Fey
Fey is a general term for the creatures that inhabit the feywild. They are very chaotic by nature and often quite dangerous to mortals, even if they rarely harbor ill intent. There are many different types of fey, governed by the combined courts of Arcadia, which watch over the feywild or the lands of the fey. While they are chaotic creatures, they are governed by a strict set of rules that they must always obey. These rules are only in effect by word, however, and thus fey are masters at subverting them in order to get what they want. The essence of the laws of the fey are as follows: 1. Fey cannot lie(they can still deceive). 2. A gift given must be repaid or the receiver owes a debt to the giver, a debt which grants the giver power over the receiver. 3. Fey cannot wield dark magic, for fear of furthering the corruption of the feywild. 4. Fey cannot directly harm mortals unless in defense of their life or property. These rules are not apart of the essence of a fey, but imposed on them by the court of Arcadia. Those fey who live beyond the court are not privy to these rules and as such are very dangerous. Whether or not they reside within the court, fey wield the magic of names. The essence of it is that every being and every object has a name that describes its purest, elemental being. He who holds such a name, holds power over such a being. This name is often the birth name for a mortal but for fey and other powerful beings, it is frequently something else. Even a god doesn't know what their true name is until it is used against them. The following are some of the most common species of fey who reside in the feywild.
Boggles: Boggles are small mischievous fey who live within the realms of the court of Arcadia. They are pranksters who love playing tricks on mortals. These often result in stolen property and minor injuries but they always stay within the rules of the court.
Centaurs: An unusually duty bound type of fey who live both in the feywild and the material plane. They are monster hunters and warriors, yet also extremely free spirited. They act as enforcers for the court of arcadia who seek out rogue fey who break the rules.
Changelings: Fey with the uncanny ability to change their appearance to match that of another humanoid. This obviously makes them excellent assassins and spies but most of them live rather unremarkable, quiet lives in the feywild. Most changelings live within and adhere to the laws of the courts but there are some that do not.
Darklings: A race of fey cursed by Queen Titania for their allegiance to Vedena and the betrayers during the great scourge. Their skin absorbs light and ages them rapidly in its exposure. As such, they were forced to live in the dark caves of the feywild. Despite their curse, they retain a love of beauty and are great artists. They live outside the courts of Arcadia, having allied themselves to The Queen of Air and Darkness for the gift of her everlasting night.
Dryads: Fey spirits bound to trees in the material plane. They acted as protectors of the forest, often acting in concert with mortal druids to keep forests safe from civilization. They dislike conflict, generally warning off intruders and using all available means before resorting to violence.
Eladrin: Elves who retreated into the feywild during the great scourge. They are more powerful than their counterparts of the material plane, and the most powerful among them take up positions of great import among the Arcadian government. They are the closest thing to a ruling class in the feywild, below the archfey. They live in a great many cities, fully immortal and far outnumbering their mortal counterparts.
Hags: The children of Baba Yaga, and one of the most dangerous types of fey. They commonly walk amongst mortals, prone to dabbling in dark magic and the consumption of children. They are the spawn of a rather cruel archfey, and as such are raised to this cruelty from birth. They are hunted by the forces of Arcadia, but their magic and numbers make them hard to pin down.
Korred: A race of small fey with a strong connection to the earth, they have magical air and wield the magic of elemental earth. They are often employed as miners in the feywild for the ease with which they can navigate underground but they are quite a formidable race and not to be underestimated. They are very courteous towards nature and are mostly vegetarian as a consequence.
Meenlock: A race of small but dangerous fey spawned by The Queen of Air and Darkness as soldiers against the court of Arcadia. They are killed on sight by members of the court, and thus mostly reside with the queen in her lands of everlasting dark. They are common horror stories told to young Eladrin to keep them from wandering off at night.
Naiad: A race of fey water spirits that pass freely between the feywild and the material plane. Naiads might act as guardians to lakes and rivers in the material plane, but are much more commonly found in the Feywild, where they spawn in the magical lakes and oceans, a convergence of watery magic.
Nerelid: A race of fey water spirits similer to Naiads, but more mischievous and ocean bound instead of lake bound.
Pixie: A race of tiny, winged, elf-like fey who exist in great numbers throughout the feywild. They are extremely mischevous and love playing pranks on people. They are innately magical, as well as rather brave fighters despite their small size. They live in their own tiny villages, commonly employed by Arcadians as spies and messengers.
