There exists another world, surviving beneath the notice of our own big world, a smaller, fast-paced realm that hides beneath the cracks in our floorboards and between the long seconds of our clocks, a world populated by a diverse race of entities called by many names in many different cultures: Piskie, Pukwudgie, Kobold, Brownie, Borrower,... Fairy. These beings have lived beside us, all but invisible, for hundreds of thousands of years, but the digital age, cities of roving cameras and smartphone wielding citizens present a new challenge to those who survive only by remaining unseen and unknown.
This RP, set in the near future, takes place in the hidden world of the fairy and follows the little people as they adapt to the new information age and its digital technology, applying both magic and mischief to these new tools in order to overcome the challenges of remaining undetected in a wired world. Roughly based on films like The Borrowers, Epic, and Spiderwick Chronicles, it takes the view that fairies avoid human awareness through their extremely small size, their high paced temporal frame of reference (they're fast), and their ability to rift spacetime opening up pocket dimensions with unique laws of physics, so called fairy-lands.
Players will be able to choose from a number of fairy clans, nations and species all with unique abilities, glamers (fairy magic), cultures, and their own 'territory' (the part of the human or natural world that they claim as theirs and are adapted to). The RP will also contain a faction element as the fey will be split into two camps, Seelie and Unseelie, based on their views as to the relationship between fairy and humankind as well as their opinions on technology. The amount of overlap between the factions will depend, like everything else in the RP, on player choice.
For our setting, I will be choosing a modern metropolis, but one with enough diverse habitats, ranging from urban to rural, that just about any kind of fairy will be open for the players.
Setting Details
Fairies are diminutive humanoid beings whose origins are hotly debated. Many fairies ascribe to the creation story of their people, such as the Goblins who believe that their God, Globrulgek, shaped them out of the muck and mire of some primordial swamp. Other fey take a more modern approach and try to explain their existence as some fluke of evolution. Whatever their origin, however, all fey share a common heritage and many common characteristics. All fey live in a heightened temporal frame of reference essentially resolving the world at a much higher frame rate and moving proportionally fast. This allows the fey to travel all but unnoticed beneath the noses of the clumsy bigguns (humans) and even most animal predators, a good thing as fairies react to human attention like a vampire to sunlight. Under the scrutiny of mortals all fey wither and die. Even if perceived only through a camera or photograph, the instant it is observed by a human both the image and the fairy it represents (assuming he or she is still alive) dissolve. Traditional fairies explain this by referencing human skepticism and disbelief in all things magic, while the scientifically inclined appeal to quantum mechanics and the collapse of wave functions through human observations. Whatever the cause, the dissolution is both a curse and a blessing. On one hand it claims the lives of countless fairies every year. On the other it effectively removes all physical evidence of their existence. Another edge the fairy exploit to remain hidden is their size. Fey are all quite diminutive, with the largest trolls maxing out around the size of a hamster and the smallest sprites able to ride atop houseflies. In general the smaller the fey, the more distended their sensation of time, but the variation is gradual enough that most fairies can still easily interact with one another while avoiding humans.
Many, but not all, fairies possess the ability to construct pocket dimensions, called enclaves or simply pockets, that are connected to but separate from normal space time. The extradimensional enclosures (sometimes called 'branes' by more sciencesavy fey) provide a refuge for the little folk, but their spacial confines are very limited and their construction and upkeep expensive. As a result most pockets are claimed by fairy nobility or kept as closely guarded secrets by those who reside within. The entrances to pockets varies from the traditional 'fairy ring' of mushrooms, to magical locked doors and mouse holes. Within enclaves the laws of physics are quite often altered. Most commonly time is slowed, often to such a crawl that one can live lifetimes in a pocket while minutes pass outside. Other pockets have no gravity or more bizarre even dangerous anomalies like increased time passage, reversed entropy, or altered physical constants. Some pockets also have their own variant lifeforms which, when they escape into normal space, account for much of the mythological monsters of human legend. While most enclaves are artificial, having been created by some fairy at some time, a rare few are naturally occurring in regions of space time, like the Bermuda Triangle, which are unstable. One issue with pockets which is a particular problem for the Unseelie, is that they tend to fry electronic devices in a way similar to an EMP. The elves have learned how to nullify this effect with buffer coils, similar in form and function to Tesla coils, but it takes much time, effort and resources to do so. Moreover even when buffered electrical technology, computers particularly, are notoriously glitchy within the confines of pocket dimensions. This weakness of modern technology is one of the few edges the Seelie have over the Unseelie at the current time and the main reason the Seelie continue to control most significant pocket realms even in otherwise Unseelie territory.
Fairies call their magic glamer and each fairy clan has its own unique arts. Although few outside the most well studied scholars understand how glamers function, their common properties are known by all fey. For one, human attention acts as a corrosive to fairy magic. This is one of the reasons fairies remain in hiding. The more attention a human pays to a glamer, the more it unravels and since fairies themselves are dependent on magic, they will die and eventually atomize if scrutinized by a biggun. Children, the insane, and the drug addled are the exceptions to this rule. The standard fey explanation is that human disbelief is what kills fey and unravels their sorcery, but some modern scholars contest that theory. They explain fairy glamer not as magic but as manipulations of higher dimensional space and/or quantum fields and believe physics not psychology explains the collapse of fairy spells by biggun eyes. Such post modern fairies don't even like to use the term magic to refer to their magical arts.
Although each fey species possesses one or more unique glamers, there are also magical arts which nearly any fey with the inclination, intellect, and aptitude, can master. Some of the more common are listed below.
Twyling (Folding): Twyling, sometimes called Folding or Gating by more modern fey, allows fairies to nurture and grow extradimensional pockets (enclaves) which they can then use as refuge from bigguns and other fey alike. Twyling is, without any doubt, the most difficult glamer to master and as such is only ever learned by long lived species or those with access to enclaves with slowed time. Most twylers are Sidhe, but a few other species have picked up the skill and use it more crudely. Traditionally fey marked the entrance to their enclaves with rings of mushrooms, fairy rings, but today that code is rarely used. When making pockets, twylers often choose places and times which are naturally unstable. The yearly allignment known to human as Halloween marks a period of instability and many twylers form new pockets on this date. Places like the Nevada desert and the Bermuda triangle are naturally unstable and prone to forming their own folds spontaneously, sometimes abducting humans and craft into hyperspace in the process. In order to aid their work, twyllers look for analogous regions which have a natural instability. The interior of enclaves can be as vast as a county or as small as a closet, depending on the skill of the twyler and the characteristics of local spacetime. Skilled twylers can modify the laws of these places, even link them to the will of an individual transforming that fey into the equivalent of a God within the confines of the pocket. Needless to say many of the nobility enjoy that privilege while within their own folds.
