The faery realm however is very complex, for mortals it seems much like a dream world and like all dream worlds there is the possibility of a nightmare. For the Fairies realm and the fairies themselves are divided into day and night just as our world is. Yet this day and night, the light and darkness of the faery world are not based upon time but upon place for in the faery realm it would seem that the dimension that is time can be transversed as easily as back and forth on the mortal realm. The day and night divisions of the faery realm are ruled over by the two major courts of the faery realm the seelie and the unseelie. Each court has its own rulers, its own nobles, and its own followers. However for many fairies changing from one court to another is as simple has having mood swings. Other fairies however seem to endure their emotions in a more permanent way, and it is often these fairies that become the nobles and lords of each court.

The faery system of rulership is often viewed as being a lot like many human kingdoms systems with kings and queens, counts, barons and the like. In many ways it may seem so and indeed some smaller fairy courts especially those of the pisgies, pixies, and half-faery will tend to follow this model. The larger courts however are far more complex with rulership being based upon fairy entities that would seem to be a projection of the center of the overall group of fairies feelings. This center is not chosen, it simply happens it happens as the fairies emotions sway and move as they often will.

Fairy Nobles are not however centers of emotion by any stretch of the imagination they are rather exemplifications of certain emotions and fairy ideas, in this way they represent the perfect archtypes of the fairy world. So should their personality change to no longer exemplify an idea then they while loose their status. As one faery looses its status others gain status simply by becomeing these perfect emotional examples. Doing so however is rarely ever  a choice, as it is imposable for faery's to completely choose their emotions, just as it is for anyone.

    As with all things if fairy there are exceptions to this, as some fairies do indeed seem to take huge portions of territory to themselves and rule over those fairies that enter their domain. Such fairies are granted a form of nobel status within the fairy court, however they are often given human titles for such status, which within the larger court itself is a minor insult, a mark that they chose a human route to power. However as these fairies tend to live within the material world along side mortals it is often they that mortals think of as the fairy rulers.

 

Seelie

 

    The Seelie court is often viewed as the good court of the fairies, however this is an over simplification especially considering that the seelie fairies can be just as dangerous and the unseelie ones. Indeed some of the most horrific hauntings and wild hunts have been caused by the seelie fairies. The seelie courts represent the day which would tend to mean that they follow what mortals consider the path of light. This however is forgetting that forest fires start and blaze hottest in the day, that the day time has its shadows, and its dangers. In other words those of the seelie court will tend to find enjoyment in causing joy among mortals when dealing with them, in creating love, and excitment. However they love to play practical jokes, and may at times enjoy watching the human reaction to devistation.

 

Unseelie

    The court of night is the most likely to enjoy causing pain among mortals and so is often thought of as the evil and dark court. But the unseelie court is also the court of the stars, for even in the darkest of places there is also light, and only in the darkness can one truely find peace, love, and harmony.

The Unseelie fairies tend to have imagery associated with the night and in many places on the material they have come to enjoy the way mortals view them and so will push their dark image even more, having fountains of blood, mountains of skulls and the like. In most cases however these fairies decorate with beauty creating ivory like towers and night blooming flowers, and jewels like stars. Far from being destroyers of nature and beauty the unseelie fairies will tend to love the woods and the mountains as much as their seelie counter parts.

 

Each of the two major courts is divided into further smaller courts, as countless in numbers as the fairies themselves a few of these however are listed.

Seelie Courts

Court of the Dawn

Court of Even Time

Court of the Golden Sun

Court of the Deep Shadows

Court of the Flame

Court of the Water and Growth

Court of the Trees

Court of the Moss

Court of the Fruit and Plenty

Unseelie Courts

Court of the Rising Light

Court of Twilight

Court of the Stars

Court of the Moon

Court of the Dark and Hidden

Court of the Storms

Court of the Fungus

Court of the Spirits

Court of Sorrow

Court of Sleep

 

Solitary Fairies

 

    Though the fairy world is divided between night and day not all fairies must follow one of these paths. There are many fairies who have no connection to any of the courts, hags are one fey for which this is often the case, but any fairy so inclined my be solitary in the sense that they have no connection to any of the courts of the land of faery. In many cases such fairies have grown so close to the world in which they now live that they feel less connected to their own homes. This often happens to those fey that are raised by mortals such as hags who are always left as changlings in the cribs of mortal families.

For the Hag and other fey changlings the draw to the world of of the faery is always conflicted by the draw to the way they where raised. As mortals they learned and got ideas about the archtypes that make up the world of the faery. These fairies are conflicted then unable to truely fit within any court but unable to feel emotions in a way that would allow them to easily fit into human society. For some this matters very little, they enjoy the experiance of being caught between worlds of being a mystery to all, and of being revered by mortals. For others however this experiance becomes maddening which is why so many solitary fairies are dark resentful creatures.

Within some lands the solitary fairy has become the norm, in real world Eastern Europe fairies where often seen as solitary creatures, hags, bunniks, even villa appear to have had no connection to the larger world of fairy. Such lands are often darket then even those where the unseelie court holds greater sway for there is nothing controlling the fey, preventing them from acting in a compresious way. For many solitary fairy there is nothing left to loose, making them a truly dangerous creature. Further such solitary fey often choose to manipulate the world to fit their own personal ends in ways that those connected to a court would have no need of, for they have a world.

If your a Writer a skilled Artist or a GM of any sort we want Publish and Sell your works
Please check out our For Writers or our For Artists Sections for more details.