Customs & Courtesy among the Fey and Archfey

Customs & Courtesy among the Fey and Archfey

Among the long-lived Fey, custom holds greater sway than law. Their lives stretch across centuries, and through that time habit and expectation grow into an intricate web of etiquette. To mortals, these ways may seem capricious, but to the Fey, they are threads that preserve harmony, pride, and power. A traveler entering their realm must heed such customs with care, for even accidental insult can invite ruin—or reward.

The following are the most commonly observed rules among the Fey and their noble patrons, the Archfey.

1. All debts are paid.
   No gift, slight, or service is ever forgotten. A favor offered binds both giver and receiver, and interest accrues in the silence between them.
2. The Fair are Fair.
   They call themselves Fair-folk for cause. They value fairness, not justice nor mercy. Equal for equal, boon for boon, wound for wound.
3. Who calls the dance, pays the piper.
   When one invokes joy, contest, or challenge, one must bear its cost—be that in coin, reputation, or pain.
4. The Custom of the Hearth.
   Every being is lord within its own hall. To trespass upon another’s home uninvited is to court wrath; to shelter another grants both power and peril.
5. The Law of Hospitality.
   A host cannot refuse a guest’s request, and a guest must make no unworthy demand. To either betray the trust of hospitality is to earn exile from all good company.
6. The Law of the Dance.
   Once begun, the dance must be completed. Whether a waltz of words, blades, or steps beneath the moon, withdrawal before the final measure is taboo.
7. The Law of the Hunt.
   The one who draws first blood claims right of pursuit; the one who brings down the quarry claims the prize. But those who slay without declaration offend both hunter and hunted alike.
8. The Truth of Names.
   Names carry the weight of being. To share one’s true name is to yield a thread of power; to misuse another’s is among the greatest of sins.
9. The Rule of Reflection.
   Acts done to another may return threefold. The Fey see the world in mirrors; cruelty, deceit, or generosity often circle back to the hand that sent them.
10. The Silence of Mourning.
    Upon the passing of a noble Fey or sworn kin, their court keeps silence for seven sunsets. To speak their name during this span is to summon their memory in truth.
11. The Right of Seasons.
    Certain deeds can only be done in their proper time—promises at dawn, duels at dusk, bargains in midsummer, reconciliations in midwinter. To act against Season is to disrupt the weave of fate.
12. The Law of Witness.
    No binding can hold without witness. Two eyes beyond the bargain must see it sealed, else the wind itself may carry it away.