Lore of Faerie

Lore of Faerie

Fate is only what you make of it. If you can alter fate, then you are truly creating your own path. Merle of Endswick, Dabbler in All Matters Arcane Understanding the Fey: A short treatise by Merle of Endswick. In a world vastly different than our own, we should expect that its inhabitants would be equally different. Thus, it is not unforeseen that the fey mindset is quite foreign to what we mortals deem normal.

Movement

Let.s start with something simple: movement. We have only one inherent means of travel.walking. Yes, we have learned other methods of movement, such as running, swimming, crawling, and the like. Of course, we have adopted the use of other creatures to ride. We have even invented mechanical and magical means of travel over the ages. Still, at the root of our daily life, we still walk from one place to another. Fey walk as well, but many also have the benefit of flight. To those who fly, it is the preferred method of travel. The need to walk is seen as something of a deficiency or a burden borne by more mundane folk. Flight, on the other hand, is more than a means of locomotion. It is a physical mirror of the mental state all fey believe and revel in.freedom. Those among us who can swim naturally or those who fly magically might understand some of the release felt through this .foreign. vector of movement, but it pales in comparison to the fey mastery over flight. Within the world of FaerieLand, even those creatures destined to spend their days walking have invented a means of quickly moving from one location to another. This method, known among them as .crossing over,. permits the traveler to cross over the boundary of one region and into the shifting terrain of another. Fey spellcasters have taken this technique and instilled it into magical doorways that can whisk creatures from one location to another in the time it takes a sprite to flutter her wings.

Sleep

Another thing we wholly require that fey have difficulty understanding is sleep. Slumber is a state in which we mortal creatures spend nearly one-third of our lives, nor can we imagine not doing so. Fey do not require sleep to rejuvenate their inner beings, so to them, sleep is simply time wasted that could be better spent enjoying life. Fey creatures spend a scant four hours.compared to our eight hours sleeping.doing non-strenuous activity. Some indulge in playing music and reading, conversing with acquaintances, strolling about the lush landscape surrounding them, or simply meditating on recent events. [Game effects: Similar to the meditative state that elves use to rejuvenate themselves, any activity that would interfere with natural healing or require a die roll cannot be performed during a fey.s .resting time..]

Our World & Faeries

This book gains its inspirations from the myths and fairy stories of more than a dozen cultures. While much of this lore comes together into a useful form for D20 games, as many contradictions as similarities abound among the faerie tales of Earth. This book attempts to honor all faerie stories and the faeries themselves, no matter they are called or what is said of them. Below are the most enduring and constant bits of faerie lore compiled during our research. The rest of this chapter beyond this sidebar cloaks more faerie lore as the studies and meanderings of one Merle of Endswich, our arcane spokesman and expert on all things fey.

• The original Faeries, or Faeries, bestowed gifts upon newborn children, such as beauty, wealth and kindness.
• In the subsequent centuries they continued this original gifting function, but expanded their activities into other types of meddling in human affairs.
• Faeries can only be seen clearly by animals and seldom by humans, although if one is fortunate enough, one might catch a fleeting glimpse. There are 3 exceptions where a human might fully see or encounter a faerie.
• Faeries can use their power (known as .glamour.) to enable humans to see them if they so choose; while using glamour, faeries always seem perfect in form and feature to human.
• Also, during a full moon on Midsummer Eve, mortals may witness faerie dances or celebrations as the faeries always revel on this night.
• And finally, by looking through a self-bored stone (a stone in which a hole has been made by tumbling in the waters of a fresh-water brook), one can see Faeries distinctly.

