Things to Keep in Mind for Those That Want to Thrive

Things to Keep in Mind for Those That Want to Thrive is a book uncovered through use of Study-related Inquiries by Cassiope Winterthorne.

## History

Having spent time returning to the city of Cal Araenora, shortly before its Hurtling once more into the Feywild, the dryadborne Cassiope Winterbourne visited the public archives and libraries searching for a means to reminisce, specifically that of fairytales told within the city and the Feywild as a whole. She would come across four such stories across her research efforts, aided as they were by Ashewan Norvegicus' *Headband of Intellect*.

## Reading

### Completed by Cassiope Winterthorne

#### The Grinning Wreath

For mortal souls, the passage from life to death is an uncertain one - and one of countless potential destinations. After passing through the Shrouded Valley of Iotl within the Shadowfell, the Beacon of Souls determines into which orbit of the Wandering Worlds a mortal soul will be guided towards, that of the Upper or Lower Planes, and from there into the clutches of those that would seize dominion, offer shelter or elsewise claim them. For many fiends, death of their bodily form anywhere but their Plane of creation is little more than a setback, although for devils in particular liable to reduce their place in the hierarchy - depending on the nature of their destruction. For fey, things are decisively different, and all the more unpredictable. For the majority of fey creatures - although seemingly most strongly so those that reside within the Feywild nigh exclusively, for extended periods of time spent beyond it are liable to sever such magics, the path of a fey soul is far less defined.

For many, the Feywild is a shimmering theatre stage of countless moving parts - flora, fauna, fey - each drawing from the magic of its existence. Those that slain, destroyed or other die within it simply become drops within that vast shimmering pool of whimsical energy, and so tales of a fey dying and blooming a tree, shrub or flower, or perhaps a new spring of water rising suddenly from the soil are all common occurrences. It is, thus, for at least the very strong-willed fey, to seize this energy to reform their form as it was after a short time. The Archfey are known to be able to do so more readily than most, for they are conduits of the magic of the Feywild, but in theory any such Fey might be able to manage such a feat. For those such others, however, soon looms the Grinning Wreath, a mysterious entity said to symbolise Srar's will for change, who tracks down those fey that refuse to transition into something new, to give back to what has sustained them. Despite within the deity's very own teaching, the Grinning Wreath is an oft-maligned entity, a spectre of death and as such features frequently as antagonist in many a fairytale, albeit as a reminder of a key moral, as all fairytales are like to do - worry not for an uncertain change to come, for there is excitement and beauty to be found in what might come to be.

Faiytales featuring the Grinning Wreath include *“The Hot Spring that Would be King”*, *“The Three-and-Thirty Lives of Nylronoth the Proud”* and *“The Spinning Wheel”*.

#### An Eye for An Eye, A Heart for a Heart

Another key moral that features in many fairytales of the Feywild are warnings against seeking revenge to those undeserving of it. The sentiment of reciprocity is present throughout the culture of the fey, underpin the vast majority of social interactions. If something is taken or gifted, whether a physical item, or a social interaction such as offering a service or hospitality, it is expected that something of equal value will be given in return. Particularly so for those not familiar with the fey, determining said value can be augmented and modified by a range of factors and thus often run the risk of being one-sided - and thus liable to offend, anger, undermine or amuse. Many fairytales play on the idea of those that deliberately try and get the better of their kin, and the perils of such maliceful acts and thoughts, but greatest amongst these foul acts are those that seek reciprocal pain onto those that are undeserving of it.

One such fairytale tells the story of a couple deeply enamoured and due to be wed. On the night before their union however, one such side of the forthcoming union found that they had not the love in their heart to match their partner, and so chose instead to break things off lest they grow old and bitter bound in a union they saw was not destined to last. Devastated at the turn of emotions, the heartbroken soul left at the figurative and literal altar beseeched the forces of the wild to break the heart of the one that they had loved, as they had them. The call and prayer was unjust, for the act had been done to spare greater heartbreak in the future, and yet it was done as wished all the same. The resulting creature, devoid of spirit, love and soul from where their heart had ceased to be, and depending on the fairytale either throws themselves from a cliff - prompting the jilted lover to do the same, as occurs in *“Oh, to hear the Woe of the Lovers”* - or, in darker variations such as those presented in *“Ravagings of the Heartless”*, become a remorseless killer that would slaughter innocents in their droves before being slaying, and being slain by, the one they were due to marry.

#### What's in a Name?

Understanding the importance of keeping things such as True Names secret is important beyond just the Feywild, for the magic of naming and evoking as such allows with power sufficient to control and wield an individual's soul with a level of impunity. Fiends and celestials alike take particular caution with such things, lest they find themselves beholden to one with competing intentions at heart, the fey are no different, although do share a different relationship to such things. For sufficiently powerful fey creatures, taking things considered more abstract and impossible to most - such as the colour of an individual's eyes, a treasured memory, their first words - is akin to child's play, akin to picking a pocket for a shining trinket. Doing so with a creature's name is likewise manageable, and thus woe unto those that answer the otherwise innocuous remark of asking for an individual's name when meeting someone new with an unabashedly forthright answer.

Such a story is recalled in a fairytale that shares its name with the very same question - "May I Have Your Name?" - in which a visitor to the Feywild stumbles into the busy court of an evil fey, having fled to the Feywild to escape a terrible fate awaiting them on the Material. Answering the question without thought of the consequences, the visitor - usually referred to as Artur, Jacq, Mary, Robin or any other common such name - found themselves stripped of all sense of identity and self-understanding in giving their True Name up so freely. When they eventually return home to the Material Plane, it is said even their own mother does not recognise them, and when their terrible fate finally catches them, not even the gods recognise their soul, leaving it to wander with uncertainty forever more.

#### Liar, Liar, (I've been Horrendously Cursed, Ridiculed, Reviled and My) Pants Are On Fire

Fey are, despite their reputation as fabulistic, anarchic and unpredictable, consummate truth-tellers. As unbelievable as it seems to those that may have experience with feykind, direct lies are liable to cause extreme pain to any fey that attempt to commit to them, and as such few fey engage with genuine falsehoods. This, however, does not stop fey from being able to dance and weave their way around other creatures in conversation, for they are skilled at literal truths, or partial facts that confuse by means of omission, deliberate or otherwise. When combined with the otherworldly nature of fey - a mortal lifetime is a blink in the eye of most, so saying something will only take a "little while" could mean a number of years or considering creatures known to charm humanoids as relatively harmless because most fey are resistant to their powers - this leads to a number of very confusing situations and scenarios in which any cunning fey - as most are - can quickly find themselves several steps ahead of those they consort with.

In accordance with the rules and expectations of reciprocity aforementioned, most fey expect the same in return. There is sport and game to be had in trying to mislead, outright lies are unbefitting at best, abhorrent and punishable at worst. Once a community of fey acknowledges that an individual is untrustworthy in the truest sense, they are shunned by other fey, and the more fey that hold the individual in the same regard, the more general the feeling associated with them grows, until fey that have no knowledge of the individual will come to the same conclusion before they've had even the chance to speak. Following soon after are curses, magical punishments bestowed by Archfey and other powerful fey creatures, and fairytales teaching the woes of those that attempt to lie to fey are common throughout, such as in *"The Man with Empty Hands"* that tells the story of a charlatan performer that soon found anything he tried to pick up or hold in his hands slipped through his fingers, to the curse of hearing nothing but deafening drums such as in"*The Rhythm of the Drums"* and *"Loose Tongue, Loose Bowels"*, a particularly childish and crude tale of an affliction occurring each time the antagonist lied - self-explanatory as it is from the title of the story.