The Unseelie Court
Structure
The Unseelie Court is headed by the Queen of Air and Darkness, Anellia, 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 Seelie Court.
Waiting at Anellia's beck and call is the The Dark Hunt. While they themselves hold no official power, their ranks are filled by the most devout followers of the Queen, and they serve as her agents in the field, executing her will.
Living amongst the Court officials in the capital city of Yycewich 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 Winter Court often revile organization and systemic structures, preferring to spend their existence as they see fit; chaotically.
Culture
While there are some major points of variation between the Unseelie and the The Seelie 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 Unseelie often favour sadistic behaviours, revelling in the creation of chaos and turmoil, especially that which leads to discomfort, pain, or even death. Many Unseelie fey and archfey seem to derive some amount of magical energy from strong negative emotions. This, among other factors, has led them to build a society entirely without money. Instead, transactions are made with exchange of favours owed, or contracts signed, that are magically binding and often require the purchaser to surrender something that will allow a growth of power in the seller.
They revile systems of excessive organization, preferring to be left to their own devices. Systems such as The S.A.C, and the old Saikar Empire they view with a special kind of contempt, both for the bureaucracy and their religious view of money. Instead, they observe the 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, and the Unseelie are considered the most selfish of them. They have no community gatherings or traditions or group events, and are held together only by the slim sense of comraderie that comes with having a name for your people, as well as a sort of survivalist cooperation that was developed after the Saikar began posing a threat. Much of what they do revolves around the great fey game, fighting for power in hopes of increasing their station, or serving some other personal end. Because of this, the behaviour of the Queen, and the actions of the Court, are not followed in the interest of monitoring a government, and more in the interest of learning new tricks, or gathering useful information.
There exists amongst the Unseelie a rivalry bordering on hatred of the Seelie, who reside on the day side of the Reach, and with whom the Unseelie have been engaged in an eternal war. Often, this relationship leads to pranks or other actions of minor long term impact that bring great glee to the fey executing. Historically, however, it has led to the occasional greater action, or even full battles and violent conflicts. Before the time of the Saikar, this was seen as the way things were; two forces of natural, seasonal energies, existing in constant competition, vying for greater power. After the Saikar were noted to be a much more existential threat, this conflict was grudgingly set aside in order to focus on their defensive efforts. Conflict still occurs at on a micro scale, but major actions taken by the Unseelie were no longer condoned.
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 Winter Court from outside powers.
Anellia, as the most powerful of the Unseelie, is not immune to the hallmarks of her people. It is widely known that, while the Court acts in the interest of the Unseelie, much of what they do and how is done to serve the desires and goals of Anellia herself, and often large numbers of resources and fey beings themselves, such as The Dark Hunt, are put to work on something that purely serves the Queen.
History
The Unseelie 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 Summer Court, Queen Titania drafted a treaty, which was opposed heavily, and eventually grudgingly agreed to, by Anellia The Queen of Air and Darkness. 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.
It took no more than 200 years for the Saikar to recognize that there was more to be gained by tracking down the homeworld of the Fey, removing the threat, and claiming it. 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.
Vindicated in their fears, the Anellia managed to sway Titania away from continuing to try diplomacy, and the fey peoples were recalled to the Reach, and all energy was for a time put towards the magic wards and glyphs that both shielded and hid their planet. Afterwards, the dichotomy of their nature once again reared its head, with the Unseelie pushing to begin a vengeful, geurilla campaign against the Saikar, much to the disapproval of the Seelie.
Technological Level
After hundreds of years of espionage, the Unseelie have been unable to reverse engineer the functionality of Technomancies. However, in their eternal bid for power, Anellia believes that the technology could be of use. They have managed to steal or deal for a range of astral ships, and other technomantic tools. They use some of these as they are, while some of the more technologically interested Unseelie have managed to use the tech to develop counters to it. They've worked out anti-technomancy magics, as well as methods of hacking and disrupting technomancies through their own magic.
Court Archfey
- Anellia The Queen of Air and Darkness
- Psilofyr The Carrion King
- The Pale Prince
- Selephra The Bramble Queen
- Yezibaba Roga Mother of Witches
- Salnieh Taluvi Princess of the Shadow Glass
Notable Members
- Desian Niramara Wilds Master
- Loriana the Shapeless
- Neifon The Lord of Bats
- Viktor Mazan The Lycan Lord
Important Locations
- The Shattercrag Range
- Brokenstone Vale
- The Wailing Expanse
- Crystalmurk Bog