Time

Time is something to which we mortals are slaves. We have a miniscule number of years to live, so consequently we feel compelled to .make our marks upon the world.. The rush and urgency of everyday mortal life is nearly absent among the fey. Their days are infinite, so something that cannot be done today can always be done later. Compared to the mortal regret of the past and fear of the future, the fey live almost exclusively in the present. The countless numbers of days that pass in a fey.s lifetime are cause of great confusion. Mortals discussing past events with a fey habitually end up confused as to the order of things. Fey simply need to know that an event or chain of events happened, and seldom care precisely when. Needless to say, fey historians are few and far between. To mortals, this perplexity is compounded when traveling to and from FaerieLand, as time passes erratically between the two locales. Within FaerieLand, few things need to be done with any urgency, save open battle. Wars are nearly unheard of in FaerieLand, but when they arise, they are fought swiftly, fiercely, and without remorse. One cannot tell if this is due to martial efficiency and fervor or rather distaste for the activities and their lack of fun for the fey.

Work

Physical and mental labors are things the fey loathe to perform. Work is something for the lesser races of existence to carry out and theirs from which to benefit. It is even said that the .noble fey. created the smaller fey races of bogies, sprites, and similar creatures to perform the tasks they saw as beneath them. Within the fey society, a caste system separates the ruling class fey races from the lesser .common fey.. The common fey races accept this way of life and even visit it upon non-fey races. Bogies continuously raid the mortal worlds in search of goods to sell at Market; sprites protect the glades of mortal worlds from careless destruction; and dryads and sirines toy with the passions of mortals for entertainment. Even the noble feeorin seek out entertainment by visiting the mortal worlds to .people watch,. as they call it; this very act gathers new entertainments to share with others in FaerieLand. While some suggest the fey suffer from some absence of independent creativity, I have not found such. They merely acknowledge their appreciation of the finer examples of it in our world and produce far less as they are in far less hurry than we mortals. Among all the things in FaerieLand, it seems that .something new. is valued more than anything else.

Food & Drink

The fey find enormous satisfaction in well-prepared food and drinks. The bogies comb the planes for premium vegetables, luxuriant spices and herbs, luscious meats, and the finest beverages to serve at the fey courts and vendors. tents in Market. As with nearly everything else in FaerieLand, the culinary tastes of the fey fluctuate with the passage of time and the whim of what is popular at the moment. The practice of dining is a form of entertainment in which many fey take pleasure. Mortal feasts of seven or eight courses merely amuse the fey, whose grand banquets rarely provide less than a score of courses over a full FaerieLand day.

Social Interactions

Much of the daily life in FaerieLand is spent socializing with other creatures.be they fey, mortals, or some other intelligent beings. The value of interaction rivals that of the fleeting worth of .something new.. Scholars often speculate as to whether fey seek out new and fabulous things for the chance to share them with others, or if they instead place a higher value on the items, and simply wish to gloat over their latest possession. The types of entertainment enjoyed by the fey quite resemble those undertaken by the idle rich in the mortal world. With someone else to perform the more menial tasks of daily toil, and without a care for what yesterday was and what tomorrow might bring, it is easy to be released from the cares of life with which they see typical beings burdened. Popular pastimes with common fey are music, art, and dancing. The noble fey also enjoy these things in addition to theater, poetry, hunting, and battle reenactments. (It was quite a wondrous thing to behold when I happened upon two troupes of feeorin engaged in furious battle, only to watch the .dead. get up off the ground to serve as reinforcements for the next clash! They must use especially enchanted armors and weapons for such frays, or the dead would not be walking off of the battlefields!) Fey of all types also partake in all the bacchanalian festivals, raucous celebrations, and lusty rites that seem to fill their calendar. Overshadowed by the thing obtained but not to be wholly overlooked is the act of obtaining the .new item:. trade. Trade in FaerieLand is nearly a form of entertainment. Just as any barter in the mortal world, the fey try their hardest to get the greatest value out of a trade situation. The objects of the trade can sometimes be astonishing by mortal standards. Some legendary trades include a pile of gold in trade for a person.s first child; a wish in exchange for the last six months of a person.s life; or (the strangest I had ever heard in my times at Market) seven truths and seven secrets in exchange for a person.s death rattle and final breath. Oftentimes one of the bartering parties will seek to trick the other through a riddle or other imbalanced game. This often-overlooked practice in mortal worlds has evolved into an entertaining pursuit in FaerieLand.