Eros (Linking, Empathy, Dream-fasting): One of the more common glamers eros allows a fey to link souls with another creature. Simple animals are the easiest targets for this art and it is through eros that the fey 'tame' their variety of animal mounts. Other fey, particularly those who are resistant, are far more difficult and require the skill of a master empath. This art is common enough that a feature of fey courtship is the linking of souls and sharing of emotions and intents. Eros can not transfer concrete thoughts, however, and for true mind reading fey must look to other glamers. Eros is also a poor means of controlling or reading cerebral beings like humans. Normally the biggun's waking minds are so clouded in thought that they are impossible for even a skilled empath to read.
Dreamcalling (Summoning): Most fairy magic is unaffected by the origin of the dross fueling it. Not so with dreamcalling. Through the summoning art fey can pull objects and creatures from the dreams of humans into the real world. These objects are, of course, made of dreamstuff and so can effect only fairies and enchanted objects. Much of the material fairies work with is made in this way. Unfortunately all such materials suffer in the same way as the fey when exposed to the waking eye of humans, evaporating like dew under the desert sun. As a result the fey take care to hide their summoned objects and treasures so that they do not dematerialize. Animate entities summoned from dreams are called figments or holograms by more modernized fey. Most are capable of limited rationalization , but incapable of grasping the fact that they are actually imaginary. The summoning of such beings is strictly regulated by the Seelie court but far less so by the Unseelie. Among the former, for example, it is forbidden to summon figments derived from nightmares, so called phantasms, for such monsters often get loose and kill innocent fairies. The Unseelie, however, recognize no such law and regularly summon phantasms to guard their demesne and attack their enemies. Boggarts are particularly fond of and well known for this kind of black magic. Importantly, creatures and objects created through dreamcalling are always created on fairy scale, as if the summoner was the size of the human who dreamt them. This means that, conveniently, castles summoned from childish fantasies are always on a perfect scale for fairy habitation. It also limits the size of phantasms with the most formidable dragons of fancy often maxing out around the size of a garden snake, tiny by human standards but still monstrous from the perspective of a fairy.
Enchantment (Attunment, Tuning): Undoubtedly the most common and useful art, enchantment allows fairies to force normal matter to interact with dreammatter as if the later was real. For example in order to cut a hole through a wall with his magical dreamsword, a Sidhe must first enchant the wall, otherwise the sword would phase right through it and accomplish nothing. Enchantment is used by fairy craftsmen constantly to build devices with both real and imaginary parts and to affix dream-structures to real world foundations. The weakness of enchantment is that mortal attention unravels it so fairies are wise to build their dream houses in secluded locales and fly their dream gyrocopters far from the roving lenses of security cameras. Although more difficult to enchant than inanimate matter, animals are often subject to this art. Used on mounts and pets, it allows them to accompany their masters into fairy abodes without phasing through the floor and allows riders to harness their mounts with saddles made from dreamstuff. One major limitation on enchanting is that it renders electrical technology useless, causing the circuitry and chips to short out. For this reason alfar, gremlins and other technically inclined fey must be very careful when enchanting devices with electrical components. For the same reason gnomes avoid electronics and stick to clockwork designs in order to negate the issue entirely. Occasionally an enchanter will use this property of the glamer offensively to destroy electrical technology, but since enchantment is an involved process which requires tactile contact this is only done covertly and never in the heat of combat.
Dreamsight (Groking): Any fey can sense the warm glow of charm but it takes a particular talent to see the nature of the dreams which feed the fire. Called groking by more modern and well read fairies, the Sight allows them to see the content of dreams and even peer into the ongoing dreams of human sleepers. This skill is vital for summoners for without it, they have no idea what they have to work with. Master grokers can dream ride actually entering the dreams of mortals. In these dreams the fey can interact with the human directly, one of the few instances outside the internet where this is possible. They can also bring objects out of the dream, a circuitous alternative to dreamcalling that has resulted in many fabulous magical items. However, even for fey who know how to dreamride, the task is never undertaken lightly for if killed in the dream, the fey is lost forever. The most common usage of grokking is to manipulate a dreamer to create certain desired content for later dreamcalling. If a fairy summoner wants to build a palace of dream matter they might find a way to make the human dream of a castle or mansion. Boggarts are notorious for using this technique to foster nightmares so that later they can summon ferocious phantasms into battle. This kind of destructive meddling is, of course, illegal under Seelie law.
In addition to the calories demanded of any biological organism, fey need another surreal nutrient which is required not only for their magic but their very existence. They call it charm, dross, magic, dreamstuff, dream-matter or, sometimes, flux and it is collected, most often, from sleeping humans. The fey need for charm keeps them close to humans despite all the dangers bigguns pose. Charm is collected in a variety of vessels, often simply called charms. Traditionally special crystals, dreamstones, are used, though some more modern fey craft capacitors (jokingly referred to as 'flux capacitors'). Regardless of the form of the battery it is placed covertly within human habitations, under beds, chairs, within walls, even inside everyday objects. Modernized fey refer to this shady process as 'bugging'. Charm can be collected from humans not only during their dreams but any moment of extreme creativity, when an artist paints or a programmer designs a novel code. This kind of charm is the most concentrated and so creative individuals represent a vital resource that fairy tribes often war over. Humans witnessing a creative act also generate minimal charm making places like theaters and concert halls essentially charm factories. A few species of fey have evolved to absorb residual Flux that is shed from humans and absorbed into familiar objects like clothes. By stealing these objects and keeping them close at hand, like a fire in a cold winter, they can absorb enough magic to stay alive. Animal dreams also provide charm, but not nearly as much or as concentrated as humans. Still this source is utilized by naturalistic fey who abhor the iron confines of cities and the medusa gaze of mankind. One species of fey, the dryads, has even invented a means of harvesting charm from trees. Fairies debate the true nature of charm, whether it be the stuff of dream or some higher dimensional standing wave. One thing is certain, however, charm and the glamers composed purely of it are invisible and ephemeral to humans as well as unenchanted animals and objects.
