Did it disappear to another plain? Did all fairies in Mystara disappear also? Did they go to exile?
I have a feeling that wood imps are building a new "twisted" court in Alfheim-Aengmor, where the Dreamlands used to be - but what happened to the rest of the woodland creatures?
As for your idea of a twisted fairy court, I like it. It may have been created as a result of the Fall of Alfheim, but may also have been much older. Check out Castle Falkenstein RPG or GURPS Castle Falkenstein for some cool ideas about Fairy Seelie and Unseelie Courts. And let us see what you've got
Havard
I don't think there is any canon material published on this subject so I guess you'd go with what sounds logical to you (or your DM :D ). I too would be interested in what everyone thinks about fairies in Post-WotI. BTW, I like that twisted court idea.
Originally posted by havard
[b]
Check out Castle Falkenstein RPG or GURPS Castle Falkenstein for some cool ideas about Fairy Seelie and Unseelie Courts. And let us see what you've got
Well, I can't get my hands on Falkenstein, so I'll have to try by myself... Here are my first thoughts concerning the Wood Imp Court in Aengmor. Please leave comments and suggestions. It would be of great help.
As mentioned in Tall Tales of the Wee Folk, the wood imps collaborated with the Shadow Elves in their quest to conquer Alfehim. After the fall of Alfheim, the Shadow Elves gave the wood imps a semi-autonomous state in Aengmor. The wood imps established their court in the former Dreamland, renaming it Lolach-Lomod - which means "Never Dream Again" in the wood-imp tongue. The imps' spiders have woven their webs all around the dead trees of Lolach-Lomod, so that from a distance the trees actually seem in full white blossom. Only when a traveller comes closer, does he see the true death and decay. For this reason, the Shadow Elves call the place "The Woven Wood".
Since the wood imps have never experienced any social structure more complicated than a small tribe, the new court is highly unstable. Since its foundation in 1011 AC, four monarchs have already been assasinated. The current Ard Ri (the wood imps stole the title from the fairies, among other things) is Queen Lyzza. Other characters of note are her three husbands - Padrig, Gregahr and Kruumz (a.k.a Krispin, a self-polymorphed pixie spy); Rouhazin - the Great Shaman; and Jahak - the wood imp embassador at Tanadaleyo's court. The court is assembled every new moon - when the moon cannot be seen at all - and traditionally begins with a mock "fairy" circle-dance, which usually develops into violent orgies.
The bad magic point of Stalkbrow is considered sacred to the imps, and all coronation rites are conducted there by the Great Shaman. Afterwords, the imps travel on their spiders to Lolach-Lomod in a grand royal procession. The event is highly anarchic and carnivalesque in nature, and the conservative Shadow Elves truly hate it. In fact, the elves feel extremely uncomfortable with the imps' chaotic lives. The imps simply reply that these are "the ways of the wood". The problem is that young Shadow Elves are starting to believe this point, and beginning to lead highly scandalous lifestyles. The imps are becoming a real problem to the Shadow Elves - and some of them want to throw them out of the Canolbarth.
The problem is that since the bad magic points are stronger and stronger (for which the Shadow Elves are all to blame), Stalkbrow is generating more and more imps. The wood imps are becoming quite powerful in Aengmor - and driving them out might be not that easy. Besides their spiders, the imps have one more strong ally - the evil treant, Travertis (see PC1 for details), which might be an immortal by now.
One last thing. The woven trees of Lolach-Lomod are magical. A person caught in them starts to dream and see wonderful visions of the past fairy court. There is no harm in that - but the victim is stuck in such a blissful state, s/he doesn't notice the great spiders approaching...
That's all I have for now. Please help me flesh it out!
I would also have included:
* Hags of all sorts. They will be attracted by such a reqion. And at least IMC Hags are considered to be evil faires.
* Undead Treants. The Dead Forest of Alfheim is just begging for such creatures.
* Any other ideas for evil fairies?
Havard
I was always thinking Nyx would get involved here ... its a grand place for an experiment in some form of Entropic ecology ...
That would go quite easily go hand in hand with the Undead Treant idea.
Also, I think Nyx would serve as an ideal sponsor for a Mystaran Unseelie Fairy Court.
Havard
Originally posted by havard
I think Nyx would serve as an ideal sponsor for a Mystaran Unseelie Fairy Court.
Havard
Yeah .... it kind of has "Nyx" written all over it, doesn't it ...
