Duality of Divinity: The Guardian Fae
Description
This document is written in a print-like hand, ascribed by
Albus Rickette. It is one of a scattered collection of documents related to the Duality of Divinity, a book written by Albus Rickette, which was either never completed, or damaged during the events of the Gap. Scanned and processed for the public by the Holy Church of Sarenrae. Original document on file at the Radiant Cathedral.
Text
In my travels and research of the First and Last Worlds, I have found the Guardian Fae to be some of the most interesting beings in existence. Although they vary widely in size, power, and shape, there is a single commonality among them -- they are all intensely bound to mortal kind, so intensely that the fate of one affects the other.You’ve surely heard stories of fairies born from a baby's first laugh, or the first ring of a bell. Those are simple Fae, common and usually unremarkable. But what of complex events in the lives of mortals? The Fae born of the moment a groom sees his bride at the altar, or the moment a prince becomes a king. They are born of our darkest moments as well, such as in the final, resolute decision to end one's life, or the devastation of a mother losing her child.
My hypothesis is that every significant moment in the life of a mortal has the potential to create a Fae, and the nature of that event is tied to that Fae's cosmic makeup. Of great importance, this would imply that the rarity of the triggering circumstance is related to the commonality of the resulting Sidhe. This brings me to my findings on the Guardians of the Outer Gates.
Unique among the structures of the Feywild, the Gates have only a single purpose -- to hold back the denizens of the Dark Tapestry, remnants of the waste left behind after the creation of the Multiverse. These creatures hate all beings of Anima, and wish to see the Multiverse irrevocably destroyed. They hunt us like maddened dogs, held back by an army of gatekeepers, although a relative few still slip by. See future sections for a description of these creatures, and known creatures of Vacuus in the Material Plane.
These gatekeepers, the Guardian Fae, are creatures born of the triumph and virtue of mortal heroes, as varied in form as the stars in the sky. I identified dozens of subspecies in my travels, each type with a specific purpose -- all born of deeds done by goodly beings. Of some interest to beings of the Material Plane, a sect of these Guardians seem to accompany mortals on their travels, and cultivate their raw talent into the essence of heroes. This ritual is perhaps the closest thing these creatures have to breeding, as the result of these expeditions is often new Guardian Fae, or at least Sidhe of greater significance.
The effectiveness of this mating ritual is in someway related to the health of the Guardian, particularly in the strength of their aura. Unlike other Fae, Guardians seem incapable of collecting and processing raw Anima on their own, and instead pull directly from the refined Anima present in the Outer Gates. This alone makes the Gates a fascinating structure, but the boons of its symbiotic relationship seem to go further. When Guardians go into battle, their shape and demeanor transforms with incredible speed. Their modified flesh and advanced weaponry bear a strong resemblance to the shimmering stone of the Gates themselves, and exhibit an equal durability. I watched as one such blade bereaved a stone golem of its head in a single stroke, sliding through basalt as a knife does butter.
The maturity of a Guardian Fae is closely tied to this secondary form. I hypothesize that the longer a Guardian spends in this state, the stronger their connection with the Outer Gates, and thus the stronger the Sidhe. Contributing to this hypothesis, younger Guardian Fae spend much time training and meditating in this form, while their elders often eschew such practices. Of note, these elders never leave the Gates to begin a mating expedition, which may imply that these Fae are too in sync with the Outer Gates to leave them. I wonder if these beings are tuned to some tertiary state of existence, which cannot be seen by mortal eyes...
Alas, my journey took me away from the Outer Gates before I could study these creatures further. If I had another lifetime, I would have loved to catalog the various types of the Guardians, and the relationships between them. Even more-so, the Guardians relationship to the Outer Gates is of great interest to me, and hints at the true nature of the Sidhe. Could Fae bind themselves to other structures besides the Gates? Perhaps the Queens bear such a connection to the Basin Above, or Azatoth to the Basin Below... Unfortunately, both lines of inquiry could lead to a level of madness that I am not willing to risk, and thus I leave the study to future scholars.
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