Feywild

The beauty of the Feywild

The **Feywild**, also known as the **Plane of Faerie**, is a parallel plane to the Prime Material Plane, suffused with potent magic. Is is the place from which fey originate. It is a verdant home of cruel fey and endless desires. To walk through the land of the Feywild, one risks death from all matter of creatures, and even if you survive the perils of the Feywild, you may end up never being able to leave.

## Geography

The Feywild exists as a vibrant, but extremely deadly reflection of the Material World, and defies all attempts to properly cull its enthusiasm. Where one might see the ruins of past ages in the Material World, the Feywild reflects that of some great fey lord’s castle with crystalline windows and crystal walls instead of stone.

All attempts to properly map the Feywild end in failure, as it is inconsistent in its appearance. It is said that there are many worlds in the Material Plane, but only one Feywild reflecting them all at once. This causes the occupants of the Feywild to treat distances and time with little thought, and to mimic the Feywild’s seemingly erratic behavior.

Traveling into the Feywild is the easiest of all planes to travel to. Many towns and villages have rumors and traditions about enchanted forests, how young men would brave the woods only to return 20 years later but not looking a day older.

Throughout the Material Plane are Fey Crossings, planar portals that exist in odd locations. Some may be forests home to the fey, while others may be between stone arches in long gone ruins to some past civilization. There are even Fey cities that cross into the Material Plane on set schedules, or sometimes completely random. When a small village notices that their plants are growing far larger than the other surrounding villages, it might be due to that the forest near them is home to a Fey Crossing.

Journeying through the plane is far harder than just entering into the Feywild. Inside are the dangers of a forest, but far more exotic and far deadlier. The trees themselves may try to kill travelers who know not to collect the fallen branches, and beasts grow larger and deadlier in this magical land.

As if the very plane was trying to kill you, locations can be difficult to get to. Their distance from each other is more of a suggestion, and most inhabitants will shrug their shoulders when asked why it takes longer to travel in one direction as opposed to another. It’s just the way that the Feywild is.

### Notable Locations

Throughout the Feywild are centers of civilization, and at least safety from the dangers of the wild. In these cities are more than just the fey, but otherworldly travelers and visitors from the Material Plane.

#### Eladrin Cities

Astrazalian, Mithrendain, and Senaliesse are three of the largest eladrin cities of the Feywild.

#### The Feydark

Beneath the magical forest of the Feywild lies the dark and twisting caverns of the Feydark, a reflection of the Material Plane’s Everdark. This land is in sharp contrast to the beautiful world above it and is home to fomorian lords, cyclops, drow and other horrors who only wish to destroy the surface dwellers.

#### Fomorian Cities

The fomorians have cities all over the Feydark and are constantly at war with each other. Fomorians will never bow to another, and many are considered quite mad by the surface dwellers of the Feywild, which is good as it stops them from working together. Many of the Fomorian lords suffer from extreme paranoia and will kill those who they suspect to be spies or who they suspect might become a spy in the future.

The three biggest cities of the fomorians are Harrowhame, Mag Tureah, and Vor Thomil. These cities are home to not just their Fomorian lord, but slaves, spies, assassins and the massive armies each lord is accruing to destroy the surface dwellers.

#### Borderlands and the Wild

Past the civilized lands of the eladrin lords are the wild expanses. Traveling to these locations is incredibly dangerous and most travelers avoid it if they can. Some notable locations within the Borderlands are the Dread Isle, Brokenstone Vale, and Nachtur.

## Government

There are a variety of governments throughout the Feywild. The Summer and Winter Queens are by far the most powerful monarchs on this plane, but other kings, queens, and rulers have carved out their own little territories. Some specific groups of fey are detailed below.

### Court of Stars

Several times in a year, the Court of Stars will be held where the most powerful fey gather to discuss politics and hold great feasts, and this is all watched over by the Summer Queen. The Court of Stars is always held in the treetops of Senaliesse, and here travelers from all over the realms come to ask for aid or advice. Some travelers, who must wait for years and years before being heard, have long forgotten why they are in the Feywild. The Court of Stars is made up of the most powerful archfey in the Feywild.

