FAERIE COURTS

Songs of the Sidhe

by David Ross

FAERIE COURTS – The politics of Faerie are diverse, usually quite dangerous, and often hard to comprehend for mortals. At the pinnacle, Faerie Lords and Ladies are godlike Powers whose might reflects aspects of the world around them. They can gain this power directly by mastering a part of their environment, or they can gain it indirectly through the sponsorship of a more powerful Lord.

Although some find a stable neutral position, most of the courts these fey rule are engaged in an intricate dance of alliance and warcraft with each other and outside forces. Many conflicts, especially at the highest levels, are ideological (usually based on different ideas of how the natural order works or should work). However, others are simple power struggles. Feuds with dragon, giant, or magical beast factions are usually for control of territory. Most prominent of them all, the Two Courts both see themselves as true masters of Faerie and heirs to the power of nature. Each acts as a counterbalance for the other, interfering with each other’s plans and perhaps preventing the other from going too far. The cold war between them, fancifully called the Dance of Light and Darkness by many fey, has played a role in the climate of conflict between all the other courts for eons. Over the ages, the once-unified Old Seelie Court has fractured into many warring pieces, but every major break has involved the vitriolic dialogue and open war between the Seelie and Unseelie factions. The Two Courts are divided as much by worldview as by bad blood. The Seelie Court is a culture of vitality, growth, and creativity which bestows life and beauty on all it touches in one way or another; the Unseelie Court is a culture of violence, death, and decadence which inflicts suffering and decay on everyone and everything, eventually.

However, the rift is not absolute. To an extent, the wiser of the Two Courts’ members can recognize that their enemy stands for something necessary. Growth must come out of fertile rot and destruction can only come after creation. Too much death leaves nothing behind to continue the cycle; too much life chokes itself out by using up all food and space like a cancer crushing its host. But they will rarely condone the extremes their opposite number goes to. Even a very accepting Seelie is troubled by the amount of blood the Unseelie have spilled, and even the most open-minded Unseelie laments the unsustainable overabundance the Seelie wish to spread.

Most fey  courts have rather icy relations with many Powers of the Realms Beyond. They resent the meddling of gods and cosmic entities, although this tension is not often brought to a head after the fey courts withdrew to Faerie during the rise of the modern gods. As an exception, the Seelie Court finds use  in friendship with many gods. Indeed, certain factions from the Realms Beyond find fey friends even outside the Seelie Court.

The gods of nature have common ground with many fey and the fey tend to be fairly  helpful allies to them, if sometimes only grudgingly. Even then, the majority of gods that ally with fey deal only with a single court. Some cosmic entities  also find allies among the fey, including agathions, azatas, demons, night hags, rakshasas, rilmani, titans, and vaati.

Occasionally, a treant, unicorn, druid, hag, or other non-fey creature with strong ties to the court may be permitted to gain membership in a court of Faerie. This is an uncommon honor, but is most frequently offered as a reward for helping  a court in a time of great need. The Seelie are particularly reserved about such things, in part due to an old wound. In the time of Queen Aeval, a unicorn Faerie Lord called the King of the Forest fell for the trickery of the arch-devil Lilith and allowed her to gain a foothold on his portfolio. Many Seelie see this loss as evidence that non-fey are not competent enough to rule among them, a notion supported by their belief in the power of heredity. The Unseelie Court in particular scoffs at the Seelie’s beliefs, but it is of course still cautious about whom it admits – most non-fey who join nonetheless have a bit of fey blood. Even if a court does not grant full membership to a worthy creature, it may offer some other status, such as knight or observer.

Note that some courts simply defy categorization, and there may be more courts than those described here which are simply not as prominent.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Below are definitions of some common terms in fey politics.

Faerie Friend: This term is used for casual allies of Faerie, often bestowed as easily as carrying out one wellreceived venture into Faerie.

Knight Bachelor: Ordinary Faerie Knights are generally mortals inured to Faerie. They remain usually in one Faerie Lord’s court, but may change allegiances. It is rare for a mortal to be recognized as a Faerie Knight without first spending at least three to seven years in Faerie serving some Otherworldly cause. Faerie Knights and higher titled beings are considered native to Faerie for purposes of resisting the time distortion imposed by leaving Faerie.

