The Seelie Court
Structure
The Seelie Court is headed by Queen Tiandra, who rules with ultimate authority. The titular Court is made up of a group of hand-picked advisors, from among the most powerful Archfey, and fey creatures. While they do not make decisions for the fey under their court, nor do they govern a country or empire in a traditional sense, they do serve as a sort of judicial body, rendering judgement on those who fall under their purvue, mediating conflicts between their denizens, and serving in an ambassadorial role to The Unseelie Court.
Encouraged by the rise of the S.A.C, The Order of Spectral Star serves at the behest of Queen Tiandra, performing espionage and various covert operations aimed at protecting the Reach and executing the Queen's will abroad.
Living amongst the Court officials in the capital city of Iyanthyr can be found a cornucopia of varying fey beings that take an interest in court politics. Treating it as a sort of game, these attendants compete for influence and favour amongst the more powerful Archfey, either through servitude, gifted offerings, or themselves performing favours and offering aid to their chosen Archfey. Those that take this life seriously, do so in an effort to increase their influence and power, often hoping one day to be themselves offered some official station, or at least find themselves with a retinue of their own.
Beyond this, there is little to no official organizational structure. While the rough heirarchy observed culturally by all Fey is generally respected, those Fey who find themselves under the domain of the Summer Court revel in the chaos of independence, and their people and settlements fall to any important decisions communally, and owe no societal obligations to the Court.
The Seldarine, when not traversing the Astral Sea, hold a position of honour in Iyanthyr, and the elvish and eladrin people were granted ownership over a portion of the Summerlands, to recognize their long time friendship to the Seelie fey. While they consider themselves a separate entity from the Court, and govern themselves, they maintain a strong, open relationship with the fey. Their kin throughout the system were offered asylum from the Saikar here, although not all of them could make it.
Culture
While there are some major points of variation between the Seelie and The Unseelie Court, some core cultural tenets and believes have been formed and carved into the bedrock of The Fey that are adhered to stringently, and for which are doled out great punishments to those who break those norms.
The Seelie prioritise happiness above all else. While the chaotic tendencies of their people are strongly reflected in many Seelie Fey, their pranks, contracts, and behaviours are indicative of their nature; demi-immortal beings that have grown bored, seeking entertainment, distraction, and a good laugh. While they can inadvertantly cause mortal beings distress and harm, it is more through an ignorance or misunderstanding of their capabilities, rather than through intent.
While it is to a lesser extent than their winter kin, Seelie fey have a distate for order, or anything that might restrict their free, chaotic spirits. Systems such as The S.A.C, and the old Saikar Empire are viewed as of a lesser level of existence that they are exempt from, both for the bureaucracy and their religious view of money. Instead, they observe the fey hierarchy of power, treating the strongest of archfey with the utmost respect, and deferring to them in all things, while expecting deference from those weaker than them.
Fey are notoriously selfish, but the Seelie do revel in social bonding. They hold regular festivals and community gatherings across the Summerlands to celebrate most every event they can, and many places play host to nightly, community-wide parties. Like all fey, the Seelie trade in esoteric components of a being's self through contracts; however, unlike their winter kin, their contracts and trades are notably less vindictive. A Seelie fey stands to gain the most when taking from a creature something happy; a good memory, a positive emotions, etc.
The Seelie hold great contempt for their Unseelie kin, beginning at the highest level with the estranged Sister Queens. The Seelie view themselves as the superior faction, citing the importance they place on morality. While good and evil as concepts are shied away from by fey because of their reductive nature, when speaking of the Unseelie they have been known to refer to themselves as serving good. Despite the Unseelie's overt declarations of a war state since the early days of the Reach, Queen Tiandra refuses to enter outright war. Rather, the Seelie engage in the same sorts of power manipulations and small scale conflict, without any objectives of conquest, victory, or malice driven acts.
Public Agenda
The actions and endeavours of the Court are all sold as being done in the interest of protecting The Fey Reach and the fey under the purvue of the Summer Court from outside powers.
