The Fae
Children of the Otherworld
Beautiful. Capricious. Ancient. Enchanting. Terrifying.
For as long as humanity has told stories of strange lights in the forest, voices calling from beneath the hills, beautiful strangers appearing at crossroads, mysterious gifts left upon doorsteps, and children who seemed somehow different from the moment they were born, the Fae have been there.
The Fae are an ancient supernatural race originating from an otherworldly dimension that exists alongside Earth. Their realm is a place of impossible beauty and equally impossible danger, filled with enchanted forests, sprawling mountains, underground caverns, shimmering oceans, ancient ruins, and landscapes that obey rules entirely different from those of the human world.
For centuries, the Fae have crossed between their realm and Earth through naturally occurring magical portals.
Some came simply to explore or seeking adventure. Others came to trade, some came to create. Some came to help humanity and others came to cause trouble. In 1960, the Seelie Fae Queen and Unseelie Fae King decided to go public with the existence of the fae, and set up their courts in Gravesbury Park, from which they rule over all fae in Gravesbury and all over the human world and the fae realm alike.
The Fae are not inherently good or evil. They are creatures of instinct, emotion, nature, magic, curiosity, and contradiction. A Fae may be extraordinarily compassionate one moment and infuriatingly mischievous the next. Another may genuinely love humanity while regarding humans as little more than amusing toys.
Their morality is simply not always human morality.
For centuries, Fae civilization has been divided between two great political and supernatural powers:
The Seelie Court, associated with spring and summer.
The Unseelie Court, associated with autumn and winter.
Although the two Courts have wildly different philosophies, neither can simply be described as either entirely "good" or "evil."
The Seelie are generally associated with growth, beauty, creativity, fertility, warmth, celebration, healing, generosity, and life.
The Unseelie are generally associated with decay, darkness, death, hunger, cruelty, winter, destruction, fear, and predation.
Yet individual Fae do not necessarily conform perfectly to the Court with which they are affiliated.
A Seelie Fae can be selfish, cruel, deceptive, or dangerous.
An Unseelie Fae can be kind, compassionate, protective, or genuinely loving.
The Courts represent broad philosophies and supernatural traditions rather than absolute moral alignments.
At the head of each Court sits an ancient Sidhe monarch.
The Seelie Court is ruled by a Sidhe Queen, while the Unseelie Court is ruled by an Unseelie Sidhe King.
Together, they possess enormous influence over Fae civilization, including Fae living within their own realm and those who have crossed over into the human world.
The Fae Realm
The Fae realm exists alongside Earth, accessible through magical portals scattered throughout the supernatural world.
It is not simply another country or continent. It is another dimension. Distance, time, geography, and natural law can behave strangely there.
The Fae realm contains countless environments and territories, including enchanted forests, underground kingdoms, enormous mountain ranges, mysterious oceans, caves, marshes, deserts, gardens, ruins, and cities belonging to various Fae peoples.
Every species and subspecies of Fae has its own traditions, customs, abilities, and relationship with the Courts.
Some have remained entirely within the Fae realm.
Others have spent centuries living among humans.
The Fae Among Humans
Fae have been visiting the human realm for essentially as long as Fae civilization has existed.
Throughout human history, they have wandered through forests, explored mountains, sailed oceans, ventured into caves, observed human settlements, and interacted with human beings.
Some Fae stayed only for a few hours. Others remained for decades. Some never returned home.
Over the centuries, Fae became increasingly fascinated by humanity. Human civilization was strange to them.
Humans created things simply because they could.
They painted, sculpted, wrote poetry, composed music, built enormous cities, they told stories and they invented machines and technology.
Many Fae found this irresistible.
Glamour
Glamour is an innate magical ability possessed by all fae, allowing them to conceal their true appearance beneath a supernatural illusion and take on virtually any appearance they desire. A faerie can use glamour to alter their hairstyle and hair colour, eye colour, complexion, facial features, apparent age, height, and body shape. More advanced glamour can completely transform how a faerie appears, making them look like an entirely different person.
The illusion can even alter their apparent sex and gender presentation, allowing a faerie to appear masculine, feminine, androgynous, or anywhere in between. To ordinary humans, a well-crafted glamour can be virtually indistinguishable from reality. Older and more powerful fae are capable of maintaining extraordinarily convincing glamours, while younger fae may only manage simple alterations.
Although every faerie possesses glamour, its strength and sophistication vary. Powerful supernatural beings, magical wards, enchanted objects, or certain forms of faerie magic may be capable of seeing through or disrupting it. Strong emotions, exhaustion, injury, or loss of concentration can also cause a glamour to flicker or briefly reveal the faerie's true form, as well as any exposure to objects made of iron.