Knight, Order Member: Faerie Knights that please a particular Power or order of knights may be asked to join an order recognizing their achievement. Particularly well-known orders include the Dark Host (serving the capricious whim of the Queen of Air and Darkness) and the Order of the Lake (led by the Seelie Margravine Vivienne, Chief Lady of the Lake). Most knightly orders have three internal ranks: junior member, median member, and senior member.

Knight Banneret: Knights Banneret are traditionally mortals who have earned great glory in the eyes of the fey. They may be nearing ascension to Faerie Lord status. Generally, a being must have at least 20 HD to become a knight banneret. Like knights bachelor, they need not be sworn to a single liege or court, but many are. Mortal knights banneret are considered fey for the purposes of granting favors to other mortals; for instance, a knight banneret may bestow the Faerie Friend or Nymph’s Kiss feats on others. Some knights banneret (such as Morgan Le Fay) even have their own knight bachelor vassals.

Observer: Observers are important figures recognized as closely allied with a court, but not accepted as an actual member of that court. They are of greater prestige and import than Faerie Knights ‘in fact equivalent to the vassals of the court’ but lack practical political power. The True Courts typically bestow this title on non-fey cosmic entities and gods.

True Courts and Worldly Courts: A Worldly Court is a world-specific extension of a True Courts found in Ladinion.

Vassal: A vassal is an aristocratic member of a court. She answers to the ruler of that court and may keep her own smaller court within or beneath the court of her ruler. When a vassal is replaced, her replacement as often as not comes from her personal court.

The Sovereign Courts

There are three Sovereign Courts: the Two Courts and the Watchers of the Current. The Two Courts, the Seelie and Unseelie, are for many purposes the current greatest authorities in Faerie. They are empowered by two primary aspects of nature: growth and decay. The Watchers, best known for their guardianship over the many portals of Faerie, oversee the transitions of nature. The Sovereign Courts once operated in harmony under a single ruler of Faerie, but now a feud divides the Seelie and Unseelie, with the Watchers refusing to take sides. The cause is obscured by rumor, but the most prominent tale places the split immediately after the death of Queen Gloriana. Others insist it happened when Queen Aeval purged the Seelie Court of those she deemed untrustworthy and the Unseelie or ‘unblessed’ expatriats formed their own shadow court. Arguably the most influential of all courts, the Sovereign Courts trace their roots directly back to the Old Seelie Court and Queen Gloriana. Each Sovereign Court counts among its members the rulers of several Blood Courts, Demesne Courts, or similarly important courts. They act as vassal courts, paying tribute to the Sovereign, gaining her  protection, and usually following her will. Other courts swear fealty to multiple courts, making them generally neutral. Still other courts swear fealty to no one, although they may nonetheless serve as proxies for the Seelie and Unseelie as they continue the tense Dance of Light and Darkness.

Court Houses

Large courts generally divide into numerous factions. The fey are apt to style these factions as ‘houses’, which can be thought of as clubs or secret societies within the larger court. Sometimes these houses can extend beyond a single court and form a link to equivalent factions in other courts. Houses may be organized with a single leader, an inner circle that makes decisions, or operate entirely by vote or common consent; it is this leadership that determines membership. House members generally congregate privately in a safe place removed from court, often in the realm of one of the key members. Prominent houses in the Sovereign Courts include the mainstream House of Winter and House of Autumn in the Unseelie Court and the radical House of Amaranth in the Seelie. While Faerie Lords need not be members of any houses to hold or advance their portfolios, the majority belong to one (usually a mainstream one), and some belong to several.

Sometimes, houses that grow distinctive enough from the court or courts they operate within may break away to form their own courts. Long ago, the Wild Hunt began as a house of the Old Seelie Court, and later the Unseelie Court, before becoming an independent faction of considerable power.

The Harbingers of the Undying Season: Now, another house may be about to form another major court. The Harbingers of the Undying Season are members of an old and secretive group of often-reviled fey drawn from both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. The group originated ages ago with a mysterious figure known as Yan-An-Od, the Grey Shepherd. His controversial ideas led to his execution by the Unseelie King Tethra, and since then the Harbingers have carefully guarded their intentions. They took refuge in the fringes of the Two Courts, and now operate for the most part in the deepest shadows of Faerie. The Harbingers now share many members with the Seelie House of Amaranth, who seek to spread longevity and extend youth, and the Unseelie House of Stormwind, who desire to use all destructive forces to their utmost grisly potential.