Quicklings: A race of small, cruel and incredibly fast fey who mostly live outside the courts, having allied themselves to the Queen of Air and Darkness. They delight in causing misery to mortals, hating humanoids of all kinds. They used to be banished to the far edges of fey society, but were taken in by the Queen who saw their value to her war efforts.
Redcaps: A race of fey with an insatiable bloodlust. They are similar to the quicklings, only far less subtle with their actions. Redcaps will murder entire villages of humans with no second thoughts, and as such act as potent warriors for the Queen of Air and Darkness. Their origins are unknown, but assumed to be dark given their predilection towards violence and their insatiable appetite for blood.
Satyrs: The most common type of fey, a mix of men and goats. Like all fey, they are prone to mischief, but they also possessed a rather hedonistic side as well, manifesting in a love for partying and love making They can commonly be found singing and dancing in the woods, drinking enormous amounts of alcohol.
Sprites: A warrior relative of the pixie race, employed by the Court of Arcadia as scouts and warriors. They lack the mischievous and fun-loving nature of other fey, being downright serious at times. They are sometimes seen as jokes by mortal races but are incredibly fast and potent warriors for their size, especially given their large numbers.
Archfey: Archfey are the lords of the feywild, godlike entities that can warp the feywild to their will. There are quite a few archfey, either taking up positions of import among the Court of Arcadia and its subsidiaries or acting independently. They outnumber the gods, as new fey ascend to the power of an Archfey and they rarely die. The most powerful archfey are known as eldest, and are the children of gods who did not have the power to spawn a full god. The following are some of the notable archfey within the feywild.
The Courts of Arcadia: These archfey give their allegiances to the central courts of Arcadia, the bureaucracy that rules over the feywild.
Queen Titania, Monarch of Arcadia: Most powerful of the archfey, and the daughter of the god Thahmir. She was the one who assembled the chaos of the feywild into the courts of Arcadia, with the purpose of limiting fey involvement with mortals. She is famously beautiful, appearing as an Eladrin with golden eyes, autumn colored hair and honeyed skin. While she is well meaning and good natured, she does not believe in strict governance, seeing herself only as overseer of her peoples so that they do not hurt others. As such, she does not care that there are fey who do not obey her rules, as long as they do not cause a great deal of trouble.
Lord Oberon, Green Warden: An Elder Archfey who is the son of Tasnira. he is sometimes called the king of beasts as well, for his domain is in the creatures of the forest. He appears as a tall, muscular fey with darker skin, black hair and eyes. He is a stern lord, and fiercely positioned on the side of good. Among the most benevolent of archfey, he is also the consort to Queen Titania, with them having two children together and having been in a relationship for ages. He acts as champion for the court of arcadia, fighting off those who would challenge the authority of the queen and leading armies against rogue fey who make themselves an issue.
Kagrald of the White Riders: An archfey who was once a centaur. Leads the centaur warriors of the court of Arcadia, and is the chief enforcer of law. He leads the white riders, which are a combined patrol of Eladrin and Centaurs that hunt down dangerous fey and fugitives of the court of Arcadia. He appears as a cream furred centaur with silver hair and a white cloak, often carrying a bow and a lance.
Hyrsam, Prince of Fools: An archfey who is the youngest son of Titania and Oberon. Technically a part of the court but does not commonly interact with them. He is the patron of tricksters and the lord of the race of satyrs. The defacto trickster archfey who loves nothing more than playing tricks on unsuspecting mortals. Despite his seemingly harmless exterior, with his nature of trickery, he has a savagery to him that makes him a dangerous enemy to have. He appears as a simple satyr, preferring to blend in with his kin.
Zybilna, The Archivist: Once the human archmage known as Tasha, Zybilna came to the court of Arcadia and made a pact with queen Titania. She granted the court access to her scholarly facilities and vast faculties of information in exchange for being elevated to the position of archfey. She is a very powerful magic user, and has seen vast swathes of the cosmos, being said to have wandered every inch of every plane. She keeps the grand archives in the city of arcadia, with every book within it being written by her personally. It is said that even the god Isaldir comes to these archives for guidance at times.
