The Realm of Faerie

Songs of the Sidhe by David Ross

Faerie. A realm among the stars where time is forgotten, and ages pass in the blink of an eye. The Otherworld. A faraway island of bliss. The Spirit World. A dark underworld from whence the first life emerged. The Land of the Living. A vast garden of eternal sunlight. The Land of the Dying. An impossible dreamland beyond world’s end, prowled by living nightmares. Countless names, countless nameless legends, yet all are one and the same. Every culture has a different understanding of what Faerie is, and each is right in some way. Perhaps the most common casts the Otherworld as a realm parallel to the mortal world, bridging life and death. Although it can be reached after a short quest or through simple luck, something more is needed to return home. Those that do return are often lost in time, and the less fortunate traveler might find himself a fey lord’s pet or a hag’s next meal. The one feature that remains constant among these stories is the fascinating, magical otherness of the place. It is at once familiar and exotic. Regardless of culture, age, or race, Faerie rarely fails to captivate anyone who even glimpses its splendor.

The inhabitants of the Otherworld, which include Nature’s most venerable and powerful defenders, have proven as mystifying as their home. Depending on what little mortals perceive of them, the fey inspire both dread and longing. These beings are known widely for power both natural and supernatural, though they are sometimes distant and often misunderstood. In most lands, except a few where nature is tamed or ruined, fey are regarded as dangerous aspects of the world itself, and the common folk know they should take the utmost of care when dealing with these beings. Many a woodland village has a resident-perhaps a knowledgeable old spinster or canny huntsman – who is well-respected for helping his or her neighbors with some insight into the spirits of nature, knowledge of which fey to befriend (such as the brownie), which to be careful of (such as the korred), and which to avoid at all costs (such as the kelpie). Frontier and rural towns ignorant of this wisdom are prone to accidents, curses, disappearances, and eerie deaths.

The common wisdom largely amounts to minor tricks which play on the fixations and desires of the different fey races. Beyond these, most are familiar with tales of the Seelie Court, the Unseelie Court, and the Wild Hunt. The Seelie are known as blessed fairies of light, bounty, and goodness; the unseelie as lurking evils in the night, murderous sneaks, and dangerous deceivers. While Seelie are often called fair beyond all others, Unseelie are thought misbegotten monsters. The Wild Hunt, a flying host of fey hunters both humanoid and bestial, is renowned as a terrifying force of nature not unlike a tornado: it strikes rarely, with unstoppable lethality, and seemingly at random. All fey are frequently depicted as fantastically fickle and categorically chaotic. However, although these fables are a boon to those touched by the dangers and blessings of Faerie, fables are not literal. They are fanciful fabrications wrapped around mere kernels of truth, and often prove misleading even to those who presume to be wise in the ways of Faerie.

Where the wilds are untamed and deities few, worship of nature is common. Fey and sometimes dragons are regarded as favored children of Mother Nature within these cults. Shamans bargain with them for spells and pay with quests or treasures, while druids study the laws of nature with their aid. Occasionally, they are even worshiped directly. Lesser fey may serve as handmaidens or heralds to true deities, and the archfey are indeed in some ways similar to nature gods. More often, they are considered to be minor gods, less than demigods, worthy of fear and respect but not prayer. Even common fey can manifest a link to the primal magic of the world, from forest to mountain to beast to hearth. Fey with especially potent bonds to nature are frequently referred to as ‘primal spirits’ or simply ‘spirits’ by some societies. Across these and other cultures, many mortals learn to extract the boons of Faerie in exchange for treasure or service. The most prominent of these mortals may join the ranks of the fey themselves by becoming ancestral spirits, Faerie Knights in service to Faerie Lords, or something even stranger.

Unlike the rural expanses and wildernesses that cover most of the material plane, areas of urbanization and advanced technology tend to have residents who think of Faerie as insignificant, little more than a story setting used to delight or frighten the young and the naïve. Similarly, the dominion of exclusivist gods tends to limit the reach of fey. However, Faerie is rarely forgotten entirely. Even in these places, every once in a while, the touch of fey magic, primeval nature, unearthly dragons, or cursed giants will renew the age-old mortal fascination with the Otherworld. Due to numerous factors such as these, the influence of Faerie varies considerably from realm to realm. Even when they are deeply respected, feared, or adored, the denizens of Faerie are rarely understood among mortals. Ancient traditions, powerful taboos, eldritch laws, varied customs, creative independence, and whimsical emotion can all be found among the fey’s motivations, yet mortals see little more than chaos there. In truth, the Otherworld and its inhabitants are nearly as diverse as the mortal world. Depravity and ugliness lurk among Seelie beauty and bounty, mercy glimmers in the hearts of some Unseelie euthanasists, and the Wild Hunt may inspire druidic wisdom as well as primal frenzy.

Faerie itself is a place of primeval nature. Naturally magical, it is extremely dangerous to the unwary, and both easier and harder to reach than most planar destinations’ easier in that paths between the mundane world and Near Faerie are far more numerous than any other kind portal, and harder in that most ways in are hidden, guarded, or require keys. Moreover, travel to and from Faerie is difficult and perilous by any route. Many mortals are famous for having never escaped, instead being adopted permanently (and often unwillingly) into the Faerie world. Some mortal scholars debate whether Faerie is not a separate plane of existence from their own Mortal Coil; druids know that the two are so tightly bound that any separation would be merely superficial.