According to the leaders of this movement, the current natural order of life and death should be replaced by pure stasis (which they call the Undying Season) utterly bereft of either. Toward this end, the group spreads undeath, and occasionally other forms of immortality, in the belief that they will eventually transform the whole Mortal Coil. Most fey outside of this faction hate and fear most undead, destroying them on sight; they naturally despise the Harbingers.

Not long ago, a few of the movement’s leaders were again exposed for what they were in the Unseelie Court. Those who did not escape were executed by the Queen of Air and Darkness. The Unseelie leadership have begun to speak of Seelie sedition sparking these fey to defy the will of their Queen, but they have thus far taken pains to keep the lower members of the court and especially their Seelie enemies from learning about the Harbingers’  reappearance.

Led by visions she believes came from Nature herself, a young fey named Regantia has taken control of the scattered Harbingers and begun calling herself the Queen of Frozen Twilight. She holds supernal power despite her opposition to the Two Courts, and her followers believe that this signifies her right to oppose and supplant them. She has begun organizing a group in the Badlands of Annwn, where she may soon announce the Harbingers as a new faerie court.

Courtly Titles

The incredibly numerous titles of faerie courtiers are often hard to keep track of and compare, even for those deeply embroiled in Otherworldly politics. Simply put, the fey and their fellow aristocrats have never established a well defined structure for courtly titles. Nonetheless, many courts follow the relative order of titles used by the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, said to be based on the titles used by the Old Seelie Court with influences from Hellish, vaati, genie, and even mortal hierarchies. In this view, all fey are broken into five major categories: commoners, gentry, nobility, royalty, and a subgroup of royals called Faerie Lords.

These broad categories reflect a relative scale which varies from court to court and world to world. A fey who styles herself a queen may be inferior in 
every way to a countess of another court. Often, the hierarchies of lesser courts lack some of the higher titles altogether. Even fey who shun the 
frivolous structures of the Faerie Courts are usually categorized by other fey into one of these groupings anyway.

Commoners: Politically insignificant fey, such as redcaps, pixies, and lesser fey, are regarded as commoners. They are paid little heed by the aristocracy, despite often idolizing the aristocrats. Nevertheless, they remain consistently more dangerous than any ordinary mortal.

Gentry: Local-level figures with courts and servants normally numbering fewer than two dozen fey, the gentry are the most numerous and most commonly encountered of all fey aristocrats.

Yeomen, often simply styled ‘master,’ are the lesser gentry and include such fey as nymphs. Their typical superiors, the churls or baronetesses, 
claim many dozens of square miles. The most commonly seen fey among greater gentry is the daoine sidhe.

Nobility: Standing above the gentry but beneath the royals, nobles generally have influence over land and minions to rival mortal fiefdoms or even nations. Their power and closeness with the forces of nature sometimes results in these fey being revered as minor nature gods by common mortals.

Minor nobles, such as baronesses, bans, and beys, have realms covering hundreds of square miles and average about the power of a zephyr. Viscountesses and holds, slightly higher, rival high-level heroes and often challenge phoenixes and linnorms as equals.

The greatest nobles–gesiths, countesses, and wild hunters–often have range over several thousand square miles and usually verge on power of truly epic proportions.

Royalty: The royals are the main movers and shakers of Faerie, many of them rivaling demigods in authority and raw power, although they often lack supernal power. Those royals who do manifest supernal power are known as Faerie Lords.

Even typical royalty, margravines and emiras, can as often as not deal with solars as equals, and at the least rival major mortal monarchs and epic heroes in their reach over tens of thousands of square miles.

Thanes, highreeves, and duchesses, the next step up, are at least as far-reaching as mortal empires, influencing hundreds of thousands of square miles.

Finally, princesses, archduchesses, and mormaers of even the least significance always exhibit at least a measure of epic prowess; with or without supernal stature, they may have power over up to a million or more square miles.

Faerie Lords: The greatest of fey royalty are primal Powers collectively called Faerie Lords or archfey. These beings have deific might and some have small cults, but they do not rely on worship as gods generally do.

A few actively resist worship out of fear it could lead to distraction from their primary interests.

Some Faerie Lords can be conjured somewhat like archfiends, but in most cases, a mortal who seeks an audience can only request an archfey’s presence. The fey is not guaranteed to reply, least of all in a particular manner, so the mortal may have to seek the archfey out in person. Powerful margravines and emiras have influence over at least a minor aspect of life and death and may rival powerful demigods.