Verenestra, Oaken Princess: An archfey who was the second child of Oberon and Titania as well as being the current queen of spring. She is the patron of faeries and beauty. Far more moderate than her other brothers, Verenestra cares deeply for her own vanity with only a small fraction of effort put towards rulership. She commonly appears to mortals as the form that is most desirable for them and would only rarely actively help other archfey. Her loyalty to the court, and to her mother, however, remains absolute as that is where her power comes from.
Galvan, Lord of Embers: An archfey who was once an Eladrin and is now the current monarch of summer. He is a summer Eladrin with flaming hair, often carrying a blade of pure fire. He is a somewhat extreme monarch, cutting ties with the winter court after the civil war due to doubts about their loyalty. He is fanatically loyal to Titania, being eternally grateful for his position, and as such is willing to do anything to serve her, even to the detriment of his own people in the summer court.
Olrasta, Lady of the Waters: An archfey who was once a Naiad and is now the current monarch of Autumn. While she is not directly tied to the court, she rose to great power and fell into the favor of Titania. She is warm and friendly, the most peace loving of the monarchs, always seeking to reconcile differences, especially between Galvan and the Prince of Frost. She is seen by many as a naive ruler, but she holds Titania's favor and thus the crown as well.
The Prince of Frost: An archfey who is the eldest child of Oberon and Titania, being the current king of winter. The winter court is the most brutal and unforgiving of the Arcadian courts, and so its lords strike their true names from the minds of every living mortal for fear of it being used against them. The prince of frost is like his court, harsh and calculating with no emotion in his gaze. He has ruled the winter court for eight hundred years and is not keen to lose his title. He rarely cooperates with other archfey, doing so only as necessary to defend his own interest.
Other Archfey:
The Queen of Air and Darkness: Once an ambitious young Eladrin in the winter court, the Queen of Air and Darkness came across an artifact of immense power, an artifact that facilitated her ascension to the title of archfey. In the moment of ascension, she struck not just her name but also her memory from the minds of every living creature, ensuring her safety. She challenged the Prince of Frost for rulership of the Winter Court, challenging the will of Titania herself. She called for an exodus of the court of Arcadia itself. Tensions led to a civil war in the winter court, tearing it apart into factions supporting both her and the prince of frost. Overwhelmed with the Arcadian support of the prince of frost, she eventually lost the war and retreated into hiding in the feydark, which is the border between the feywild and the shadowfell, the corrupted portion of the feywild. She is immensely powerful, seeking to exert fey power over the material plane, taking up a strong position in planar politics.
Nintra Siotta, Princess of Shadow Glass: An archfey who has been taken under the wing of the Queen of Air and Darkness as her daughter. She was once a powerful Eladrin sorcerer who dabbled in the arts of dark magic. When the Arcadian courts sought to execute her for drawing the magic of the shadowfell, she was rescued by the Queen and recruited to her war effort. She cares deeply for her beauty and as such is a rival of sorts with Verenestra, she also lusts for power and demands slavish obedience from her followers.
Kannoth, First of the Vampires: An Eladrin Archfey who first spread the vampiric curse among the living. the condition was actually self inflicted by Kannoth onto himself, in an attempt to muster more power. He spread his newfound curse among mortals, seeking to raise an army of his spawn. This caused him to be exiled from the court of Arcadia and declared a fugitive. He is an old archfey, older by far than the Queen of Air and Darkness, but he follows her cause because she would allow him to roam free. He is wise with his years, but extremely dangerous due to his lust for power.
The Stag King: A dark archfey resembling a stag, with huge branching antlers and a tall stature. He is among the eldest archfey, eldest child of Cerathor when he did not quite possess the power to create a full god. The fact that his younger siblings were all more powerful than he was made the Stag King into a bitter and vengeful being. He long tormented the elves of the material plane before he was driven off by Thahmir. Mortally wounded by that battle, he retreated deep into the dark forests of the feywild where he healed for hundreds of years. He swore his allegiance to the Queen because she promised power for her followers, something he longed for greatly.
Maruvir, Monarch of the Hunt: Once a famous Eladrin mercenary during the great scourge, Maruvir ascended to the title of Archfey, granting powers to his huntsman by his side. Maruvir leads the wild hunt, an elite fey mercenary band that will fight for the highest bidder. They are a legend among the mortals, ghostly fey on vicious horses riding the wind to slay kings or conquer castles. Maruvir is a fugitive of the Arcadian courts due to his interference with mortals but he and his band are far too powerful to be easily hunted down.
