Fae

The fae have always been creatures of myth - stories about them abound and nobody knows the truth - and the fae certainly aren't telling. if they can even remember the truth themselves. possibly origins are truly lost of the mists of time.

The only thing that is known for certain amongst the fae is that they did always maintain a presence in what they refer to as the mortal realm - what we consider to be the world, reality. But, over the last few hundred years, that presence had been greatly reduced. And things changed completely on that halloween. At the same time that spirits suddenly became visible to all, the fae started to disappear. They didn't make a big thing of it - hell, their presence in the mortal realm at all was very subtle and unknown. But with twelve hours of the spirits becoming visible, every fae in the mortal realm had disappeared - returned to the Dreaming - and they cut all ties with the mortal realm.

They stayed gone for several months, and was into the new year before they started to return. And, when they did, it became apparent that they had not idled their time away. they were organised, and they were no longer trying to be subtle about their presence. The fae were Back.

What the world doesn't know (since the world knows very little about the fae in the first place) is that the fae who are currently in the mortal realm are only the lowest of the fae. They are there as scouts, as feelers, as messengers. The High Fae have remained in the Dreaming, and have no intentions of journeying to the mortal realm until they have better taken stock of the situation. In the meantime, they will act through their lessers. The mortal realm does not need to know that the most powerful is being kept in reserve...

The Dreaming

The fae are a world apart - in some ways, quite literally. They have their own home which is separate from the world, their own plane of existence. This is known as the Dreaming.

The Dreaming is connected to the mortal realm (the 'real world') by gateways (which are pretty well hidden, so if you don't know they're there, you wouldn't be able to just 'stumble across' one, but you don't need any special abilities to get through them!), and the Dreaming is a reflection of the mortal realm - it sits on top of it, though it cannot be seen or experienced from the mortal realm. It occupies the same physical space as the mortal realm, just on a different level of existence.

Everything which exists in the mortal realm exists within the Dreaming, only more so. The Dreaming is not constrained by mortal laws, by things such as physics or logic. The Dreaming is like reality on every drug known to man and only the fae can live their happily.

Whilst the fae can cope with the extreme acid trip that life in the Dreaming can be, the effect on non-fae is quite, quite different. Non-fae who visit the Dreaming will thereafter find it impossible to leave for more than a couple of days at a time. They will have to go back - the Dreaming is highly addictive and any non-fae who has visited the Dreaming and then tries to leave for good will simply fade away and die - they lose the will to live.

The Dreaming and Dreams

The Dreaming is powered by the dreams of anything and everything that can dream. It is the stuff of unconscious imagination. This makes the fae incredibly invested in making sure that the world continues to be populated by lots and lots of dreaming beings - and preferably ones that aren't permanently suffering from nightmares. Both dreams and nightmares provide power to the Dreaming, but the Dreaming is as subject to balance as everything else and too much of either dreams or nightmares will throw the Dreaming out of balance.

Because the Dreaming is made up of dreams the fae have, over the years, developed an affinity with dreams. They can influence dreams - for either better or worse. They have the ability to turn a people's dream into a nightmare, or vice versa. What they cannot do, however, is actually influence specifics within the dream (so, if they are causing a nightmare, they cannot influence what the nightmare would be about). The fae, however, can only do this from within the real world. They cannot influence dreams from the dreaming. Most fae can only influence the dreams of a single person, but some can influence the dreams of a whole household, and there have been rumours of the existence of fae who can influence the dreams of an entire street or town (NOTE: extra abilities beyond the normal 'single person' ability must be taken as a special ability at character creation')

Fae Types

~Kinderun~

The Kinderun are very childlike fae, both in appearance and outlook. Physically, they are very small - never growing more than 5' 3" in height, and with a slim build to match. They also retain a youthful appearance longer than most fae.