The first global fairy empire was forged during the Hellenistic age by the now vanished Nerieds, also called Nymphs or Muses. They called humans 'gorgans' in reference to their deadly gaze and that term is still used among some of the more antiquated fey, such as the Sidhe. It remains an accurate description. From the fairy perspective, humans are mountainous, lumbering beings blissfully unaware of the world directly under their feet and inside their walls. Most fey who are not active online assume humans are stupid, ogres barely capable of speech. While humans are a constant danger to the fairy world, they are also the source of all its splendor. Bigguns supply the fey with boundless charm and with raw and crafted materials for their technology. Most fey after all do not make their own machines from scratch. Instead they 'borrow' needed components from humans in order to jury rig unique devices. Normally, the medusa gaze of humans prevents fey from contacting them, but there are some exceptions. Biggun children can perceive fairies to a degree, sometimes clearly and sometimes as blurred motes of light, up until around five years of age at which point the ability quickly fades. Some among the mentally ill can also see fairies and strong psychoactive drugs such as LSD, DMT, peyote, and mushrooms can temporarily alter human perceptions to allow them to resolve some of the fairy world. The simplest way for humans and fey to interact, of course, is through the medium of the internet and the ease of this contact is a huge concern for the most traditional and paranoid of Sidhe elders. Within Seelie Court demesne the veil between fairy and human is sacrosanct and any attempt to breach it is punishable by imprisonment, even death. The Unseelie Court takes a more liberal approach allowing contact so long as it is anonymous (ie. it does not divulge the reality of the fairy world) which effectively legalizes all online interactions with humans. What both courts strongly regulate however are pictures, images and video of fairies which, if seen by a adult bigguns, will retroactively dissolve the fairies so pictured along with the image itself. The mere possession of such images in the Seelie world is tantamount to a death sentence.
Urban fey are organized into two Courts, Seelie and Unseelie, based on their view of humans and fairy governance. The Seelie are royalists dominated by the Tuatha De Danaan or Sidhe, a species of winged fey endemic to Ireland, which has risen to dominance across much of the Western and colonial world. The Tuath rule as nobility, their judgments questionable only by higher ranking Sidhe. They view other fairies either as children in need of guidance and protection or as primitives in need of a tight leash. The basis of their dominance is their rigid enforcement of fairy traditions and their mastery of spacetime which allows them to forge artificial pocket dimensions with ease. They use these pockets like ancient human lords used castles, as impregnable sanctums from which to strike out against their enemies and hold territory. The Unseelie Court, or Republicans, believe in modern democratic values and reject the Tuath aristocracy. Many are fey who face prejudice in the Seelie Realms, such as goblins, boggarts and trolls. Others are native fey, like the pukwudgies, who see the Sidhe and European fairies as interlopers. Still others are idealist, some even Sidhe themselves, who believe in freedom and despise autocracy. Another difference between the courts has to do with the Unseelie embrace of technology and internet. While the Sidhe continue to define the contact of mortals online as a violation of fairy law, the Unseelie do not and often act as 'muses' online fostering creativity in mortals so that they can later collect the rewards in the form of potent dross.
The basal unit of fairy society is the troop. A troop of fairies is a group of five or more fey who band together for shelter or protection. Often these troops are of a single species, but in urban areas they tend to be more eclectic. Troops share loyalty to one court or another and are often lead by a fairy with standing in the court and a title. When threats arise to their lord's demesne, troops are called upon to defend it. Troops also supply their lord with resources through the tithes imposed upon them. Particularly large troops or conglomerates of several smaller ones, often come together to make a fairy settlement. These towns are always carefullly hidden from humans, Their tendency to be located underground has led to them being referred to as warrens. Small, poor warrens may harvest from just a handful of human dreamers, while large warrens may claim entire blocks of a city as their own. Many of these larger warrens also contain pocket realms, but not all. Rank and title varies from court to court. The Seelie still operate as a miniature feudal society relying on titles like King, Duke, Countess, Knight, etc. to distinguish one another's place. The Unseelie, on the other hand, operate like a modern libertarian state, with governing councils made up of elected representatives from local warrens. These councils have little power, however, and most real Unseelie decisions come down from wealthy machine elf troops called syndicates.
Most ordinary matter can store charm to some degree or another, but not all do so equally well. Iron is the exception to this rule and is notoriously conductive to charm, so much so that pure iron actually drains charm out of fairies who touch it. Primordial fey probably used organic matter, bones, feathers, even, four leaf clovers, but organic charms are notoriously leaky especially as they start to decay. In classical times, the Sidhe first shifted to using crystals to store charm. Crystals not only soak up dreamstuff like a sponge their power drain is negligible making them ideal for long term storage. The Seelie Court built its dominion on the back of these crystals and kept the alchemical secrets of seeding and growing them a secret from all other fey. Even to this day few outside the Sidhe know the secret to creating them and so they remain dependent on the Seelie Court. Only two common alternatives exist to dreamstones. One was discovered by the Alfar, the machine elves, and it built the power of the Unseelie court the way the crystals built the Seelie Court. The alfar, unable to resist a pop culture reference, called their new dream batteries capacitors or, specifically, flux capacitors. Also known as dreamcells their schematics are closely guarded, but it is well known that silver is the main mundane ingredient. All attempts to reverse engineer them has failed, because much of their internal structure is made up of highly unstable dream matter which dissolves the moment it is taken apart leaving only scraps of silver behind. The third and most rare means of long term charm sequestration is to be found in the sweet tree sap and nectar produced by dryads. Called ambrosia it is a chief export of the woodland fey and often used to bribe the more powerful courts into leaving their wild homes alone. Sidhe consider ambrosia a delicacy and attempt to maintain good relations with the local dryads so they can continue to obtain it.
Iron is a substance with unique properties. While most materials retain charm, iron conducts it. Pure iron metal is so good at conducting magic that it can suck it right out of glamers, charms, even fairies themselves. This property makes iron anathema to the fey, though not all are equally vulnerable to it. Some fey, notably the Goblins, Gremlins and Machine Elves are resistant, while more sheltered species like the Sidhe are quite vulnerable. Thankfully, alloys of iron are safe and the shift during industrialization from iron to steel has made cities a far more habitable place for fairies. That being said, urban fey must still be on their guard for the occasional iron object be it a manhole, fire escape or iron railing. Among both Courts the utilization of iron as a weapon is illegal, but this does not stop some fey, notably the goblins, from using it.