### Court of Coral

The Court of Coral is ruled over by two Eladrin Sea Lords known as Elias and Siobhan Alastai, brother and sister who only recently became the archfey of their watery realms. Elias Alastai rules over the shallow water of the lakes, rivers and even coral reefs near the coast, while Siobhan Alastai rules over the deep water of the bottomless oceans and dark seas. Their court is made up of aquatic creatures of all types.

### Gloaming Fey

These Fey are known for their power over dreams, darkness, stars, twilight, and dusk. They are ruled over by many archfey like the Maiden of the Moon, though they are more a loose league, rather than a proper court. Their power is less focused on the nature of the Feywild, but rather its magical nature.

### Green Fey

This court is made up of fey who owe their allegiance to nature, more specifically Treants, Satyrs and other woodland creatures. The most powerful archfey of this court is Oran the Green Lord, a fey so powerful that he can sense every tree branch and stream in his realm. He also holds a strong relationship with Queen Tiandra, and they have been known to be lovers, friends and deadly rivals, sometimes all of these at the same time.

### Summer Fey

The Summer Fey is made up of the spirits of good favor and growth, and eladrin infused with the spirit of Summer are the barons. The Court is overseen by the mightiest of the archfey, Queen Tiandra. She oversees not only the Summer Fey but also the Court of Stars and is said to be the most beautiful of all the archfey. Though, she is also known as a master strategist in her court as well as on the battlefield. Of all the fey, she has a great fondness for mortals and finds their urgency in all things amusing.

### Winter Fey

The icy fey are bound by no leader, though there are several who have great power in their realm. The Prince of Frost is by far the most powerful and vicious of the winter archfey. His court, when he bothers to convene, is known as the Winter Court and is filled with his allies of the long night and cold, dark ice.

## Society

### Culture and Customs

The Faerie Courts run on tradition. The power structure, the food, the clothes, the etiquette. Anyone who digresses from these ancient rules is in danger of losing face, losing their place in society, or even losing their life.

Otherworldly instruments are commonplace in the Feywild, and their music does not resemble typical mortal music. Sounds of nature and unnatural sounds both come from the instruments of the fae. Even the wizards of the Material Plane cannot understand some of the magicks used to create such complex and haunting sounds.

The eladrin of the Feywild have gotten more and more curious about the Material Plane recently, sending envoys more frequently than before. As stated above, this has created a mishmash of technologies, but also cultural customs. The newest fad involves Siegeball, an immensely popular sport in Alerion. The first Siegeball arena has just recently been built in one of the biggest eladrin cities, and it's expected that more will soon follow, as its popularity is absolutely exploding right now.

Secrets are the stock-in-trade of the faeries. They are constantly prying secrets out of mortals with tricks and cleverness. They hoard knowledge and power like a dragon hoards gold and jewels. The more they know, the more they can control the lives of the mortals on the Material Plane.

Most denizens of the Feywild don't really take days off, or even have days on. They live their lives the way they live them, or perhaps they work in one of the Faerie Courts and therefore never have time for themselves. Either way, elves are one of the few peoples of Fey that take time off. Their relaxation preferences depend on the type of eladrin they are (spring, summer, autumn, winter), but one thing they tend to have in common is an appreciation of art of any sort. Thus, eladrin cities have many places to view paintings and sculptures, they perform plays, play music, and anything else artistic.

### Religion

The denizens of the Feywild worship a multitude of gods and spirits. Some worship the Faerie Queens themselves, some revere the gods of Alerion, and still others give praise to gods of other planets within the Material Plane.

Priests of the Church of the Faerie Queens are completely fanatical. They have to be, because they tend to disappear suddenly.