Belongings

Once trade is complete, the object of fey attention seldom holds interest for extended periods. Like toys to mortal children, fey enjoy their possessions immensely for the first few weeks or months of ownership, only to eventually cast them aside as their novelty wanes. Things that hold fey attentions longest are those that change with the interests of their possessor; thus, fey enjoy most magic, technology, art, and pets. Magic and technology constantly evolve, and something new is constantly being discovered or invented. Art in the eyes of fey is slightly different than the mortal notion. Paintings, sculptures, literature, and music are only the beginning. They highly prize carefully sculpted gardens, especially those that appear to be wholly natural. Pets are also extremely dear to the fey, although their perceptions of what creatures can be kept as pets is quite different than ours. The fey are known to keep all variety of animals, creatures, monsters and beings. Regarding the latter, mortals normally equate these fey pets as nothing more than slaves kept for the amusement of their masters. Whether as pets, slaves, or indentured servants, intelligent creatures are in the possession of many noble fey households. Not a few of them are hapless mortals lured into FaerieLand by desires and trapped there by stupidity.

Principles

Morality is a subject that brings about just as many questions as answers. For the most part, the actions of the fey tend to fall within the mortal definition of good and evil, law and chaos, right and wrong. Perhaps it is a combination of the above observed traits that govern fey morality; perhaps it is something else as yet unobserved that guides them. Accountability is something that the fey, as a group, lack. I have seen an instance where a faerie spellcaster, eager to try out his most recent spell acquisition, hurled it over a hill to test its .feel. and observe the effect; this indiscreet spell-hurling process severely wounded several people in a nearby village. When confronted with the ramifications of his actions, he blinked, and without a breath.s hesitation said .Well, they should have gotten out of the way.. The fey.s focus on the present, coupled with their somewhat alien values (to us, anyway), spatial and temporal perceptions, and loose interpretation of the value of life all helped me to understand that, to the faerie in question, the effect of his errant spellcasting meant nothing more than he had another spell closer to mastery. I for one have been witness to many interesting and wondrous things during my time spent among the fey, and I hope to observe many, many more.

Lures and Banes of the Fey

The fey constantly seek out new and interesting things to own, share with others, give as gifts, or barter with at market. Therefore, mundane items and materials from the mortal world take on new relevance and importance when in their presence. What may be a common weed to us mortals is a fascination to fey, just as their jaded attitudes about some magics shock us in turn. The fey do not make a habit of recording what they cannot resist or cannot abide. Mortal scholars, however, have taken a particular interest in the subject and have recorded many of these relevant objects with noted interest over the passing years. It wasn.t until this catalog.s assembly that there was an attempt at creating a complete source listing the known substances that attract and repel the fey.

Lures

The climate and terrain must be appropriate for a given fey to be attracted by its particular lure. It is a mystery how the fey become aware of a lure placed out for them, but if the proper steps are taken, they will eventually appear. [Game Effect: The item has a 5% cumulative chance per day to draw a fey creature in the vicinity to the desired location.]

