Feywild

What is the Feywild?

Nearly everyone has heard of the Fey in one form or another. Fairies such as pixies and sprites take on a major role in children’s tales as magical woodland tricksters and guardians. Fey monsters, like hags and trolls, haunt our nightmares. And the graceful sidhe, the fey lords and ladies, are famous throughout the planes for their immeasurable beauty. Despite the stories, these creatures are rare. They are often seen only in fleeting glimpses, or in the wild, untamed lands of the world. Few, if any, doubt their existence, since just about everyone has met an elf or perhaps even a gnome, but next to no one has met a fey creature, and even fewer have lived to tell about it. Why is that?
The answer is that the fey live separately from the material plane, or the “real world”, on a plane of existence known as the Feywild. Known to some as the Twilight Kingdom, the Eternal Glade, the Wicked Garden, or the Nevernever, the Feywild is a place of beauty, grace, magic, and peril. Lanterns seem to float in the air, which is alive with butterflies and other insects. It is eternally twilight here, and the sun rests low in the sky, never rising or setting. Creatures that are harmed by the sun are safe here, and creatures that cannot see in the dark still retain their vision. The Feywild, and its sister plane of the Shadowfell, are referred to by scholars as the “echo planes” of the material. Their layouts are very similar to the material plane, with much of the same geography. There are many differences between the planes, however. The Feywild is a mystical place, and things tend to be more glorious and breathtaking in the Feywild than on the material plane, despite the dangers. The land is ruled by two fey Courts, the Summer, or Seelie, and Winter, or Unseelie, Courts. Each Court has a stronghold, which is located in the same place in the Feywild as a castle on the material plane.

Geography

Despite the physical similarities between the material plane and the Feywild, the echo plane is much more complex. Rather than taking up all of the same space as the material plane, the Feywild echoes its feelings. To put it more bluntly, a location in the Feywild is connected to a place on the material plane not because of the physical similarities, but because of the feel of the location. A secret place on the material plane, such as a secure vault, will lead to a secret place on the Feywild, such as a prison cell. In the same way, a dark plane on the material plane might lead to anywhere from a hag’s den to a portion of the Shadowfell. Someone wise in the ways of the Feywild might be able to use these connections to their advantage, traveling to the Feywild from one location, walking a few miles, and returning to the material plane hundreds of miles from where they started. This is much more complicated and dangerous than it sounds, however, because of the fluid connection between the material plane and the Feywild. The connections can change without prior notice, and it takes skill to tell that the feel of a location has changed. The fey can naturally tell if opening a Way to the feywild will bring them where they want to go, but for most mortals, this becomes a guessing game, which can have deadly consequences. Elves tend to have a better time at this than most mortals due to their fey ancestry, as do mortals who spend much of their time in the Feywild.

Ecosystem

Closely mirrors that of the Prime Material Plane.

Ecosystem Cycles

In the summer court, it is always a gloriously beautiful summer day. In the Unseelie court, everyday is a frozen wonder awaiting a new opportunity.

Localized Phenomena

Time in the Feywild is a tricky subject as well. Days spent in the Feywild might turn out to be seconds on the material plane, or they might turn out to be centuries. Two creatures that both exit the Feywild at the same time might end up being split up vastly by the passage of time, never to see each other again. Although this is an extremely rare occurrence, it is vital to take precautions against this time-warping effect when entering or exiting this echo plane. Wearing or holding iron or steel materials appears to stop time from distorting itself, although it is rather difficult to bring these metals into the Feywild in the first place. The Summer and Winter Queens seem to have some sort of control over this effect, as do some other powerful sidhe lords, ancient hags, and archfey. Simply traveling with a fey creature or an elf seems to stop this effect from happening altogether, which suggests that it is some sort of defense mechanism meant to stop mortals from interfering with the dealings of the fey.

