Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
The Fey are a pretty big part of my campaign world (homebrewed 5e D&D), and a couple of things have occurred to me recently that I don't have great explanations for... Namely some issues regarding biology and society.
For the most part here I'm talking about the classic Fey - seelie and unseelie knights, kinda sorta like elves but not quite. There's no direct 5e Monster that encompasses that (although Kobold Press has some that I use in the Tom of Beasts). Shadow Elves and Eladrin are basically elves and have a normal biological cycle; birth, death, etc, but here I'm interested in ideas about the more immortal (ish) nobility of the Fey.
How do they (or do they) reproduce? In my view, a normal family unit, with normal birth, etc is ruled out. I'm leaning towards them being functionally immortal, barring a violent death (or poetically, a death from some kind of psychological wound). They can reproduce with mortals, probably. Perhaps they reincarnate upon a physical death, but maybe not in a predictable manner - if an Unseelie Lord is killed maybe a search must be made similar to the Dalai Lama where his new incarnation must be found and taken back to Faerie/Shadow - this could be a source for changeling legends. Maybe new Fey can only be "born" by taking mortal children and replacing them with changelings...
My reasoning here is partly thematic, but also partly to accommodate some classic ideas about imprisoning powerful outsiders rather than killing them - if the Unseelie Knight will reincarnate after X number of years, imprisoning them in a mystical tower makes more sense (and provides neat adventure options).
Any have any good ideas they used in the past, or thoughts on my ideas?
For the most part here I'm talking about the classic Fey - seelie and unseelie knights, kinda sorta like elves but not quite. There's no direct 5e Monster that encompasses that (although Kobold Press has some that I use in the Tom of Beasts). Shadow Elves and Eladrin are basically elves and have a normal biological cycle; birth, death, etc, but here I'm interested in ideas about the more immortal (ish) nobility of the Fey.
How do they (or do they) reproduce? In my view, a normal family unit, with normal birth, etc is ruled out. I'm leaning towards them being functionally immortal, barring a violent death (or poetically, a death from some kind of psychological wound). They can reproduce with mortals, probably. Perhaps they reincarnate upon a physical death, but maybe not in a predictable manner - if an Unseelie Lord is killed maybe a search must be made similar to the Dalai Lama where his new incarnation must be found and taken back to Faerie/Shadow - this could be a source for changeling legends. Maybe new Fey can only be "born" by taking mortal children and replacing them with changelings...
My reasoning here is partly thematic, but also partly to accommodate some classic ideas about imprisoning powerful outsiders rather than killing them - if the Unseelie Knight will reincarnate after X number of years, imprisoning them in a mystical tower makes more sense (and provides neat adventure options).
Any have any good ideas they used in the past, or thoughts on my ideas?