Greater thanes, highreeves, electresses, and duchesses have some talent at manipulating at least a small shard of growth, decay, time, or space such as family, fear, hunger, imagination, poison, portals, and sleep, and may threaten some lesser deities.Most princesses, archduchesses, and mormaers command some significant fragment of nature, such as affinity, decomposition, fertility, sterility, or violence.

They sometimes best intermediate gods. Grand duchesses, queens, and khedives almost universally have at least a little primal power, and sometimes compare favorably to even the mightiest of intermediate deities. These beings have influence over a major component of the Mortal Coil’s essence, such as extinction, growth, pleasure, space, and suffering, and may affect up an entire world at once.

High queens, greatest of all, are at least demipowers and may even rival pantheon heads. Broadly speaking, each is a mistress of life, death, time, synthesis, or some other ultimate fundamental of the world. They are as a rule untouchable by mortals except in special circumstances.

THE TRUE COURTS

The True Courts of Ladinion are often much more distant from mortal concerns than the worldly courts, but this is not always the case. The reasons for 
their distance are manifold; limited resources, non-aggression pacts with gods, Deus Fields or overpowers that restrict a world’s interaction with Ladinion, and more can all play a role. Sometimes, however, one or more True Courts choose to focus on a particular world. It may be that there 
are not worldly courts, but the world holds something pivotal to the wider Mortal Coil. It may be that the world’s limitations on interlopers 
are weak enough to let the True Courts access it to a greater extent, and they are simply taking advantage of an opening in Terra and/or Annwn. Whatever the reason, when a True Court takes a direct interest in a world, it generally has significant numbers of mortal and fey servants (knights, cultists, etc) present while the True Courtiers themselves intervene only rarely.

Blood Courts

Any given race of fey typically has a True Court in Ladinion which is its nominal representative. For the most part, only the more lawful fey actually seek 
or care about meaningful rule from their far-off Blood Court. Other fey tend to respect the rulers of their race’s court, but rarely (if ever) look to them for guidance. In some cases, these courts are little more than groups of powerful fey congregating around the most famous (or infamous) fey of a given type, and their influence on their race amounts to little more than inspiring occasional stories, conversation, and gossip. Blood Courts are often the groups most directly subject to the power plays between 
the Two Courts.

The rules for gaining power in each of the Blood Courts depends upon what is important to that race, so that the ruler of each Blood Court best exemplifies what that race cares about. For instance, the most bloodthirsty redcap is king in their court, and the most beautiful rule among the huldra. Daoine sidhe lack any semblance of a Blood Court, perhaps because their race specializes in living the life of politics, ruling and participating in many of the courts of Faerie and especially dominating the Two Courts. Amadans and other extremely solitary races also lack a Blood Court.

Demesne Courts

These courts seek to maintain their favored environment and encourage its spread. There is one for each climate/terrain combination from the following: cold, temperate, warm; forest, marsh, hills, mountain, desert, plains, waterways, lakes (freshwater), seas (saltwater), shores. There is also a Court of Caverns (encompassing all subterranean environments), a Court of Winds (for the atmosphere), a Court of Tides (for currents and tides in all aquatic environments), and a Court of Burning Earth (for geothermal vents and the deep, hot bowels of the earth). All told, there are 34 Demesne Courts, but they are especially prone to merging temporarily, and so at any given time there are fewer than half that many separate courts. The majority are independent of the Sovereign Courts, but the Courts of Tides, Winds, and the Burning Earth answer to the Watchers of the Current and the Court of Rivers swears fealty to the Seelie Court.

At present, there is a Court of the Frostfell (cold forest, marsh, hills, desert, plains, lakes, and shores), Rivers (all waterways), Winds, Caverns, Peaks (all mountains), the Wood (temperate forest), Coral (all seas and temperate and warm shores), and the Jungle (warm forest), among others. Perhaps the most dynamic of Faerie Courts, the Demesne Courts constantly fight over land with each other, with other courts, and with non-fey rulers such as Fomorians and linnorms. The most visible are the Courts of Wind, Rivers, Coral, and the Frostfell. The Frostfell is ruled by the calculating, well-established, and ruthless Snow Queen, whose chief rival is the morose and young but terrifyingly powerful Siobhan Alastal of the Court of Coral. The Court of Rivers is represented by the sociable Seelie vassal Always Falling. Finally, the Court of Winds is ruled by the accommodating  King Aeolus.

