The Fey

The Fey stem directly from the Spirit of All Things, with their existence being the purest manifestation of the fundamental supernatural force of the universe known as the Anima, the force that grants the ability to "be" to all things that are. As a result, they are considered to be the oldest existences that the inhabitants of this world have ever encountered or heard about, having come in to being when the concept of existing came into being.

Much as the Anima cannot be destroyed or transmuted into something not Anima, the presence of the Fae in the known world is one that cannot ever be eradicated entirely. As a collective species, The Fey are truly immortal, becoming more apparent when one considers the various, more esoteric and godlike Archfey. As Anima just is, so the Fey simply are.

The Anima
Anima is a fundamental force of the universe, the fundamental force responsible for life, and that force which gives rise to the concept of the aura of an Awakened Sage, the lifeforce of living things, and the general variety found in various lifeforms both mundane and extramundane. This fundamental force shapes everything and is the source of every concept that has the ability to possess life, and the existence of this fundamental force is said to stem from what is referred to as the Spirit of All Things.

However, life, as generated by Anima and thus as the Fae perceive it is far beyond what most mortals would understand or typically regard as an extension of life. While most are incapable of coming to terms with this particular perspective, it is the Anima that breathes life into everything in existence, it is the Anima that pushes objects out of the Root of All Things and into existence. The Anima breathes life both into the animate and the inanimate, bringing forth concepts such as free will, sentience, innate vitality, but at the same time, allows for the characterization of various things in the universe, as it is the Anima that breathes properties into formless nothingness, infusing them as well with a unique essence. For example, it is the Anima that give a rock it's form, it's composition, it's texture, it's weight, these things are enveloped in the "life" of the object.

Life to the Fey and as given by the Anima is in actuality the ability to "be", and what exactly the thing given life by the Anima is may vary wildly, giving rise to the natural world. The Fey themselves, as the manifestations, self-appointed arbiters, embodiments and simultaneous progenitors of the Anima as beings composed of and originating from the Spirit of All Things have a judiciary system that governs and restricts how and where the Anima influences the material world, preserving a natural balance. Everything that the Anima has influenced can be broken down into permutations and different combinations of the original concepts the Anima first gave rise to, and it is these inner concepts that form the Inner Houses of the Court of Stars. Within the Green Fey, the Sea Lords, and the Gloaming Fey, there exist subdivisions of Fey that represent the interests of these original concepts within their factions and the Grander Court of Stars.

Realm of Origin
The Fey are considered to originate from what scholars hypothesize as a plane of existence predating the split of the world into the Valiant Sphere and Purgatory as known today. The true name of this realm is currently unknown. Over various interactions with the Wyldfae, historians have noted that everytime they are asked as to where they come from the fey in question gives them a different name. However, the common repeating names include but are not limited to Arcadia, Avalon, the Feywild and The First World. It is not Valiant Sphere, so it is considered to be in Purgatory, though it is not any location that one can traverse to by any conventional means in Purgatory. Despite the immense power of the Archfey, it is said that within their realm they are even more powerful than they boast on Earth, with an attempt to attack an Archfey in their realm being the same as subjecting yourself to a million fates worse than death.

Avalon however is the name that scholars typically utilize to refer to their realm of origin, and is considered to potentially be the same as the Spirit of All Things in one sense or another. Not much is known about it except for the fact that it appears to have it's own flora and fauna, as Tiandra claims to govern the Emerald Forests of the Summer Court.

Non-Uniformity
The Fey unlike most entries within what would be the Legion's database of creatures stemming from Purgatory do not exhibit a categorical homogeneity in appearance and other such traits due to the nature of a Fey's Form and Heritage being extremely multifarious. A common misconception, the term Fey does not refer to a singular type of entity that can be readily identified through physical observation, but rather creatures with a common origin.

While there are major characteristics that can be identified in each example of a Fey creature, in Dominion, Prominence, and Heritage, these are qualities that also stem from the common origin of all Fey. Without even considering the fundamental distinction between Court Fey and Wyldfae, which will be addressed shortly, the Fey come in all shapes and sizes in such a manner that it may possibly be more useful for human researchers to further divide the Fey into subcategories for the purpose of gaining any true insight on any group of individuals (e.g fairies, dryads, nymphs).

Wyldfae
As mentioned above, there exists a fundamental difference between those Fey of the Court and the Wyldfae. The Wyldfae are those most similar to that of the mortal races, possessing a corporeal form and a concept of mortality like the ordinary mortal races. While still possessing their supernatural abilities capable of affecting

Hierarchy

 * Archfey: Archfey were fey beings who gained or inherently possessed nearly god-like powers over the Anima and established a position of preeminence among fey-kind. Each archfey had a unique appearance and set of abilities, most controlled a portion of Avalon. These are the rarest among the rarely seen Fey.
 * Noble Fey/Fey Lords:
 * Common Fey (Ranked According to Positions in Court)

The Court of Stars
Predominantly, the Fey as a species are divided into a highly structured political-judiciary system known as the Court of Stars, which is presided over and hosted by the Queen of Light Tiandra, the mightiest of the Archfey, and the closest thing to an ally of humanity within the Court. As manifestations and embodiment of the Anima of the universe, the structure of the Court of Stars is vast and ever changing, with innumerable distinctions and divisions present within it's composition representing the potentially infinite forms that the Anima is capable of taking As a result the full complexity of the Court of Stars can only be completely understood by a member of the Fey, as only they possess the knowledge required to understand and navigate the constantly shifting political landscape that is the Court of Stars in its grandest state.

