Iliak

**Iliak** was an Unseelie marid-djinn afrit Chieftain, King of the marid-djinn and the afshin afrit, husband of Ambari, brother of Ifir, brother-in-law of Adali, and uncle to Vhadi, Eran Iliakambar, Ada, and Adalia. He was killed by the ice plague.

## Appearance

Iliak is over eight feet tall, even in his hybrid-form, with 'huge horns twisted up in spirals above his head' like a markhor's, 'decorated with gold and brass bands.' His horns make him ten feet tall. His irises are described as having flickering flames within them. He has a thick neck and massively broad shoulders in order to support the weight of his horns. Like Ifir, he has a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, and brown, weathered skin. His voice has 'a natural growl.'

Gwyn ap Nudd notes that Iliak smells like 'the char of fire and the sweet-mellow spice of fresh saffron.'

At the Winter Court, his 'horns were covered completely in gold leaf, and his mask was that of a giant species of black Marid lion, the strands of its wild mane picked through with tiny, faceted diamonds that caught the light. Behind the mask, Iliak’s eyes burned'.

## Personality

Iliak is stern and a bit gruff, but also polite and considerate. He is levelheaded and avoids unnecessary war. He seems to believe in strict but fair punishments for wrongdoing, such as when he suggests that Gwyn cut off Ifir's horn at the bone core, which is usually only reserved for 'the most dire of punishments.' Gwyn says that Iliak is 'not a military man'.

He also cares greatly for his family and for all those in the mixed-alignment ambaros and marid-djinn cabal.

## Life

Iliak is the King of the marid-djinn and afshin afrit. He marries Ambari, who was also the sister of Ifir's wife, Adali. He is one of the first fae whom Gwyn approaches at the Triumphal Entry to greet, clasping arms in greeting, and he spends some time telling Gwyn how things fare back in his homeland.

After Ifir's mutiny against Gwyn, Gwyn sends word back to the marid-djinn, and Iliak comes to the Unseelie Court himself, weaponless, to discuss the situation. Gwyn offers his arms in greeting, which Iliak briefly considers, then slowly clasps. Iliak tells Gwyn that he did not endorse Ifir's actions, nor did he want civil war. He also brings proof of life from Ifir's daughters, which Gwyn later shows to Ifir. Iliak suggests the removal of one of Ifir's horns as punishment, even suggesting Gwyn cut it off at the base so it can't grow back, though in the end they settle for above the bone core. Iliak offers to perform the task, but Gwyn does it instead so that, 'You can both blame me when you are back amongst your people.'

Iliak temporarily takes command of Ifir's military while Ifir is in the Unseelie dungeon and immediately returns command upon Ifir's release.

Ambari tells Iliak worrying stories about what is happening at Albion's Seelie Court, encouraging Iliak to confer with Gwyn during the Winter Court and ask if Gwyn will grant the Seelie members of the Ambaros-Marid Djinn cabal asylum if Albion forces them to separate. Gwyn agrees to offer asylum to anyone in need. Iliak also informs Gwyn that Albion requested Eran for a private discussion, though he doesn't know if it was an interrogation, and Eran would not say whether it was (though Eran later acknowledged, to himself, that it was an interrogation, which Eran felt the Seelie Court was justified in doing).

Ten years later, Iliak is killed when the ice plague devastates the afrit homeland. Amhar later says that Iliak 'ran a solid, good community. We got good battles, good wars and good deaths.'

## Relationships

### Ifir

Ifir and Iliak seemed to have great respect for each other, though Iliak also considered his younger brother to be 'foolhardy.' When Ifir didn't return home after his mutiny against Gwyn, Iliak immediately suspected Ifir had done something foolish. Ifir seemed to find Iliak too peace-focused at times.

## Quotations

* 'The Seelie Court is poisoned. Do the old rules of asylum still stand here?'
* 'I would not send my family where they’re not welcome. Nor will I put them at risk and force them to remain in a place where they might be attacked simply because they have dared love me.'

## Trivia

* Iliak and Ifir are both over ten thousand years old, but Ifir is younger by ten years.
* If Iliak and his community hadn't perished in the ice plague, Eran would have taken on Iliak's role to 'lead the majid-djinn afrit and the ambaros both, as chieftain.'
* Iliak and Ifir are both Unseelie afrit who married Seelie ambaros. They are also a pair of brothers who marry a pair of sisters.
* It's possible that since Iliak and Ambari seemingly had no children, and Ifir had an heir in his firstborn son, Vhadi, that this was why Eran was prepared to be Iliak's heir as Chieftain.

## Folklore/Mythology

In Islamic mythology, the marid are a type of Shaitan, or evil spirit, whose name comes from the word for rebellious or recalcitrant. They are sometimes referred to interchangeably with the afrit, also known as the ifrit, efreet, or afreet, who are a powerful type of demon.

Afrit are well known underworld demonic figures from Islamic mythology. Despite being associated with the word jinn (djinn), they have been considered separate beings from each other in Moroccan and and other cultures. Whereas in Fae Tales they are rolled into one kind of fae with different subspecies.

The use of the word djinn indicates that marid-djinn are connected to more stereotypical genies, and the djinn of mythology.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 1 May 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/8608942. Chapter 41: Interrogation.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 29 August 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4865985. Chapter 7: Debut.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9186013. Chapter 46: Masque.
4. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 26 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9517437. Chapter 49: Battle.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 March 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/31845930. Chapter 16: Leave Be.
6. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 26 December 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6404462. Chapter 23: Confrontation.
7. ↑ "Marid". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marid. Accessed 1 May 2021.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Ifrit". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ifrit. Accessed 1 May 2021.