The Courts of the Shadow Fey
The shadow fey travel the entirety of the Shadowfell thanks to their affinity to the plane and their extensive control of the shadow roads, but their power resides in the Courts of the Shadow Fey. The Courts rest on a high plateau in the heart of a dark forest in the (approximate) center of the Shadowfell. This location corresponds to the Isle of Gwynneth in the Moonshae Isles, thanks to a pact made between the Fey and Ashardalon, and the twin locations share a strong resemblance and active shadow road connections. Major changes in one location have an impact on the appearance and nature of the other.
The Courts rise from the windswept rock of the cliffs in the forest’s center, monochrome architecture at once both delicate and indomitable. Graceful spans of black stone bridge chasms hundreds of feet deep, and marble colonnades guide supplicants through fantastic gardens to the inner halls. The gray-twilight gloom of the Shadowfell breaks in the sky above the Courts of the Shadow Fey, allowing the stars to occasionally show their glittering points of light to those that study illumination magic. Even the moon shines directly on the Moonlit King’s home-in-exile, the Tower of the Moon.
The Courts of the Shadow Fey consist of three main sections: the Royal Halls, the Winter Palace, and the Lower Court. The population of the Courts is always in flux, with only the noblest and lofty members of the court (and their servants, consorts, and courtesans) in permanent residence within the Royal Halls and Winter Palace. The Lower Court plays host to the Goblin Court, led by Moggo the Chamberlain, and houses the shadow fey guards and soldiers. These shadow-corrupted goblins serve the shadow fey, and Moggo rules as a tyrant. The goblins won’t directly betray their shadow fey masters, but they serve as excellent sources of information, for they love to gossip and gripe. Likewise, the shadow fey don’t care much if guests mistreat the goblin servants, but they draw the line at maiming and killing. Should low-status visitors break any of the rules of the Courts, they find themselves sent to Moggo for judgment. The atmosphere in the Goblin Court ripples with betrayal, flattery, bribes, and blood.
Structure
The true rulers of the shadow fey reside in the upper portions of the Courts, in the Winter Palace and the Royal Halls. The Winter Palace functions as the traditional seat of the Moonlit King, though he only walks its halls when the strange seasons of fey rule turn and his Winter Court ascends. It has been many years since the seasons last turned, and in all that time the Moonlit King has been banished to the faraway Tower of the Moon.
Ultimate power over shadow fey society (and by extension much of the Shadowfell) rests with Her Transcendent Majesty, Sarastra Aestruum, the Queen of Night and Magic. She dwells in the Royal Halls, along with the upper crust of shadow fey society. Only the most respected supplicants receive invitations to enter the Royal Halls for audience, and of these most receive only a sliver of the queen’s attention. They make their obeisance, ask a favor, and quickly get handed off to Court functionaries.
Demography and Population
1,500,000 (1,000,000 shadow fey, 300,000 goblins, 150,000 dark fey, supplicants, and traders)
Foreign Relations
The shadow fey view themselves as the rightful rulers of the Shadowfell and Gwynneth, and they have formal embassies or nominal contact with all other sentient denizens. Ambassadors of the Courts of the Shadow Fey maintain a regular presence with the Twilight Empire of darakhul in their blackened depths, and even with the Children of Ashardalon in Oman. Admittedly the latter is a more tenuous contact, and though the shadow fey officially have a permanent embassy among the Scaled Folk, both races prefer to keep the actual presence of shadow fey envoys as temporary as possible. The shadow fey have no interest in trying to forge a permanent presence among the umbral vampires, and the umbral vampires would likely kill any who tried.
In recent years, the shadow fey have reestablished contact and opened negotiations with the mortals of
Toril. Regular trade in exotic goods crafted by shadow fey artisans has grown in Waterdeep, and the demand for shadow fey blades, jewelry, curios, and marvelously potent wines now spreads beyond the Crossroads.
The shadow fey traders care little for gold in exchange for their wares and are more interested in a far-stranger
commodity—painful memories. Through arcane rites and incantations, the shadow fey take the memories of a mortal who willingly agrees to give them up. The shadow fey distill these memories into strange spirits, each with a distinct flavor. Memories both grim and joyful are valuable to the shadow fey, and their answer to queries as to why is always the same: “It warms us.” So far the trade has been limited due to the dangers of the shadow roads, but the merchants who deal in shadow fey goods swear by the profits. The loss of a painful memory in exchange for a chest of fey-forged moonsteel weapons seems a price so paltry as to be stealing. A few question the wisdom of giving up pieces of their lives bit by bit in exchange for mere wealth. Some merchants have begun contemplating alternate donors as a source of memories.
Beyond trade in goods, the shadow fey brokers secrets and power. Not only is their knowledge of the Shadowfell and the roads that crisscross it vast, but many recall the events of ancient history as if they happened yesterday. Lost tombs, forgotten artifacts, and ancient knowledge have all been recovered thanks to shadow fey information brokers. The shadow fey also peddle true power in the form of rare magic. They trade in illumination magic that blends the power of starlight with the cold depths of Shadow. Likewise, for those who seek quick power, shadow magic sits on the auction block. The shadow fey merely request that a student join them in the Shadowfell as their guest for tutelage, despite the fact that these extended visits carry the risk of shadow corruption for mortal visitors. Whispers abound that the shadow fey, by dark and terrible means, can transform a sufficiently shadow-corrupted individual into one of their own, creating a new fey from a corrupted mortal.
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Leader
Head of Government
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Economic System
Mixed economy
Major Exports
Secrets, fey wine, metalwork, jewelry, memories, illumination magic, shadow magic
Parent Organization
Location
Controlled Territories
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