Minor Courts

Most Faerie Lords have their own personal courts. Perhaps the most well-known independent archfey in Ladinion are the Princes of Passion and the Gatekeepers of Essence, who draw power from the Mortal Coil’s interaction with other planes.

Each Prince of Passion manifests the power of one alignment for either the betterment of Nature or enhancing his own personal influence, and generally operates independently of (or at cross-purposes with) his fellow Princes of Passion.

Conversely, the Gatekeepers of Essence are concerned with elemental vortexes and other ways that the Elemental Realities affect material nature. They tend to cooperate more than the Princes of Passion, and often serve as go betweens for elemental lords and the masters of Faerie. Both the Princes and the Gatekeepers tend to attract a number of peris, outsiders reborn as fey. Although neither group answers to them, the majority of these archfey are on good terms with Queen Titania and the Watchers of the Current, especially Borlung, Fate Weaver, and Bhalyoi.

The Seelie Court

The Seelie Court idealizes bounty. They develop and demonstrate their power by helping the world around them to grow, flourish, and improve. They protect life from premature or wasteful death, and encourage rebirth afterward. The most devoted Seelie, especially the courtiers, are associated with positive energy and tend to avoid destructive acts of all kinds. They usually banish, transmute, or befuddle enemies instead of killing them. The Court’s chief goal is to unite Faerie and all of nature under their banner of life, recreating the lost glory of the Faerie Court. Although the Seelie see themselves as the true heirs of Queen Gloriana, the last queen of a united Faerie Court (even calling their Queen Titania the Faerie Queen), few outside the court recognize their claim. Major obstacles to their recognition are the rival claim of the Unseelie Court, who hold the Queen of Air and Darkness to be the prime heiress of Gloriana’s power, and the other courts’ fear that an unchecked Seelie Court might overwhelm them all with cancerous growth. The Seelie have a touch of perfectionism to them, and are less willing to admit those not of full fey blood. They put a lot of weight in potential and bloodline – they are known to manipulate these things in order to get what they want. For example, a Seelie may appear to a young child of great potential and bless him or save him from harm, making him indebted to her from an early age. The majority of the Court seeks harmony among fey and mortals and other planes, but vocal minorities hold different goals. Some few in the House of Spring call for all-out war with the Unseelie Court. Some (generally of the House of Summer) favor cutting mortals off from their goodwill and/or fighting to rid the Mortal Coil of outside influence. An isolationist minority distrusts extraplanars and mortals and wishes to avoid involvement with matters outside Faerie.

Well-known servants of the court include the Order of the Lake, who channel Seelie blessings to those who properly respect their land, and the Order of Sowers, who deliver unborn souls. The Sowers carry fresh souls from Paradwys in Ladinion to the places where they will be born. Usually, these fey just guide the natural process for animals, fey, plants, and vermin, but occasionally they work with mortal souls as well. The largest groups of Seelie servants represent the Houses of Spring and Summer, who coordinate the shifting of their respective seasons. The True Seelie Court is ruled by Titania, the motherly but perfectionistic Queen of Light, and her noble but tempestuous consort King Oberon. Their most important vassals are Adekagagwaa, the stern and reserved Summer Chief; playful and gentle Ruona Neida, Grand Duchess of Spring; and beneficent Talitu, the Faerie Godmother, renowned protectress of mothers and children.

The courtiers of the Seelie Court range in power from inferior to most demigods to competing with greater deities. Each member concerns himself with creation of and by nature in a different manner, and all ultimately answer to their Sovereign. In turn, Titania has some power over every one of her vassals’ portfolios (in addition to interests which are exclusively hers). The Sovereign Court vassals all have various knights or other servants, and many have personal courts composed of lesser nobles that deal with various aspects of the ruling Power’s portfolio. Like most large political bodies, the True Seelie Court includes within it several major factions. Many are organized into houses: The House of Spring, the more liberal mainstream faction; the House of Summer, the bare majority who holds conservative views and disdains mortals as beneath them; the House of Celadine, a group (often looked down upon) whose members seek to help mortals for the mutual benefit of mortals and fey under the guidance of Princess Talitu; the House of Worms is a secret group led by Margrave Touka whose members seek to integrate aberrations into nature; and the House of Amaranth seeks to stifle the power of death as much as possible.

