The woodlands glitter, glowing with more then the sun and sparkling dew, the sound of tiny bells can be heard to sparkle and sing as the creatures of fey dance in the corner of your eye, but turn as you might you still cannot find them. They spin cobwebs in your mind as you wander further and further down secret paths into the forest. Joy overwhelms you as they pass through and around you, like the beauty you behold in the nature that now surrounds you, unexplainable, like a perfect moment in time. Then it is gone the beauty and the joy, replaced by something ugly and fearful as the woods creep in around and over you blocking the sun and your vision. No longer can you see them out of the corners of your eyes but you can feel them watching you, you can feel their eyes causing your skin to crawl and your hair to prickle as your memories and dreams turn dark.

   
        Fairies have puzzled scholars for ages. Part of the difficulty in understanding fairies is in classifying what fairies are. For centuries humans believed that fairies and the fey creatures associated with them where not in fact similar enough to be in the same classification, after all Hags, and Wood Trow bear little resemblance to Pixies. Then a great wizard finally entered the world of fairy and discovered what those who followed the Path of the Fairy all along already knew, that all fey are bound in existence 

         The Fey have their own plane, separate even from the regular cosmos, though it still somehow infuses all the planes. It is as if the Fey have their own cosmos which has somehow intermingled with the cosmos of hell, heaven, and the mortal world. The fey are those creatures from that other plane, and so can be as drastically different as a dragon is from a mouse. Yet there is something about their make up that unites them, that binds them together, just as there is something about the makeup of all creatures living on the world that makes them the same.

        It is their disconnection with the world which allows some fairies to be fluid, and ever changing, and causes them to think differently then anything else a mortal might encounter. Such differences alter the very perception of fey to the point that it seems normal concepts of good and evil don’t always apply to them. Fairies instead seem to have their own morality separate from the wars between the heavens and hells, and that of the mortals in the world, this makes it difficult for mortals or even more powerful beings to predict or understand the fairies. Yet despite this many fairies are tied forever to the mortal world by their past and by choice. This tie is more fundamental then even that of druids or sometimes even nature spirits for the fairies helped to create the mortal realm as a reflection of thier own world. For when the gods set out to create the world and all the mortal realms they found their efforts thwarted again and again by the many dark and evil powers which lurk beyond the depths of even time, and so it was that the gods turned to the fairies for help. So it was that the fairies helped to create the world and the mortals therein, and so it was that those fairies who helped create the mortals found themselves tied to the world they had created by the mortals of the world. So long as these mortals would continue to respect and believe in the power and importance of the fairies, the fairies would remain. Yet as mortals left the fairies to believe in the gods exclusively they would fade from the mortal world to return to the realm of the faery. It is for this reason that the gods and the fairies of the mortal world began to war with each other, for each found themselves dependent on the mortals affections to remain a force within the mortal world their creation.

    Many of the fairies then especially the most powerful ones are tied to the mortal world, by the fact that they created it, yet they can only remain so long as they are respected by the mortals of the world. There are still many fairies that where born within the mortal realms, created both by the fairies who had an interest in the mortal realm, and by the interaction of fairies with the natural and human worlds. For fairies are a truly mutable creature and so can alter and be created simply by the reactions of their powerful reactions with powerful emotions and places.

    Other fairies still exist outside of the realm of faery by their own choosing. These fairies are drawn to the realms outside their world by strong emotions and the strangely conflicting beauty of a mortal world where things are born, live, and die. These concepts hold real fascination for the fairies because of the strange emotions and the forms of beauty they can create. For within the faery realm trees never die and so their are never stumps or the strange look of an old forest where life grows on what once was. There is also very little sacrifice or struggle among the creatures in the land of faery for in that land the fairies know how meaningless death is for when they die they simply alter form, yet remain within the world where they lived. Yet for mortals death despite its just being another step is feared and so creates a strong set of emotions that fascinate many of the fairies. 

    By determining a fairies origins the GM will be better able to write what the fairies goals are, for some fairies their goals are very mortal indeed as they live within this realm, others still have goals similar to that of the gods. others still merely wish to experience the world and its emotions as an artist wishes to expeirance nature or as a gardener wishes to recreate it.

        No matter what their orgins all fairies seem to enjoy emotions and a version of reality that they consider beautiful. For some such as brownies such emotions seem to be gratitude, and what they consider beautiful is a clean and tidy, well decorated but simple country home.

         For others it is the emotions and beauty tied to nature, and for others still beauty is the pain and sorrow of loss, fear and paranoia. For most fairies however especially those not born of the mortal realm different emotions at differnt times will be desired, just as any mortal likes to taste a differnt flavor at differnt times. So just as easily as a mortal could change from wanting to listen to a funny joke, to wanting to listen to a sweet song a fairy could change from helping a peasent get the girl he loves, to blighting a peasents feild to experience the emotions of suffering this would cause. No matter what it is they want the fey will strive to make the world beautiful for themselves, and this means that they may engage in seemingly senseless acts.

    Despite the fact that the majority of fairy like creatures are very mutable the most heard of fey are those such as Sprites and Hags which are more stable in their desires, and which have over time become more tied to the world in which they live drifting slowly away from the realm of the fairy. These fairies have begun to grow so predictable that they can be classified as good and evil. They understand in full what they are doing, and what their choices mean. More importantly they are a part of the world in which they are making those choices. Indeed it is a surprise to many to find out that such fairies are not the most common ones in the world. They are just the ones most seen. Fairies not tied to the world impact it so quietly that few even know it is happening. A late fall, an early spring, a cold winter, the feeling of fear when one looks into the darkness, or the finding of a few coins can all be signs of chance or a sign that the fairies are at work, and no one but those with their eyes open to the world of fairy would ever know.