Help With Homebrew Feywild/Eladrin

[thisguy]

Hi there, I've been lurking in the forums for a while now, getting ideas for my own games and such. I am currently working on a setting that is heavy Feywild, and would like some help with ideas. Specifically, I am not a huge fan of the eladrin. I like the idea of them being very fey and possessing abilities associated with the seasons, but am confused by the different types of eladrin and am having a hard time coming up with what makes each type different.

Thus, I want to make "eladrin" a broad term used to denote highly magical inhabitants of the Feywild. Coures, for example, are a type of eladrin that are sprite-like and are a typical "fairy" (I'm pretty sure that's straight from 4E, but I like it). But I need help with the rest-bralani, ghaele, etc. What makes them all different?

Also, I am having trouble with the various fey courts. Is the Court of Stars supposed to rule over the Summer and Winter Courts? What about the Court of Coral, or the Green Court? I don't understand the relationship between them all. So if somebody could clarify, or give ideas as to how you have distinguished various eladrin or the courts, it would be much appreciated.

 

[Incenjucar]

To my knowledge, the best information in D&D on the extra-fancy uber-fey is in the Planescape books from 2E, particularly in the Chaos boxed set. Planescape folks who have their books are thus your best bet for this kind of information if you want to keep within D&D lore. (Really, 2E is probably the best edition for lore searches, period).

I think there is also some information in Monster Mythology about the court of stars and to a lesser degree there's some elfy stuff in the Complete Book of Elves (which is a book full of broken Mary Sue rules nonsense like elven cybernetics, but also some nice fluff).

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6182]Incenjucar[/MENTION]
Word. 2e's lore was pretty awesome and I still reference it for my games today.
[MENTION=6775431]thisguy[/MENTION]
The Court of Stars is a conclave, a meeting of archfey several times per year to engage in diplomacy, schemes, marriage, betrayal, and legendary revels. Numerous factions make up the Court of Stars, and they play host to other Courts when the conclave meets. Tiandra, Queenof Summer, is the usual leader of the conclave, but the Court of Stars is NOT the same as the Summer Fey. This is all from Heroes of the Feywild.

As for the eladrin...they have an extensive writeup in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix 2. I'll try to sum it up:

Eladrin fall into two categories: Lesser (commoner) and Greater (nobility).

Lesser eladrin include:
Bralani - Elf-sized, the wild and most feral/passionate of their kind, traveling the deserts and forgotten places in bands reveling in unending dance of wind and sand, stopping only to play pranks or deal with unwanted I intruders, in wartime they act as scouts/Skirmishers
Coure - Sprite-sized creatures of starlight, they are messengers, scouts, pranksters, and mischief-makers, they have a legendary sense of humor, close connection to the land and may linger in same grove or mountainside for centuries before moving on, serve as heralds, pages, messengers
Noviere - man-sized (and dolphin form), they are aquatic but at home on land or at sea, tied to the emerald waters of the world, straight-forward and approachable (for eladrin), sometimes journey to world to visit ocean nymphs or merfolk, a bit treasure fascinated
Shiere - man-sized (but may change into a harmless ball or faerie light 1/hour, but prefer to maintain demihumans appearance), graceful knights who fight with honor, loyal to the Queen for the most part, by night they gather in bright companies to drive evil from Arborea (akin to the Wild Hunt), mounted on flying warhorses, most numerous of eladrin (or perhaps ties with Coure), cold as ice when dealing with those who don't measure up to their high standards

Greater eladrin include:
Firre - man-sized, devoted to art, music, and magic (bards), wanderers and patrons of mortal artists, usually travel alone, may journey to the mortal world
Ghaele - man-sized (but may shed mortal guize to appear as swirling globe of eldritch colors, or revral eldritch wings with 20' wingspan), knights errands of the eladrin, work behind the scenes to quietly muster resistance to evil and tyranny, prefer to go unnoticed/keep mortal guise, serve as advisors to great Tulani lords, kind and compassionate but touched by seriousness and heavy-heart from dealings with mortals
Tulani - man-sized (probably have other forms), the faerie lords who rule roving courts throughout Arborea, they are peaceful but have terrible majesty that makes their presence anathema to evil creatures, hard to find by mortals, autonomous courts where they are the ultimate authhority answer only to the Queen of Stars Morwel (also called Faerie Queen, Lady of the Lake, or Lady of Stars).

 

[thisguy]

Well that clarifies a few things. Thanks so much, guys!