A relatively old world, Fairy was built by a Constellation trying to understand themselves through their creations, by attempting to create the closest thing they could to Stars. The result was the ‘Fey'- beings of immense magical power, whose rules of existence and magic were vague and inconclusive. This allows the Fey to use magic to change the matter, energy and voidstuff of themselves and the world around them much more easily than most mortals. The Constellation that made the Fey also communicated with them rather directly, leading the Feyfolk to have a greater, though still incomplete, understanding of the true nature of the universe. This, combined with their nearly-limitless magic ability, allowed them the freedom to connect to other worlds, some made by other Constellations and some by the same, and mess with them to their heart's content. Some Fey are cautious of creating Existential Malady, and adapt their usage of their magic to avoid contradicting the astronomies in place, while others don't care, spreading the Malady for fun and profit.
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The Fae are very bug-like in actual biology, though their nearly unrestricted wildmagic allows them to shift their bodies wildly. For example, most shed their skin regularly, leaving stiff husks behind, and reach further stages of their lifecycle through pupation. They are heavily reliant on magic, or voidstuff, as the source of their lifeforce, whose natural deterioration is slower than matter and energy, meaning they live much longer than other mortals, and, unlike most mortals, more often die when they run out of magical stamina, or soul, than when they run out of the other elements. Due to their reliance on voidstuff over other elements, they can only reach the next lifecycle stage when concentrated enough magic in their form (unlike most mortals who rely more on matter and energy for everyday use and therefore whose soul is a longer-lasting resource, fey reliance on magic causes it to be their most quickly used-up one. Because of this, they have the ability to absorb passive void, as well as consume it in a way similar to eating), and every lifecycle allows larger capacity for magic as well as biologically-enhanced magic efficiency. The Fey lifecycle begins at Pixies, which is the least powerful form, and advances through Changelings, named as such for their tendency for indecision in choosing an aesthetic for their form, Nymphs (which, puzzlingly, share this name with some Old World nature spirits, as described by some of their culture. Due to Fey tendency to travel worlds for lols, there may have been some mutual influence), Elves, who are respected as established and influential members of the various Fey factions, and ends in Archfey, the rarest and most powerful of the Fey. Because of lifecycles being dependent on raw magical capacity, some Fey become ‘stuck’ at certain stages for long periods of time due to life circumstances, or even choose to remain in one they find comfortable due to its inherent social status and level of responsibility it is expected to come with. As a result, chronological age and indeed time itself matters very little to the Fey, and they measure each other in terms of raw power instead, some believing more ‘adult’, powerful Fey have a responsibility to reign in or guide the weaklings, while others see the weaker than them as less respectable or worthy of consideration.
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The natural lifecycle of Fey being reliant on raw power also lends itself to a power-based societal structure, in which the strong govern the weak. Archfey are more listened to, even if they have no ‘official’ power nor desire to harm the listener, simply because the stronger are seen as more ‘important’. This forces even unwilling archfey into positions of leadership, and the perceived power-ranking of nobility is a constant food for gossip among the Fey commonfolk. Many Fey dream of rising in the ranks, while others dread the attention it will attract them.
The political battlegrounds of Fey are as steeped in tradition as they are convoluted. In a sense, they attempt to mimic the hierarchy displayed by Stars and the Progenitors- there are usually two or three Archfey serving as royalty, who are only to be approached with issues of world-wide importance, while the rest of the Fey nobility relegate themselves to territories within which their word is law. It is in bad taste for an Archfey to interfere with another's land or rules within their territory- at least openly. This includes whichever non-fey have been assimilated or grafted into an Archfey's ‘court', including pets, or even fully sapient mortals who were kidnapped from their home world (or sometimes chose to depart it). It is not uncommon for a court to include non-fey, and their worth is also evaluated based on magical capacity, their origins or looks rarely being considered (though they might be judged).
Fey society is highly superficial. Their status as ‘the closest thing the Stars could make to themselves’ is regarded as a reason for them to be superior to other non-feytouched mortals, and in fact, they rarely consider themselves mortal at all. Because of this self-aggrandizing point of view, it is considered an irredeemable offense for a Fey to intentionally harm another of their kind, especially if they attempt to hurt someone of a higher class. This, and the fact that Fey's natural causes of death are mostly limited to eventual decay of their very long-lasting Stardust, means that assassination or murder for the sake of rising in the social ladder, unless incredibly well-concealed, is rarely an effective strategy. The Fey detest violence against their own, seeing it as classless and barbaric, and think themselves above it, unless under extreme duress. They don't have the same qualms about non-fey, court-unaffiliated mortals, though they usually rather not commit the act themselves, and send their non-fey servants to enact it in their stead, or else cause the mortals to attack each other through magic and trickery.