Technology varies widely from species to species and Court to Court. Some fairies, such as Trolls, lack the intellect to fashion anything exceeding stone age technology while other fey, like gnomes, craft clockwork contraptions which would boggle a human mechanical engineer. In general Seelie Fey prefer simple technology utilizing mechanics and magical alloys with strange properties. These technologies have the advantage of being mistaken by humans as children's toys or, in the case of those dependent on enchantment, falling apart like a glamer under human scrutiny. The Unseelie, on the other hand, hold no qualms about using electrical technology and even tying into the human power grid, actions deemed reckless and illegal by the Seelie. Both courts are fond of jury rigging and rarely fashion machines from scratch preferring instead to use human artifacts either stolen or discarded. Among the Seelie the principle of borrowing is customary where the fey take only what won't be missed. Among the Unseelie there is no such restriction and they often steal the best electronics they can get their hands on. Some diabolic fey even use digital tech as a weapon, for taking a picture of a fairy can amount to a death sentence if that picture is uploaded to facebook or some other human website. When viewed, the fairy represented therein will dissolve. It is for this reason, above all others that the Seelie are mistrustful of technology and why all fey consider the mere snapping of a photo to be a mortal attack. A rare area of legalistic agreement between the courts, throughout both their realms imaging devices and the photographing or recording of other fairies is strictly forbidden. Though the Unseelie are less strict in their enforcement of these laws even they realize the threat imaging technology poses to their kind and how quickly a war fought with cameras could spiral out of control.
During neolithic times each culture possessed its own fey species and there was a wide diversity of them across the globe. Populations rarely migrated and they knew little of the fey even beyond the nearest hillside. This all changed during the Hellenistic period where the transplantations of theaters and libraries across the world by the greeks allowed their native fey, the nerieds (known then as nymphs), to spread across the known world. With access to the most potent sources of charm in the new Hellenistic cities they dominated native fairies forging an empire parallel to Alexander's. The muses remained the dominant fey throughout the classical age all the way up to the fall of the Roman empire where the civilization they'd grown dependent on collapsed. The dark ages lead to the near extinction of the nymph with only a handful surviving to this day, though the word nymph remains in fairy vocabulary, applied to any young or particularly beautiful fey. The dark ages saw the rise of germanic, norse, celtic and other 'barbarian' fey. Chief among them were the boggarts and goblins. The later, during a surge in their population, spawned the plague which ravaged Europe. The black death in turn fed the nightmares of mankind and empowered boggarts who fed off such dark dreams. To make matters worse, humans misidentified their house cats as evil witches familiars and killed them by the thousands removing in the process the only animal capable of perceiving evil fey and protecting their owners from them. The chaos sewed by boggarts and goblins in the continent was only reigned in at the start of the viking invasions. With the vikings came elves, a powerful breed of fey with advanced technology and an individualistic temperment who'd been forged into a deadly fighting force by their constant battles against the trolls of their homelands. They imposed a loose order on the fey of continental europe creating, in the process the society which would one day become the Unseelie Court. Meanwhile in the Celtic isles, the kingdoms long claimed by the Aos Si or Sidhe served as a refuge for the more benign fey fleeing mainland Europe in the wake of goblin, boggart, and now elven hordes. Among the refuges were kobolds, gnomes, and others who would become signature members of the Seelie Court. The lines between Seelie and Unseelie remained the English Channel until shortly after the Norman invasion. With the Normans came Elves and other Unseelies, a fairy invasion force. Desperate to cast back the interlopers, the Sidhe unveiled a secret weapon. They made the dreamstones, once a sign of royalty, available to all fey who swore alleigance to the Seelie court. These stones, able to store charm for long periods without leakage, turned the tide against the Elves who were still using organic charms made of bone. Seelie dominion soon followed the Elves pushing them back nearly to the Rhine where the boundary between the courts remains in Europe to this day.
Across the oceans in the colonies things evolved differently. Due to the dominance of Western European colonials in America, the Seelie Court gained almost complete control from the start. Unseelies immigrated only later and were forced to live underground to avoid Sidhe laws. This state of affairs only changed with the electrification of the nation. Elves quickly learned that their glamer, the ability to control electricity, gave them power over the new human gadgets. As the Unseelie adopted electrical and then digital technology they grew in power and influence. With the invention of the flux capacitor by elves in the 1990s the Unseelie finally had a charm to rival the storage capacity of the Seelie dreamstones. Since then the balance has tipped in favor of the elves until, at the current time, they hold roughly equal sway. Yet as the balance continues to shift, many fey predict the end of the Seelie court should they refuse to adapt to the changing world.
A plethora of different fey exist and a great many have vanished, driven to extinction, in many cases, by competition for resources with the Seelie. As the Europeans colonized the globe they brought their fey with them and just as the humans wiped out native populations so to did the fey. As a result many of the more common fey species have European ancestry, but not all. Below are some of the more common fey in North America.
Sidhe (Tuath, Aos Si): The Sidhe (pronounced Shee) are a regal race of traditionally minded fey who hale from the Celtic Isles. They are tall for fey standing at around four inches in height. They appear as gracile humanoids except for their sharply pointed ears and often iridescent wings. The Sidhe are among the most talented architects of the fey capable of creating pocket dimensions and adjusting their physics to suit their needs. In these pocket dimensions they create vast castles and palaces from which to project their power. In addition to being long lived for fey (around 250 years) many Sidhe spend their lives in pockets where time passes more slowly resulting in fey who are, in reality, many centuries old despite still appearing young. The unique glamer of the Sidhe, resplendence, allows them to hypnotize other fey (and sometimes animals) with their beauty, voice or sometimes simply their demeanor, rendering them loyal retainers or obedient thralls. Sidhe claim as their territory anything and everything they think they can hold, though they are particularly fond of theaters and concert halls. Although the Sidhe are thought of as unrepentently Seelie, there are quite a few who reject the allure of rule and join the Unseelie. Their reasons for this vary from a love of modern technology to a philosophical objection to monarchy.
