Since at this point it would take a miracle for the fey campaign not to be one of the poll winners, here's some more information about my vision for the fey and their courts.
Gather your intel, bury your secrets, hide your weapons, ready your spells, don your regalia, and leave all your morals and inhibitions at the door, friends. The Gala Antheia is upon us once more, and the fun's about to begin...
Fey and the Feywild
The Feywild is magic incarnate and the source of all arcane power. It is a fantastical reflection of the mundane Material Plane and the fey are the beings who inhabit it. All fey are inherently magical but different fey have different specialties and interests. Fey that are like one another tend to flock together, and over time these biases led to the formation of nine fey courts—the six natural courts and three material courts.
Fey don't just use magic for power, they need it to sustain themselves. If their connection to magic is severed, fey creatures are fundamentally and irreversibly changed (they may perish, if they're lucky, or they may be transformed into someone or something else entirely). This need for magical control is a source of great strife and conflict and tends to exacerbate the courts' already complex relationships with one another.
The Natural Courts
The six natural courts are concerned solely with the Feywild. The physical courts and their members remain in the Feywild year-round and most hold strong prejudices against the inhabitants of the Material Plane, seeing non-magical creatures as trivial, inferior, or pathetic. The natural courts are almost always at war with at least one other court (if not more). The natural courts are:
The Seelie Court - magic centering around light and the sun, earth and dirt, warmth and drought (at their strongest in the summer)
The Unseelie Court - magic centering around darkness and moonlight, air and smoke, water and storms (at their strongest in the winter)
The Gloaming Court - magic centering around dawn and dusk, twilight and stars, fire and stone (at their strongest in the spring and autumn)
The Marine Court - magic centering around the sea and underwater life, creatures of the shores and the abyss (unaffected by the seasons)
The Faunal Court - magic centering around animals and beasts, notorious and curious shapeshifters (unaffected by the seasons)
The Sylvan Court - magic centering around plants and fungi, vines and flowers, myconids and some insectoids (unaffected by the seasons)
There are three sets of rivals, courts that despise one another and are constantly vying for dominance against one another:
Seelie vs. Unseelie, Gloaming vs. Sylvan, Marine vs. Faunal
There are also three sets of allies, courts that consider one another to be their closest supporters in their power struggles:
Seelie & Sylvan, Gloaming & Faunal, Unseelie & Marine
(I've literally drawn out a little Venn diagram looking thing for the court's main relationships)
The Material Courts
The material courts align themselves more with the Material Plane. They are still deeply invested in the Feywild and as concerned with magic as all other fey, but these three courts find themselves drawn to the nonmagical world and its inhabitants for various reasons. While these courts don't get along with one another, they are known to have shifting alliances with the natural courts and have been known to turn the tide in many a power struggle. Despite this, the natural courts tend to look down on the material courts due to their great interest in something the natural courts view as inherently lesser. Likewise, the material courts tend to see the natural courts as old-fashioned, pretentious, and lacking in vision and ambition.
The Court of Wonder - associated with grander, more impressive magic, thrives off of awe and worship, grants showstopping miracles and fantastical spectacle
The Court of Craft - associated with subtle, almost hidden magic, grants reprieve, pursues knowledge, driven by curiosity, creates unnoticed, everyday gifts
The Court of Ruin - associated with destruction and disruption, grants nothing and steals all it desires, driven by hunger and thirst, thrive off of chaos and frustration
The Anthesis and the Gala Antheia
The Anthesis is a surge of magic that occurs roughly once every two to three years. It doesn't follow a strict calendar and raw magic must be studied and observed overtime to predict when the next Anthesis will occur. The Anthesis is a boon to all fey because it provides a welcome, restorative supply of magic.
The Gala Antheia is a 15-day long festival celebrating the Anthesis. It is a time and place of "peace" where each court is invited to share and celebrate their unique perspectives, innovations, and talents. It is also the premiere spot for politics and matchmaking. The sidhe, the fey nobility, utilize the gala as an opportunity to strengthen connections with other courts and secure political deals, trades, secrets, and marriages. There is no better place for love and gossip. The Gala Antheia is also a time of jubilation and the parties thrown by the fey are uniquely absurd and chaotic.
All fey who run the gala are known as antheists and relinquish all ties and duties to their courts while setting up and running the event.
The first three days are run solely by the antheists and are meant to establish neutral, common ground. One day is then given to each court to showcase their best and demonstrate their power to the rest. The final three days are run by the antheists but are meant to be a synthesis of what each court has brought to the proverbial table.
In the fey campaign you would be able to play as a member of the sidhe (or perhaps one of their attendants) looking to further your own goals or the goals of your court through political moves, underhanded tricks, romantic arrangements, intimate entanglements, and more.
Images from Unsplash