I love the hags - I'll try to read more info about them and flesh them out.
The Undead Treants are awesome. They could be a really powerful force. It also works well with my plans for Travestis' role in the court - although now that Nyx is in the picture, maybe it should be reconsidered: Travestis is still on his path for immortality - and Nyx might be his patron. The Undead Treants are her legions, and she also has some kind of control over the Wood Imp court (direct? indirect? of what kind exactly?). If the Shadow Elves would want to throw the imps out of the Canolbarth - they will find it quite difficult indeed.
Another thought: with Nyx on the one hand, Tanadaleyo on the other, a wood Imp queen, and all those hags around - it seems that feminine power plays a vital role in the struggle over the forest. It makes sense to me. Maybe it should be even more emphasized.
Now, regarding the evil fairies:
One option is the Redcap - an evil Brownie. But i'm not sure how to integrate them here, since they are highly anti-social. In any case, there are probably several redcaps around - haunting old elven and fairy buildings and monuments.
There is another option, which is more far-fetched: PC1 mentions in passing the underground fairy kingdom of Annwn. From PC1 it is quite obvious that the fairies of Annwn aren't "dark" - and that the relationship between Annwn and Oberon's court is far from being hostile.
But this is not stated explicitly. What if Annwn is located in the Shadow Elves Territories? Maybe the underground fairies may serve as a fairy equivalent for the Shadow Elves. Perhaps some of them even participated in the invasion.
That might be an option for a whole society of evil fairies integrated into the former Canolbarth.
I did have a question though. Does the Week/Day of Dread affect the fairies at all?
Originally posted by Hugin
I did have a question though. Does the Week/Day of Dread affect the fairies at all?
Well, I don't know the details of the Day of Dread that well, but I think that since the source of fairy magic is Nature - it should be treated something like Druidic magic.
Any help?
Havard
(Isn't it quite amusing to imagine fairies stuck in the middle of the Land of Black Sand?)
How do you understand the fact that Fairie and the Spirit World are the same plane? Are fairies and spirits the same thing? Different manifestations of the same entity? Closely related (but different) beings?
Oops! forgot to reply on this one!
The Fairy/Spirit connection was something I got from someone on the MML ages ago. Basically the way I see it, there are lots of different spirit creatures, fairies being one kind. Different cultures have different types of creatures, but they have lots of similarities, and hail from the same realm. Creatures of the different types, tend to stay close to cultures associated with them. The Athruagini and Ethengars have nature spirits, the Northmen have their own (not unlike Fairies), Elves have fairies, Dwarves have Kobold-like pranksters, Gnomes have the Gremlins...
(Isn't it quite amusing to imagine fairies stuck in the middle of the Land of Black Sand?)
Hehe, yeah, the spirits of the LoBS should remain Yak-spirits and the like I suppose...
Havard
I was beginning to feel like the most ignored user...;)
Thanks for the reply, Havard! I was beginning to feel like the most ignored user...;)
Hehe.
Sorry dude. I dont know why I forgot to reply to that one. I've always found the concepts of spirits and fairies very interesting. The World of Fairie has always played an important role in my campaigns, especially the last one where one of the PCs eventually became a servant of Oberon. Also, I have always wanted to include a Shaman Class in my D&D campaign. I have been looking for a version that could fit both the Athruagin Shamani and the Ethengar Shaman, as these two arent really that different...
Havard
Can you tell me more about that campaign? The one with the PC turning into Oberon's servant?
Can you tell me more about that campaign? The one with the PC turning into Oberon's servant?
Can you tell me more about that campaign? The one with the PC turning into Oberon's servant?
I'm interested too!
Can you tell me more about that campaign? The one with the PC turning into Oberon's servant?Thats a long story. It is from my last Karameikos campaign, which lasted about 6 years of real time. A central element of the campaign was the realm of Haven, described as a land on the border between Fairie and Karameikos. This planar connection had been created a milennia ago after an agreement between Halav and Oberon, during the Gnoll invasions. The guardian of the pact, and thus Watcher of Haven, was a mythical figure known as the Seer. Through the manipulations of a dark hag, one of the PCs, Mikhail, was forced into murdering the Seer.
Upon being taken to trial for this murder in the Courts of Fairie, Oberon, feeling slightly chaotic that day, decided that since Mikhail had killed the Seer in a just battle he could chose to take the Seers place. Accepting this, Mikhail, now the new Seer, was allowed to return to Karameikos in time to aid his friends in preventing an attack by the forces of Arik. But that is another story.