Baba Yaga, The Bone Mother: Once an immensely powerful mortal witch, the magic of the feywild allowed her to ascend to the rank of Archfey. She lives in the dark, uncharted forests of the feywild in a walking house where she works sorceries far beyond that even of other archfey. She is perhaps, the most powerful magic wielder on the planes who is not a god. She had daughters who went on to become hags and became the root of the race. She wanders between all the planes, with her true purpose unknown. Many mortals seek her out for aid, as she is known to grant boons to some, but there is always a price to such bargains.
Boggles: Boggles are small mischievous fey who live within the realms of the court of Arcadia. They are pranksters who love playing tricks on mortals. These often result in stolen property and minor injuries but they always stay within the rules of the court.
Centaurs: An unusually duty bound type of fey who live both in the feywild and the material plane. They are monster hunters and warriors, yet also extremely free spirited. They act as enforcers for the court of arcadia who seek out rogue fey who break the rules.
Changelings: Fey with the uncanny ability to change their appearance to match that of another humanoid. This obviously makes them excellent assassins and spies but most of them live rather unremarkable, quiet lives in the feywild. Most changelings live within and adhere to the laws of the courts but there are some that do not.
Darklings: A race of fey cursed by Queen Titania for their allegiance to Vedena and the betrayers during the great scourge. Their skin absorbs light and ages them rapidly in its exposure. As such, they were forced to live in the dark caves of the feywild. Despite their curse, they retain a love of beauty and are great artists. They live outside the courts of Arcadia, having allied themselves to The Queen of Air and Darkness for the gift of her everlasting night.
Dryads: Fey spirits bound to trees in the material plane. They acted as protectors of the forest, often acting in concert with mortal druids to keep forests safe from civilization. They dislike conflict, generally warning off intruders and using all available means before resorting to violence.
Eladrin: Elves who retreated into the feywild during the great scourge. They are more powerful than their counterparts of the material plane, and the most powerful among them take up positions of great import among the Arcadian government. They are the closest thing to a ruling class in the feywild, below the archfey. They live in a great many cities, fully immortal and far outnumbering their mortal counterparts.
Hags: The children of Baba Yaga, and one of the most dangerous types of fey. They commonly walk amongst mortals, prone to dabbling in dark magic and the consumption of children. They are the spawn of a rather cruel archfey, and as such are raised to this cruelty from birth. They are hunted by the forces of Arcadia, but their magic and numbers make them hard to pin down.
Korred: A race of small fey with a strong connection to the earth, they have magical air and wield the magic of elemental earth. They are often employed as miners in the feywild for the ease with which they can navigate underground but they are quite a formidable race and not to be underestimated. They are very courteous towards nature and are mostly vegetarian as a consequence.
Meenlock: A race of small but dangerous fey spawned by The Queen of Air and Darkness as soldiers against the court of Arcadia. They are killed on sight by members of the court, and thus mostly reside with the queen in her lands of everlasting dark. They are common horror stories told to young Eladrin to keep them from wandering off at night.
Naiad: A race of fey water spirits that pass freely between the feywild and the material plane. Naiads might act as guardians to lakes and rivers in the material plane, but are much more commonly found in the Feywild, where they spawn in the magical lakes and oceans, a convergence of watery magic.
Nerelid: A race of fey water spirits similer to Naiads, but more mischievous and ocean bound instead of lake bound.
Pixie: A race of tiny, winged, elf-like fey who exist in great numbers throughout the feywild. They are extremely mischevous and love playing pranks on people. They are innately magical, as well as rather brave fighters despite their small size. They live in their own tiny villages, commonly employed by Arcadians as spies and messengers.
Quicklings: A race of small, cruel and incredibly fast fey who mostly live outside the courts, having allied themselves to the Queen of Air and Darkness. They delight in causing misery to mortals, hating humanoids of all kinds. They used to be banished to the far edges of fey society, but were taken in by the Queen who saw their value to her war efforts.
Redcaps: A race of fey with an insatiable bloodlust. They are similar to the quicklings, only far less subtle with their actions. Redcaps will murder entire villages of humans with no second thoughts, and as such act as potent warriors for the Queen of Air and Darkness. Their origins are unknown, but assumed to be dark given their predilection towards violence and their insatiable appetite for blood.
