Erna Feywild

## Overview

The Feywild of Erna is the fantastic reflection of the Material Plane continent. There are three major territories within it: The Summer Lands, which make up the continent of Cartha, the Winter Lands, which occupy most of Ruud, Harkath, and the Tarmane Sea, and neutral middle lands that occupy the southern half of Erna. Each area is sporadically populated with cities of various fey folk, from the Sidhe nobles of the courts, to the semi-mortals of the Eladrin, all the way to mundane residents like goblins and gnomes. The Courts have a tenuous balance between them, halfway between a vigorous rivalry and a bloody feud. The balance of influence and control shifts between them as the seasons change in the Material Plane. It is a symbolic and quite literal changing of the guard, and it is such an ancient custom that it is unclear if the Material seasons are the cause or simply an effect of this trading of hats.

The creatures of this plane, the Fey, are immortal creatures eternally bound by the rules of their world. While mortal creatures exercise what they understand to be "free will," the Fey obey strict rules of conduct. These rules dictate how Fey communicate, shelter guests, exchange goods or favors, and are less laws and more part of the fabric of their beings. Even the strongest of the Fey, the Queens of each Court, must follow these rules. However, with their centuries or millennia of experience with these laws, the Fey are able to bend and twist them, obeying the letter of the law while entrapping unprepared or dim-witted mortals in mischievous or cruel bargains, as suits the faerie's nature.

### The Fey Gates

There are two massive, ancient gates that stand in Erna, leading directly to the Summer and Winter Lands. While there are hundreds or even thousands of small, natural Ways to the plane, and spellcasters can cast Planeshift at will, these two old Portals are permanent, eternal, and represent the balance of power in the Feywild. Only one of the gates is open at a time, the Summer Gate in the spring and summer, the Winter Gate in the fall and winter. Nominally, the Seelie Court is responsible for closing its gate at the conclusion of Summer, and vice versa, but both Courts strive to keep their own Gates open as long as possible to prolong their supremacy. It usually falls to the opposing Court, through a combination of political pressure and agents on the ground, to ensure the Gate closes on time.

## The Seelie Court

Also known as the Summer Fey, these denizens of the Feywild embody beauty, purity of form, warmth, and perfection. They are the friendly faeries of folk lore who elevate scullery maids with pure hearts and beautiful features to nobility to replace ugly step sisters. Their people wield fire, acid, poison, force, and radiance.

### Summer Lands

The continent of Cartha, in the Material Plane, makes up the territory of the Seelie Court in the Feywild. While these lands are not wholly controlled or patrolled by the Fey of Summer, the landscape is more gentle, beautiful, and peaceful than the rest of the plane, in line with the Seelie nature. This does not mean it cannot be dangerous, as all dealings with the Fey carry an element of danger for the unprepared, but settlements of mortal and semi-mortal races provide numerous waystops and places of relative security.

#### Algeris

The only permanent settlement in the Feywild associated with the Carthic Empire. It is next to a natural Way into the Feywild on the island of Kingstown, which in modern times is actually controlled by Gastonia. However, the Feywild side of the site is populated by Imperial citizens.

#### Minas Balith

An eladrin city in the Summer Lands. The main focus of the city is being the last resupply point for travelers before crossing the tempestuous Gale Lands, and for playing host, once a year, to Queen Titania, Queen of the Summer Court. The eladrin of the city mostly devote themselves to composing art, literature, and music to impress the Seelie sovereign. The non-eladrin of the city, organized into second-class citizen boroughs by race, mainly serve as support staff, in exchange for shelter inside the high walls and behind the powerful magic of the eladrin. A group of ancient and powerful eladrin comprise The High Council, which does not govern, merely resolving disputes between eladrin. The leaders of the non-eladrin boroughs formed The Low Council, which organizes the business of the city but holds no power over eladrin.

#### The Gale Lands

The Feywild mirror of the Great Saraha Desert, this area is mostly scrub lands and prairies dominated by a vast, unceasing wind that kicks massive clouds of dust into the air. When storms known as Biting Gales kick up, the winds blow so strong that they disrupt magical energies, scour flesh from the bone, and even tear open natural Ways to the Material Plane. One of the most notable locations in the Gale Lands is The Grate Crater, an entrance to the FeyDark, the faerie parallel to the UnderDark.

##### Dust Dwarves

One of the inhabitants of the Gale Lands is a people of dwarves that long ago aroused the ire of Queen Titania. She cursed them to lose all skills with tools and language, to wander the wastes forever. However, so that they would not immediately perish, she also made them able to survive off eating dust.

#### Byblos Ayi

A massive, floating embassy to the Elemental Plane of Air. This looming edifice floats high above the Gale Lands during the supremacy of Summer, and drifts across the Feywild into the Winter Lands when the Summer Gate closes.

#### The Shrewd Wood

The largest continuous forest in the Summer Lands, encompassing both the Summer Gate and the site of Queen Titania's Seelie Court. Though most of the wild lands of the Feywild are forested, the Shrewd Wood is a dense thicket of mysterious and mischievous nature, patrolled and watched by all manner of Seelie Fey. It is the lifeblood of the Summer Lands, home to some of its most powerful inhabitants, and the first line of defense against the heart of the Court.

## The Unseelie Court

Also known as the Winter Fey, these denizens of the Feywild embody power, purity of function, mercilessness, and survival of the fittest. They are the traditionally cruel faeries of folk lore who make bargains to save the lives of desperate mortals in exchange for their first born children. Their people wield cold, thunder, lightning, psychic, and necrotic.