Dreaming & the Void

Dreams are the union of wild magic and chaos, a space between, sacred and vital to the faerie. And human dreams, they are richer, deeper than what fae can produce themselves. It is for their dreams that the fae first protected humanity, and while different factions have varying opinions on how far they should go to assist mortals, the fae will not actively kill humans unless they are declared enemy for specific violations due to the need to preserve their ability to dream. They also no longer typically torment mortals the way they once did, having learned just what happens from doing so - fueling the very nightmares that feed the Void they wish to avoid.     This all returns to the truth that all things in nature are in balance with each other, and fae are the caretakers of the realms. To permit the balance to fall too badly out of alignment gives rise to the Aberrations born of the twisted ether left over from the chaos magic that birthed the world. This is known as the Void.     There is no reasoning with these enemies, they are the stuff of humanity's worst nightmares, and fae’s as well. Hints of what they are come out in horror stories, movies, in monster creation and dark, old myths. They are creatures out of balance, mangled, beyond chaos or order. They are enemies to life and death both, for they are of the Void. It is the lack of all things that stalks at the edges of all the realms, pushing, testing, hoping to one day break free.     Once the Aberrations were smaller, the neutral spaces between realms where they would most often seep through and start to devour reality. The first fae warriors were trained to fight against them and survive, to protect the others.     But there have been Insurgencies in the past where they grow out of control, and sadly these are often shown in the human timeline by periods of great devastation and loss, when the fae, hard pressed to beat them back, could not protect mortals as well. One particularly tragic Insurgence was set off by mining beneath the Winter Court city of Atlantis, resulting in the great city sinking deep below the waves, now only populated by water fae who can brave such places. What was unleashed on that day is the great shame of the Winter Court, and also created the winter desert where the greatest battles of the fae have been waged against the Voidborn.     By human count Atlantis was lost around 1600 BCE. It was a vicious war that saw a horrible amount of fae and humans perish. Eventually the fae won, at great cost to themselves with all four regents of the Courts sacrificing their lives working together to erect a barrier around faerie itself. Since then it is custom that all four Courts share the guarding of these places, each ruler sending a contingent of their best and brightest, both in terms of warriors and in other skills.     With the shift of each season the elemental Courts take turns sharing the power of human dreams. Spring’s dream power is linked to fresh growth, renewal and hope, rather like many of the human customs attached to the season. Summer’s dream power is a thing of heady passion, sharp temper and at times recklessness and certainly a lot of skin. Autumn’s dream power settles, becoming a time of bounty, change and reflection. And Winter’s dreaming is a time of peace, of softer, slower times, while cherishing both the darkness of the season and the light found within it.