Culture of Faerie

Faerie is vast and diverse, but certain trends remain consistent across much of the place. The most pivotal aspect of the Otherworld is the primal magic of nature. Although it does not have one unified culture, its cultures are all shaped to one extent or another by the fey, the dominant life-form in these realms. Non-fey often form enclaves or whole realms distinct from the Courts, but can rarely escape their influence entirely. A few others, such as treants, instead integrate themselves into fey culture for most of their lives and only occasionally seek community exclusively among their own kind. faerie dragons generally think of themselves as Seelie and firbolg giants sometimes follow the Wild Hunt, for example.

Magical beasts, linnorms, true dragons, and hags are sometimes more social when they reside beyond the mortal dominates realms of Terra. The distance from mortal distractions (whether troublesome heroes or villains, easy victims, or inviting pawns) often results in these creatures establishing more stable homes for themselves than usual while they reach out to Terra in a more limited fashion (either in a more organized, efficient, and far-reaching way than usual or more in a more restlessly casual way,depending on the creature’s personality).

Trade: Unlike some planar regions, which have complex economies built on favors, souls, or coin, Faerie has a fairly light economy. While there is a minor degree of soul trade and cash transactions, especially in Peristan, most trade is in the form of services and magical treasures.

War: Most warfare in Faerie takes place between the Demesne Courts, fomorian warlords, and linnorms. All these groups fiercely contest all other claims to their individual realms, so most of them are engaged in some kind of conflict the majority of the time. These landconscious groups tend to even limit the influence of other power groups that aren’t interested much in land, but the tension tends to be far less dramatic unless the other court tries to dominate the landed group (which has been rare lately, but was once very common).

The Dance of Light and Darkness: A cold war of intrigue and subterfuge between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts contantly threatens to break into open conflict. Their open actions are almost never directly against each other in Ladinion, for if these superpowers committed themselves to such a fight the consequences for both and for the rest of the Mortal Coil could be disastrous. Instead, they work through proxies, including Demesne Courts, Blood Courts, and sometimes magical beasts, plants, dragons, or giants. In some cases, such as in the time of King Gwythr and King Vindos II during the Era of Empires, relative dominance between the Two Courts has been left up to the result of personal duels between the sovereigns in order to avoid open war.

Groups such as the Seelie Court, Unseelie Court, Wild Hunt, and some true dragons wage wars that are at least as ideological as they are pragmatic. None are especially concerned about the area of their claims, but rather about control of important sites, artifacts, and other prizes. The Wild Hunt seeks both renown and to embrace the glorious, visceral power of the hunt. Their assaults might be more properly compared to storms, but unlike most storms, which simply release energy pent up in atmospheric imbalance, the Hunt’s rampages also release energy pent up in spiritual imbalance. The Wild Hunt sometimes ends up radically altering the course of major wars this way, so their attention is often sought by leaders who fear they are likely to lose a war without some kind of major upset.