What are Fae?
Fae aren't just simple pixies and elves and trolls.
The Fae are anything that humans fail to explain. May it be in the shadows, at the corner
of your eye, in the deepest woods where no one ever ventures,
or in the howling of the wind.
They are stories and ideas, they are human creations made flesh and magic.
They are there to fill the gaps between reality and what seems to be.
Thus a Fae can be a ghost, a character from a fairytale, the boogeyman you tell your
children about - anything.
Fae exist in their own layer of the world.
As humans indirectly create and fuel them with their stories, Fae are never far away
from them and regularly dive into the human realm - out of curiousity,
to feed the rumours or simply to torment them for their own amusement.
The Fae layer of our world is loosely intertwined with the layer of reality - the two of
them touch and can be passed between at certain points called Veils, gates if you will.
The mortals often refer to such places as fairy hills or groves, secluded areas that
have an altogether supernatural feel to them.
Only the Fae and those they invite can cross here between the worlds.
Passionate & Ever-changing
The Fae folk are wild creatures that are strictly made of instincts, impulses, passions and varying degrees of selfishness. They view themselves as the music to which's rhythm the world shall dance and spin until it loses control.
They are driven by emotion and have, as such, often unhuman ways of dealing with conflicts or situations - of course, since they rarely apply a set of morals but more a code of entertainment.
They are known for their competitive nature and compulsion to trick and use the art of words to set traps. Deals are a common way to settle an agreement - it may be a deal to owe a favour or to give a feeling, a memory, a song, a lock of hair. Any of these items have a meaning as long as they have a story to tell or the receiver gains something from them. While known to lure humans into this kind of deals, Fae also do this amongst each other - almost as if to prove who of them chooses the better wording and sets the most clever trap.
Fae become fickle, cruel creatures that have little regard for others' needs when they are bored. However, Fae are generally not prone to brute physical force as it is unelegant, too direct, and again boring. While violence and cruelty are certain aspects of many Fae beings, it is often a more complex, almost playful kind as if it was a game that you don't want to end. Rather than rushing and forcing their way, most Fae prefer to take the longer route around and see what possibilities open up along the way.
Mirage & Fae Powers
Fae magic is not something that simply exists. It is entirely dependent on human thoughts and beliefs - the assumption that there is something else out there, something more than human. That energy that springs from "Wishing" or "telling" something into existence is called Mirage and is the source of Fae power. A source without which they would cease to exist over time and become nothing more than a distant whisper drowned out by the drums of human enlightenment.
The Fae possess powers that make them both magnificent and terrifying in their own way. All Fae possess the gift of immortality for as long as their stories get told and they live on in the minds and hearts of humanity.
Additionally, Fae are technically able to influence their surrounding in different ways - may it be illusions, conjuring a storm, or letting the trees wither and die at their touch.
Now, Fae might be able to do all these things but brute force, as already mentioned, is not their way. It wouldn't do to just unleash their powers on the mortal world and take their place as humanities new masters - for there is a thin line between believing in something and knowing about it.
While the one feeds the imagination and thus furthers the spawning of ideas and new stories, the other is a cage that sets limitations to the mind rather than widening them. Therefore Fae have never had an interest in ruling or using the full potential of their powers, instead, they feed human imagination just enough to continue their faith in the supernatural.
Gameplay Note:
Of course, all of these things are difficult to play out and also not the focus of our event. Our recommendation here is that we are playing a gathering of Fae amongst themselves, where there is no need to shake the earth and sky as there are no mortals there to bedazzle with it. Fae know what they are, respectively, powerful but as it is in a house full of bigshots - without a less powerful audience, the common level of impressive evens out and there is no need to show off powers that literally everyone in the room possesses themselves.
Something interesting to play on instead is age. Some stories have endured the ages and changes of time, some stories are so persistent that they continue to be told throughout the generations - and those stories have powers that younger stories might not have. Equally, some fae are older and therefore higher in status than the younger ones for the sheer reason that they have been around for longer.
Relation to Humans
It's a strange connection between the immortal and the mundane.
One depends on the other, but in return gets so much power that they can almost bend the human world entirely to their own needs.
Most Fae view humankind as inherently inferior to themselves and see them more as playthings or an exotic phenomenon they wish to observe and get to know - not to integrate but to be fascinated or amused by it.
Of course, some Fae folk wish to socialise more with the mortals and even spend phases of their existence living amongst them, blending into their world until they get bored and return to their playground of magic and emotional excess.