Alright it's 1 AM and I'm bored as fuck, sit tight and listen to me NOW!!!!
I have been obsessed with fairies (and mermaids!) for as long as I can remember. And one thing's for sure, I like when my shit makes sense. And some stuff about Disney fairies have NEVER made sense even if I ADORED the movies & books. So!! I'm gonna go ahead and show you how fairies work in my universe.
Also, note, I will use a lot of feminine terminology (queen, sister etc) but in the context in which I'm using them, they're all gender neutral except Queen. Much like bees, boy fairies can't be queens. But boy fairies CAN be sisters!
How did fairies start existing/how are they born?
Alright so. A while back, VERY far back, a forest in England or something was devastated by some natural disaster and left the entire area completely messed up. One day, a stump of a tree got struck by lightning that came from a star. The tree started growing back to life with leaves of shiny dust cascading down it like a waterfall. Meanwhile nearby, a parent was playing with their baby and the baby laughed for the first time. The laugh (shaped like a small ball of light invisible to humans) travelled through the wind and landed right into the flowing pixie dust and out came the first ever fairy. Opalescent hair, bright golden wings, night sky black skin and golden eyes. They were Queen Etoile. They went on to guide many laughs towards the dust tree and make a handful of fairies who all helped them rebuild the forest with their unique talents and bring it back to life. Garden, Animal, Water, Light, and Wind. Those were the first ever fairy talents. They basically built the foundation for future fairy generations and spawned a LOT of traditions, stories, habits etc. Basically Fairy mythology which I could go ON AND ON about but I'll leave it here.
Now, fairy society has evolved a lot, and of course, fairies aren't born as full grown adults. When a baby laughs for the first time, the laugh travels with the wind by the help of helper fairies (laugh-guiding) and are taken to the pixie dust tree. The laugh is bathed in the pixie dust and slowly, it transforms into a fairy baby.
Fairy babies are typically only 2 cm tall (grown up fairies being between 10-13 cm). They're somewhat similar to human babies with the exception that they can eat anything and are born stronger than a human baby, being able to walk, talk and interact with the world around them at about 5 months old. They can also be born with insect features such as multiple eyes or limbs, antennae and even shells. They age at the same pace as the human whose laugh they come from.
Fairies are kept alive by the belief of humans. Once a human stops believing in fairies, its fairy starts to feel weak. This is prevented by Queen fairies who are tasked with informing human children of their presence to nourish the belief in fairies. A new Queen fairy appears every time the old one dies.
Fairies tend to look somewhat like the baby whose laugh they come from. You might have your fairy version somewhere out there.
Laughs can sometimes split into two parts and make two different fairies. Those are sister fairies. Now, in Tink's case, sister fairies have identical wings. But in my universe, they are twins and are identical in everything except the wings. Twins are as common in the fairy universe as singletons are common in humans. And yet, it is extremely rare for sister fairies to be born with the same talent.
What are the fairy talents?
There are 17 fairy talents, each with their own set of sub-talents which are more like jobs the fairy fits into.
Talents are not known upon the fairy's birth. It gets its talent once it reaches teen years (14-15 y/o) and spends some time learning different skills before settling on one it wishes to pursue as a sub talent. The color scheme of their clothes are usually a tell-tale sign of their talent, as fairies tend to feel drawn to certain colors when choosing to dress. But if clothes aren't an option, the wings, after getting their talent, show designs reminiscent of the talent. For example, a fast-flying fairy's wings might have many swirls shaped like clouds, while an animal fairy's wings might have shapes like tails and paws.
Each talent has its own color scheme and pixie dust color. There are reoccurring colors but the pixie dust goes in a rainbow gradient rather than simply following the color scheme.
Dust, Animal, Art, Garden, Healing, Winter, Helper, Kitchen, Light, Queen, Scout, Scribe, Storytelling, Tinker, Water, Fast-flying and Fire.
- Pantry-stocking (Larder)
Storytelling(white/pink):
Fast-flying (indigo/purple):
- Clapping (to revive belief)
Wings are divided into two pairs. Two top wings, which are usually longer and pointier (about 8-9 cm), and two bottom wings which are usually shorter and rounder (about 5-6 cm).
When a fairy is born, their wings start off shriveled (kind of like fresh butterfly wings) and transparent/opalescent (without designs). As they start out, the wings are half the size of the baby. By the time they reach 10 y/o, the wings have grown to match the wing:body ratio and will stay that way into adulthood. Upon discovering the fairy's talent, the wings will glow along with their object and designs will appear, matching the talent. This is completely painless. Each fairy has a unique set of wings, they are like human fingerprints. They can be similar, but never identical.
Wings vary in shapes, sizes and thickness depending on the size and the talent of the fairy. For example, Queens don't usually fly much, so their wings are more delicate and short. Meanwhile, fast-flying fairies have longer, stronger wings for faster flights.
Wing language is part of fairy culture. Different movements mean different things.
Midway and open (like moths) means alertness and tension.
Wings midway and closed mean confusion/uncertainty.
Stood up and half-opened is usually neutral/resting default position.
Stood up and closed means attentiveness.
Stood up and spread out is a sign of being threatened, often to make oneself look bigger.
Lowered and closed means shame/nervousness.
Lowered and opened means sadness.
Twitching wings (usually only one part of the set of wings, like just one wing) is nerves and anxiety. Anxious fairies have slightly twitchy wings sometimes and fairies with anxiety have perpetually twitchy wings unless they're flying.
Fluttering wings mean excitement. The faster the flutter, the happier.
(Sidenote: The whole "fairies are so small they can only feel one emotion at a time" bullshit is not in my universe. Fairies are people and people are complex!!)
During the wing growth in childhood, baby fairies often need to be carried or kept on little ropes because they have trouble controlling their emotions and, when they are excited, tend to flap their wings so fast they lift themselves up unintentionally.
Alright, I started at 1 and it is now 3, if you want to hear more about this universe and how fairies work, please let me know in the comments. Also, feel free to ask questions about this universe and I'll answer them in the next post! Goodnight :]