• Alcohol: The finest wines, ales, and meads are an easy way to draw satyrs, korred, fauns, and especially cask imps.
• Black Sand: When placed inside of a large opalescent seashell outside the mouth of a sea cave, black volcanic sand somehow attracts water-living and water-loving fey.
• Blackberry Brambles: Blackberry brambles are the home to many small fey creatures, most notably bogies and fairies. Because of the associations with these fey races, some cultures forbid people to eat blackberries. Many academics feel that the berries are a delicacy among free bogies.
• Blackthorn: For reasons not shared with mortals, faeries hold this plant sacred. The Luantishees are blackthorn fairies.
• Bluebell Flowers: Fairies dangerously enchant fields of bluebells in both Faerie and mortal lands. A favorite prank among lesser fey is to make bluebells actually ring like metal bells when disturbed either by wind or walkers among them.
• Bouquet of flowers: Sprites and pixies are drawn to the scent and beauty of freshly bloomed flowers.
• Cinnamon: Feeorin and faeries love cinnamon. They frequently cook with it, wear perfumes infused with its oil, and use its aroma to make a foul smelling area more pleasing.
• Clover: A four-leaf clover can break fairy spells.
• Colorful Magics: Pixies and bogies are attracted to brilliant flashes of light and color that detonate in the sky, and illusions and lightning are more apt to attract them than fire.
• Conflict: Everything from a small skirmish to a full-scale battle has a chance to draw the attentions of feeorin and especially knights of the fey.
• Flowers: Bundling fresh flowers together and casting them into coastal water sometimes attracts sirines to the shore.
• Ginger: The fey, especially feeorin, love ginger. Baked into cookies, it is an especially soothing treat. Consumed raw, however, it has been observed to be extremely intoxicating to mortals but far more so to faeries.
• Hollow trees: In folklore, ancient, hollow trees [called bull oaks in England, bell oaks in Scotland and Ireland] are trees that stood in old sacred groves. They were often believed to be the home of spirits, elves, fairies or demons.
• Holly: While grown wild or in shrub rows, holly is often only brought indoors as a seasonal decoration. Tiny fairies are drawn to the natural decoration and use the holly as shelter against the cold when outside. If faeries reside in the holly before it is harvested, they could come into homes unbidden within the holly boughs.
• Love poems: Reading love poems aloud attracts any fey within hearing distance.
• Music: Like many of the arts, music is adored by the fey. Great music, due to its aural nature, can draw fey from afar to listen to the music and observe the performer.
• Paintings: Beautiful portraits and colorful scenic paintings hold many a feys. interest as they marvel at the skill and dedication it took to produce the work.
• Primrose: While not a major lure, this flower has ties with fey lore. It is a main component in extending the durations of see invisible and second sight spells.
• Primrose Ragwort: The springy and tough boughs and vines of this plant are used as horses by fairies. Tales speak of entire tribes of faeries uprooting an entire bramble and galloping away collectively on it.
• Rowan: A fire built from the wood of a rowan tree aids in summoning fey creatures and enhancing divinations about or by the same.
• Sage: A bundle of fresh cut sage placed in the crook of a tree will attract any dryads that might be in the area.
• Salt: Thrown across the face of a glacier, salt attracts fey with an Aspect of Winter.
• St. John.s Wort: This herb protects the bearer against fairy spells if worn either freshly cut or dried. This also increases the effectiveness of dismiss fey spells.
• Willow: The wind in the willows is the whisperings of a fairy in the ear of a poet. Conversely, talking, singing, or scrying beneath a willow tree has a greater chance of attracting fey attentions.
• Writing Implements: Bogies, pixies, and sprites find the process of writing fascinating, and will try their hand at it if no one is looking. Thus, any desk or scriptorium has a chance of gaining a faerie.s interest.

Banes

With fey interests being so naturally mercurial, it is hard to say exactly what will or will not prevent them from entering an area or doing something. Still, like garlic against vampires, many things evoke natural revulsions from the fey. Other things could be more individual due to events of the past; some fey might hate all dwarves if a dwarf once tricked their ruler out of a treasure. Unlike the lures above, fey rarely become aware of a bane until they are close enough to note its presence with mundane senses. There are also a few noted substances useful for spells against the fey. [Game Effect: Any listed substances below found in any abundance do not prevent the presence of a fey but reduce the likelihood of finding one within 100 yards by half. If any actions or substances actively repel fey creatures, fey at best are Checked and Frightened or worse (any specials noted under each entry) once they realize the trap. ]