Gnomes (Numergin): The gnomes are the premiere crafters of the Seelie court specializing in clockwork creations and mechanical engineering. Small for fey, gnomes stand about two inches tall and are wingless fey. With poor hearing and even poorer eyesight, gnomes rely on their powerful sense of smell and tactile whiskers and fingers to navigate their workshops. Most all wear some kind of corrective lenses overtop their enlarged probosci. Like the Sidhe they so often serve, most gnomes are traditional and look down on modern contrivances, though there are some digital renegades among their kind. For their territory Gnomes prefer workshops, especially the kind staffed by creative upstarts and located in garages, but they will settle for anything with a plethora of spare parts from which to scavenge. The unique glamer of Gnomes, called dreamforging, allows them to create alloys with magical (transdimensional) properties. These alloys can act as the archways for portals into pocket dimensions or open such portals as keys. More commonly though they serve as the springs in gnomish clockworks capable of storing massive amounts of force by distributing it in hyperdimensional coils.
Piskies (Nix): The Nix are the knights of the Seelie court often found buzzing along behind their lord as part of his or her retinue. Piskies are, by nature, chaotic creatures. It is said without a Sidhe lord to follow that they very quickly go insane, but most never need test this rumor for most live and die in service to fairy lords as squires, courtesans, and elite knights called lancers. Although Piskies are on the small side, maxing out at one and a half inch, their dragonfly wings can propel them at impressive speeds making their lances and arrows into deadly projectiles. Most piskies are loyal and courtly to a fault, for they live in fear that their chaotic nature will get the better of them and cling to fairy tradition and knightly oaths like a drowning man to a life preserver. Those few who do abandon their lord and become ronin often wreak much havoc as Unseelie mercenary or common criminal. The glamer of the piskie is called phasing and allows them to pass through any unenchanted (nonmagical) object. Most piskie do not have their own territory nor do they harvest charm. Instead they are dependent upon their lord for both shelter and sustenance.
Goblins (Hobs): Before reading on know that goblins are gross. I'm serious. You have been warned. Goblins are among the most hated and loathsome of fairies. Adapted to live in human sewers they often crawl up through the pipes to raid the dreamers of other fey and steal their charms for their own. Covered with moist froglike skin and looking out through black, membrane-bound eyes, they look as repulsive as they act. A hardy breed, even without charm, goblins have evolved to survive on naught but the residual flux present in human wastes, an energy they absorb passively from their subterranean homes. It is for this disgusting habit that they are almost universally despised. Another 'gift' of their septic lifestyle underneath of human cities is their resistance to iron. Goblins, unlike any other fey, can actually touch iron, for the mucous excreted by their skin insulates them from its chill. For this reason, in addition to their generally hostile nature, they are one of the few species of fey who actually use iron in warfare (a crime in both Courts). Unsurprisingly, Seelie fey kill goblins on sight while the Unseelie, normally open to all, are split on the issue of recognizing goblins. One rational basis for the fear of goblins is their ability to spread disease. Although humans believe rats to be responsible for the black death, fey know better and the bacteria goblins dredge up out of their dwellings poses a real danger to the dreamers other fey depend upon. In terms of culture, goblins rely heavily on theft and jury rigging to construct their weapons and dwellings. Although incapable of anything as advanced as gnomes they can be quite clever when it comes to the creation of traps and the use of pulleys and lashings. The goblin glamer, leeching, another source of fear, allows them to drain the magic of other fey, destroying glamers, enchantments and even dimensional pockets in the process.
Kobolds (House Elves): Kobolds are also kinda gross. Fair warning. Kobolds are a species some Sidhe find nearly as repulsive as goblins. Among the Seelie fey kobolds are the epitome of commoners. Unwinged and unimpressive they stand a head shorter than the Tuath and are far plainer looking in all respects. Like the gnome they are marked by a wide set of whiskers that help them navigate the attics and crawlspaces they call home. Like goblins, Kobolds are dream scavengers, capable of living off residual flux. Their preferred source for this second hand magic, used clothes. The root of the myth of missing socks, Kobolds are responsible for the loss of several metric tons of human garments each year. From these they absorb enough charm to get by and cast the occasional glamer when need arises. Kobolds are also fair crafters and build almost entirely with household items, paper clips, twine, thumb tacks, etc. Anything they think they can take without provoking human interest or invoking the ire of the Sidhe and their laws. For their territory, kobolds happily claim any domicile not claimed by more regal fey, but are particularly fond of dirty and unkempt houses where stolen laundry will not be missed. The Kobold glamer is called Wyrding and allows them to defy gravity for short periods of time rendering them able to walk up walls and across ceilings with ease. Kobolds can also wyrd objects and others, though this requires more skill. Due to the scarcity of magic available for scavenging Kobolds, however, they only rarely use this art.
Sprites (Wisps): Sprites are undoubtedly the smallest of the fey being less than an eighth of an inch in height. As a result of their size their temporal frame is even more quickened than a regular fey. A sprite can easily sit back and observed the individual flaps of a fly's wings and they ride such insects when they have need for quick transportation. Instead of using crystals to harvest glamer sprites enchant normal house dust to be receptive and spread this dust over human pillows. Their activity has given rise to human myths regarding tooth fairies and fairy dust. When charged, the spites return to collect the dust which they then use as a spice on their food or a magic 'powder' to empower their glamers. In form sprites are waif like humanoids with large feathered filaments extending from their back. These filaments catch on the air allowing them to float like a mote of dust. They also collect and store fairy dust which the sprite can shake free to augment their glamer. Wisp glamer is well known both by fey and humans. Through the art they call effervescence, they can create bright otherworldly lights. The most common usage is to simply dazzle any threat and blind them to the tiny sprite's true location. When sprites use this glamer atop one of their fast moving insect mounts they create an illusion of a globe of light that whisks through the sky, the basis of almost all UFO mythology. Wisp lights can dazzle humans for minutes, even hours, giving them the psychological illusion of having lost time. In coordination multiple wisps are capable of truly remarkable light shows. Some rare wisps who study and practice for years are able to weave their light into complex holograms, but these artisans are very rare and mostly employed by the Sidhe who grant them ample time and charm with which to practice.