When dismissed, the illusion simply falls away, returning the faerie to their natural appearance. For the fae, glamour is more than a disguise—it is an intrinsic part of their magical nature and a reflection of the belief that one's appearance does not have to be fixed or permanent.
The Fae, Human Creativity & The Muse
One of the most common places for Fae to find themselves drawn into human society is the world of art and entertainment. Fae are naturally inclined toward creativity and often possess an instinctive appreciation for beauty, music, performance, storytelling, fashion, visual art, photography, dance, literature, theater, film, and other forms of creative expression.
It is therefore not unusual for Fae living among humans to become performers and musicians, writers and storytellers, or visual artists, designers, and filmmakers. Some have spent centuries quietly influencing human culture without anyone ever realizing who—or what—inspired it.
A human artist who suddenly discovers an extraordinary new style, melody, character, or idea may believe they have simply experienced a burst of inspiration. They may never realize that the beautiful stranger encountered in a dream, nightclub, forest, gallery, or theater was Fae.
Some Fae take this relationship with human creativity even further, deliberately seeking out artists and becoming their muses. A Fae might become a painter's favorite subject, a musician's mysterious inspiration, a writer's seemingly endless source of ideas, a photographer's elusive model, or the anonymous stranger who appears again and again in someone's dreams.
Some genuinely enjoy nurturing human creativity and helping artists reach their potential. Others have more complicated motives.
A Fae may offer inspiration, talent, opportunity, or even fame in exchange for a promise, a favor, a treasured possession, a particular food, or something far stranger. The artist may eagerly agree without fully understanding the bargain—or may not even realize that a bargain has been made until the Fae eventually returns to collect what is owed.
Because with the Fae, a promise is a promise—and breaking one is unforgivable and punishable.
The Trickster Nature
The Fae have a complicated relationship with rules.
They understand promises. They understand contracts. They understand bargains.
They understand consequences. But they also enjoy finding loopholes.
Fae have long been infamous for their trickery and mischief. Some delight in playing harmless practical jokes on humans. Others might lead travelers astray in the woods, make someone lose their way home, hide objects, alter dreams, whisper strange suggestions into someone's ear, or convince humans to follow them somewhere they probably should not go.
Historically, many of the more malicious incidents were attributed to Unseelie Fae. However, Seelie Fae are perfectly capable of mischief as well.
A Seelie prank may simply be inconvenient.
An Unseelie prank may become a nightmare.
Changelings
One of the darkest traditions associated with the Fae is the creation of Changelings.
For centuries, stories have circulated throughout human cultures about Fae stealing human infants and replacing them with strange children who looked identical.
These stories were not entirely myths.
Fae parents occasionally found themselves with children afflicted by severe supernatural illnesses, weaknesses, infections, or other conditions that made survival within the Fae realm extraordinarily difficult.
Some Fae families responded by searching the human world for a healthy infant.
The human child would be taken into the Fae realm.
A Fae infant would then be placed in the human child's place.
The Fae child left behind became known as a Changeling.
To human parents, the child appeared to be their own.
But something was wrong.
The child might become unusually sickly or experience chronic health problems throughout life. They might behave strangely, display unusual abilities, or simply seem fundamentally different from other children.
The human family would have no idea that their child had been replaced.
Changelings are therefore among the most tragic intersections between the human and Fae worlds.
Not every Changeling is malicious. Many are completely innocent. They may grow up never knowing what they truly are.
Fae and Human Relationships
Fae have also been known throughout history to develop romantic and sexual relationships with humans.
Some Fae have fallen genuinely and deeply in love with humans.
Others have viewed humans as fascinating temporary companions.
Historically, certain Fae have even abducted adult humans and brought them into the Fae realm as lovers, spouses, companions, or possessions.
Some humans willingly remained.
Others did not.
A human who enters a Fae relationship must therefore understand that Fae concepts of romance, commitment, marriage, consent, possession, and obligation may not always resemble human customs.
Some relationships are loving and mutually beneficial.
Gifts, Favors & Bargains
Not every Fae-human interaction is hostile. Many Fae have helped humans.
A Fae might help a struggling farmer during a drought. They might encourage crops to grow. Protect a household from disease. Help an artist discover inspiration. Guide someone safely through a dangerous forest. Bring good fortune. Or simply offer friendship.
But Fae assistance rarely comes without some sort of expectation. The Fae may ask for food. A favor. A promise. A treasured possession. A secret. A particular service.
