Fair Folk in Creation

The Fair Folk take on a host of forms as they enter Cre­ation and rob substance from its Elemental Poles to sustain themselves. What follows are the most widely-known (and feared) generalities of the Fair Folk; individual raksha may bend or break the trends of their court. The Wyld is ever-inventive, and ever-treacherous.


The East:
The raksha of the East and Northeast are much consumed with pageantry, garbing themselves in emblems of the forest and the seasons: cloaks of leaves and torcs of laurel, juniper-berry tassels, crowns of woven dead branch­es. They favor armor of magically hardened wood.

Fae of the Southeastern jungles become indolent in the heat, wearing rainbow feathers and red, black, and yellow skin colors. They prefer to lay ambushes, using blowguns and spears steeped in hallucinogens to capture mortal playthings. They regard the fevered visions provoked by their darts as a refined delicacy. Deeper Southeast, scat­tered tribes of bronze-skinned and devil-fanged nomads range up and down the shores of the Dreaming Sea, and roam across the great interior plains, kidnapping travel­ers and drawing out their souls in forced contests of chance and daring. They spare only the domains of Ysyr, where it is rumored the reigning thaumatocrats have learned to enslave their kind.


The South:
Raksha of the Southern coast creep into towns and cities by night wearing the form of black lions. They infiltrate the houses of sleeping mortals to steal their breath, or whisper from the darkness to draw watchmen away from the fires, never to be seen again.

In the far South, the raksha are desert raiders on horses of flame and shadow, dressed in flowing robes of stitched dream and burnooses of woven poetry, wielding sabers edged with deadly omens. Only their love of riddles, bets, and challenges can offer hope of delivery from their hunger—alas, precious few count themselves sharper than the Fair Folk.


The West:
The raksha of the West are divided between the aquatic fae of the ocean depths and wild cannibal raksha who dwell upon miraculous isles. The latter paint their bodies, carve terrifying and impressive masks to frighten away the hannya, and prefer to extract dreams and souls from boiled flesh. Their whale-bone outriggers cut the waves like swift arrows when they go a-raiding.

The fae of the open oceans wear whatever sea-life fea­tures take their fancy. Some are swift and terrible hunters, driving schools of sharks and barracuda before them as hunting-hounds; others use their beauty as a lure, drawing sailors and dock-girls into the sea with cruel, sweet songs, crimson-rouged lips and nipples, and the artful conceal­ment and exposure of surging waves.

Most prideful and lovely of all the Western fae are those raksha who have named themselves the Pearl Court and made their home upon the coasts of the Caul. They adorn their flesh in shifting nacreous hues, seduce the winds and waves into compliant alliance, and draw ships onto the jagged shores of the Caul with storm-song and false omens.


The North:
In much of the North, the Winter Folk are feared even above the hungry dead. Villages shudder and reach for weapons or tribute at the tinkling of their sleigh bells and the creak of their ice chains in the night. The Winter Folk adorn themselves in ermine or mammoth fur, bedecking their bodies with great antlers, horns, wolf fangs, or bear claws; many sport cow or wolf tails, which they take some pains to hide. The loveliest of the Winter Folk often walk nude through the midst of howling blizzards, offering the warmth of their bodies to lost travelers in exchange for sips and bites of the unfortunate’s soul. Such liaisons are addic­tive, drawing doomed “snow dolls” out into the killing cold again and again in desperate search for their lovers.

[Will]

The Fair Folk take on a host of forms as they enter Cre­ation and rob substance from its Elemental Poles to sustain themselves. What follows are the most widely-known (and feared) generalities of the Fair Folk; individual raksha may bend or break the trends of their court. The Wyld is ever-inventive, and ever-treacherous.


The East:
The raksha of the East and Northeast are much consumed with pageantry, garbing themselves in emblems of the forest and the seasons: cloaks of leaves and torcs of laurel, juniper-berry tassels, crowns of woven dead branch­es. They favor armor of magically hardened wood.

Fae of the Southeastern jungles become indolent in the heat, wearing rainbow feathers and red, black, and yellow skin colors. They prefer to lay ambushes, using blowguns and spears steeped in hallucinogens to capture mortal playthings. They regard the fevered visions provoked by their darts as a refined delicacy. Deeper Southeast, scat­tered tribes of bronze-skinned and devil-fanged nomads range up and down the shores of the Dreaming Sea, and roam across the great interior plains, kidnapping travel­ers and drawing out their souls in forced contests of chance and daring. They spare only the domains of Ysyr, where it is rumored the reigning thaumatocrats have learned to enslave their kind.


The South:
Raksha of the Southern coast creep into towns and cities by night wearing the form of black lions. They infiltrate the houses of sleeping mortals to steal their breath, or whisper from the darkness to draw watchmen away from the fires, never to be seen again.

In the far South, the raksha are desert raiders on horses of flame and shadow, dressed in flowing robes of stitched dream and burnooses of woven poetry, wielding sabers edged with deadly omens. Only their love of riddles, bets, and challenges can offer hope of delivery from their hunger—alas, precious few count themselves sharper than the Fair Folk.


The West:
The raksha of the West are divided between the aquatic fae of the ocean depths and wild cannibal raksha who dwell upon miraculous isles. The latter paint their bodies, carve terrifying and impressive masks to frighten away the hannya, and prefer to extract dreams and souls from boiled flesh. Their whale-bone outriggers cut the waves like swift arrows when they go a-raiding.

The fae of the open oceans wear whatever sea-life fea­tures take their fancy. Some are swift and terrible hunters, driving schools of sharks and barracuda before them as hunting-hounds; others use their beauty as a lure, drawing sailors and dock-girls into the sea with cruel, sweet songs, crimson-rouged lips and nipples, and the artful conceal­ment and exposure of surging waves.

Most prideful and lovely of all the Western fae are those raksha who have named themselves the Pearl Court and made their home upon the coasts of the Caul. They adorn their flesh in shifting nacreous hues, seduce the winds and waves into compliant alliance, and draw ships onto the jagged shores of the Caul with storm-song and false omens.


The North:
In much of the North, the Winter Folk are feared even above the hungry dead. Villages shudder and reach for weapons or tribute at the tinkling of their sleigh bells and the creak of their ice chains in the night. The Winter Folk adorn themselves in ermine or mammoth fur, bedecking their bodies with great antlers, horns, wolf fangs, or bear claws; many sport cow or wolf tails, which they take some pains to hide. The loveliest of the Winter Folk often walk nude through the midst of howling blizzards, offering the warmth of their bodies to lost travelers in exchange for sips and bites of the unfortunate’s soul. Such liaisons are addic­tive, drawing doomed “snow dolls” out into the killing cold again and again in desperate search for their lovers.