Trolls: Trolls are among the most feared beings of the fairy world, much more so than even the burning gaze of the bigguns. This is because, to put it simply, Trolls eat other fairies. Incapable of harvesting their own charm, they get their dream-fodder by consuming other fairies. To aid in their predatory lifestyle Trolls are large and equipped with an array of natural armorments, horns, claws and tough hide impregnable to most unenchanted weapons. Trolls weigh in at around the mass of a hamster which is gargantuan by fairy standards. Thankfully, their size makes them slow and far more vulnerable to the glare of the bigguns. When seen by humans Trolls don't just slowly wither like other fairies, they become petrified and carbonize, appearing to turn to stone and finally erode to dust. As a result Trolls almost never emerge in the daytime and do their hunting at night when they can avoid roving human eyes. The trollish glamer is far more biological than most. More a part of their physiology than any sorcery, it regenerates their flesh from almost any wound. Needless to say most fairies want nothing to do with Trolls, but some of the smarter ones have been known to aid both courts as bountyhunters, bodyguards, or mercenaries.
Alfar (Machine Elves): The elves, who arose in Scandanavia, have long contested the Sidhe for dominance of the fairy world. While the Sidhe have held to tradition, however, the Alfar have pursued a strategy of relentless adaptation. They are currently the dominant species within the Unseelie Court and their insistent use of technology and science has lead other fae to dub them 'machine elves.' It was the Alfar who first discovered, arguably rediscovered, the trick of dosing humans with psychoactive drugs in order to nullify their destructive gaze. Some alfar even took to communicating with humans through this means, particularly during the turbulent 60s. This kind of activity, however, led to so much noteriety that even the Unseelie leaders declared it illegal. Modern alfar focus more on digital technology than pharmaceuticals. They are active across cyberspace using the medium of the online avatar to interact safely with bigguns and manipulate their affairs. Many machine elves are competent hackers using their unique glamer to aid them in this pursuit. According to legend ancient Alfar could control lightning, leading to the Norse myths of Thor. Modern machine elves have lost this ability for a more subtle control over electricity. Used crudely, it can fry circuits in any electrical device, but used with skill, it can allow the alfar to take control of machines. For their sustenance, Alfar prefer reckless creatives similar in temperament to themselves. Active on college campuses, they bug the offices of great minds with flux capaciters in order to aquire charm. More than any other fey, the alfar are quintessentially modern, steeped in human culture through electronic mediums, hence their tendency for film and tv references. In appearance, machine elves look very much like wingless Sidhe, though more wiry in appearance and often with a grayish tinge to their skin.
Nirumbee (New World Brownies): Incorrectly labeled as brownies by European fey, the Nirumbee are the most common of the remaining Native American fey. Sticking to wild lands not yet settled or claimed as Seelie or Unseelie demesne, they acquire their dross from animals rather than humans, a trick they learned as the humans they depended on for magic were wiped out. In appearance, the Nirumbee retain many of the racial and cultural traits common to the Eastern tribes (specifically the Crow) with whom they were symbiotic for generations. The territories most cherished by these woodland fey are preserves where large mammals with potent dreams, bear, wolf,and cougar, can still be found. Like the sprites they use animal transport but due to their larger size (roughly the height of kobolds), they prefer small woodland animals, chipmunks, wrens and flying squirrels, for riding. The Nirumbee glamer, a gift they once shared with native peoples, is foresight. The Nirumbee are seers who can fortell events and it is this gift which has kept them alive while so many other native fairies have faded into extinction.
Boggarts: Boggarts are Unseelie fey who specialize in the harvesting of nightmares. Masters of dreamcalling, they are known for summoning phantasms to attack their enemies. As a result Boggarts seek out and claim as territory troubled households and the homes of the mentally ill. Anyone they detect as having troubled sleep. Children experiencing reoccurring nightmares are common targets. In appearance, boggarts have round fat bodies, spindly limbs, coarse hair and large pointed, almost batlike ears. They stand around two inches in height and are commonly found riding on the backs of bats, screech owls, and other nocturnal animals. Although skilled dreamcallers, Boggarts do wield their own unique glamer. As the sprites can control light so the Boggart can control and shape shadow. They call this art noctris, shadow magic or shadowcalling and use it to conceal themselves and their dwellings from prying eyes. Mastery of noctris makes Boggarts the fairy world's most renowned assassins and thieves capable of penetrating even Sidhe owned pockets and slaying nobles in their own castles.
Pukwudgies (New World Spriggans): Another surviving Native American fairy, the pukwidgies are most common in the forests and rural areas of the northeast. Known for their ferocity and extreme hostility toward interlopers they are an object of dread for all fairies of the north eastern United States and eastern Canada. Similar in build and character to a now extinct breed of European fey called Spriggans, they are often falsely referred to as such. Pukwudgies are short, stooping fey with glowing eyes who stand around two and half to three inches in height. Their head and backs are covered, in place of hair, with a mane of quills similar to those of a porcupine but bearing a poison which is debilitating if not deadly to small animals and other fey. Pukwudgies commonly craft their shed quills into poison arrows and spears which they launch at any and all intruders even, occasionally, bigguns. The feared glamer of the puckwudgies, poanwa (verb form 'pone'), translates as 'to roast' and allows the puckwudgies to conjure fire from ashes and control it at will. According to some Unseelie, the Machine elves first began using this term online to refer to any destructive act perpetrated on another resulting in the modern internet and gaming term 'pwn' (pronounced 'pone').
Gremlins (Tengu): Originally from Japan the tengu, more commonly known as gremlins in the West, spread out from their native land as Japan industrialized. Their migration peaked during World War II where they drew the ire of the Seelie court for reckless sabotage of human machines and exposure of the fairy world. Rejected by the Sidhe as troublemakers and foreigners, they turned to the Unseelie court who embrace them. In appearance gremlins have scaly and occasionally feathered skin. Some rare specimens, often leaders among their troops, even have vestigal wings along their arms capable of some clumsy flight. Their faces, particularly their noses, are extended into a fleshy 'beak'. Their ears, like those of boggarts, are large and pointed, often fringed by irregular lobes. An average size fairy, gremlins stand around two inches, shorter when hunched as is often the case. Like the Alfar, Gremlins have an affinity for technology, though their talents lay more in the destructive than the constructive field. Through their unique glamer, gracking, they can spot the flaw in any artifact, mechanical, electrical or even a simple object like a shield. They can then exploit that flaw to destroy the object. Some specialist gremlins have even learned how to grack computer code becoming supernaturally skilled hackers able to identify the flaw in security systems at a glance. When it comes to building gremlins focus their rather short attention span on devices that sate their appetite for destruction, devices like booby traps and bombs. Gremlins, like goblins and kobolds, are scavengers feeding of residual charm. In the case of gremlins their source for this energy are machines and artifacts. The more love and care the human creator put into the object, the more dross the gremlin reaps when he blows it to bits.