Or something so strange that the human may not understand why it matters.
And sometimes the price is far greater than expected.
A Fae may fulfill the exact terms of a bargain while exploiting every loophole within it.
This is why humans who know of the Fae are often taught one fundamental rule:
Never accept a Fae bargain unless you understand exactly what you are agreeing to.
Nature's Children
The Fae are intimately connected to nature.
Flowers.
Trees.
Animals.
Rivers.
Mountains.
The sea.
The seasons.
The weather.
Even the land itself.
Many Fae possess supernatural abilities that allow them to influence the natural world around them. Each species has inherit magical skills and abilities, a strong connection to magic in its purest form. They are unlike witches, because they do not follow a certain discipline, their powers cover a vast array of abilities, and these abilities are often dependent and linked heavily to the fact of them being Seelie or Unseelie, and what kind of fae they are- whether dweller of the oceans like merfolk and sirens, or woodland wandering species.
Some can encourage flowers to bloom. Others can cause trees to grow. Some can communicate with animals. Some can manipulate wind, rain, temperature, or storms. Some bring fertility to farmland or to humans or other supernatural races. Others bring blight. A benevolent Fae may help a farmer survive a dry season by bringing rain, while a malicious Fae may punish that same farmer by destroying their crops with drought, hail, flooding, or violent storms.
The Arrival in Gravesbury Park
In 1960, the Fae Courts made a historic decision.
The Queen of the Seelie Court and the King of the Unseelie Court personally came to Gravesbury Park, New Jersey. Their arrival was prompted by several extraordinary developments. Ghosts, witches, and shifters had begun making themselves increasingly known to the human public. Supernatural individuals were beginning to integrate into ordinary human society. They were forming communities. and building businesses, and creating relationships with humans. And, perhaps most importantly, they were beginning to demand recognition and civil rights.
The Fae took notice.
There was, however another reason Gravesbury Park was particularly important.
The soil beneath Gravesbury is saturated with powerful magic. The Fae had known this for centuries.
Long before either Court established a permanent presence in the town, Fae had been drawing upon the magical energies buried beneath Gravesbury Park. The land itself seemed unusually receptive to Fae magic.
Portals could be maintained more easily. Spells were more powerful. The boundary between Earth and the Fae realm was thinner. And supernatural phenomena were more common.
Gravesbury Park was therefore the perfect location from which the Courts could establish a permanent foothold in the human world.
Fae in Gravesbury Park Now
Today, Gravesbury has become one of the most important places in the world for Fae civilization.
The town provides access to extraordinarily powerful magic.
It offers proximity to humanity.
It contains an established supernatural population. And, most importantly, it represents the first major attempt by the Fae Courts to openly establish themselves within modern human society.
For young Fae especially, Gravesbury can represent freedom. A chance to discover human culture. A chance to attend school. Find employment. Join the arts. Fall in love. Make friends. Create and perform music. Open businesses. Explore the human world freely and without any glamour to conceal their unusual appearances. Or simply discover who they are outside the traditions of the Fae realm.
But Gravesbury is also a place of political intrigue. Court rivalries. Ancient grudges. Secret bargains. Forbidden relationships. Human-Fae tensions. And an increasingly dangerous struggle between two visions for the future
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One seeks coexistence the other seeks control.
Playing a Fae
Choosing to play a Fae means playing a character whose relationship with humanity can be whatever you want it to be.
Your character might be:
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A centuries-old Fae who has lived among humans for generations.
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A young Fae visiting the human world for the first time.
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A Seelie artist who came to Gravesbury to pursue a career in music.
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An Unseelie Fae secretly serving the King's interests.
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A Changeling who grew up believing they were human and only recently discovered their true nature.
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A Fae who genuinely wants to help humanity.
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A mischievous trickster who loves playing pranks.
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A human-loving Fae who has become fascinated with mortal culture.
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Or something entirely your own.
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Your Court affiliation does not have to define your entire personality. A Seelie character can be mischievous.
An Unseelie character can be compassionate. A Fae can love humans while still struggling to understand them. They can be fascinated by technology while practicing ancient magic. They can be powerful yet vulnerable, be beautiful yet terrifying. They can be generous yet manipulative, be playful yet dangerous.
Above all, Fae characters should feel otherworldly.
They are not simply humans with pointed ears and magic.
They come from somewhere different. They think differently, and see the world differently. They have their own traditions, values, instincts, relationships, and understanding of morality. And whether your Fae comes to Gravesbury seeking friendship, art, adventure, love, knowledge, mischief, power—or something much darker
the human world has never been quite the same after the Fae walked through the door.