• Alder wood: This wood is an effective adjunct component in the casting of dismiss fey, it increases the effectiveness of the spell (its presence increases the DC by +2).
• Ash berries: Placing ash berries beside a sleeping child decreases the chances that they will be attacked by a fey from Between. Some scholars think the smell drives away the fey.
• Bells: When attached to the legs of dancers, ringing bells can drive away fey creatures.
• Birch wood: A tool containing parts made of birch wood reduces the chance that a mischievous fey will disturb, misplace, or steal one.s tools.
• Clothing: The act of wearing clothes turned inside out disgusts most fey. An inside out glove tossed into a fey ring dance forces fey to make a concentration check to maintain the revel. Wear odd socks or turn your sweaters inside out, and fey are less apt to approach or disturb you. .Turn your clokes for fairy folks are in old oakes. suggests that turning a coat or cloak inside out can help to neutralize fey magics or perhaps reveal their presence within the sweep of a cloak.
• Cold Iron: The much-storied .death at the touch of cold iron. for faeries is true to a point. A dagger or an iron spike in your pocket is enough to deter any fey who might consider interrupting your sleep. Open scissors tied above a baby.s crib (points and blades directed up and away) is threatening enough to hold fey at bay.
• Cowslip Elder: Placing a child in an elder-wood cradle could cause it to be pinched black and blue by fairies. Whether they do this out of spite or not, faeries cannot abduct a child from such a cradle.
• Flax: Scattering seeds or stalks on the floor of a house will keep a fey away. Purging Flax is also called Fairy Flax.
• Holy objects: Clerical holy symbols and the prayers of priests can repel a fey, as can holy water, prayer books, religious reliquaries, and relics. Strangely, mold from holy ground also repels fey creatures through both its presence and its scent.
• Red Ribbon: Red ribbons tied about the tails of livestock or around the chests of infants dissuade the fey from stealing them.
• Salt: While fey like salt moderately as a spice, they cannot cross a line of salt. Sprinkling an unbroken line of salt around an object prevents a fey from disturbing or touching something.
• Silver: Carry silver coins in your pockets; holding them helps a mortal resist any fairies that are trying to lead you away. Throwing silver coins at faeries may cause them to become scared and run away from you.
• Water: The flow of running water sometimes stops the Wild Hunt in its tracks, while salt water (best if from the ocean) can sometimes hedge off spriggans.
• Whistling: This drives fey creatures into fits of rage, for while all fey can sing or dance or perform many entertainments, they cannot whistle. fey are most jealous of whistling above all mortal talents.

Laws of Faerie

When dealing with the Fey, certain rules must be considered before doing anything. If you disobey any of these rules, it could mean years of unpleasant slavery and servitude, decades lost in the wilderness of FaerieLand, or perhaps even the loss of your life!

1. Do not accept a gift from a fey. If you do, you are expected to compensate the giver with an item of equal or greater worth. If you do not have anything appropriate at the time you accept a gift, you become the slave of the giver.
2. Do not eat in FaerieLand. The foods available in FaerieLand are not made from the stuff of the mortal world. Fey are also known to make copious use of exotic herbs and spices in their dishes, and these additives have been found to adversely affect mortals. Excluding the fact that you may not know exactly what it is, you also run the risk of eating something valuable or hard to come by, which the fey could interpret as giving you a gift. This could result in your not being able to return to mortal lands without outside intervention. (A few legends suggest that some foodstuffs even change mortals into some manner of fey or fey-touched creatures merely by the digestion of the same.)
3. Do not accept the drink of the fey. Imbibing the drinks of the fey is a risky affair, as noted in the first two rules above. Drinking anything in an area fey knowingly frequent could prove detrimental. Fey creatures, by nature, are tricksters who take every opportunity to meddle in the affairs of others. If this means coercing someone into overindulging in fine wine or hearty ale, drugging someone.s drink, or taking advantage of a situation where someone has already done one of these things, they will do it. Once an individual is under the control of a fey creature, his fate is no longer his own. Fey may spirit you away to FaerieLand (or other mortal realms) before returning you years later after one night of revelry.
4. Do not stray from the path laid before you in FaerieLand. Even if (or especially if) someone tempts you with a gift or irresistible trade or luscious food and drink, do not stray from the fey path or you will regret your second step. Once you have stepped off of the path, FaerieLand itself does its best to make the path disappear from your sight, possibly trapping you in FaerieLand for years.
5. Do not forget your manners. If there is one thing the fey find more valuable than gold or silver it is good manners. This even applies to the involved in a disagreement about one of the above rules. Fey must always be treated with respect, lest you rouse their anger.
6. Do not repay more than you borrowed. The fey insist that if you borrow something, you repay it in kind. Do not return more than you borrow, however, because that will cause the lender to be in debt to you in the amount of the excess. (This rule is closely related to #1 above.)

