Sell me on fey!

[Old Drew Id]

Some legends say that the fey were originally angels who, in the original rebellion in Heaven, chose to not take a side. The good angels remained angelic, the bad angels became demons, and the neutral angels became fey. An interesting take if you are working within a real-world mythology setting.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Removed

 

[Dr. Prunesquallor]

I like my mythological appropriations with the serial numbers filed off, and my magic to work like science.

In this sense I would describe fey and fey-like creatures as the original "attractive nuisance." They are a nearly irresistible temptation that is almost invariably dangerous, in keeping with TwinBahamut's note that 99% of the time a human/fey encounter results in misfortune for the human.

This would cover a good few of the more popular conceptions of fey. You could group the trooping fairies with their courts, dances, and feasts, the "belles dames," the selkie-wives, the mermaids, the nymphs, the rusalkas, and the kitsunes under it easily. From my, admittedly limited, understanding, these stories tend to run along the lines of, "Man sees beautiful fey woman, falls hopelessly in love, and either dies or lives to regret it."

I think the idea of attractive nusiance could also be stretched to cover some of the uglier fey like the leprechauns, and various fairy-tale witches. These fey have something that is irresistible like a pot of gold or a gingerbread house. It would also cover some fey animals, like the water horse, a wild horse so beautiful many try to mount it and ride it home, only to be drowned when the beast dives into the nearest lake.

The idea kind of runs aground on things like redcaps, I admit.

This perilous beauty could be distilled into a "Nature's Lure" that would be analogous to the Obyrith "Form of Madness" ability. Using the Belle Dame as an example, the knight would have to make a Will save vs. the Belle Dame's Nature's Lure power or "sojourn here, alone and palely loitering" until he dies of exposure. Like Form of Madness, Nature's Lure would be tailored to the fey creature in question. It would be important, IMHO, that Nature's Lure be an "always on" ability to reflect the danger that the fey pose, even when their intentions are of the best.

 

[Stone Dog]

Also, see Castle Falkenstein for a pretty classic take on the faerie and their ways. Somebody who doesn't have the book in storage would have to go into more detail on this though.

 

[sckeener]

The thing with the fey (or sidhe, or fairies, or Good People) is that you CAN'T understand them. They are like inscrutable forces of nature, and can be far more terrifying than mere monsters. Their motivations seem so close to human that you will misread them for human, and make terrible mistakes when dealing with them. Human concepts of right and wrong just don't apply.

Attempts to scientifically understand something like a fairy are doomed to fail. They are not anything that can be reduced to other concepts. They frighten because they demonstrate the utter inability of the human mind to truly understand the universe.

I wouldn't be surprised if Alienist and Druid detectives bumped into each often...the two subject matters seem to over lap....of course with the Far Realm you have insanity and the fey you have %50 chance of seeing something cool (whether you think Seelie or Unseelie cool)

to paraphrase:

The thing with the Far Realm (Aberations/Old Ones) is that you CAN'T understand them. They are like inscrutable forces of nature, and can be far more terrifying than mere monsters....Human concepts of right and wrong just don't apply.

Attempts to scientifically understand something like the Far Realm are doomed to fail. They are not anything that can be reduced to other concepts. They frighten because they demonstrate the utter inability of the human mind to truly understand the universe.​

 

[Zurai]

So, I was wondering, what are some good fey books? I know there are a few RPG books about fey. Are they any good? Any other books (RPG or not) that are good fey books?

For Fey books, I cannot be more emphatic in my recommendation of the stories of David Kevin Sullivan by Tom Deitz (Starting with "Windmaster's Bane"). They delve heavily into Celtic faerie/Sidhe mythology and, later, into similar Cherokee mythology. They're fantastic. His other books are also excellent and most contain strong mythological roots.

 

[Nellisir]

IRL, fey are usually humanoid creatures, or animalistic creatures of human intelligence, with a connection to an "Otherworld" or spirit world (one of the big things lacking from WotC's fey). The natural world, or natural features, can substitute for a spirit world in many cases (ie, dryad, leshy). A quasi-magical nature is also common; also the trouping feature.