An early writeup of the Seer, that I did, can be found at
http://dnd.starflung.com/seerlake.html
A description of Haven by James Mishler can be found at:
http://dnd.starflung.com/haven.html
My own version of Haven was inspired by this, although I made a few alterations and extrapolations to make it fit with my own ideas.
Havard
If I ever get around to doing more with my Isle of Dawn work, I planned on setting up an Unseelie Court in the forests of the Shadow Coast.
I always figured Oberon's court up and moved to the Isle
of Dawn, to the leprechaun kingdom there (mentioned in PC1). I set the leprechaun kingdom in the province of Redstone (look at all the Welsh fae type names there).
This makes alot of sense. OTOH, I suspect Oberons Castle is located in Fairie and that he has several smaller castles at various locations on Mystara. I agree that the Fairie connection to the Isle of Dawn should be strong though, as should Robrenn on the Savage Coast.
If I ever get around to doing more with my Isle of Dawn work, I planned on setting up an Unseelie Court in the forests of the Shadow Coast.
Looking forward to seeing what you've got!
Havard
I believe the offical rule was that they were tucked in a little suspended dimension. Talk about a 'oops, no idea' answer.
Looking at the fall of Alfheim there are two obvious possibilities:
1. If CM6(?) The Tree of Life has been played then the Sylvan Realm is now the main Elvish community and they would probably re-locate there.
2) If CM6 was not played (or they lost) then the immortals would re-create the Alfheim community inside the Hollow World. All major (and some not-so) civilisations that fail get transplanted, so the elves would have for sure. Yes, a lot survived, but their way of life did not, which is what gets re-created.
In this case then the Faeries would now have a gateway to there (yes I know dimensional travel does not work, but if the immortals can open a gateway to Fire in there (the sun) they could open one here as well).
Kheldren
PS Personally I do not like the 'ex-immortals of the entropy spheres' idea - it does not fit with anything else in D&D.
PPS Personal Thoery - no way could the Shadow Elves have defeated Alfheim, even with Ilsundal (who's name I can never spell) distracted, however if they managed to break the spells maintaining the rainfall then the elves would probably abandon Alfheim anyway - it is doomed.
PPPS With the spells maintaining Alfheim broken (and the Norwold elves will not have the knowledge to re-establish them) then Ylaruam is in for a BIG shock. All the rain that used to make Nithia fertile is coming back - probably not to flood the desert though, all those tunnels underneath Ylaruam are about to get somewhat waterfilled though!
Originally posted by Kheldren
PPPS With the spells maintaining Alfheim broken (and the Norwold elves will not have the knowledge to re-establish them) then Ylaruam is in for a BIG shock. All the rain that used to make Nithia fertile is coming back - probably not to flood the desert though, all those tunnels underneath Ylaruam are about to get somewhat waterfilled though!
so you're suggesting that al-Kalim perhaps had a hand in all this too, making sure the shadow elf invasion happenend
Originally posted by stanles
so you're suggesting that al-Kalim perhaps had a hand in all this too, making sure the shadow elf invasion happenend
Quite the reverse if anything actually. I would think the last thing Al-Kalim would want would be for Ylaruam to be plagued by all of Barimoor's monsters looking for somewhere dry...
That said, since he is a very new immortal, I think it very likely he would simply not know that it is Ilsundal's (I'm at home so I can check spelling
) spell that is keeping Ylaruam dry!I just feel that the official line of Ilsundal being distracted meant that Rafiel could help the Shadow Elves strike is a bit weak when Mealiden and
from Gaz5 he sits at Ilsundal's back and guards his predecessor while Ilsundal guards his people.
If Ilsundal is busy elsewhere Mealiden will be watching over Alfheim. The only way I can see the invasion working so completely is for Mealiden to have missed the strike on the magic until too late, at which point Alfheim is doomed, and there would be little point defending it.
All that said I had not considered Al-Kalim at all, and so perhaps you are right and he did plan it this way - but it has just backfired terribly! Note - if you want areason for the Kin faction to suddenly become dominant in Ylaruam and make them really mistrustful of foreigners the swarm of monsters from below will do nicely.
Kheldren
PS Personally I do not like the 'ex-immortals of the entropy spheres' idea - it does not fit with anything else in D&D.