Etiquette & Rules of Engagement

The rules that govern the interaction of fey and mortals in the non-fey worlds are difficult for non-fey to pin down. It is important to know that for the most part fey dislike rules, and the few exceptions to this rule are the feeorin and a few self-important fey rulers. All fey, however, share a great respect of good manners and all highly value the truth. This importance they place on truth is not necessarily at the expense of those involved in a situation; the fey are known often to leave out certain truths to achieve their own ends. For the most part, fey prefer the company of farmers, herders, and adventurers more in touch with Nature such as barbarians, druids and rangers. Fey typically avoid the company of clerics and paladins, as their religious beliefs are too strict to have fun or accomplish their goals. They will even go so far as to poke fun at paladins for their stringent codes of conduct. Again, the exception to this rule of thumb is the stoic feeorin, who themselves sometimes take up the mantle of paladinhood, and these paladins never suffer the ridicule of lesser fey. When the fey are known to frequent a particular locale, mortals occasionally make an effort to foster a positive relationship. While doing so, people must remember that the fey should be spoken well of and treated with respect. If people do not heed these known guidelines they may rouse their anger. Mortals often leave small gifts for the fey, such as colorful art objects, flavorful desserts, and even potted plants, to gain their favor or assuage any inadvertent offenses. Thankfully, fey cannot be raised from the dead and made into undead. This does not stop a living fey from falling under the effects of a spell or the thrall of an undead creature and becoming one itself; it merely prevents foul magic from desecrating their deceased physical remains. Those that become undead remain aloof from the living, as some vestige of their living selves still holds life valuable and continually struggles against the destructive influences and corruptions of undeath.

Children

Throughout mortal worlds, children are reported missing or stolen, while others claim that something replaced their true children with fey changelings. Still others are found dead in their beds and cradles, the victims of some unscrupulous fey stealing their breath. Many dismiss these accusations as the rationalizations of distraught parents, but sometimes they tell the truth. The fey sometimes steal children for any number of reasons. First, many believe that the fey are a dying breed. My experiences have shown me otherwise, but still some fey kidnap children to serve as potential future heirs or consorts. Taking mortals as consorts is most prevalent among the feeorin, though their reasons escape me, while a mortal heir could be used to defend a dynasty.s right to rule by hiding its heirs away from FaerieLand. Lastly, mortal slavery of kidnapped children is regrettably still found throughout FaerieLand, especially in Between. The foul practice of stealing the Breath of Life from a child is performed by evil fey. Those finding themselves in the mortal worlds without their magical adjunct seek it out in order to use its magic to return to Between. Most often, they take these most unspeakable avenues. attacking defenseless children.merely out of convenience, as children fight back far less often.

Gestating creatures

Pregnant creatures and fertilized eggs in FaerieLand sometimes age as if they were still on the mortal world and sometimes they remain static in time. This can mean that an egg could hatch into a chick in minutes or possibly many years later. A pregnant creature could have the gestation period shorten or lengthen, depending on the whims of the land [and the GM.consult Table 14: FaerieLand Erratic Time Differential for time adjustments]. The magic of FaerieLand affects the gestating creature more over time; if it remains unborn for a long period of time, it may be born greatly changed (and most possibly fey-touched). Eggs of mortal creatures are held in high value by the fey because of the wonder and anticipation of what marvels will hatch from such an egg. Wholly new species have occasionally been born from these conditions, and they are eagerly awaited by all of FaerieLand. Some fey even add to the mysteries of a hatching egg by magically merging two or more unhatched eggs together during gestation and forcibly creating new creatures; some say the original Chimera and Griffon came from such a birth in FaerieLand.

