Queen Radine
####**|Name of nation:** Queendom of Faerie
__
####**|Summary in a Sentence:**
Mischievous, chaotic-neutral, magical beings living in a pinched-off bubble of hyperspace.
__
####**|Species:** [Fay or Fairy](http://imgur.com/a/pGhIC)
Fay are naturally rather plain-looking humanoids with disproportionately small torsos, large ears, and wings. They're inherently magical, however, and almost always wear a glamour of ageless beauty. Their magic can extend the illusion so that they can disguise themselves as nearly any species, and some even undergo surgery to complete the effect. A very few even remove their wings (obviously their wings were never very impressive in the first place). As a rule, however, they are *always* extravagantly beautiful, decadently wasteful, and incredibly vain.
Iron is so poisonous to the Fay that mere touch causes skin lesions. The colder the iron, the worse the reaction; conversely, hot iron will do nothing more than cause a rash. By now, however, most Fay have figured out ways to avoid iron, and a carefully-prepared dose of radium can cure Iron Sickness. Of course, the same carefully-prepared dose of radium will also temporarily disconnect a Fairy from the magical aether. The connection can be re-established, but doing so is incredibly painful and draining. Fairies don't, generally, hang around nuclear reactors.
__
####**|Description of government:** Nominal Queendom
Nobody rules the Fay so much as *manages* them. Herding cats is easier than getting any member of the species to not do something, and any ruler that's tried to say the word "no" is usually quickly devoured. Or entombed in a brick wall. Or strapped to a table and fed one drop of a nutrient paste every two weeks to just barely keep them alive. These aren't punishments so much as entertainments.
[Queen Titania](http://imgur.com/a/ymTCw#0), on the other hand, has learned to manage the antics of her subjects through cajoling, trickery, careful bargaining, unusually strong connection to the aetherfield, and outright manipulation. Her court is a never-ending party, each night starting with a stomach-topping feast and ending with a drug-induced haze. Dances, raves, orgies, absurd sports, and disturbing "entertainment" are par for the course, and many Fairies mistakenly try to curry favor with ever-more extravagant displays. As far as Queen Titania is concerned, the never-ending party (aside from being great fun) is a marvelous way for the more feral of her subjects to let off steam.
On the other hand, there's an unwritten Fairy Code. Any who go back on their word are exiled on the spot. Unsuspecting hyperspace travelers occasionally run across these "exiled" bodies. Particularly nice Fay will merely force twice the agreed-upon price from contract violators. Creative Fay will occasionally extract an elaborate and slow-burning revenge before the inevitable exile. Similarly, it is strictly forbidden to reveal the location of, much less guide foreigners to, Faerie.
__
####**|Home Planet:** [Faerie](http://i.imgur.com/rjpiOFj.png)
A lush, over-terraformed world wrapped in thousands of conflicting enchantments. It's locked away in a separate bubble of pinched-off hyperspace, but if you know the way, and the Path lets you, you can walk there.
__
####**|Other Territories:**
Along the Fairy Path are various Inns between Worlds where weary travelers can stop for the night. Nor are the Inns limited to just those who happen to wander onto the Fairy Path; hyperspace jumps will very rarely result in arriving at an Inn's "parking lot", pulled in on a whim by the Path itself. Unlucky travelers may end up as dinner, or new members of the permanent Inn staff, their vehicles and belongings confiscated in exchange for practical immortality. Lucky travelers will never feel so refreshed, often finding chronic aches and injuries healed upon waking, and their vehicles in mysteriously perfect working order. These Inns are, of course, privately run for the amusement of their Fay owner.
__
####**|Description of military:**
The Queendom of Faerie relies on its estranged location and Queen Titania's unparalleled rapport with the Path - allowing her to change which routes lead to Faerie for protection. Even so, in times of great duress, it's not unheard of for the individual Fairies to band together and fight invaders. When they do, it's a chaotic series of all-out assaults, guerrilla warfare, and idiotic suicide missions. However, the only two times the Fay have fought on that scale resulted in the complete xenocide of their assailants. Or so the Fay claim.
Any military equipment is up to the individual to field. So you'll end up facing an army cobbled-together from various technologies and magics, ranging from platinum-iridium spears to railgun tanks. Any technological artifact is, of course, stolen from somewhere at some point in time.
__
####**|Technological Overview:**
The technology level varies massively from one individual to the next. The Fay themselves invent nothing, preferring to steal from other races (and even steal the scientists of the other races) when they feel so inclined.
Their one great technomagical achievement is the Fairy Path, created by the outcast fairy [Euryale](http://i.imgur.com/RSi5skt.jpg). A living entity comprised of beautifully subtle aetherfied hyperspace tunnels, the Path is a series of trails threading through most known worlds. Literally - the Fay can walk from world to world. Of course, so can anyone else who stumbles upon them. Not that they'd notice - one of the Path's many Glamours make each transition from world to world seamless. You only realize you're no longer in Kansas when it's far too late. And walking the Path is dangerous - some trails lead to airless moons, glassed planets, and frigid ice worlds. The routes change according to the Path's inscrutable whim, influenceable only by Queen Titania herself. The Fay themselves, of course, know how to navigate the Path; it's part of the Glamours lacing the thing. Like all Fairy magic, however, it's thwarted by radiation. The Fairy Path has learned to stay away from highly-populated technological areas, sticking to the deep woods where at all possible. Fewer people usually means less radioactivity.
