Settling Wars

Before the humans started settling in the area and the fay lived a fairly peaceful existence. While there were fights and feuds they were usually limited to individuals or families settling personal grudges. However when the humans started building and cutting back the forests to make their recreation centers, damming the lake to raise the waters for their beaches space became limited and many were forced to relocate as their ancestral homes were destroyed. When the fairies were uprooted they in turn put pressure on their neighbors and resources started wearing thin. it wasn't long before fairy folk started to align into the tribes we know today. 
At first the coalitions were little more than groups for support but once violence broke out it was all to easy for large portions of one tribe to take up arms against another. As the small skirmishes, boiled into larger battles, that would often draw in other tribes. These short lived alliances would soon dissolve as factions within would start fighting. Unknown to the fairies The Gray One was steering the strife in a bit to gain control of all the fey. 
Things came to a head when the daughter of the Forest Lord was stricken with a dark curse that caused her to waste away. After seeing such a bright light faid the Forest Tribe refused to take the field offering any side that came against them no resistance. The fairies of the other tribes were moved and all decided to drop their arms. Not long after the leaders of the four tribes held a meeting and created The Fairy Court to handle all future disputes.