Fae court

The **fae court**, sometimes called **fairyland** is the main meeting place for the fae of Wickhills forest and the venue for the bimonthly revels.

The fae court can also refer to the **seasonal court** of the fae living in fairyland. The fae are divided into two courts- Unseelie and Seelie which are then divided by season- Summer, Spring (together called "Seelie"), Winter and Autumn (together called "Unseelie").

## Seasonal courts

A fae's seasonal court is determined by the season they came to life in and cannot be changed. They can, however, transcend the boundaries of a seasonal court if they get big and eldritch enough, although it is incredibly rare. One example of it is Virgil's mother, who, when she was fae- shaped, was a Winter but had evolved beyond her seasonal court.

Fae are more powerful the closer they are to the start of their season, with regards to the cross quarter days. Their powersets and abilities, however, are based more on their "theme" than their seasonal court, although their season does usually factors into it (with Seelie being more prone to growth and Unseelie more prone to rot- especially Winters). For example: both Virgil and White are of the winter court but posses incredibly different powersets.

While the physical court (fairyland) is controlled by the regent all year round, each seasonal court posses power over the forest during their season and needs to give up control to the next seasonal court at the end of their season. In Love and Other Fairytales, a court can refuse to give up power of the forest at the end of their season, as Durant did when he refused to give control over to the Seelie during the main storyline.

There are also smaller courts, mostly groups of the same type of fae, but despite being part of these smaller courts, each fae answers to their individual seasonal court.

### Seelie

The seelie court often cherishes humans and loves them, although it is not necessarily a good thing, as they are often anaware of the damage they can cause in the long term.

They are more prone to "life" magic- namely, growth.

#### **Spring**

Starts on the vernal equinox with the midpoint on May Day (sometimes called Beltane).

Springs generally have more water associations than Summers, such as rain, rivers and mountain springs and are calmer than the Summer court.

The Spring court outnumbers the Summer court and is about equal to the size of the Autumn court.

#### **Summer**

Starts on the summer solstice with the midpoint on Midsummer.

Summers are associated with heat and flame such as sweltering days, heat waves and forest fires. They are often hot headed and adore humans.

The Summer court is the second smallest court, after Winter.

### Unseelie

The unseelie court has a tendancy to be hostile to human, although it is not always the case.

#### **Winter**

Starts on the winter solstice with the midpoint on Imbolc.

The Winter court if often associated with death and darkness as they tend to be far more bloodthirsty and deadly than the other courts. They generally have very little skill in life based forms of magic, which is why they heal slower and often not as well as other seasons, and posses almost none of the growing kinds of magic as most plants would rot if a Winter were to mess with them unless they were already a Winter plant such as Mistletoe, Witch Hazel and Holly.

The Winters are few in number relativly to any other court and can often only be bested in a fight by strong Springs, assuming the fae is a weak winter to begin with, as spring is the season that overcomes winter.

#### **Autumn**

Starts on the autumn equinox with the midpoint on Samhain.

Autumns are associated with the harvest season and as such will do better with plants than Winters. The autumn court tends to be more levelheaded than the Winter court.

The Autumn court is a very diverse court and is the most variable of any season, as some can be incredibly good with plants, enough to be confused as Summers, and some smell like rotting leaves and look like death warmed over.

The Autumn court is about equal to the size of the Spring court.

## Hierarchy

The head of each seasonal court, as well as the Unseelie/ Seelie court, is the most powerful fae under each court, usually a gentry.

For example; Virgil is the head of both the Winter court and the Unseelie court as he is the most powerful winter and the most powerful Unseelie. He is also the head of the Wickhiils court (the physical court) since he's the most powerful fae in the forest (excluding his mother who has appointed him to be the ruler).

The ranking goes as such:

* The head of the Unseelie/ Seelie court answers to the head of the physical court and is their second in command (thus, outranking all the other heads of season courts).
* The head of the Winter/Autumn court answers to the head of the Unseelie court.
* The head of the Spring/ Summer court answers to the head of the Seelie court.
* The head of each-type-of-fae court answers to their season. The fae that answers to the head of this court also answers to their individual seasonal courts.

Each head of court can decide to give up their position, which then goes to the next most powerful fae under the court/s. They can reclaim their title at any given time, as long as they are still the most powerful fae of the court/s.