Fauna & Flora

Summer Fey

Summer fey are valiant protectors of nature. They follow their emotions, although they cannot break the Laws of the Fey. Fey that appear plant-like or have strong ties to animals, especially herbivores, are usually summer fey. Despite their appearances, summer fey are calculating and power-hungry creatures. They will make deals to try to get the upper hand in a situation, and are just as likely to twist the truth as winter fey. They see mortals somewhere on a spectrum of ignorant children to pests.
Blink Dog: A dog-like fey creature that can teleport short distances. They are more intelligent than they look, but prefer to act similar to dogs from the material plane, and are kept as pets by eladrin and the sidhe as a result. Centaur: A fey creature with the torso of a human and body of a horse. They are fiercely territorial, but also valiant. Most centaurs avoid fighting, preferring nonviolent means to discourage trespassers. When they are threatened, however, centaurs become a deadly threat, using weapons and their physical strength to overpower and slay enemies. Dryad: A humanoid nymph tied to a specific tree. They guard their trees, which hold their life force, against any threat. Dryads treat outsiders based on how they treat the forest. Dryads are incapable of traveling long distances from their tree willingly, although this distance varies based on the power of the dryad. A dryad that is forcibly moved will fall into a deep depressive state, and long only to return to its tree. Such a dryad will be incapable of taking any activity that does not directly aid it in returning. Dryads enter a hibernation when it is cold, and live only in or near lands owned by Summer. Darkling: A fey creature that is aged by light. They love art and beauty more than they fear being killed by rapid aging. Darkling elders are particularly wise darklings who have undertaken rituals to heighten their abilities, at Titania’s blessing. A particularly loyal darkling might be granted a brief respite from its curse as a reward for a job well-done, using this time to glimpse art and the beauty of nature in their true light, rather than the black and white haze of darkvision. Faerie Dragon: A draconic creature tied to the Summer Court. They are playful tricksters who often roam independently, but they serve the Summer Court when called upon. They rarely fight, but can create powerful illusions. Gruff: A humanoid fey that appear to be goats that can walk upright and use tools and weapons. They are varied in size, appearing anywhere from the same size as most humanoids to that of trolls and even smaller giants. They can do just about anything most humanoids can do, but better, making stronger and faster fighters, more powerful mages, and stealthier rogues. They typically serve as shock troopers, enforcers, and bodyguards, and a family of gruffs will always work together as one unit. If a gruff is killed, its family will make it their mission to kill the assailant, unless ordered to stop by the Summer Queen. Merfolk: An aquatic humanoid fairy. They are common on the material plane, but will travel back to the Feywild when called upon by their Queen. Pegasus: An intelligent winged horse that can be created by the Summer Queen. A pegasus is often gifted to the Summer Knight as a mount and a partner, or for an ally or champion of Summer. More than one mortal hero has befriended a pegasus on a divine quest without knowledge that they were being aided by a fey Queen. Satyr: A horned humanoid with goat’s hooves. They love music and dance, and spread their love of it throughout the Feywild and the forests of the material plane. They can be powerful fighters when called upon, however. Sprite: A tiny fairy that flies through the forest and brews poisons. They are champions of the forest, and gladly help those who they believe protect nature. Sprites act as scouts and archers in combat, flitting through forests undetected and attacking enemies in a flurry from all sides before flying off again. Treant: An awakened tree that serves as a protector of the forest. They are some of Summer’s most powerful forces, but are rarely called upon, unless a dire need arises. This is because a treant takes centuries to heal from even a simple wound, and healing magic is all but ineffective on them. Necrotic energy can fell even the most powerful treants instantly. Unicorn: A magical, intelligent horse-like fey creature with a single horn. Unicorns are very rare and serve as guardians of places of the utmost importance to the Summer Court. Slaying a unicorn results in the killer being cursed as soon as the majestic creature’s blood touches the ground.

