Fey

Arcadia

This plane goes by many names: the first world, the fey wilderness, and others. It is a verdant and chaotic plane coterminous to the mortal world, resembling a vast primordial forest or jungle overflowing with colossal trees and brilliant colors. Within this realm the power of creation runs very strong. Natives become infused with magic, and many are insane by mortal standards. The laws of reality are also different, and the ignorant who venture here often become lost — or dead — because of them. Many strange creatures owe their origins to Arcadia, and some have migrated into the mortal realm over millennia: gnomes, plant monsters, giant primordial animals, certain Chymerics, a wide variety of nature spirits, and true fey.

Sentivores

The unifying trait of all true fey is that they require both food and psychic energy to survive. The occult term for these beings is "sentivores" — they feed on thought. Every fey has a set of two to five emotions that nourish it, and it seeks to inspire those feelings in others by instinct. Intelligent fey can resist the impulse, but it is never far from mind. It is best to think of this thirst like an addiction. A starving fey will often try to force emotions onto others so it can feed. Fey that feed on positive emotions — love, pride, gratitude, inspiration, humor — are called Seelie. Those that feed on negative emotions like anger, sadness, envy, guilt, or anxiety are called Unseelie. Those that feed on death-related emotions like pain, terror, and despair are called Shadelings, and because they crave the same dark feelings as fiends they are sometimes found in their company. Many fey are shapeshifters.

Archfey

The faerie realm is ruled by a collection of unique and powerful demigods called archfey. These alien beings are divided into four courts that wax and wane in activity according to the season. Summer and Spring are considered Seelie Courts, while Fall and Winter are Unseelie Courts. Despite their mild animosity, the courts do not wage war on one another. Instead they engage in an endless series of contests, tourneys, wagers, hunts, festivals, affairs, and labyrinthine intrigues. Mortals who get caught up in these events can expect a wild ride, rich rewards, and probably death.

Weird Wilderness

Most of Faerie teems with dangerous and capricious creatures, barbaric tribes, and weird magical phenomena. The natives fear crossing the archfey and their servants, but those domains are comparatively small. Beyond them, the law of the jungle prevails. Accidental visitors can expect to get lost, cursed, coaxed by the fey into doing things that inspire certain emotions, and eventually eaten by horrible beasts or blood-drinking plants — not necessarily in that order. Finding a way back out is hard without powerful magic.

The archfey divide their attentions among four seasonal courts. Activity rises and falls with the year, and a court’s influence over mortal lands can be felt long before any of its servants are seen.

Spring

A Seelie court of beginnings, courtship, and reckless growth. Spring fey delight in inspiration, infatuation, and the giddy thrill of new things; their entertainments tend toward festivals, masques, and ill-advised vows.

Summer

A Seelie court of pride, prowess, and high revel. Summer fey feed on triumph, valor, and the rush of contest; their tourneys and hunts are the most glittering — and the most lethal — events in Arcadia.

Fall

An Unseelie court of regret, envy, and slow ruin. Fall fey savor melancholy, longing, and the sweet sting of grievance; their wagers and labyrinthine intrigues tend to leave mortals undone in ways they barely understand.

Winter

An Unseelie court of cold appetite and patient cruelty. Winter fey feed on fear, despair, and the silence after a scream; their hunts shade closest to the Shadeling end of fey nature, and walk easily with fiends.

The source entry for Fey is currently a thematic overview of Arcadia, the sentivore nature of true fey, the archfey courts, and the wilderness beyond. Individual fey stat blocks — pixies, dryads, redcaps, hags, the cu’sidhe, and the archfey themselves — are not yet published here. When they appear in the source they will be added to this page using the same stat-block format used across the rest of the bestiary.

In the meantime, the Fae wolf variant on the Beasts page (cu’sidhe) gives a sense of how a fey-touched creature is statted in this system.