The Unseelie Court

The Unseelie Court epitomizes loss. As it brings death and destruction, this court is associated with negative energy. The Unseelie draw power from filling nature with suffering, destruction, and rot. In turn, an Unseelie fey only truly respects power that is demonstrated by hurting, weakening, or 
killing another. Relative to the Seelie, it is much easier for a non-fey to earn respect this way. Although the Unseelie tend to see all things as  predictable (even more so than other fey) and are renowned for their fatalism and prophecy, they make their predictions based on demonstrated ability and how a situation compares to similar ones in the past rather than focusing on mere possibilities and the vagaries of heredity.

In general, the Unseelie are not as restrictive as the Seelie, and are more willing to admit those not of full fey blood . This may be necessary to maintain their numbers, due to the fact that Unseelie courtiers and their most fervent followers tend to avoid creative acts of any kind. They are also known to steal and transform others’ young in order to multiply

Many of the Unseelie oppose extraplanar success in the Fleeting Realm as invasive or unnatural. A small but vocal minority, usually members of the aforementioned group, considers everything outside Faerie to be tainted with the unnatural and wishes to destroy it all – typically starting with all mortals. A number of Unseelie expect an attack from the Seelie at any time and urge a preemptive strike. The Harbingers of the Undying Season are a small but constant influence on the Unseelie through the House of Stormwind, urging the court’s members to abandon their arbitrary taboos against various vile tactics.

The Unseelie Court is served by many different groups. Perhaps the most important serve the Houses of Autumn and Winter, who maintain the cycle of seasons. The most feared Unseelie, however, are those who serve the Queen of Air and Darkness as her elite knights in the Dark Host. Another important group is the Order of Harvesters. The Harvesters escort dead souls from where they fell to Paradwys in the heart of the Tree of Life, where they are returned to nature. Their typical charges are plants, animals, magical beasts, and fey, but they are also knownto snatch up mortal souls from time to time.

The True Unseelie Court is ruled by the Queen of Air and Darkness, an unpredictable figure known for her callous wit and ruthlessness. Her widely-feared elite servants are the bloody and mysterious Dark Host. Other prominent Unseelie leaders include Nirrta, the wistful Raja of Autumn; depraved Asketi, Grand Duchess of Winter; and Baba Yaga, the wandering Archduchess of Death, notorious for her vicious cunning, dark wisdom, and inviolable taboos.

The Queen of Air and Darkness rules a court system in many ways a dark reflection of Titania‘s. Her servants vary greatly in power and her reach extends far and wide both within and beyond the Unseelie Court itself.

Major court houses of the Unseelie include: the House of Autumn, the liberal mainstream faction now waxing in power; the House of Winter, the main conservative faction; the tiny fringe House of Stormwind, concerned with harnessing every possible resource toward Unseelie goals (even questionable ones); and the House of Ashes, perhaps the most extreme, invested in ending all Creation so that the cycle of history can begin anew.

The Watchers of the Current (Court of the Fleeting Moment)

The Court of the Fleeting Moment, whose members are more commonly called the Watchers of the Current or simply Watchers, is best known for guarding the portal system of Faerie. This system, also known as the Rivers of Time, is linked strongly to the shape of space and time itself. From the starry heavens above which carry echoes of both future and past, to the ley lines underfoot which shape and are shaped by the earth and sea and sky, space and time form the frame within which life and death transpire. Many fey refer to this frame as the Fleeting Moment, or simply the Current. The Watchers of the Current wield some influence over all these aspects of nature.

While of grave importance to Faerie, the Watchers have little direct power. They may influence events by reshaping the scenery within which the action takes place, but they are rarely the actors. On the sidelines of the Two Courts’ conflict, the Watchers sometimes try to play the voice of reason to the other courts, but because their admonition is usually for moderation and restraint of rival courts, they are rarely listened to. Many a leader is too wary of treachery or too certain that she is right to listen to the enigmatic Court of the Fleeting Moment. Other fey leaders all too easily recall the Peace of Paradwys, the Watchers’ attempt to administer all the Demesnes and Blood Courts which ended in war and disaster. This one grave misfortune always threatens to undermine the Watchers’ credibility. The Watchers of the Current are led by the wise and generally passive Borlung, King of Eventide and guardian of time. His chief lieutenant is the coldly logical and inquisitive Ifadoval, Watcher of Dimensions and protector of space. Below them, a small collection of vassals each chiefly watch over one basic aspect of mortal reality; taken together, these portfolios constitute Borlung’s sphere of influence, all space and time.

