Archfae

The faewolds are the domain of the Archfae, the most powerful of the fae. These beings are each unique, and in some ways always quite unlike any other fae, including their archfae peers. With their ability to shape the reality of their own form and that of their realm, an arch fare looks, sounds and acts the way it wishes, and that seeming becomes the reality of their being.
The archfae are rarely born as such; that power is claimed by effort and sacrifice. A would-be archfae may be born fae or mortal, but must gather power and knowledge in order to claim the title they seek. The nature of the power required varies between individuals, but always includes an advanced understanding of enchantment, conjuration and transmutation magic.
In order to affect the ascension itself, a being must complete three stages:

1. Seize control of a faewold. There are two ways to do this. The easiest is to find an unclaimed wold and bend it to your will, but faewolds large enough to support an archfae, yet unclaimed, are few and far between. The alternative is to challenge and overthrow the existing archfae of a claimed wold.
2. Forge a token of authority. This is both a powerful magical tool, and a symbol of rank.
3. Sacrifice one's mortality. The candidate must ritually die within the faewold. This is in many ways the easiest part, but it is only after surrendering the trappings and chattels of mortal life - including one's mortal name - that the candidate discovers if they are strong enough to become an archfae, or if they are simply dead. Once ascended, on archfae is forever bound to both realm and token; to lose either is devastating, and to lose both is fatal. It is dangerous even for an archfre to spend more than a few days outside their wold without their token of office.