They are very childlike, and in some ways simple, in their approach - theirs is a world of certainties and definites - a world of extremes. They never see shades of grey. They are the least likely of any of the fae to be able to see anything from another perspective and are very firm in the way they view the world. No amount of arguing or reasoning will move a Kinderun from their chosen point of view.

They also have to abide by the rules of childhood. For example, they cannot step on cracks in the pavement, monsters under the bed really can come and get you in the night if you don't check first. The fears of children are the fears of the Kinderun. But by the same rule, the safety nets of children work for the Kinderun - bad luck comes from seeing a single magpie, but that bad luck can be banished if you salute them, or greet them.

Kinderun are the tricksters of the fae world. They have a very difficult time holding onto the idea that actions have consequences, and they are usually surprised to find that something they do may react back on them in some way. Kinderun live for the moment - what they want to do in that moment, they are likely to do. They lack the ability to think things through, or plan in any real way. they are incredibly spontaneous creatures, though forever fun loving and positive. The past is of no more concern to them than the future.

~Wachterfeen~

Wacherfeen almost look human. Almost - really, it's the wings that give them away. All Wachterfeen have wings, which are gossamer affairs, though the size of these differs between individuals. Aside from that, they have no continuity of physical appearance or build.

Wachterfeen have always been concerned with the natural world. They will say that they have walked the earth for far longer than humankind and they intend to walk the earth once humankind is gone and forgotten. Of all the fae, they are the ones who concern themselves least with the working of man, though they have always interacted more with the various supernatural species, and prefer to spend their time with lycanthropes of all of them.

Wachterfeen consider themselves the guardians of the natural world. And, for them, the 'natural world' consists merely of flora. Animals, in their opinion, are merely passing through. Plants last so much longer - animals tend to be ever-evolving, changing, going extinct. They prefer to deal with the continuity of life, with things that have a longer lifespan and better staying power.

For the Wachterfeen, killing is a crime, unless it is in defence of a greater good - the greater good for the Wachterfeen being defined as the continuance of the natural world. So, for example, a Wacherfeen would be unable to kill in the general scheme of things - but when faced with a logging company in the Amazon rain forest, oh hell yes.

~Traume~

For reasons that are unknown, the Traume are predominantly male - male Traume outnumber female 4 to 1. Although Traume largely look human in appearance, they can be identified by the fact they always have different coloured eyes.

Traume were once considered the most reclusive of fae. For many years they did not venture outside the Dreaming, and when they did, it became apparent what they had been doing with their time. For the Traume, over a period of time, became specialists - they learned to use the essence of the Dreaming to a much greater extent than any of the other fae.

All fae have a certain ability to manipulate dreams from the mortal realm, but Traume learned to do so much more than that. Traume learned to actually access the raw material of the dreaming - known as 'dreamstuff - from the mortal world. They are able to reach between the mortal world and the Dreaming to access this and bring it into the mortal realm as a thick, stringy, colourless, viscous fluid.

The dreamstuff is mildly caustic to all but Traume (ie, it stings like a bitch) and if it gets into the eyes of any but the Traume it will amplify their emotional state and create hallucinations based upon this state. As such dreamstuff is also the Traume's primary weapon if they're ever cornered.

Using dreamstuff as a weapon aside, Traume have learned to use dreamstuff to further enchance their ability to manipulate dreams. Whereas most fae have only a limited ability to manipulate dreams, the Traume can specifically influence the dreams of a single person. They can do this by making dreams from dreamstuff. By accessing dreamstuff, a Traume can mold a specific and particular dream and, by then depositing the molded dreamstuff into something that is then drunk by their target, the Traume can ensure that a person has that specific dream.

The Traume are also incredibly family-oriented. It is unusual to find a Traume on their own. Arranged marriages are common and within the family unit, the sexes are treated very differently from each other. Women are 'protected', female children are 'coddled' - women are expected to be homemakers, to marry young, to be subservient to their men. Female children are expected to be dutiful, quiet, to not date until they are adults, to be virgins on their wedding night. The higher education of Traume women is not encouraged, unless it's the kind of thing that would make life easier for their husbands (cooking, childcare, gardening etc). For Traume men, well, as children they are encouraged to be warriors, to be outgoing, stay out until all hours, to be independent.