The Wild Hunt

The most famous, and possibly the most powerful, of all forces in Faerie aside from the Two Courts is the Wild Hunt. Everyone knows that the Hunt patrons hunting, but it subtly reaches all aspects of living and dying in harmony with nature. Its members hold that all alignments, elements, and energies are but aspects of a greater whole. Many Faerie Lords retain guards or even small armies, but no organized force matches the Wild Hunt. Indeed, the Wild Hunt’s great (though little-used) political influence lies primarily in its martial prowess. Consequently, many courts attempt to curry favor with the Wild Hunt and direct it against their enemies. Aside from the temporal and spatial isolation of Faerie, the Wild Hunt is its greatest defense against invasion.

The Leader of the Wild Hunt is Cernunnos, who speaks little and acts with devastating power respected even by the Two Queens. Other notables include Hellekin, creative and fiery Hunter of Spirits; Mother Goden, the mercenary Faerie is a complex web of war, alliance, and subtle shades of favor spun by a multitude, all vying to define its nature.

WORLDLY COURTS

World-specific Faerie Courts are largely analogous to various True Courts, but their specific situations usually differ significantly based on the conditions of the mortal world. The variation in courts from world to world is similar in scope to the variation between divine pantheons. Depending on the limitations of the world, worldly archfey may reside in Terra or alongside it in Annwn. In general, worldly courts fall into one of three different scales of power:

• When fey are at their strongest, they operate on the same level of power as gods, and a court can rival a pantheon. Historically, these fey courts 
  either never fought with gods, fought them to a standstill, or even outright defeated the gods. They generally play roles similar to those of gods and greater archfiends or archcelestials on a world stage – heroes may battle for or against the symbols of such beings, but can rarely them challenge directly.
•  When fey have a more typical presence, they often stand somewhere between gods and mortals in the grand scheme of things. They might even be directly subordinate to nature gods, bound or created to serve. Alternatively, the fey may stand apart from the gods and simply concern themselves with their own devices. Finally, they may lash out against the gods, too weak to unseat them presently but dangerous enough to pose a long-term threat. These fey are often just within the reach of exceptional mortals to challenge or champion personally.
•  When fey are weak, worldly courts usually represent challenges of a similar scale to the heroes and villains of legend. Historically, these tend to be fey courts that arose in a manner similar to mortal civilizations or which were long ago badly defeated by gods and never recovered. These courts often wield influence similar to parallel-realm nations in terms of scope and scale.

The Seelie, Unseelie, and Demesne Courts are the most active sponsors of worldly courts, but there are also numerous worldly Wild Hunts, Blood Courts, and Watchers of the Current.

LOCAL COURTS

The smallest and most plentiful kind of court is the local court. An ordinary nymph in the Fleeing Realms would usually deal directly with a local court. Most fey aristocrats have a region of influence over which they serve as local lord even if they care little for such concerns (in which case they are likely to delegate its oversight to a majordomo). A local court is usually where the fey of any region can meet. Such a court may rule a region as small a hundred acres or as large as an ocean. Often these courts pay much more attention to the Annwn version of a region, but in any case they claim the same stretch of land in both Annwn and the Fleeting Realm since the two are so intimately linked. A given local court ruler might hold its position 
at the pleasure of a higher court or may be independent; sometimes, one has several superiors to deal with. For instance, the nereid mistress of an inland sea might want to flood nearby swamps and permanently increase the size of her sea. She would be supported in her endeavor by that world’s Lord of Lakes, opposed by its Seelie ruler (because the flooding would kill all the swamp life), and supported by its Unseelie ruler (for the same reason). The Lord of the Burning Earth might offer the help of using an earthquake to alter the elevation of the swamp. She could accept aid from any, but would be helped without a price. Finally, she might have to fight the patron spirit of the swamp, if there is one.

There are local courts in Ladinion as well as Annwn and Terra, but their petty members are usually little-known because they are overshadowed by the exceptionally powerful True Courts that also dwell in Ladinion. Sometimes, multiple local courts rule the same territory. This usually happens when a region’s fey are polarized by the Seelie-Unseelie conflict into splitting a single local court in two, though sometimes the split follows other lines. A known tactic in conflicts between Demesne Courts is for an invading court to patron a new local court in a region already bound to another Demesne Court in an attempt to gain influence to change the environment toward their own portfolio.