Because of their nearly-infinite ability to modify their form, they see physical appearance as a choice and therefore as something worth judging one by, despite most mortals lacking similar abilities. Due to these tendencies, most non-Fey experience them as conceited, egotistical, and easy to offend, which can be very dangerous to those lacking in the magical prowess to back a perceived offence. While many Fey have some conception of a moral compass, the values they aim it towards can wildly vary between courts, lifestages, and personal life experiences, and it is rare to find a consistent pattern within any given group.
To obtain more power, weaker Fey tend to travel to other worlds than their own, as those guard their loose voidstuff less rigorously. To do so, said weaker Fey band together, as they often lack the magic capacity to travel through the universe in an efficient manner on their own. Due to this, Pixies are more often seen in large numbers at places of concentrated magic, and where there is one there are likely more.
Changelings tend to prefer to arrive together and separate after arrival, since their more considerable magic (and therefore more capacity for adaptable appearance) means they can camouflage into other mortal societies and attempt to steal voidstuff from the unsuspecting, absorbing it from their surroundings gradually. This has led to many different tales of nefarious shapeshifters on different worlds and societies, which then spun away from their source and attributed abilities, behaviours, or intentions that Changelings rarely exhibit among non-Fey. They, in fact, try to be as amicable as they can, while unfamiliar with the society and their customs, so as to not be banished from large groups of mortals from which they can passively feed. The amount they absorb from any one person is rarely actually significant, and often goes completely unnoticed, only their uncanny attempts at mimicking the physical features and behaviours of the locals being a distinguishable trait.
Nymphs, as opposed to changelings, have enough power to travel to worlds under their own strength, though it drains them greatly. This means they create themselves a base of operations within their target world, and stay there for elongated periods of time. They often become local legends as a result, which then allows them a magic source that would remain an important part of their magic income well into elvenhood- mortal deals. By offering mortals a service wildmagic is capable of performing, as opposed to what common local arcana can accomplish, they can bargain for various void-heavy payments. A common one is the name of the non-fey mortal, and with it their identity, which comprises a large chunk of most mortal souls. A mortal who loses their name might still remember what it was, as their minds go unchanged, but it will no longer be part of them, nor will they be able to recognize their own distinguishing traits or habits when asked, even if they remember what they used to be. Essentially, they become deprived of personality. While a new name and identity can be gained, their creation can require a lot of work, especially if the mortal is of a social species and becomes isolated from their peers- an unfortunately common reality, as their loss grates on their former associates. Another common payment method for a Fey deal is a child of the mortal in question. Children, due to their developing senses of self, are a self-replenishing source of soul, and a boon for a young Fey to have. Due to the regular, partial devouring of their souls, these young mortals tend to develop odd, disjointed personalities, filled with clashing traits that remained from these partial feedings. In exchange, they might learn magic from the Fey they were taken by, as preparation for the child to serve in that Fey's future court, though they will only be able to accomplish the parts of the Fey's magic that are compatible with their own Stardust. They often also passively learn of, or even visit, other worlds, and absorb some rudimentary understanding of the Stars and their gossip. If such children, or any mortal who finds themselves in Fairy unprotected and underprepared, return to the mortal world from which they came, they tend to be marked out as bizarrely behaved, and spouting nonsensical, pseudo-arcane divinations as common knowledge.
Elves, and especially high elves, are powerful enough to easily travel between worlds, and while they usually have sources of passive magical income as well as the start of a court, they sometimes do so to get more sources to accelerate their upcoming pupation into Archfey. The gap between each Fey lifestage becomes wider as the Fey grow, and the gap between Elf and Archfey often seems insurmountable. Still, many work towards it, chipping away at the obstacle through their incredibly long lives. Very rarely do elven mini-courts are recognized as actual courts by their peers, and only become so when not built or based in an existing Archfey's territory, which is difficult to find on Fairy itself. Due to this, especially ambitious elves might try and establish their court outside Fairy proper, either on worlds inhabited by ‘lesser’ mortals, or completely barren ones. This separation from Fairy is dangerous for a Fey, as it naturally brings with it a detachment from the rumor mill and Fey high society, which can then lose them social grace, and therefore in practice lead to loss of power, rather than gain.
