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Faery

Faery is a strange word.  It is magic.  It is a place.  It is an idea.  It is not a people.  And yet, anyone or any thing that spends too long in Faery becomes of it.  It's magic changes people.  There are only two truths in Faery.  Nothing is what it seems, and Faery may not lie. 

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha Dé Danann are not native to Faery.  When they arrived at it's threshold seeking shelter and to bolster their own fading, dying magic, they struck a deal with Faery itself.  They are creatures of magic.  Within the boundaries of Faery they are small gods, capable of changing the Courts in which they dwell, to change their physical bodies to suit them beyond even the illusions of glamour which are the purview of every creature who spends long in Faery.  
 
They are ruled over by Titania and Oberon, who struck the first deal with Faery.  They are bound to it, and may not leave. Beneath them are their eight princes, four for the king of shadows and four for his lady of light.  Beneath them are the powerful courtiers- Oberon's Master of the Hunt, Titania's ladies in waiting.  Yet below them are the lesser courtiers.  All Tuatha are sufficiently powerful to carve out a Court of their own in Faerie, and each runs their Court in their own way so long as they do not inconvenience those more powerful than they.

Though all Tuatha are innately magical, the Princes hold the most power besides their king and queen.  Each is granted a particular set of magical gifts referred to as a portfolio beyond the magic innate to them.  The are each named, in the fashion of their people.  Titania's princes of light are the Prince of Opal, the Prince of Moonstone, The Prince of Sapphire, and the Prince of Topaz.  Oberon's prince's of darkness are the Prince of Amethyst, the Prince of Emerald, the Prince of Garnet, and the Prince of Jade.

The Awakened

The Tuatha do not easily die.  Nor are they capable of bearing children.  The deal that Titania and Oberon struck with Faery preserves them, though perhaps in ways they did not expect.  When one of the Tuatha dies, fades away, or is killed, it's magic seeks to find another host.  Sometimes this happens quickly.  Other times it may take centuries, especially for particularly powerful magic like the portfolios of the princes.  These hosts are typically human and as they come into this magic they begin to change.  They are known as Awakened Fae, for they are Tuatha and yet... are not.  Usually they find their way to Faery or are found and taken under wing to be groomed into their positions.  They are treated in most courts as lesser than the true born Tuatha, perhaps due to their youth.

 
The Lesser Fae

  Referred to as lesser by the Tuatha, there are any number of creatures and people and beasts native to Faery.  Kelpies.  Brownies.  Red caps.  Pixies.  Some of them seem benign, some vicious, some ugly, some beautiful.  And yet they are all of them dangerous.  The only things that connects them besides this place they exist is glamour which is innate to all of them and helps to protect them both in their home and in the human world which need not see them as they are, and the fact that they must not lie.

Changelings

  There are any number of reasons that a Tuatha might steal a human and hold them captive either against their will or by guile.  They steal witches so that they might lean on their powers of enchantment.  They steal those who are beautiful or artistic or creative to adorn their courts.  Trophies.  And Faery, inevitably, changes them.  Not all humans thrive in Faery.  Some die of pining.  With others, the magic of Faery takes and they are no longer truly human.  Sometimes the change is subtle and sometimes extreme, but it immutably ties the Changeling to Faery.  Never again, even if they find their way to freedom, will they be able to forget the songs of it's stars and the whispers of it's winds.  They will always pine for it.  Faery is jealous.  It does not like to let go.

The Made

Making is a special kind of magic, and the Made are the least among the Courts of Faerie.  They are bound by the words and tools used in their making, given life by magic and will.  Most Made things die quickly.  They are fragile, and require attention and care.  Fetches are the most common of these, made to replaced a stolen Changeling that it's parents won't look too hard.  Minor servants, meant to exist for one purpose, for a moment or a season, are also common.  The least common of these are the Made which do not die.  Which have their own lives and minds and hearts for these take a portion of their makers magic and do not return it.  Because they have their own will to live, the Unmaking of them is hardest of all.

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