Shagfoal

**Shagfoal** is a classless Unseelie fae, and a member of the Coalition of the Classless.

## Appearance

At the Coalition of the Classless, Shagfoal is 'a spectral mule with eyes that gleamed like coals'.

## Life

Shagfoal is a classless Unseelie fae. It's unknown if they were alive before Olphix and Davix created the classless as batteries, in order to gather power over time that the Mages would later take for themselves at their leisure.

Since Gwyn ap Nudd requested the Nain Rouge's help to ask for representatives from the Unseelie classless fae as part of the Coalition of the Classless, it's likely the Nain Rouge reaches out to Shagfoal as an attendee. Shagfoal later appears at the Coalition as one of the Unseelie representatives. They 'stared at Albion particularly hard.' The Coalition imposes sanctions on both Courts to end Albion's war with the Unseelie Court, stopping them from sending their militaries against each other, outside of territorial disputes, for a decade. Albion is to stop bothering inter-alignment communities, and Gwyn is to stop assassinating Seelie Courtiers and calling in his life debts to disrupt Seelie politics. The Coalition also assigns two members of the Coalition to serve as observers at the opposing alignment's Court, to make sure they follow through with the sanctions, though the Spider Queen serves as the Unseelie representative to the Seelie Court.

When Olphix steals the powers of the Classless during the ice plague, it's implied that Olphix takes some or all of Shagfoal's powers, as well, though Shagfoal's fate is unknown.

## Folklore/Mythology

'The Gytrash . . . a legendary black dog known in Northern England, was said to haunt lonely roads awaiting travelers. Appearing in the shape of horses, mules, cranes or dogs, the Gytrash haunt solitary ways and lead people astray but they can also be benevolent, guiding lost travelers to the right road. They are usually feared. In some parts of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, the Gytrash was known as the Shagfoal and took the form of a spectral mule or donkey with eyes that glowed like burning coals. In this form, the beast was believed to be purely malevolent.'

Although Gytrash is known as Shagfoal sometimes in folklore, and gytrash exist as a species of fae dog in *Fae Tales*, it's unclear if Shagfoal is a non-beast fae version of gytrash.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 August 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10409742. Chapter 56: Islands.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 September 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37093806. Chapter 28: Like Batteries.
3. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7205945. Chapter 29: Classless.
4. ↑ "Gytrash". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gytrash. Accessed 3 May 2021.
5. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 4 September 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10796753. Chapter 59: Epilogue: Futures.