However, among and above these divisions are the High Houses of the Court of Stars, the primordial Houses from which all other subdivisions of the Court are born. Typically, it is not at all uncommon for Archfey claim multiple of these High Houses as their heritage. As the Court of Stars reflects the distribution of Anima throughout the world/universe, the High Houses of the Court of Stars echo the major distinct domains and concepts that the Anima has shaped most predominantly. These High Houses are as follows:


 * ​​​​​​​The House of Arcana: The House of Arcana is perhaps the most mysterious and most elusive of all of the High Houses of the Court of Stars, and govern the more esoteric and mystical manifestations of the Anima. Possessing the smallest population of the High Houses, these Fey are exceptionally magically gifted, and are some of the rare Fey to possess actual mystical talent. However, for the most part this House also has the smallest number of Wyldfae that claim this house as their heritage, and as such, Wyldfae are predominantly categorized as Danger Beasts. Despite the attempts of the House of Arcana to limit the number of Anima wielding spell-casters in the mortal world, over time, there has been a very slow but steady increase in the number of these individuals for reasons the Court tracks to an anomaly associated with the split of the world into the Valiant Sphere and Purgatory. These Fey research the mystical world and observe the developments of the mortal races, and are the spokespeople on the potential impact of specific magics on the Earth. These Fey have been said to appear once to the Delacroix, purely out of curiosity, never to be witnessed again.
 * The House of Dreams: The living embodiment of chance and chaos, tricksters, artists and all across the spectrum. Constantly evolving they don't even try to hold on to any form of permanence, thriving in change and newness.  The members of The High House of Dreams are each extremely unique as to the point where non-Fey would never guess they were ever of the same House.  Although they embody chaos and change, they uphold it in all its productive ways, evolution and progression; not in its detrimental forms of mindless destruction and regression.  Even when at war they think of it as putting an end to one stunted tree to allow a new one to grow.  Out with the old, in with the new.
 * The House of Hunt: Representing the concept responsible for predation's existence in the natural world, the Fey of the High House of the Hunt govern and represent to the Court of Stars the currently established Circle of Life, bringing forth and discussing with the Court of Stars any matter that may threaten the current balance. The more intellectual of the House of Hunt work alongside the House of Stars and the House of Seasons typically to look over the food webs and food chains that exist in the natural world. The House of Hunt is largely composed of Fey associated with the Gloaming Faction, and hold a pack like system based on the individual power each member wields.
 * The House of Seasons:
 * ​​​​​​​The Summer Court: The House of Summer is like the younger more "natural" brother to The High House of War. The members of The House of Summer embody Vitality, Aggression and Confidence.  Dressed in golds, reds and yellows and blacks mimicking the warning colors of nature.  Always looking for a challenge and ways to assert their dominance members of The House of Summer can typically be found challenging each other in physical contest or sparring.
 * The Winter Court: The sombre House of Winter embodies the Cold, Emotionless, Eternal and Undying nature of Winter. Dressed in whites, grays, blacks and blues the members of The House of Winter externally seem to experience no emotion but disdain for all but the most stoic and difficult of achievements.  The House of Winter of all the seasonal Houses most embodies the "survival of the fittest" motto.  Putting a high value on their individual ability, the smaller the tribe or congregation as well as the more dangerous the location it is the more respectable it is.
 * The Fall Court: The House of Fall embodies the Courageous walk to death, the Contest of the Hunt, and the acceptance of Death. Dressed in dark oranges, yellows, greens and browns.  Although not as sombre and taciturn as the members of The House of Winter, members of The House of Fall seem to experience emotion in a much more muted sense.  Some have found that members of The House of Fall are the most akin to the thought processes and emotional spectrums as mortals.
 * The Spring Court: The members of The House of Spring embody Growth, Renewal, and Hope. Dressed in vibrant colors they are a happy and exciting bunch to spend time with.  Like all Fey the members of The House of Spring feel all emotions strongly but they try to bring humor and joy to every moment.  Even in the midst of war, find joy in the little things, like the glint of blood or your own prowess.
 * The House of War: The Fey of War are hot blooded, adrenaline fueled masters of the art of killing. Taking each other up in bets and challenges to push each other to better heights of combat skill. For training those of The House of War travel through the High Houses making formal declarations of War (which may be declined as is polite) to continuously hone their abilities and to test the abilities of their brethren Fey. The members of The House typically bear incredible curses or weighted unwieldy less effective weapons to strengthen themselves, but also to handicap themselves. The House of War has been known to be commanded to curse mortals when the Court considers their intervention necessary, or on behalf of the Archfey.
 * The House of Dusk:
 * The House of Stars: The House of Stars represent and embody the tendency towards innovation, invention, and thus science that exists within the world brought forth by the Anima. The Fey of this House studies the world, creating mathematical equations governing the Anima and it's nature in the world, being the researchers. They are considered to be fundamentally linked to the faction that can be but is not currently in existence, the Iron House, responsible for the development of technology capable of strong artificial intelligence. The scientific understanding of the House of Stars is unparalleled, and it is said that they are responsible for every Greenheart developing a penchant for philosophy that grows as they do. They observe and report the developments of mortal races back to the Court.

