Faerie

"They were like bladed hummingbirds, gone before you screamed, but not before you bled." -Captain Vallo, survivor of the Thistlewood Massacre

The Faerie are foot-tall folk of ferocious spirit and flickering grace, denizens of The Otherworld’s moss-slick branches and crystalwater riverbanks. Known for their fierce speed and dazzling presence, they are described in battle as "ballerinas with daggers for feet," streaking through the mist on wings that hum like harpstrings. When not at war, Faeries are symbiotic craftsfolk and light-hearted philosophers, raising birds alongside bees and singing to their rootbound crops. Their glimmering hair and wings emit a crackling trail of radiant particles, known as Faerie Dust, that reflects light like crushed gemstones. This substance, once harvested illicitly for alchemical flight tonics through trafficking or the horrific 'Faerie Slaughterhouses' is now forbidden to trade under pain of execution, as it requires the cruel dismemberment of a living faerie. Despite their childlike size and whimsy, Faeries are neither harmless nor helpless. They live by code and kin, and are known for both explosive rage and boundless joy. Skilled woodworkers, armorers, and jewelcrafters, they weave rings and riding harnesses for raccoons, sleds for squirrels, and necklaces like sunlit blades of silk. Whether frolicking or fighting, they never move without purpose. Faerie culture demands balance, between work and wonder, ferocity and beauty, nature and craft. Their reclusive lives amid giant mushrooms and gnarled oaks may seem quaint, but legends claim it was the Faeries who taught the first druids to speak with animals, and that their songs once steered the wilds themselves.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

• Lysira.
• Brambletine.
• Thessa.
• Oolari.
• Neera.

Masculine names

• Pikk.
• Tharnel.
• Brisk.
• Orlan.
• Vek.

Unisex names

• Skee.
• Linthel.
• Maro.
• Feyno.
• Tikkle.

Family names

Faeries do not have traditional family surnames. Instead, they use nature-linked identifiers or earned titles, such as:

• Of the Hollow Log.
• Glitterwing.
• Stone-Skipper.
• Vinebound.
• Leaflight.

Other names

Thimblefolk (colloquial), Dustlings (neutral), Gnats (derogatory), Petalknives (military honorific).

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Faeries speak Flitspeak, a rapid, high-pitched language laced with whistles, chord-like tones, and bursts of musical inflection.

• Common idioms include:
• “The breeze hears all.”
• “Don't trust a root unless you planted it.”
• “Faster than a Faerie lie.”

Culture and cultural heritage

Faerie culture is rooted in symbiosis. They partner with animals not as pets but companions, often seen riding raccoons into battle or coaxing beavers to help craft miniature wooden citadels. Their woodworking is renowned for both elegance and complexity, used to create instruments, thimble-sized siege weapons, and even magickal traps. Jewelry is their greatest pride, made from white gold, pearls, dewstone, and fireglass, worn not just for status, but as defensive magicks or encoded lore. Festivals are frequent and wild, with glowfly lanterns, wine distilled from honeydew, and music played on hand-harp, seedlute, and crystalpipe.

Shared customary codes and values

• Ride only what rides with you willingly.
• Never dull the shine of another’s spirit.
• Pranks are sacred, so is revenge.
• Speak your name, or lose it.

Average technological level

Advanced for their size. Faerie engineering includes intricate pulley systems, magickal woodcraft, and alchemically enhanced seeds. Despite their rustic lifestyle, their use of arcane symbiosis is sophisticated and subtle.

Common Etiquette rules

• Always sing when entering a faerie grove.
• Never ask a faerie what their “real” name is.
• Gifting another’s trinket without consent is grounds for a challenge.
• Tipping your wings is both greeting and apology.

Common Dress code

Tiny, elegant garments made of spider-silk, mossweave, and flower-petal cloth. Wings are decorated with glitter-thread and hand-shaped pins. Earrings and nose-rings are common, many carved from jewel-fruits or meteorstone.

Art & Architecture

Faerie homes are carved into mushrooms, reeds, and burls of tree bark, often built vertically with root-hung stairways and hummingward traps to keep out birds. Art is functional and intricate, whirring kinetic sculptures, symphonic windchimes, and enchantments that light up only under moonlight. Faerie sculpture often depicts movement, dancing figures, airborne riders, and rippling wind caught in still form.

Foods & Cuisine

Faeries eat fermented fruit paste, wild mushrooms, honeyed root-paste, bug marrow, and petal-jams. Nectar spirits and pollenwine are faerie delicacies, often served in drop-shaped flasks smaller than a human’s thumb. Mice-butter and ant-egg crumblecakes are communal treats.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

A Faerie must carve and gift a complete wooden object to another species, usually an animal. Until accepted, they are not considered an adult.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

Newborns are named by their parents with a whisper into their wings. The child is placed on a leaf and floated down a river tributary, guided by family and birds. If the leaf returns upright, the child is welcomed as a “true fae.”

Coming of Age Rites

A Faerie must carve and gift a complete wooden object to another species, usually an animal. Until accepted, they are not considered an adult.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The dead are wrapped in silk, hung inside flowers, and left in the upper canopy. At dawn, the petals open and their spirit is “carried to the wind.”

Common Taboos

• Speaking someone’s name during their sleep.
• Touching wings without permission.
• Using tools made of bird bone or bat hide.
• Refusing a dancing invitation during bloomfeast.

Common Myths and Legends

• The Whisperroot Pact: A tale of how the first faerie made peace with the animals of the forest by sharing a single whisper across every root.
• The Fox-Courier of Thornhill: A faerie who tamed a blind fox and rode it across the mountains to deliver a broken harp-string that stopped a war.
• The Unnamed Queen: A faerie who traded her name to a spider for eternal youth, only to forget her tribe, her children, and herself.
• Dust to Dust: A warning tale of a human alchemist who ground faerie wings into potion until his body turned to dust from the inside out.

Historical figures

• Queen Brillith of the Bramble Chain: United thirteen groves against a Troll incursion.
• Vint the Gleam-Keeper: First faerie to teach symbiotic bonding to druids.
• Pikk of the Daggertail: Legendary duelist who defeated a Goliath warband atop a single squirrel.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Colorful wings, bright eyes, intricate jewelry, and voice clarity. Faeries prize agility, glitter, and ornament above symmetry or size.

Gender Ideals

Faeries are largely gender-fluid, with roles determined by charisma and craft. Identity is a song, not a name, it changes as the wind does.

Courtship Ideals

Flirtation is acrobatic, gifting songs, echoing laughter, and out-pranking the one you admire. Courtships often involve shared nesting or craft.

Relationship Ideals

Monogamy is rare. Relationships are as seasonal as the blooms, though deep bonds are celebrated in long dances or nest-carving ceremonies.

Interesting Facts & Folklore:

• “Faerie Dust” is a regulated substance, once sold in black markets to enable human flight.
• Many faeries speak in rhyme during argument, claiming it “sharpens the point.”
• It is said Faerie songs can lure storms, heal saplings, or shatter mirrors.
• They often ride raccoons, foxes, or mice into battle, wearing tiny silver stirrups.
• Faeries never lie, but they will mislead with joy, “Truth wrapped in thistle,” as the saying goes.
• Some believe faeries choose to become stars when they die, glittering in the Otherworld's eternal sky.

Idioms & Metaphors:

• “Your wings hum false.” - Accusing someone of lying.
• “He’s ash without sparkle.” - Used for someone dull or unremarkable.
• “The thistle drank first.” - A warning that mischief is already underway.
• “They whisper with worms.” - Said of someone in league with dark fae or death.
• “Bright enough to blind a bee.” - A compliment for dazzling charm or intellect.