Abatwa (Ant People): Of all the African fey only the Abatwa have successfully migrated outside their continent of origin. Hailing from East Africa, the Abatwa are a small species, ranging in size from two inches to just a few centimeters depending on their caste. They live in a society regimented and hierarchical even by Sidhe standards where Queens rule absolutely and children are born into their role. Choice is a foreign term to the Abatwa. Styling themselves after lost Nubian empires they build vast warrens both in and outside normal space which are referred to as hives. Ostensibly the Abatwa are a vassal queendom of the Seelie Court, but the Ant Queens do not see things this way. Known for their supernatural arrogance, they see all other fey, Seelie included, as disorganized rabble. In appearance the Abatwa share many features with ants. Their skin is black and glossy like the carapace of an ant and they have two pairs of arms. Their foreheads are crowned with antennae which enhance their ability to sniff out and grok charms. The Abatwa are among the most adaptable of the scavenging fey able to sponge up the glamer from just about any charmed object. Their scouts and workers harvest these treasures from human domiciles and bring them back to the hive. Their activities often bring them into conflict with other scavenging fey such as kobolds, goblins and gremlins. The Abatwa, however, are not content to merely scavenge and sometimes raid the warrens of European fey to steal away more potent dreamstones and capacitors. Their loose treaty with the Seelie royalty means that abatwa raids, more often than not, target the Unseelie and Seelie commoners with little to no influence at court. The Abatwa glamer is called bouda, or synergy. Through this impressive glamer many abatwa (sometimes an entire hive) can merge their bodies to shapeshift into different forms. Hundreds of abatwa can merge to become a large predator, often a hyena. They can even take human forms and in their native Africa were often mistaken for witches when wearing such a guise. They can even take the shape of inanimate objects so long as they don't have complex moving parts. While disguised as such, the abatwa are resistant to the gaze of humans. It will still make them uncomfortable and slowly drain them of charm, but it can not kill them.
Dryads- Dryads are a mysterious fey race who existed throughout the world long before the rise of the Courts and the dominion of humanity. According to myth they are bound to their parent tree, but the reality is more complex. Dryads are dependent upon trees for they are the source of the charm that sustains them. If one believes the dryad than trees actually dream deeply and they distill these dreams into charmed sap and nectar called ambrosia. In appearance dryads are humanoid, beautiful and always female with skin and hair of earthen tones, greens and browns. They have the pointed ears common among fey kind and glossy often purely black eyes, that reflect like pools of oil. Dryads often create pocket dimensions in the hollows of trees which has lead to the myth that they live within and are part of their parent tree. The unique glamer of the dryad, called the longsight, allows them to extend their sight through any plant matter using trees and bushes as a surveillance system. In a forest this allows them to be practically everywhere at once and so, in such places, they are almost never seen unless they desire to be seen.
Puca (Therians, Therianthropes): The puca are odd even among the fairy. Although a fairly common and gregarious species, few fey have ever seen a puca in the flesh. This is due to their unique glamer, skinwalking, which allows the puca to enter and merge with the consciousness of an animal, usually a small mammal like a rabbit or chipmunk. The form observed by other fey is always this merged form and never the actual fey. While so merged the puca can choose between two forms. They can either disguise themselves as the animal itself and so avoid the ill effects of human attention or they can warp the animal form into an anthropomorphic variant where in they can communicate with other fey. Regardless of the size of their chosen animal, their anthropic form is always of average fey height, two to three inches. In this latter form they are as vulnerable as any fairy to the dreadful gaze of man and if unlucky enough to be spotted they can not not simply shift back into animal form for human attention drains their charm and makes all glamer impossible. In demeanor puca are a friendly outgoing sort, inclined to speak their mind and antagonize those they feel take themselves too seriously. Puca vary in their court allegiance and some even prefer to remain neutral like other naturalistic fey.
Nerieds (Nymphs, Muses): Thought to be extinct, the nerieds were the founders of the first large scale fairy empire. Along with the sylphs, dryads and other Greek fey, they followed in the wake of Alexander the Great and thrived in the new Hellenistic world. Their civilization reached its xenith during the Roman empire and collapsed precipitously after its fall. The Nerieds are credited for many modern fairy practices including the patronage of arts like drama, music and poetry to harvest glamer. In Roman Brittain they taught these tricks to the native Sidhe who carried them on after their disappearance. According to myth the Neried glamer actually allowed them to manipulate humans but this manipulation came with a price tending to cause maddness in the mortals subject to it. The insanity of Nero and the later Roman emperors is explained by the fey as such, a failed attempt by the nymphs to control the empire. The word nymph survives as a term for young fairies, but the muses themselves are thought to be extinct, taking their magical secrets and powerful glamer with them. Fairy historians cite the last as living in the Byzantine Empire and assume they were lost when the Turks took Constantinople bringing with them their own native fey, the djinn.
Sylph (Aolus): The Sylph are the few fey of classical Greece and Rome who survived the dark ages. Closely related to the lost nerieds, they specialized in harvesting charm from musicians and concert halls. Since music survived the fall of Rome, so to did the Sylph, though like many continental fey they were forced to flee to the Celtic isles in the wake of barbarian fairies, goblins, boggarts, and trolls. Modern sylph still pursue their age old practice of spinning magic out of song and melody. They often make their homes in concert halls, theaters and musical coffee houses. Strictly Seelie due to temperment and history, they claim their domains in the name of the Seelie Court and their Sidhe lords and ladies. Their ties to the first fairy empire of the nymphs grants them a prestige unknown to nonSidhe within the Summer Court and they are often found in attendence of royal balls and other events as courtesans. In appearance, the Sylph are a small agile fey with flawless alabaster skin standing around an inch in height, about the size of a pixie. Their gossamer wings are modeled after a damselfly giving them an erratic yet graceful pattern of flight. To a one they are skilled musicians, entertaining their lords with both song and instrument. Their particular glamer allows them to manipulate sound creating all manner of auditory illusions. This ability is a vital tool in distracting bigguns and concealing their presence. It can also be used to completely mute their own noise rendering them silent. At the highest level of the art the purest tones can be formed which can shatter crystalline structures, even dreamstones.