Factions
The Factions reflect the combinations of each of the concepts represented by the inner houses that give rise to the main forms of life present on Earth. The three major factions of the Fey are as listed below:


 * The Green Fey:
 * The Sea Lords: Highly correlated with the Winter Court. The Winter Court is in a sense a subset of the Sea Lord faction.
 * The Gloaming Fey:

Disposition

 * Seelie:
 * Unseelie:

Etiquette

 * 1) Odd numbers are good karma/luck, even numbers are bad karma/luck.
 * 2) Don't accept a gift from the fey.
 * 3) Don't consume the food or drink of the Feywild.
 * 4) Never dance with a fey.
 * 5) Never tell a fey your full name.
 * 6) Never stray from a path in the Feywild.
 * 7) Use your manners, but don't say "thank you" (or you owe them)
 * 8) Don't give a Fey (cheap) clothing
 * 9) Always keep your word.
 * 10) Don't repay more than you borrowed.

Dominion
Dominion refers to the natural right to influence the world inherent to the Fey, and is a power possessed by every Fey regardless of alignment, allegiance, subspecies, disposition or nature. A Dominion refers to the capacity of the Fey to influence the Anima to manifest feats that appear to rival the greatest of magics, if not appear to approach reality warping altogether. The most powerful of Archfey are capable of influencing the Anima to such an extent that they can demonstrate and manifest "godlike power" over creation, demonstrating the capacity to warp the expression of the Anima on a fundamental level encoded within a particular region and modify it to fit their needs. While the Archfey typically tend to have vast and expansive Dominions, having such an extensive affinity with the Anima that they can accomplish feats that may not be typically associated with their allegiances, most Fey typically have a tendency to specialize in achieving a particular phenomenon or in some instances a range of phenomena.

Most of the time, for normal Fey, these particular Dominions draw power from or are related to the faction or the House of the Court of Stars that the particular Fey are most attuned to. Even for Archfey, their Dominions appear to be more attuned to or alternatively the Archfey prefer utilizing their Dominions to achieve specific groups of phenomenon, even though these Archfey are capable of achieving far more than the average Fae Folk. The Dominion of a Fey also comes with a secondary purpose that is directly connected to another characteristic of the Fey, referred to as a Fey's Heritage.

Prominence
Prominence refers to the ability of those that boast a Heritage that can be traced back to the original group of Fey that came into existence at a point in causality (separate from time) that the Fey refer to as the Genesis. These Fey, referred to as the Anonymous (wip name), possessing the ability of Prominence have demonstrated the ability to seemingly fabricate from naught but pure thought powerful supernatural weapons that surpass that which can be crafted by mortal hands. Typically, these weapons were formed from the essence of each individual Fey as if they were extensions of his or her own body.

However, the particularly adept Fey have demonstrated the ability to construct artifacts that embody a specific thought, concept or idea as perceived by them. As an artifact created by the Prominence of a member of the Fae Folk themselves, these artifacts are inscribed with what are referred to as Fairy Letters, a highly advanced Sylvan cipher engraved on it to indicate the fact that these artifacts originate from the Prominence of a Fey. In essence, this becomes the ability of a Fey to crystallize a concept into an artifact, creating (name in progress). These are armaments not created by human hands, artifacts defined as a god or a "comparable being". They are armaments that surpass human limits and hold tremendous power.

While the Fey are not the only such beings capable of producing this, they are one of the most famous for being able to do so.

Heritage
Heritage refers to the inherent abilities of a Fey given by what is referred to as the Form of the Fey, a term that is best understood as the subspecies of Fey under consideration. It refers to the physical abilities and biological characteristics of such a Fey, such as wings, supernatural senses, and supernatural abilities that might not be characterized as the ability's stemming from one's Dominion or one's Prominence.

Forms
The Fey are sufficiently diverse that attempting to catalogue them all is an effort in futility, as among the Fey there are creatures of all different shapes and sizes, and at times even levels of sentience. The Form of a Fey refers to their particular subspecies, which may or may not be categorizable with other types of Fey. Ranging from dryads, hamadryads, nymphs and the like (the kin of Verenestra), to pixies and other sprites, even to hags and fairy grandmothers, due to the multifarious nature of the Fae Folk it is theorized that is possible for one to have ancestry of Fey lineage without any overt physical characteristics to indicate such.