Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
The Feywild is home to many fantastic peoples, including fairies. Fairies are a wee folk, but not nearly as much so as their pixie and sprite friends. The first fairies spoke Elvish, Goblin, or Sylvan, and encounters with human visitors prompted many of them to learn Common as well.
Infused with the magic of the Feywild, most fairies look like Small elves with insectile wings, but each fairy has a special physical characteristic that sets the fairy apart. For your fairy, roll on the Fey Characteristics table or choose an option from it. You’re also free to come up with your own characteristic if none of the suggestions below fit your character.
Fey Characteristics
| d8 | Characteristic |
| 1 | Your wings are like those of a bird. |
| 2 | You have shimmering, multicolored skin. |
| 3 | You have exceptionally large ears. |
| 4 | A glittering mist constantly surrounds you. |
| 5 | You have a small spectral horn on your forehead, like a little unicorn horn. |
| 6 | Your legs are insectile. |
| 7 | You smell like fresh brownies. |
| 8 | A noticeable, harmless chill surrounds you. |
Since the rise of the “young” races, the boundaries of Faerie have waned and receded farther into the shadows. Once great powers and influences have been diminished or forbidden or forgotten. As the ancient traditions faded and the Old World separated from the New, some were compelled to depart along with it, by necessity or by choice or by force. Whether exiled wanderers or founders of new kingdoms beyond the veil, the fairest of Otherworld came to be called the sidhe and are wardens of the secret places, the forgotten ways, and the faerie roads. You’ll often find them near barrows and sacred oaks, near moonlit monoliths and other remnants of the old ways.
" . . . the single assumption which makes our existence viable -- that somebody is watching . . ."
— Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
These are the highborn sidhe, the trooping fairies of fable and rhyme. They are the grand fey, the “gentry” depicted in country tales and castle tapestries as parading in martial pageantry or other grandiose spectacle, passing through this world bound for others. These elegant and aristocratic fairies (and their entourages) are always radiantly attired, regally mounted, and royally attended. Marvelously prepared for whatever revelries or rivalries, intrigues or events, have drawn their attentions from the hidden realms and sequestered kingdoms of Faerie.
Twice each year, at the Ascendancies of Spring and of Summer, the noblest of nobility among these bright folk gather from realms beneath and above, near and away. Determining and affirming the hierarchies and monarchies and capricious courts, which will for a time (spring and summer), assert semblances of purpose, cohesion, and order over the otherwise erratic aristocracies and irregular agendas of the sidhe.
Because of this, People tend to think of fey as lovely creatures of almost unearthly beauty and grace. This image epitomizes the fey of the Seelie Court within The Feywild. Many artists and bards, both fey and other, have striven to capture the beauty of the Seelie Court. Most have gone mad; none have truly succeeded. Pure manifestations of nature and beauty, the members of the Seelie Court view themselves as the pinnacle of perfection. This elitist attitude restricts status in the court to only pure-blood fey. A court fey can trace his or her lineage back several millennia, showing nothing but true fey (no other creature types by blood or breeding).
Seelie fey form cliques and factionalize amongst themselves. In the endlessly politicking and gossiping world of the Seelie Court, status can be won by hosting guests (willing or unwilling) or attracting followers with great skill in a craft or performance art.
Seelie Court fey occasionally tolerate the company of beautiful or gifted creatures, preferring those of fey, elven, or celestial blood. These "court friends" may provide companionship and amusements, but only those with pure lineage may hold positions of importance.
Admittance to the Seelie Court for outsiders is extremely rare, even more so if the outsiders are not of pure fey blood. Upon entrance to the court, visitors must be prepared with valuable and unusual gifts for the Queen of Light, or they might find themselves lost in an endless hedge maze. Suitable gifts for the Queen include figurines of wondrous power, gems of brightness, and magical jewelry.
"Blood is compulsory."
— Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
The fey lords of The Feywild who choose the path of winter—of deadly cold, biting ice, and blinding snow—are known as the Winter Fey. Their leader, the Queen of Air and Darkness is the most powerful and ruthless of the lot. Her consort is the Prince of Frost and together they rule over their faction known as the Winter Court, or The Unseelie Court.
Unlike the selective, restrictive Seelie Court, the Unseelie Court welcomes anyone and everything with even a drop of ancestral fey blood. Fey can and do breed with anything, creating odd, mixed creatures. Most species consider the offspring grotesque monsters. The mutant creatures gravitate towards the Unseelie Court, which welcomes them and gives them an environment where peculiar physiology and abilities are the norm.
The Unseelie Court is a more hospitable place for non-fey as well. Court nobles eagerly provide patronage for creatures who are extremely strong, dexterous, clever, beautiful, or talented. Obtaining the sponsorship of a court noble is not without its rewards, nor without its dangers. For instance, a gifted bard whose playing impresses a fey nobleman might be invited to his castle as a guest. Once there, the bard will be feted and asked to play every night -- and never be permitted to leave.
After a millennia of indiscriminate breeding, the physical appearance of the Unseelie Court mirrors the macabre. Twisted columns, trees forced into unnatural growth by royal gardeners, are scattered haphazardly through the hall. Curtains of shadows hide blood-soaked alcoves. Drawn back for times of celebration, the gaping crevasses reveal uninvited guests captured for the amusement of the court. Riotous blooms of nightshades and blood warts glow red in the evening, providing a maddening light to the misshapen court. The throne of the Unseelie Court is shaped like a great shadow dragon, a creature of midnight and darkness, like the queen herself.