~Musen~

Of all of the fae, the Musen were the most closely integrated with the mortal realm, though they to withdrew when the call came from the Dreaming. before that, thought, they had lived closely with humankind for millenia, ad they are the most able to pass as human of all of the fae types. Physically, they look much like human, but tend towards the human ideal - they are the beautiful ones, and have an ability to adapt that to whatever happens to be the current fashionable idea of physical perfection. Of course, this isn't instantaneous, but they can seemingly easily keep up with trends enough to maintain that.

Musen are drawn to the arts, they seek out beauty in all its forms and seek to encourage that. They are drawn to artists, poets, writers, musicians, dancers etc and their presence and influence upon these people can act as inspiration. They have developed the ability to use glamour magic in a kind of low level mild telepathy, to create inspiration in the human mind.

Fae Society, Rules and Structure

The fae exist within a rigid social structure - it's part of who they are and they are incapable of questioning this. Fae who think the order is 'wrong' or should be rebelled against, simply don't exist. that's a much more human mentality that the fae just don't have. What they do is always and without exception done within the traditional structure of their race.

Fae are very big on rules and tradition, which ties into this. Rules are important to the fae, and in some situations, they are vital. Every fae type has certain rules which they cannot transgress - and it's not just a case that they'll have bad things happen to them if they break these rules, it is simply that it is physically and mentally impossible for them to do it. It won't even kill them, they just can't do it. They either find a loophole or way round it, or they don't do it. (Rules such as these are specifically indicated within this writeup).

That said, fae don't automatically have any respect for human rules. Fae aren't human, they may join in the human world for a time, but they don't see themselves as a part of it and don't apply human rules to themselves or other fae. To the fae, applying human rules to themselves is as nonsensical as a human applying a dog's pack rules and structure to human society. They can understand what the rules are, they can understand how they work and how to act them out, but they don't feel bound by them and if they use them, they're really only doing so to get along in human society.

Fae Courts, Alignments and Personalities

The fae live within a fairly feudal society, with a rigid, immobile social structure which hasn't changed since time immemorial. At the top of this social structure are the High Fae - the royal court. Traditionally (and fae are big on tradition) this is split into two factions: Seelie and Unseelie. These are the two major courts of the fae - the courts that people have heard of, and refer to. There is, though, also a third alignment, these are the neutral fae. They don't hold by fancy names, such as 'seelie' and 'unseelie'. Whilst the neutral fae have a court, they're not into the pomp and circumstance of the other alignments, they just are.

What court a fae belongs to depends upon their personality. Fae are, strictly speaking, meant to definitely have an allegiance to a court, but with the changes in the world, the courts have been officially setting aside their differences to deal with the problems in the world, and they have agreed to be willing to overlook that some of the lesser fae acting as ambassadors may not have openly declared an allegiance. The current agreement is that any fae willing to act as an ambassador or agent for the mortal realm during the current time will have the support of the fae race as a whole - but those without a declared allegiance will obtain only the basic and passing support of their race, they will not have any champions from any of the courts.

One thing, however, which remains constant in all fae personalities is their chaotic nature in general. They are ruled by whimsy, subject to changing their minds and hearts in a moment's notice, and generally speaking are incredibly inconsistent unless you know the kind of mindset intimately.

~Unseelie (Chaotic Evil)~
Unseelie fae are ruled by their baser natures. They're far more apt to go with gut reactions, knee jerk spiteful behavior, and generally enjoy a darker nature in general. Unseelie fae never do anything out of the 'goodness of their hearts'. If they're doing something it's usually detrimental to some party along the line somewhere - or, at the very least, there's something in it for them. They're ruled by sadistic tendencies, urges and desires. They not only don't mind hurting those around them, it's generally a bonus if they do. Most of the time that's part of the main point. They're the types of personalities that like to be in control, and exerting that control over those around them. They're no one's yes-man, and never will be. In human terms, unseelie fae would be considered sociopathic at best, psychopathic at worst.