Mundane Items

Theft of items from the mortal world is done to feed the demand for items to sell at Market. Most fey will offer a mortal something in exchange for a desired item, while more unscrupulous fey will simply take it. While some items are lost in mundane ways by forgetful mortals, many simply go from There to Here and end up in fey hands after long. [A useful adventure hook could see adventurers finding a long-lost heirloom or important artifact for sale in FaerieLand, an easy explanation for why the item has not been found in mortal hands.]

Names

While not always of the utmost importance to mortals, names mean a great deal among the fey races. They react with shock and horror if anyone is so forward as to ask their name. To know someone.s or something.s name is to hold power over it and control it. Names are among the most carefully guarded secrets at times in FaerieLand. Fey shudder in horror at mortals who care little about the preciousness of their names. Etiquette demands instead that mortals and other fey ask what a person wishes to be called. This seems mere semantics to us mortals, but it sidesteps major social issues among more guarded fey. Even those who claim a name or answer to a name keep its exact nature hidden. Some names could be given or assumed titles, while others could actually be a name, but as with most conundrums, fey rarely provide any more information than is necessary. [For more game effects on this topic, see .True Names. in Chapter 4.]

Rulership of FaerieLand

FaerieLand is essentially divided into two major areas, each with its own ruler. However, while that presumes two major rulers, there are scores of rulers of various power levels of power and influence who have their place in the chaotic scheme of things in FaerieLand.

The Twilight Lands

An elected monarch rules the Twilight Lands, duly selected each year from among the rulers of the regions and chosen by a council of their peers. The current ruler of the Twilight Lands is from the Lands of Eternal Spring, a feeorin called Queen Titania of the Tuatha de Danann. By some accounts, the lady has ruled for an eternity, though some hint that Titania is not so much her name as her title, which is assumed by each female feeorin who claims the Resplendent Throne. Tradition demands that a matriarchy rules the Twilight Lands, since every male ruler seems to lead FaerieLand to war. Independent kings and queens each govern their separate regions. To an outsider, this may appear to be little more than an exaggerated clan system. To the fey, however, this system supports the individual egos and social structures between the noble and common fey. Within individual regions, each ruler reigns supreme and guards his or her power carefully. There is little question among them that the ruler of the Twilight Lands overrules all other kings and queens. Only by escaping that ruler.s region can anyone report any abuses of power to the Faerie Queen herself; some of the more questionable rulers ally themselves with those in adjacent regions simply to help each other and prevent news of their mutual activities from reaching the ears or eyes of the Faerie Queen or her court. Each region exemplifies a particular portion of Nature, and its people reflect the same and have a mindset akin to their region. When at a council at the Stone Ring, the various rulers or peoples stand singularly or among alliances representing particular political and philosophical views. While most rulers or regions have specific types of fey within their borders or among their courtiers, Titania has the largest number of courtiers as she has the widest variety of fey under her sway. This variety also provides her with spies that can blend in among any region.s people and ensure she knows all the intrigues both supporting and undermining her rule.

Between

The Queen of Air and Darkness is the sole ruler of the vast lands of Between. While she does have regents underneath her influence, it has been many centuries since anyone or anything challenged the rulership of the Queen of Air and Darkness. Many theorize that the monarch of Between retains her power by sharing power only with her favorites, and she keeps them unsettled by constantly changing her affections. Those favorites gain promotions as generals and governors of various forces and sites. Only a few intrigue-savvy fey have managed to stay on the Queen.s good side for more than a few years. Those who fall from favor can fall merely to junior courtier, though some offend her enough for the Queen to banish them to mortal lands or worse.