Faeries

Faeries are luminous, elfin creatures with delicate wings resembling those of butterflies or dragonflies. Though they can appear deceptively non-threatening, faeries wield great power on their home plane, variously called the Dreaming, the Feywild, or Fairyland. Many people assume all faeries are the size of the tiny pixies often seen on the Material Plane. In the Dreaming, where time and space are mutable, powerful faeries change sizes as they do clothes, appearing as pixie-sized beings one day and towering
giants the next.

Faerie Courts. Faeries are loosely organized into feudal courts, with each faerie subject to the rule of a powerful archfey . Within their own realms, archfey have nearly godlike power over the land and are able to raise forests, fell mountains, and even change seasons at will. Most archfey align themselves with one of two rival factions: the seelie and unseelie courts. While all fairies are prone to mischief, the seelie courts often spare creatures who meet their arbitrary standards of beauty and worthiness. The unseelie courts, on the other hand, revel in the grotesque and are prone to unprovoked malice. Neither faction can be said to be “good” or “evil”: concepts of morality are foreign to faeries.

Rules and Favors. Mysterious laws bind faeries to one another in complex webs of obligation. A creature that performs a seemingly innocuous act, such as speaking the faerie’s name or giving it a certain food, may earn the right to claim a favor from a faerie. The nature and timing of the favor is up to the faerie: it might take the form of advice, service, aid in battle, safe passage—or something seemingly useless or inconvenient, such as a magic bean or glowing hair. Refusing to accept a faerie’s favor is considered a grave insult.