I totally agree with this. For one thing, I think the whole idea of "the Entropic Immortals weren't punished (ie, they still remain, though weakened, but are allowed to function perfectly well in the multiverse), but the Immortals that didn't take sides are locked away forever" doesn't sit well with me. I can see the idea of punishing those who don't choose sides (very biblical) but then the Entropics should have been punished as well- either forcing them to relocate elsewhere (maybe the Nightmare Material Plane) or being locked away like the Neutral Immortals.
Add to that the fact that there are- literally- thousands of Fey creatures of all sizes and shapes... maybe millions, and yet there are- what? Hundreds of Immortals? At best? Where did all these Fey Immortals come from?
No, my own personal theory is that the Neutral Immortals locked themselves away from the madness of the embattling Entropics and Non-Entropics, into the "Neutral" "In-between" realm of the Spirit World... which brings me to my own cosmology, in brief:
I use a form of the Doppel Cosmology from the MotP (3rd edition). The Normal Material Plane (where the PCs are from) is separated from the Nightmare Material Plane (ie, the Nightmare "dimension") by the Spirit Plane (there is no Shadow Plane in my cosmology). The Astral Plane is coterminous with all of these, but that is it- each Material plane has its own Ethereal and Elemental planes. The only way to get from one to the other is via the Spirit Plane or the Astral Plane.
Anyway, back to my theory about the Fairies. The "Neutral" Immortals locked themselves away in the Spirit Plane to cut themselves off from the squabbles of the other Immortals. There, they gave birth over time to the various Spirit creatures. Some of these Spirit creatures eventually crossed over to the two Material Planes and resulted in the Fey creatures we now know- those that ended up in the Normal Material became the Seelie Court, those that ended up in the Nightmare became the Unseelie Court. Over time, the story of the Fey creatures has become distorted so that it is now told that they are the Neutral Immortals, reincarnated over time.
Anyway, just my 2... hey, I just noticed there is no "cents" key on the keyboard anymore. Rassimfrassim....
hey, I just noticed there is no "cents" key on the keyboard anymore.
You mean this?
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(Alt + 0162)
Originally posted by Cthulhudrew
Add to that the fact that there are- literally- thousands of Fey creatures of all sizes and shapes... maybe millions, and yet there are- what? Hundreds of Immortals? At best? Where did all these Fey Immortals come from?
Well, I always thought that there were several original immortal souls who "split" over the generations into more and more fairies.
I think that's how many reincarnation theories work.
Wood Imps indeed worship Yaga, as well as Nyx. In fact, their society is a matriachal one - reflecting the central place of female immortals in their theology (or the closest thing to theology Wood Imps have). Many Wood Imps actually beleive their queen to be an embodiment of Yaga.
However, a small sect of Wood Imps beleive otherwise. Lead by the crazy prophetess Nagila, they see the Shadow Elf princess Tanadaleyo as the one and true embodiment of Yaga. After all, it is she who liberated the forest, drove the fairies out - and allowed the establishment of Lolach-Lomod.
So there is a whole Tanadaleyo cult spreading around the Wood Imps. They send her gifts, mak pilgrimage to her palace - and worship her in their own unique Wood-Impish way.
Needless to say, the Shadow Elves are utterly preplexed by the phenomena. And Tanadaleyo is... well... confused.
the tie-in between the Wood-Imps and Yaga sounds good. Yaga was actually made up with inspiration from your Unseelie Court, although Nyx may be a better leader for their "pantheon" than Yaga.
Who would be the servants of the Unseelie Court?
Some ideas:
* Hags (although never officially linked with fairies, I think they fit perfectly).
* Wood Imps
* Red Caps
* Wicked Pixies/Sprites. Evil versions of these guys.
* Dark Dryads. Think dryads with razor sharp teeth who eat their captured victims.
* Feral Satyrs. Even more Beastlike Fauns, with large horns, making them seem even more demonlike. Hmmm...isnt there a race called Korrans who may fill this role?
* Evil variants of all other fey races such as Pooka, Sidhe, Leprechauns etc.
Other ideas?
Havard
And as for more followers of Yaga:
How about a secret Belcadiz sect of witches?
But what sounds more interesting to me is: Alfheim Elves. A small minority of them - disappointed from Ilsundal, after the fall of ther homeland, turned away from him. Maybe the settled in the Dymrak - where they encountered the power of Yaga. They are in great dispair - and Yaga offers them new spiritual answers in their shattered world.