Fairy

The Fairies of Fel'Arthia, also known as the fair folk, the fae, the gentry, and the others, are relative newcomers to the world. Numbering only a few, the fairies are a tight-knit community that organize themselves in courts. They originally are from the realm of Faerie.

Description
Fairies are hard to define physically, as they come in every shape and size. You could easily mistake them for an elf, dwarf, gnome, orc, human, or any number of other magical creatures. In fact, the fae have been known to change their physical form every so often. The only physical constant is their lack of physical consistancy. This also includes gender and sex, but those are a little more uniform, if albeit only slightly. While every fairy may belong to a seasonal and time court, their appearance does not necessarily revolve around these, and mostly just has to do with personal preference.

However, there are ways to tell if a creature is a fairy or not. All fairies are adverse to iron, and shy away from directly coming in contact with it. Every fairy has a certain ban, or taboo, that they are forbidden to do. This is individual to each fae, and can range from not being able to cross a line made out of bread to never being able to set foot on holy ground. Both the iron and ban are consistent across any form that particular fairy takes along his or her lifetime.

History
The fair folk originally are from a realm called Faerie. No one is entirely sure where it is (let alone the fae who currently live in Fel'Arthia), and information is few and far between.

What is agreed upon, however, is that the fairies who now reside in world came over during a time of great upheaval in Faerie. Some fae claim there was a war between the Seelie and Unseelie, others claim the world was ending and that they are refugees. It almost seems that there is a different answer for every fairy in Fel'Arthia. No fae is quite certain of their origin.

Organization
The fae of Fel'Arthia organize themselves into several courts. Every fairy belongs to two courts, called the time and seasonal courts, which dictate much of his or her lifestyle.

There are two time courts: Seelie and Unseelie.


 * Seelie fae are associated with the sun, daytime, and light. Their personalities are open, outgoing, fair, and friendly. Generally speaking, the Seelie enjoy spending time with the other races as much as they do with other fairies, and play gentle practical jokes on their friends.


 * Unseelie fae are associated with the moon, nighttime, and darkness. They tend to be rather guarded individuals, rarely seeking out connections with non-fairies. When they do interact with others, it tends to only benefit themselves in some way. The Unseelie are manipulative, and will attempt to get the upper hand out of any arrangement.

There are four seasonal courts: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.


 * Spring fae focus on living in the moment, and making the best of any situation. Because of this, most Spring fae are Seelie in nature. With that said, it's not unheard of for there being an Unseelie courtier amongst them. Spring courtiers tend to live in forests and swamplands.


 * Summer fae focus on emotions, and the expression thereof. They are exclusively Seelie, as the Unseelie rarely find the time of day to care about either of those things. They are hot blooded, free roaming, quick to settle scores, and love to make friends in the process. When they do make permanent settlements, they tend to be in the desert or other hot places, such as savannahs.


 * Autumn fae focus on secrets and the occult. They study the dark, forbidden knowledges of eras gone by, and care little about anything else. Because of this, they are an exclusively Unseelie court as the Seelie would find their lives too claustrophobic. Autumn courtiers don't necessarily call any kind of land their home, but tend to be found in interesting areas, such as the Nether or underground.


 * Winter fae focus on survival, first and foremost. There are only a handful of Seelie that call Winter their home, as their culture is not one where kindness and generosity is in any abundance. The Winter courtiers are hard folk, living in the snow-capped mountains and rocky areas of the world.

Religion
The fae are not particularly religious, having no native religion or cultural heroes to fall back upon. However, this is not to say they aren't spiritual, nor superstitious.

As stated above, each and every fae has an aversion to iron. As with all information about fairies, there are as many different reasons why they have such a cultural loathing for iron as there are fae in the world. A popular saying amongst the fae is "the ferrous gods cannot be trusted", or variations thereof. The meaning of this is baffling for several reasons, not the least of which is that the fae do not believe in gods at all, let alone iron ones. Sightings of fairies using small amounts of iron in tools throughout Fel'Arthia are, however, common. This probably means the hatred of iron is a cultural one, rather than a physical one.

Every fairy has a single personal ban, chosen by the fae at their creation. Generally speaking, the more powerful a fairy is, the stranger, more complex, and seeming arbitrary the ban gets. Common bans include (but are not limited to):
 * Cannot cross natural running water.
 * Cannot eat a certain food.
 * Cannot step on cracks in pavement.
 * Must observe proper etiquette at all times.
 * Always carry a certain item.

More extreme bans include (but are also not limited to):
 * Cannot cross a line made out of breadcrumbs.
 * Cannot stand the sound of cats meowing.
 * Must count every of a certain item in a room.
 * Must always take one step backwards for every two steps forwards.
 * Cannot say a certain word or words.

The lists goes on. It's unknown if anything happens to the fairy who does not follow his or her ban, but general consensus says like the iron aversion, probably not.