Djinn (Jinn, Genie): An ancient fey race of Arabia, the Djinn spread throughout the world with the rise of Islam and continue to do so in modern times. Unique among the fey, djinn always make their pocket dimensions within artifacts, often treasures cherished by humans, ornate rings, furniture, even tapestries and carpets. This ingenious strategy lets the djinn unknowingly recruit the owners of the treasure as their porters and protectors. In appearance, the Jinn resemble the native people of Arabia and still prefer the Bedouin styles. Their ears come to a more subtle point than other fey giving them an almost 'human' appearance and they rival the Sidhe as the tallest of the civilized fey, standing around four inches. Dramatic by nature, they are a people who can not resist making a show at court. Although independent by nature, they can not resist the noble pageantry of the Seelie and often swear token allegiance to the Sidhe monarchs just to join in the intrigue. The glamer of the djinn called, naaru-s-samuum or smokeless flame, allows them to dematerialize their body temporarily into a kind of vapor or smoke, that differs in characteristics from jinn to jinn. Masters of this art can form a scorching incendiary cloud and are often referred to as Efreet. For their charm, the djinn prefer the dusty splendor of museum and independent collections, reaping dreamstuff from those who stare in awe at the pieces of past glories. Some more modern djinn have branched out into antique stores and pawnshops. The nature of their habitat and the dreams they harvest means that djinn summoners are well known for conjuring diverse arrays of artifacts and objects, favoring, in particular, antique swords and firearms.
Brownies (Garden Fey, Urisk): Once a wild breed of fairies native to the Celtic isles, the brownies civilized as the wilderness of their native home vanished. They adapted to living in gardens, parks and yards, earning the name 'garden fairies'. In the new world Brownies are often mistaken for the native Nirumbee and vice versa but while the Nirumbee stick to the wild lands of North American, the Brownie continue to cling to more manicured parkland. In appearance, Brownies are spindly fey standing around two and half to three inches in height. They are notable among the fey for their agility and although all fairies, due to the relaxed gravity on their scale, can jump great heights, the Brownie stand above. Their acrobatic talent means that they are quite at home in the tree tops and oftem make their home there in abandoned squirrel nests. Like the Nirumbee, the Brownies often tame animals for mounts preferring common garden species like squirrels, finches and cardinals. Unlike the Nirumbee, the Brownie do not reap their charm from animals but instead from humans who visit their parks. In botanical gardens as humans look in awe at the colorful blooms they unknowingly feed the Brownies and sustain their magic. More domestic Brownies are sometimes forced to scavenge, snatching childrens toys left outside in yards and sandboxes for their charm or even trespassing on kobold territory indoors. Brownie glamer allows them to take the already expanded fairy perception of time and stretch it further, essentially slowing down the world around the fey. Brownies using this art appear to move at impossible speeds and make complex maneuvers in a split second.
Cats, often simply and fearfully referred to as 'the enemy', are an object of fear and respect among the fey for unlike most animals of their size, they can see fairies and even have the dreamsight required to view constructs of dream-matter and interact with them in the way fairies do. Cats will not think twice before chasing down and eating a fairy like a common house mouse and so the little folk must be constantly on their guard. Sometimes this amounts to wanton destruction, but other times cats inadvertently defend their owners from the parasitic nightmare harvests of evil fey such as boggarts. Theories about the origin of feline perception range widely. Some fey believe that they were bred by an ancient evil human mage who'd had enough of fairies raiding his tower and stealing away his magic. Other more modern fey assume that cats simply evolved along the same lines as fairies. Whatever their origin house cats, with their ever-increasing population, are a menace to fairy society. Some have even been known to uncover and enter enclaves. Those who spend a time within become changed by the experience and exit as Cat-Sith, fey cats, felines possessed of heightened intelligence and, occasionally, magical powers. One might think that using their glamers, fey might easily control such an animal, but cats are highly resistant to eros and such magic is more likely to draw their ire than anything else.
According to fey histories there were a number of human pagan priesthoods throughout the ancient world who attained limited contact with the fairy realm. These men and women even commanded their own glamers if the records are to be believed. Among them were the the Volga of Scandanavia and the Druids of Brittany. Their means for making contact differed from group to group but invariably utilized techniques and drugs for altering perception. These wise men and women, remembered by European fey as witches, are now largely extinct due to the slaughter imposed by the Romans and afterward the Inquisition. After the inquisition contact between fey and humans lapsed into total darkness. The few witches who survived the burnings passed down their craft and fairy tales in secret ever afraid of persecution. Then in the 1960s there was a resurgence in contact between fey and mortal as humans began experimenting with consciousness altering drugs once again. Some fey, notably the Alfar or Machine Elves, took advantage of this psychedelic state of affairs to contact and even control humans. However, when Terrance McKenna published his book Machine Elves 101, even the liberal Unseelie Court decided enough was enough. Laws were passed by the Unseelie council that all contact must be anonymous in nature and since then interaction between humans and fey have shifted to the internet. The recent resurgence in witchcraft has not gone unnoticed by either Court, but has provoked little concern as most such practitioners are novice hobbyists and hipsters. That being said the real craft continues to live on in a handful of secret covens and these witches, though they may not understand the fey, are well aware of their existence. Not only can such beings see fairies they command glamers on their own monstrous scale, a terrible thought for the comparatively tiny fey, and, to make matters even worse, they often keep as familiars... cats. Truly there is no place more frightening to a fey than the home of a witch and as such these beings are often the subject of stories designed to frighten young nymphs.
Fomorians are an ancient mythical enemy of the fairy described as being both monstrous and ravenous, a danger to fey and mortal alike. According the Sidhe legends they were banished from the world by driving them into an enclave and then sundering it from the lower dimensions, effectively casting them adrift in the aether within a self contained universe. Although this means of banishment is real and still practiced today against the worst fey criminals, many doubt the reality of these ancient demons.
