summer Court, or even the Dark Court, some even believe it to be an evil court, however, this is simply untrue. The Winter Court conducts itself with great decorum and high standards, seeing themselves as the only things standing between the Seelie Courts and the darkness of the Unseelie. Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, presides over this court as the soul monarch, and she rules it with an iron fist. A slight against Mab is a slight against the nation, as her people are fiercely loyal and more than willing to kill for their queen. Mab is a brilliant wordsmith of silver tongue and fiery wit, and therefore is someone who one might hesitate to make a deal with, as they might certainly expect to get the short end of the stick. This idea rings true for her entire court; every noble within the Winter Court is able to make a deal with the Authority of Queen Mab, and therefore every noble is in a small way party to the devious nature of the Queen of Frost. Deals like this have seen whole kingdoms frozen over, locked nobles in magical slumber, and impressed farmers into service as Winter Knights of the Wild Hunt, all within the bounds of the Accords; they didn't interfere with politics or war, technically: the rulers of frozen kingdoms simply used their kingdoms as collateral and lost them, etc. etc. The Wild Hunt is Mab's fighting force that once per year, when the shadows well up beneath the Feydark and the Darkness roils in its prison during the darkest night of the year, the Wild Hunt is there to keep the forces of night in check. However, this is its one good deed a year. Every other night of the year, the Hunt roves the countryside, terrorizing mortals.
The Unseelie
If you thought Winter Court was bad, don't read this entry. The Unseelie are the fey which terrorize humankind for pleasure. They are not bound by the Accords, and therefore have free reign to do as they please to those unfortunate enough to be within their domain. They dwell throughout the deep forests of the Feywild and below it in the Feydark, and some dwell on the Mortal Plane, hidden away and waiting to prey on mortals. These are the kind of fey who both eat babies and steal babies to sustain themselves. They include, but are not limited too:
- Hags: The classic idea of an evil fey, hags are evil creaturs, but fortunately they are also solitary creatures. Woe betide thee who stumbles across a hag coven.
- Darklings: Twisted ideas of eladrin who once betrayed the Queen of Frost to the Darkness and for this betrayal were cursed to serve the Darkness, thrown out of their homes and into the Feydark.
- Redcaps: Horrible creatures, spawned of blood that is spilt in the Feywild by a mortal creature. The droplets of blood begin to turn into tiny red-capped mushrooms, which eventually grow into horrible, iron-booted murder hobos who kill to sustain their life force.
- Quicklings: The devious reflection of sprites.
- Fomorians: Creatures of darkness who seem to be neither a part of Feywild or of the Mortal Plane. They are the natural enemy of all Fey, even to the other Unseelie. It is uncertain their purpose, only that they are to be avoided at all costs.
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