I was thinking about this thread today (before I knew it'd been resurrected), and progressed this idea a little bit.

The flip side of fey, in folklore (specifically British/Celtic), are giants and their ilk. Fey embody an Otherworld or spirit world concept; giants are amost always concerned with material things (witness the iconic giant's bag in D&D). In folklore, fey are overcome with cleverness and quick thinking; giants are overcome by fighting and killing (often aided by quick thinking, since unlike D&D, humans are almost always outmatched in physical combat by folklore giants). There are numerous and clear connections between giants and fey - the two are close cousins - but they aren't the same. There is a physicality to giants that's lacking in fey. Mortals, fey, and giant-ilk form three points of a triangle, in a way.

 

[MythMage]

I wouldn't be surprised if Alienist and Druid detectives bumped into each often...the two subject matters seem to over lap....of course with the Far Realm you have insanity and the fey you have %50 chance of seeing something cool (whether you think Seelie or Unseelie cool)

I've developed this a little in exploring Faerie. Though in some ways the Far Realm is antithetical to Faerie (one being utterly outside the natural order, the other existing exclusively within it), the two share a strange connection, exemplified by the fool of the forth. Also, a lot of the new powerful fey we've developed have insanity powers.

 

[Clavis]

I've developed this a little in exploring Faerie. Though in some ways the Far Realm is antithetical to Faerie (one being utterly outside the natural order, the other existing exclusively within it), the two share a strange connection, exemplified by the fool of the forth. Also, a lot of the new powerful fey we've developed have insanity powers.

You may want to check out the writings of John Keel (The Mothman Prophecies, et al.), who explores the idea that UFOs, demons, gods, and fairies are all ultimately aspects of a single, incomprehensible phenomena that seems to delight in confusing and controlling us. Jacques Valee also connects "alien" phenomena to the old faerie stories.

For example, a large percentage of "alien" encounters are bizarre and absurd, involving things like free buckwheat pancakes being handed out by the aliens (I'm not making that one up). Also like fairies, the "aliens" love to have sex with humans, especially in the stories that come out of South America. Its only really in North America that the "abduction" stories involve things like anal probes. It's never been the case that the stories of "aliens" involved races that looked the same, or did the same things, around the world.

From a game point of view, one could make it a rule that ALL fey, outsiders, psuedonaturals, gods, etc. are actually a single race that is engaged in some mysterious and incomprehensible program of manipulation directed against the humanoid races.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Edit: Clavis beat me to it.

Fey are interesting in exactly the same way that aliens are creepy for modern people. Fey are good because they breed not outright fear (The Beast) but instead have the same roots as aliens - paranoia and secret war fear. They also have the fear of the unknown (Aberration) issue.

Lets have a list of similarities -

Strange lights in the sky, or the woods. Mysterious mutilations. Abductions and 'changed' people. The fear of being endlessly watched. Lost time and lost memories. An actual intelligence behind it. The idea of flesh and body being malleable, and the human form as grotesque; the idea of 'others.' A parody, knowing and unknowing of human society.

Have a watch of Invasion of the Body Snatchers; hows about an invasion from a Fey plane of existence?

Or in Firefly when they talk about the scarred people; they are changed by something unknown and outer.

When in the show 'Lost' they talk about the 'Others', thats talking about fey.

It's basically all about fear and insanity; emotion gone to strange lengths due to an outside factor.

Suggestions for viewing: Merlin (the mini-series.) Pan's Labyrinth. Spirited Away. Cat Returns, The Sexy Beast (to a degree - no actual fey, but representations within the story.) I'm certain there's some others, but I can't think of them right now.

Major reading: Lords and Ladies, by Terry Pratchett. Read this first.
Dr. Strange and Mr. Norrell, by an author I can't remember. Truly awesome historical fantasy - and better for a very interesting look at the callousness of fey.
Sandman
Fables

It's about creating the atmosphere for fey. Can PC's defeat the fey? Sure. But if they were frightened and confused, and everyone thinks they are nuts.. then they've had something to do with the fey.