Satyrs: The most common type of fey, a mix of men and goats. Like all fey, they are prone to mischief, but they also possessed a rather hedonistic side as well, manifesting in a love for partying and love making They can commonly be found singing and dancing in the woods, drinking enormous amounts of alcohol.
Sprites: A warrior relative of the pixie race, employed by the Court of Arcadia as scouts and warriors. They lack the mischievous and fun-loving nature of other fey, being downright serious at times. They are sometimes seen as jokes by mortal races but are incredibly fast and potent warriors for their size, especially given their large numbers.
Archfey: Archfey are the lords of the feywild, godlike entities that can warp the feywild to their will. There are quite a few archfey, either taking up positions of import among the Court of Arcadia and its subsidiaries or acting independently. They outnumber the gods, as new fey ascend to the power of an Archfey and they rarely die. The most powerful archfey are known as eldest, and are the children of gods who did not have the power to spawn a full god. The following are some of the notable archfey within the feywild.
The Courts of Arcadia: These archfey give their allegiances to the central courts of Arcadia, the bureaucracy that rules over the feywild.
Queen Titania, Monarch of Arcadia: Most powerful of the archfey, and the daughter of the god Thahmir. She was the one who assembled the chaos of the feywild into the courts of Arcadia, with the purpose of limiting fey involvement with mortals. She is famously beautiful, appearing as an Eladrin with golden eyes, autumn colored hair and honeyed skin. While she is well meaning and good natured, she does not believe in strict governance, seeing herself only as overseer of her peoples so that they do not hurt others. As such, she does not care that there are fey who do not obey her rules, as long as they do not cause a great deal of trouble.
Lord Oberon, Green Warden: An Elder Archfey who is the son of Tasnira. he is sometimes called the king of beasts as well, for his domain is in the creatures of the forest. He appears as a tall, muscular fey with darker skin, black hair and eyes. He is a stern lord, and fiercely positioned on the side of good. Among the most benevolent of archfey, he is also the consort to Queen Titania, with them having two children together and having been in a relationship for ages. He acts as champion for the court of arcadia, fighting off those who would challenge the authority of the queen and leading armies against rogue fey who make themselves an issue.
Kagrald of the White Riders: An archfey who was once a centaur. Leads the centaur warriors of the court of Arcadia, and is the chief enforcer of law. He leads the white riders, which are a combined patrol of Eladrin and Centaurs that hunt down dangerous fey and fugitives of the court of Arcadia. He appears as a cream furred centaur with silver hair and a white cloak, often carrying a bow and a lance.
Hyrsam, Prince of Fools: An archfey who is the youngest son of Titania and Oberon. Technically a part of the court but does not commonly interact with them. He is the patron of tricksters and the lord of the race of satyrs. The defacto trickster archfey who loves nothing more than playing tricks on unsuspecting mortals. Despite his seemingly harmless exterior, with his nature of trickery, he has a savagery to him that makes him a dangerous enemy to have. He appears as a simple satyr, preferring to blend in with his kin.
Zybilna, The Archivist: Once the human archmage known as Tasha, Zybilna came to the court of Arcadia and made a pact with queen Titania. She granted the court access to her scholarly facilities and vast faculties of information in exchange for being elevated to the position of archfey. She is a very powerful magic user, and has seen vast swathes of the cosmos, being said to have wandered every inch of every plane. She keeps the grand archives in the city of arcadia, with every book within it being written by her personally. It is said that even the god Isaldir comes to these archives for guidance at times.
Verenestra, Oaken Princess: An archfey who was the second child of Oberon and Titania as well as being the current queen of spring. She is the patron of faeries and beauty. Far more moderate than her other brothers, Verenestra cares deeply for her own vanity with only a small fraction of effort put towards rulership. She commonly appears to mortals as the form that is most desirable for them and would only rarely actively help other archfey. Her loyalty to the court, and to her mother, however, remains absolute as that is where her power comes from.
Galvan, Lord of Embers: An archfey who was once an Eladrin and is now the current monarch of summer. He is a summer Eladrin with flaming hair, often carrying a blade of pure fire. He is a somewhat extreme monarch, cutting ties with the winter court after the civil war due to doubts about their loyalty. He is fanatically loyal to Titania, being eternally grateful for his position, and as such is willing to do anything to serve her, even to the detriment of his own people in the summer court.