~Neutral (Chaotic Neutral)~
Considered to be, perhaps oddly enough, the most dangerous of the fae alignments, neutral fae are truly unpredictable. They have no set leanings. They have no consistent desires. What they are are pure chaos, and they're just as likely to perform actions that would make unseelie fae jealous, as they are to do something so delightful as to put seelie fae to shame. They're dangerous because they're inconsistent. They're unpredictable in the truest sense of the word. You can never try and figure what they might do, because put into the exact same situation, a neutral fae will have a different response every time. Put into human terms, neutral fae would be considered batshit insane. Morality is something that happens to other people, and so is consistency. They go by however they're feeling at the time, whatever that may be, and can pull a direct 180 in absolutely no time, and most of the time people couldn't even say what happened to prompt a change. These fae are as different as they come, with no common threads or patterns to see. They can be anyone, doing just about anything.

~Seelie (Chaotic Good)~
The idea of random acts of kindness might have stemmed from these sorts of fae. They can be helpful, genuinely forces of positive influence in the world, and generally if you have to tangle with any of the fae, they're the kind you would probably come out the least scathed by. The opposite to their counterparts, seelie fae's whims and tendencies aim towards the positive. They will randomly do nice things for people, or situations around them if the whim strikes. Everything from putting a spare quarter in an expired parking meter to randomly giving someone who looks sad a flower, their innermost drives cater to what they believe is good. In human terms, they'd be considered quirky, and are the most easily socially accepted by humanity.

~Perspective~
With these alignments, it is all dependent upon perspective. Outside ones, humans or other human-like mentalities viewing the fae find them inscrutable. To the fae, however, there's always method behind the madness, even if it's their specific brand of method. Whatever they're feeling like at the time is probably the most key factor to anything a fae does, and whim is more than a justifiable reason for anything. It's all subjective, however, and is based on how any specific fae views the world. None of them are just wacky kooks that are inconsistent just to be inconsistent. They all have their own brand of logic, and it all makes sense to them. Might not to anyone but other fae, but definitely to them.

Fae Rules

Rules are very important to the fae. In fact every fae has rules they are incapable of breaking. As discussed above, it is not the case that if they break these rules, they will be punished, it is simply the fact that they are totally incapable of breaking them. It is impossible. They don't have the free will to choose whether to follow a rule or not.

What they can do is try and find a way round a rule. For example, a Kinderun cannot step on cracks in the sidewalk. It's not the case that if they do step on cracks in the sidewalk that they would die. It's just the case that they can't do that. It's like the worst form of OCD ever - they will do anything to avoid stepping on a crack in the sidewalk, including starving to death, not being able to move from the spot where they are. They can't do it.

Fae Logic

This is something which really needs specific mention, because the one thing to bear in mind is that fae are not human. Yes, yes, this seems obvious, but we emphasise it because it is important.

To a human, fae can often come off as unstable. They're not (generally, though you get unstable fae as well), but they don't look at the world through human eyes. They're just... different.

Fae are very subject to whimsy - they're much more ruled by emotion than logic and they very much live in the moment. Fae live extremely long lives, they don't tend to look to the future and they don't put very much stock in the past. This means that, at times, they make what would look to a human like very odd decisions. For example, good 'logic' to a fae? Would be 'he started it!' or 'Because I felt like it at the time'.

The fae have a universal lack of accountability for their actions. They have a natural self-love and self-centredness. It's very hard for them to feel guilty about things, or accept that they or their actions are wrong. A fae will always look for a way to twist the argument so they are blameless. And on top of this, a fae will consider 'because it was fun' to be a damn good reason for doing something. This logic would of course, in their eyes, absolve them of any guilt.