Winter Fey

Winter fey are much more predatory than their Summer counterparts. They live by survival of the fittest, and rarely defend one another unless necessary. They are cold and calculating creatures who constantly seek to rise in power. They often see mortals as prey, although they hunt in different ways. Harpy: A humanoid fey with the body of a female elf and wings and legs of a bird instead of arms. They are vicious fighters who dive bomb prey, or grab enemies and drop them from the sky. Some use a siren song to lure prey to them, and others, known as Sylphs, can create whirlwinds. Hob: A small white creature with no eyes or hair and needle-sharp teeth and claws. Hobs are weak individually, but operate in swarms, overpowering prey. Most fight barehanded, but some smarter and tougher ones use crude weaponry and armor. Sunlight is just as painful to them as iron. Leanansidhe: A handmaiden of sorts to the sidhe. They appear as beautiful women with a cat’s eyes. They are predatory in nature, often making deals with the creatures they wish to devour, but as a result of an ancient slight against Queen Mab, they are treated as servants to the sidhe and to other high-ranking winter fey. Making a deal with one of these fey is dangerous, as they will do everything in their power to stop you from completing your end of the bargain once they have fulfilled their share, giving them free rein to attack. Mab’s personal leanansidhe transforms her victims into hunting hounds. Malk: A fey predator that looks like a grey, child-sized cat. Malks are pack predators, acting similar to wolves of the material plane, although an individual malk is a deadly threat to most mortals. They are fast, stealthy, and brutal, often killing prey before they are even noticed. In a fair fight, they use their speed and weight to their advantage, knocking over their opponent before tearing out its throat with sharp claws and teeth. Meenlock: A yellow-green crab-like creature about the size of a gnome. Meenlocks feed on fear, becoming faster and stronger around creatures that are afraid of them. They work as assassins, frightening creatures and feeding off of their fear until they are killed. Some powerful meenlocks, called fetches, are able to brush off attacks made by creatures that fear them, and to take on the form of more frightening creatures. Miksani: A brown-skinned humanoid fey that can change form into other fey creatures. They are capable of lying, unlike most fey, but only when outside of their true form. It is all but impossible for a creature without truesight to tell when a miksani is pretending to be something else. They do not take on the forms of specific individual fey, but rather the guise of the species. Oni: A large, blue-skinned ogre-like creature that can take on the form of a humanoid. Oni delight in tricking their prey, hunting them through words rather than through physical prowess. They are very powerful, and have magical abilities, and can serve as either infiltrators or as brutes, depending on the need. Mab will sometimes grant the service of an oni as payment for a debt. Quickling: A tiny, wingless, blue-skinned sprite-like creature. Quicklings are the fastest creatures alive. They are all but impossible to keep track of, darting faster than most minds can comprehend. Mab uses quicklings as spies and messengers due to their speed. They are very short-lived, with a lifespan of under twenty years, and love to play tricks on unsuspecting people and fey. Troll: A huge, hulking creature with green skin and regenerative abilities. Trolls are a menace to deal with due to their strength and regeneration. A troll regenerates rapidly unless fire or acid is used to stop them, and are nearly impossible to kill otherwise. When their limbs or even heads are severed, they keep fighting, and can even be re-attached. Trolls are rather stupid, however, and those that end up on the material plane rarely are able to find their way back to the Feywild. Redcap: Redcaps are deadly fey that must soak their hats in blood to survive. They never stop killing, and they rampage through the woods on the outskirts of Winter lands, hunting wyldfae and killing them. They are born with their feet encased in heavy iron boots, and, like all fey, iron burns them. The life of a redcap is short and incredibly painful, and a redcap’s life essence is drained away in a matter of days after it is created due to the damage dealt by its iron footwear. In order to replenish themselves and survive for a few more days, they must bathe their hats in the blood of freshly-slaughtered humanoids. Their constant pain and only way of surviving lead to redcaps being brutal and often insane fey. Those who survive longer than a month are typically beyond thought, killing anything they see on-sight. When they are called upon, it is because Mab wants to slaughter her enemies. Yeth Hound: A dog-like creature about five feet tall with a flexible neck and humanoid face. While the Summer Court can create Pegusi for its knight and other champions to ride, the Winter Court can create Yeth Hounds for the same purpose. More intelligent and predatory than their Summer counterparts, yeth hounds frighten prey with their baying and give chase, helping their masters hunt by exhausting their quarry or chasing them into traps. A pack of yeth hounds was once given to the Erlking for his services, and he uses them personally. Yeti: A huge white-haired ogre-like creature with horns and blue skin. Yetis serve as guards throughout Winter, driving back creatures that come too close to Arctis Tor without Mab’s approval. When needed, Mab can gather all of the yetis in her domain and direct them as a singular fighting force, commanding them through the abominable yetis, which are bigger, stronger, and smarter than the others.

History

Unknown to nearly all beings other than the gods, the Mothers, and Queen Mab, is that the fey exist for a specific reason. The fey of the Winter Court that reside in the lands of Winter are only a small fraction of the true strength of the Court. Most of Mab’s soldiers live their lives by the Far Gates, fighting an endless war against the Far Beings, creatures from outside the reality that encompasses the inner and outer planes. Little is known about the Far Beings, but they have proven to employ a variety of tactics in battle, often mimicking creatures from the material plane that they have seen through the eyes of their warlocks. The Far Beings appear to want to take control of this reality, and those who know about them believe that they would devour the planes if given the chance. It also seems as though they work together, with little regard for their own lives, and they do not seem to have any sort of hierarchy or internal conflicts. However, this knowledge is based only off of combat with them.
Winter exists for the sole purpose of driving these creatures back. They take on powerful forms so that they can fight more effectively. Every Winter fairy is sent to the Far Gates at some point in its life, where it serves for decades before returning or dying in battle. Those that return have their memory of their time spent there erased, in order to avoid contamination by the Far Beings, which can sometimes infect creatures they come in contact with. Many wyldfae also journey to the Far Gates, and do some Summer fairies at the request of Mother Summer. Unlike in the Feywild, Summer and Winter fairies work together and sometimes develop friendships at the Far Gates. There, the fact that they are from the same world is more important than their Court. These friendships are forgotten along with their memories of their conflict, however.

While Winter exists to protect the planes from the Far Beings, Summer exists to protect the planes from Winter. The Winter Court is ruthless and brutal, and predators that are not fighting at the Far Gates would happily rampage through the planes, slaughtering whatever they please. The Laws were created by whatever power created the Fey, but that is still not enough. As such, the Summer Court’s job is to combat the Winter Court. This is the reason for their rivalry and Titania’s personality. She is not aware of this, however, and simply sees it as her duty. It is unclear as to what she would do with this knowledge, and the few creatures that know of the purpose of the Courts are sworn to secrecy.

Tourism

Usually, either accidental, deadly, or both.

Alternative Name(s)

Nevernever, Twilight Kingdom, Eternal Glade

Owner/Ruler

Titania

Ruling/Owning Rank

Mab

Owning Organization

Unseelie Court

Contested By

• Seelie Court

Characters in Location

• Jazirian
• Queen Mab

Inhabiting Species

• Eladrin
• Lunar Moths