Olrasta, Lady of the Waters: An archfey who was once a Naiad and is now the current monarch of Autumn. While she is not directly tied to the court, she rose to great power and fell into the favor of Titania. She is warm and friendly, the most peace loving of the monarchs, always seeking to reconcile differences, especially between Galvan and the Prince of Frost. She is seen by many as a naive ruler, but she holds Titania's favor and thus the crown as well.
The Prince of Frost: An archfey who is the eldest child of Oberon and Titania, being the current king of winter. The winter court is the most brutal and unforgiving of the Arcadian courts, and so its lords strike their true names from the minds of every living mortal for fear of it being used against them. The prince of frost is like his court, harsh and calculating with no emotion in his gaze. He has ruled the winter court for eight hundred years and is not keen to lose his title. He rarely cooperates with other archfey, doing so only as necessary to defend his own interest.
Other Archfey:
The Queen of Air and Darkness: Once an ambitious young Eladrin in the winter court, the Queen of Air and Darkness came across an artifact of immense power, an artifact that facilitated her ascension to the title of archfey. In the moment of ascension, she struck not just her name but also her memory from the minds of every living creature, ensuring her safety. She challenged the Prince of Frost for rulership of the Winter Court, challenging the will of Titania herself. She called for an exodus of the court of Arcadia itself. Tensions led to a civil war in the winter court, tearing it apart into factions supporting both her and the prince of frost. Overwhelmed with the Arcadian support of the prince of frost, she eventually lost the war and retreated into hiding in the feydark, which is the border between the feywild and the shadowfell, the corrupted portion of the feywild. She is immensely powerful, seeking to exert fey power over the material plane, taking up a strong position in planar politics.
Nintra Siotta, Princess of Shadow Glass: An archfey who has been taken under the wing of the Queen of Air and Darkness as her daughter. She was once a powerful Eladrin sorcerer who dabbled in the arts of dark magic. When the Arcadian courts sought to execute her for drawing the magic of the shadowfell, she was rescued by the Queen and recruited to her war effort. She cares deeply for her beauty and as such is a rival of sorts with Verenestra, she also lusts for power and demands slavish obedience from her followers.
Kannoth, First of the Vampires: An Eladrin Archfey who first spread the vampiric curse among the living. the condition was actually self inflicted by Kannoth onto himself, in an attempt to muster more power. He spread his newfound curse among mortals, seeking to raise an army of his spawn. This caused him to be exiled from the court of Arcadia and declared a fugitive. He is an old archfey, older by far than the Queen of Air and Darkness, but he follows her cause because she would allow him to roam free. He is wise with his years, but extremely dangerous due to his lust for power.
The Stag King: A dark archfey resembling a stag, with huge branching antlers and a tall stature. He is among the eldest archfey, eldest child of Cerathor when he did not quite possess the power to create a full god. The fact that his younger siblings were all more powerful than he was made the Stag King into a bitter and vengeful being. He long tormented the elves of the material plane before he was driven off by Thahmir. Mortally wounded by that battle, he retreated deep into the dark forests of the feywild where he healed for hundreds of years. He swore his allegiance to the Queen because she promised power for her followers, something he longed for greatly.
Maruvir, Monarch of the Hunt: Once a famous Eladrin mercenary during the great scourge, Maruvir ascended to the title of Archfey, granting powers to his huntsman by his side. Maruvir leads the wild hunt, an elite fey mercenary band that will fight for the highest bidder. They are a legend among the mortals, ghostly fey on vicious horses riding the wind to slay kings or conquer castles. Maruvir is a fugitive of the Arcadian courts due to his interference with mortals but he and his band are far too powerful to be easily hunted down.
Baba Yaga, The Bone Mother: Once an immensely powerful mortal witch, the magic of the feywild allowed her to ascend to the rank of Archfey. She lives in the dark, uncharted forests of the feywild in a walking house where she works sorceries far beyond that even of other archfey. She is perhaps, the most powerful magic wielder on the planes who is not a god. She had daughters who went on to become hags and became the root of the race. She wanders between all the planes, with her true purpose unknown. Many mortals seek her out for aid, as she is known to grant boons to some, but there is always a price to such bargains.