An example of this. An unseelie fae kidnaps a small child from the park one summer's afternoon. He takes the child home and tortures said child for days. His reasoning? 'Well, she was just sitting there - it wasn't like she was doing anything important. Anyway, I was bored and wanted some entertainment...'

This reasoning may seem horrific to a human, but it would be perfectly understandable to another fae. Even a seelie fae would understand this reasoning. They may think that the action was bad, but the reason would be perfectly acceptable. The reaction of the seelie fae would be to suggest that if he was bored, the unseelie fae really should have found something else to entertain himself.

Solidarity of the fae

For all that the fae are aligned into courts, when it comes to other races, the fae stand together. What this means is that two fae from different courts may be at each others throats a lot, but if a human picks on one, the other will come to the defence of the fae against the human.

As far as the fae are concerned, the only fae can criticise other fae. And even then, a fae can only criticise a fae on their own level or lower. This is another rule for the fae - you don't talk bad about your betters. So, the low fae will only ever criticise other low fae and lesser beings. As for what qualifies as 'lesser beings', well, that would be every living creature that is not fae - human, angels, demons etc included.

Ageing and Appearance

Fae are theoretically immortal. This means that whilst they don't die of old age, they can be killed. How they appear in terms of age varies a bit. Many fae will functionally 'stop' aging when they hit a mature point. Sometimes this appearance is younger (such as twenties) sometimes a bit older (thirties) and while the aging process doesn't occur like it does in humans, once fae start getting on in years, their appearance slowly starts drifting towards a more elderly one. For example, if you have a fae who's fifty in real time, they aren't going to look fifty. If you have an fae who's four hundred some years, they probably are looking around 50 or possibly older. (Note: we do not accept characters over 500 years old in game).

Fae both do and don't look like humans. Generally, they could pass as human at a glance, but they have an other-worldliness about them that betrays that they aren't human.

Glamour Magic

Glamour is the magic of illusion and it can be used by all fae. It is, in fact, a trick that affects the senses of the observer. It can create sights, sounds and smells that are not actually there.

In theory, glamour can be created to fool any of the five senses. That said, the more senses a glamour must fool, the harder it is to do. For example - making a cheese sandwich appear on a table is easy, if you only want the appearance of a cheese sandwich. Making something that looks like a cheese sandwich and that can be pickd up is harder. Making something that looks like a cheese sandwich, smells like a cheese sandwich and can be picked up, harder still. Making something that looks, feels, smells and tastes like a cheese sandwich is harder still. A glamour that affects all five senses is impossible. That is the drawback of glamour magic - it is always flawed, never perfect. It is always missing a sense.

Glamour magic is also easier when worked by multiple fae. Individual fae can only manage basic glamours - ones that have small effects, or only affect at most one or two senses, and which are short lived (no more than a five hours at most). Groups of fae working together can have much greater effects, with glamours which last much longer and affect four out of five senses. This is one of the reasons for the societal structure of fae - their magic encourages cooperation between fae.

Whether worked individually or in groups, glamour magic is draining. It takes a lot of energy to perform and overuse of glamour magic can leave a fae drained. So, for example, whilst a fae may be able to use a glamour to change their appearance, or the appearance of someone else, they would not be able to maintain this long term (no more than five hours and if the glamour lasted five hours, it would leave the fae exhausted).

Large spells worked on mulitple senses over a longer period is exhausting even for a group of fae. Large glamours are generally only wrought on special occasions, such as fae banquets on the equinoxes and at midsummer and midwinter. These banquets take large groups of fae and are so intricate that the fae involved are exhausted for days afterwards.

Most fae, however, just use glamours individually - and quite a few fae use glamours on themselves when they want to change something about their appearance for a time. Once, they'd had proper seemings, which easily changed their appearance (for example, allowed Wachterfeen to hide their wings), but since they've returned from the Dreaming, seemings seem to have disappeared - fae are left now with only glamours to change their appearance and they cannot use these all the time, or even most of the time.