### Holidays and Celebrations

One curious celebration of the eladrin of the Feywild is the Jamboree. It occurs near the end of the winter season, but its origins are unknown. Jamboree-goers wear elaborate masks and take to the streets, parading around and chanting, ostensibly to purge the winter spirits and bring the spring, which is followed by a large feast. Of course, none know why they do this, as the winter spirits literally live here in the Feywild and do not leave during these rituals, but hey -- it's fun!

The Feast of the Raven Queen is a day that is celebrated by both Faerie Courts -- the Summer Court celebrates on the Autumn Equinox, while the Winter celebrates on the Spring Equinox. The feast marks the banishment from the Feywild of the Raven Queen, a once-beloved elf queen of the Feywild who, through a powerful ritual, became a god known as the Raven Queen. The ritual became corrupted, and she was twisted toward chaos. The Faerie Queens joined forces, a rare act, to banish her to Shadowfell, and now they celebrate that banishment (separately, of course).

The death of a Queen is a rare thing, but when it happens, a new Queen must take her place. The Lady of the Court, whoever she is, takes the Queen's spot in a lavish ceremony, attended by the leaders and notables of each Court. Since the death of a Queen is usually the fault (directly or indirectly) of the other Court, these coronations tend to be very tense.

## History

The Feywild was created at the beginning of time, along with the rest of the universe. It has always had close ties to both the Material Plane and the Shadowfell, although many scholars believe there is one more plane that is connected to these three.

Although the Feywild has been ruled by the Faerie Courts longer than any can remember, some society existed before. Among the evidence of these predecessors are a number of books and scrolls written in a mysterious language known as Feyscript. None have been able to translate these texts, but this script has appeared all over the Feywild including, in some cases, in the shapes of the rivers themselves.

## Rumors & Legends

There is a tale that is not spoken around those who swear allegiance to either Faerie Court, for to do so is to invite retribution by the proud Queens. It tells of a mortal from the Material Plane who had gotten stranded in the Feywild. He was cleverer than most, and through some impressive wordplay, he was able to leave the Feywild and go back home -- but not before bedding both Queens and leaving their chambers both alive and sane (a nigh-impossible task). Everyone who hears the story agrees that that man was a legend.

One story that has been passed around the Feywild for generations tells of the Summer Queen and her husband, and a quarrel they had over a young changeling boy. During their fight, her husband's servant cast a spell on her, and the Queen was tricked into falling in love with, and sleeping with, a weaver with the head of a donkey. Of course the faeries know that the story is just that -- a story. But they also know not to tell the story in the presence of the Summer Queen, as she is not a fan.

The Material Plane has few stories about how the Feywild came to be, but the faeries and other creatures of this plane have plenty of stories to spare. Some Feywild eladrin believe that the Feywild was created at the same time as Aleria, coming forth as an echo of the Material Plane, while others note that there are some vast differences in both geography between the two planes. Some few elves have theorized that there may be another plane that exists in harmony with them -- a plane of no magic, in opposition of the magic-filled Feywild and Aleria, where magic exists but is nowhere near as potent as the Feywild -- but most eladrin laugh at these suppositions.

## Inhabitants

### Seelie & Unseelie Fey

The Seelie and Unseelie Courts are the gatherings of powerful fey creatures. The Seelie Court is ruled by the faerie Queen Titania and they travel throughout the various woodlands of the Feywild. This traveling court makes their home in woodland glades where they hold feasts and conduct their business.

The Unseelie Court is the opposite of the Seelie Court's laughter and merriment and is ruled by the Queen of Air and Darkness. This dark goddess used to be the sister of Queen Titania before finding a mystical black diamond that has corrupted her with its power. The Queen of Air and Darkness no longer has a physical manifestation, but rather a cloud of darkness hovers around her throne, issuing orders for death, assassinations, and torture.

### Wyldfae

Anybody who is not part of the Seelie or Unseelie Courts is considered a Wyldfae. Although the term "Wyldfae" makes them sound uncivilized, there are, in fact, many different civilizations within the Wyldfae, including fomorians, goblins, and many types of eladrin.