Queen Tiandra, as all fey do, uses her power and station to achieve personal goals and objectives, but rarely does she use beings outside of her retinue to accomplish them. It is also publicly known that, despite the rivalry, Queen Tiandra views it as her, and her sister Anellia's duty to work towards the benefit of all fey, not just her own court.
History
The Seelie Court formed some time in the Lost Era, but time is perceived differently by these demi-immortal beings, and as such no date was ever recorded.
In the earliest years of life in the system, the Archfey sought a permanent home, a place beyond the eyes and minds of the simpler mortal beings where they could rest and return to after fits of restless wandering. They brought their magics together and made The Fey Reach to match perfectly their aesthetic and climactic preferences. The most powerful amongst them discussed how this shared new space should be governed, such that conflict could be avoided where possible, and thus the two Courts were formed.
For eons they wandered the universe, but on one such voyage, a fey being discovered humanity pulling themselves from the mud and jungles of Bastion wielding technologies of great destructive capability. The courts set to work, trying to enter into diplomacy, and for a time their was relative peace. But the humans greed, and fear of that which they couldn't understand, led to mistreatment of Fey beings, and conflicts often broke out. To prevent open war, the ruler of the Winter Court, her sister Anellia, Tiandra drafted a treaty, which was opposed heavily, and eventually grudgingly agreed to, by Anellia. The agreement instituted a kind of tentative truce between the courts, and offered a formal, written accord to the Saikar. In exchange for access to some of the magical energies and odd, anomalous items that could only be found in the Reach, the Fey would be treated as citizens, and were to be left in peace and self-governance.
Tiandra worked hard to maintain positive relations with the Saikar, going as far as to form an embassy in Vespa, and she successfully built a trust with them that her less diplomatic sister did not. Which made the empire's betrayal much more angering.
It took no more than 200 years for the Saikar to recognize that, despite their pacts, the Fey were a dangerous and unpredictable variable. Tiandra participated in a series of negotiations with the Emperor in an attempt to salvage the relationship and protect her sister, negotiations which Anellia refused to attend. The efforts proved fruitless, as the overwhelming power of the Archfey, as well as manipulation from the empire's deities, the Weavers was viewed as an unacceptable risk. They broke their accord, beginning to arrest and interrogate fey creatures wandering the system. The population was trained to distrust them, and soon they became violently persecuted on sight in some places.
Tiandra retreated to the Reach, spearheading an effort to recall all wandering fey in the system and to reinforce the defensive magics protecting the planet. Unlike their kin, the Seelie chose isolationism. They took their gifts, and their magic, and they abandoned the rest of the system to hide in the Reach.
News of The Fall of Saikar reached Tiandra's ears nearly a century after it happened. Hopeful that peaceful relations could be remade, Tiandra formed The Order of Spectral Star, hand picking the leaders from her trusted fey. The Order worked in secret as the eyes and ears of the Seelie Court abroad, working to achieve their goals including, among many other things, covert infiltration of the inner worlds to sway opinion of the now rudderless peoples. And she waited. After several centuries of information gathering and subtle manipulation, Tiandra began to allow some select fey to leave, returning to their wandering lives. During this time, the Unseelie remained locked away, plotting in secret.
Until the rise of the S.A.C, it seemed that Tiandra's work would pay off, and the fey could once again move about freely. But with the return of The Way of the Weavers and the old empire values, and expansion once again on their minds, Tiandra has lost hope. Recognizing this new version of the empire as significantly weaker, without the direct connection to, and support from, the Weavers, the Seelie have adopted an adiplomatic stance; with many moving about the system and engaging the people as individuals, while the leadership avoids direct contact. The Order's efforts moved to obfuscation and information muzzling, ensuring the peoples of the system do not know the true scope of the fey power, their numbers, and the exact location.
Court Archfey
- Queen Tiandra
- King Oberon Lord of Beasts
- Damh The Reveler
- Eachthighern The Unicorn Lord
- Verenestra Guardian of the Grove
- Squelaiche
Notable Members
- Ansima The Spectral Warden
Important Locations
- Iyanthyr
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