The Never

**The Never**is a magical realm of the supernatural, seperate from the normal world, which they refer to as "The First World". The Never was first found in 1997, but the public does not exactly "know" about it or about the Fae, who most write off as Paragons with strange physical mutations.

## Description

The Never is the spirit world. It exists alongside our own as a sort of alternate dimension, but is shape is not the same as the First World. The Never is vast, much larger than our own plane of existence. Some scholars posit that it is, in fact, infinite.

The Never touches the First World in places where they have something in common, a resonance of energies. If a point in the Never is a dark and spooky place, then it touches a dark and spooky place in the First World. But, maybe five feet over, it's only sad and that leads to a place in a cemetery on the other side of the country.

All ghost and spirit entities reside in the Never. It is positied by some that Phasing causes a person to momentarily enter the Never, or a Never-like ethereal realm.

### Avalon

The parts of the Never closest to the First World, it is home to the Sidhe, or Faeries. It has close ties to and resembles the First World cnsiderably and is fairly permanent in layout and appearance. Howeer, the rules of reality do not necessarily apply as strongly there and can be very treacherous--many who enter never come back. It is separated into two territories ruled by the Summer Court and Winter Court. The Circle, a large stonehenge-like structure, stands as the DMZ between the two realms and acts as a place where important Sidhe can meet. Neither the Summer Knights nor the Winter Knights may draw blood here.

### The Ways

The walks in the Never are very rarely only five feet away, and a person might get confronted by horrible creatures. The Never is a scary place and it is wise to do a lot of planning and have back-up when exploring. However, knowing the Ways--or the safe paths--can get a person to a far away location quick and easy with a minimum of bestial interference.

## The Fae

The Fae are magical beings who reside within the Never. They are a very heterogeneous group, as there are many different kinds of Fae. Some of them are humanoid in form, some like animals and others like various monsters. The most prominent are the Faerie, properly known as the Sidhe (pronoucned *Shee*).

The Sidhe serve either the Summer or Winter Courts. Those who serve neither are called Wyldfae. Debt and obligation are huge factors in how they behave. The Sidhe are unable to give anything away for free. There must always be a balance. Never take something without giving something of equal value in return. A promise made thrice is as close to absolute truth and law that a Fae can give.

It is dangerous to ask any Fae a question without direct answers. As a rule, they are mischievous and very dangerous, but always good to their word. Is it possible for humans to produce offspring with them, which are called **Elves** (see below).

Most Fae cannot speak an outright lie. But many are adept at word plays or the twisting of meaning and literal speech. They will often try to entrap mortals with bargains and deals. They offer things to get the mortal to trade. It's built into their nature. This works both ways; if a mortal offers something, they'll have a conduit to use magic against them. They find anything other than an equal exchange exciting or insulting. The basic rule: don't accept anything from them and don't offer them anything.

Oaths put mutual obligation on both parties, such as an oath of fealty to the Faerie Queen puts an obligation on the Queen to carry out the obligations of one who is sworn to her, even if not able to easily for whatever reason, even death.

Fae have a terrible weakness to iron; just touching it burns their skin. They also have a love of cream.

### Elves

An Elf is a half human/half sidhe. They look more human and less otherworldly than their fae parent, though they always have a tell-tale trait, such as poined ears, unusual eyes or hair, bug-like wings and the like. Elves are still weak to iron, but touching it does not burn them. It serves as their main weakness, however can easily kill them if used as a weapon.

Elves often have powers like their Fae parent, but not the full suite. Most of the time, they have a selection of one power or one aspect of power from their Fae parent, who wield many strange magics.