__
####**|Magical Overview:**
Glamours are an innate ability shared by all Fay. A glamour is an illusion cast on either themselves or a small object altering its appearance. Many glamours are incredibly elaborate, as it's considered a marker of high status to have a detailed glamour. Queen Titania can change what she appears to be wearing based on how she's feeling at the moment. Fairy gold is another example of a glamour: exchanging a few leaves that look and feel like gold for favors is an old trick. The more tech-savvy Fay can fool e-banks into believing funds have been transferred - for a day or so, anyway.
On top of glamours (or perhaps as a subset of glamours), Fay can cast simple prestidigitations - real-life magic tricks. Levitating small objects, turning paper roses into real ones with a flash of fire, making objects disappear, increasingly complicated card tricks, that sort of thing.
Otherwise, the Fay magic affects processes. They can curse or bless items and organics, causing harvests to be particularly good or bad, or certain industrial processes to function foully or fairly. Tech-savvy Fay can even bless code to execute to the author's intentions, and not what they mistakenly typed.
__
####**|Cultural Overview:**
The Fay are a long-lived species (or at least appear to be; time works weirdly on Faerie, and very few Fay allow themselves to appear old). They believe totally in the freedom of the individual. No organizations exist within the Queendom, and the only true planet ruled by Titania is Faerie itself. The rest of the Fay are scattered throughout the galaxy. Some live as shopkeepers, some as farmers, some as seers and sooth-sayers, and a very few even take up residence on starships. Exiles, outcasts, and other Fay deemed as "weird", "untrustworthy", and "suspicious" drop their glamours. When pressed, they usually claim that they're a member of a near-extinct nomadic species (something not far from the truth). If further pressed, they usually leave. Most, however, try to directly interact with the species of the galaxy as little as possible. Note that that doesn't mean they're above the occasional abduction, experiment, meal, or risqué escapade. The two constants are vanity and pride. Fairies are convinced that they are the best at whatever they choose to do (and with magic, that's not always a lie), and of course they're the most beautiful beings in existence. Or else.
Despite the individualistic chaos, every Fairy keeps to one gilded commandment: never reveal the way to Faerie. Most go as far as concealing themselves as natives of whatever culture they reside in, wary of even revealing the existence of their race. Plus, it helps to allay suspicion in missing child cases, or whatever mischief the Fairy has gotten themselves into.
Thanks to their history, they're rather understandably very territorial; very few foreigners have been to Faerie and left alive. There are a few aliens who live on Faerie, kept alive through an intricate series of deals and parties interested in their entertainment value. It also helps that they've sworn to never leave. As a general rule, however, foreigners are tolerated (so long as they are nowhere near Faerie). The Path itself tends to favor certain aliens, deeming them "worthy" enough to see Faerie.
Fairies are obsessed with the fine arts. Rumors of Fairies letting themselves get enchanted by a particularly beautiful melody, painting, statue, or dance aren't unfounded. And any alien that makes a pact or deal with a Fairy will see the Fairy hold up their end to the (exact) letter of the bargain. Fay demand equal trade and reciprocation. No deed is for free, and saying "thank you" is often deadly. Fay view "thank you" as attempting to repay a kindness with words, and very few Fairies think *their* special kindnesses are worth mere words. Fairies will also do whatever they think is most interesting, and if nothing interesting is happening, they'll make something interesting happen. These two behaviors mean that any slight or insult will be avenged mercilessly.
__
####**|History:**
Once upon a time [couldn't resist, sorry], there was a democratic federation of magical beings known as Fay. The Fay spanned a few star systems, having travelled there via the good will of their neighbors, as the Fay themselves had no interest in technology, but every interest in all things beautiful. That interest motivated them to reside on strange new worlds, absorbing fantastic natural sights. In return for the shuttle services, for which no bargain was struck, the Fay took it upon themselves to beautify their neighbor's planets, making them all the more incredible to behold. And there was peace and prosperity for a while.
One day, however, an evil man came to power in a nearby empire. This empire violently expanded. When the evil emperor learned of the beauty of the neighboring planets, he immediately declared war. The neighbors regretfully informed the Fay that it could no longer afford to shuttle the Fay from planet to planet while fighting a war.
A young Fay by the name of Euryale, self-exiled for her love of technology, created the ultimate masterpiece of Fay art and engineering: the Fairy Path. To birth the Path, however, there was a price to be paid. Faerie and the star it orbited were forevermore inaccessible to the universe at large. This was, of course, Euryale's intention; the evil empire couldn't destroy Faerie if they couldn't find it.
The peaceful neighbors, meanwhile, were utterly annihilated. Those that survived were "assimilated" into the empire. Thus they paid the price for slighting the Fay nation. Meanwhile, the glamours and blessings bestowed upon the planets faded, and soon very little that was not ugly grew in the soil there. And so peace and prosperity once again followed.
At one point or another, one particular Fairy decided it would be more fun to rule permanently than to continue with democracy. An insurrection followed, and the would-be ruler was entombed behind a brick wall filled with spiders and insects that liked to chitter in his ears. Complete anarchy took hold of the Fay, with nobody wanting to submit to anyone.
Another Fairy, seeing this anarchy, sought to reform a peaceful government capable of "getting things done". If anything, the insurrection that followed was more violent than the previous one, and the would-be ruler was kept forever alive while forever starving, her wrists and ankles bound to a stone alter with rings of frozen iron.
Finally Queen Titania rose to power through a deceptively simple deal. She agreed to host a party. So long as the party continued, she would be host, and so long as she was host, she had authority. It helped that she was extremely adept at manipulating the aetherfield, and had a mysteriously good rapport with the Path. Would-be assassins were eliminated long before they got near her (often in public, to everyone's chagrin). In short, she maintained power by being *entertaining*.