Finally, fully-fledged Archfey stand at the top of Fairy's social hierarchy. They have undergone their final pupation, and established themselves as Fey nobility, carving out a chunk of land for themselves to call their own. The various non-fey they have collected as sources of power now begin to operate as servants under their leadership, and the Fey who live on that land become their citizens. This is the stage at which they can begin the process of Fey, typically asexual, reproduction- a complicated, arcane procedure in which they release their pent-up magic back into Fairy to coalesce once again into Pixies, who begin their journey anew. While no Pixies, Changelings, Nymphs or even Elves can inherit a court before they reach Archfeyhood, their Archfey parent might provide them an advantage, depending on their own available resources or personal inclinations. Until Archfeyhood, all of an Archfey's children are considered as part of their court, and after reaching the final stage of their lifecycle they are expected to remain loyal to their parent court and its subsidiaries. Due to this, large, complicated networks of familial bonds spring up, and failing to know or pretend to be familiar with a distant relative is considered a severe faux pas. Because all existing Fey can be traced to an Archfey, them to a family tree, and this family tree to common ancestors, in reality every Fey is somehow related to any other, though at a certain level of distance this fact is politely ignored.
The only way Fey view as legitimate to completely begin a new family tree is to be disowned by your homecourt, an act that comes with a devastating, but not unrecoverable, blow to the social graces of both sides of the conflict, and often divides Fey society into teams for the short while the conflict is still interesting. Unless intentionally fueled, or is somehow especially prominent or juicy, the conflict quickly loses relevance, and Fey society loses interest.
There are few such schisms in Fey society that are remembered to this day, but those that are have remained extremely polarizing, sometimes even to the point of Fey-on-Fey bloodshed. The biggest of these polarizing schisms has split the Fey royal ‘family’ into two family trees- Seelie, or Summer, and Unseelie, or Gloaming. The Seelie are traditionally ruled by the two most powerful Archfey the court has to offer, which are considered ‘married’ for the sake of shared responsibility, as the concept of marriage was only introduced to Fey via other mortals, and their method of asexual reproduction makes the idea of pairing for the sake of mating foreign and odd. They are the only two Archfey who are married in the eyes of Fey society, and the concept is reserved exclusively for them. Fey who fall in love, with each other or even various non-Fey mortals, rarely seek the title of Marriage nor do they have a concept of monogamy (unless they acquiesce to the request of a non-Fey lover).
Unseelie, however, is ruled by a single, immensely powerful Archfey, who traditionally avoids taking solid form in public and instead uses their considerable magic ability to send their will through the voidstuff of their vast territory, speaking through shadows and the breeze.
The true conflict that has caused the schism between Summer and Gloaming is ancient even by the standard of the lengthy Fey lifespan, and has long been forgotten even by the oldest living Archfey. The members of two mega-courts argue often about this piece of lost history, and many many stories have sprung up to fill the void, very few of which have any recognizable semblance to the truth. The Constellation that has made Fairy seems to have long lost interest in the project, and so either can't or won't shed light on the mystery. Regardless of the answer, most Fey feel very strongly for their court of choice, and disagreements between the ruling class of each side can very quickly become hills Fey commonfolk are willing to both die and kill on. In truth, Fey of either side are more affected by the other mortal worlds they have visited and the smaller court they grew in in terms of personality, aesthetic, and moral compass, and while many Fey and non-Fey mortals are quick to draw hard lines of differences among Summer and Gloaming, most of those don't stand up to scrutiny.
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Many Mortals believe no Fey can lie. This is only partially true. The nature of Fey as highly magical beings, and their wildmagic manifesting itself almost subconsciously as they move through their day-to-day, mean every word they say has intense magical potential, especially if it's an intentional contradiction to established reality. A purposeful, direct lie could create magical ripples, stronger the further the Fey is in their lifecycle, that can lead to dangerous, unintended consequences, manifesting the lie in various, typically bizarre, literal ways. Due to this unpredictable and complex nature of their magic, and the results’ tendency to reflect back on the Fey who caused the disturbance, many Fey become careful of their words, and prefer to avoid lying without planning the consequences thoroughly, especially in the presence of other Fey who might judge their lack of control and foresight. Some, more cunning Fey, use this to their advantage, spreading rumors and presenting them as fact so that the collective magic of Fey society could manifest them into reality. Because of such strategies being common practice among Fey looking to gain power, the rumor industry of Fairy is insidious and ravenous, and while an individual Fey might not tell a self-imagined lie, they have little to no moral qualms about spreading misinformation first conceived of by others, as doing so might gain them social favor, which in itself is a source of power within Fairy. A well-regarded Fey has more access to resources and opportunities to gain more status, influence, or even raw voidstuff to consume than their peers, and will advance the social ladder faster as a result.
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Stars and Constellations ┃ The Nature of Mortality ┃ Lexicon ┃ Table of Contents