This month’s RPG Blog Carnival is about the Fey and is hosted by Pitfalls and Pixies.
Fey folk are found on most of the mortal planes, known as fickle tricksters and troublemakers. Mischievous but mostly harmless the onward march of civilisation has left them behind. The fey have always been known to be heavily under the influence of the forces of chaos. What wasn’t known was just how dangerous a faerie can be if chaos becomes dominant over compassion. On the plane of Falaroth lives a culture of faeries, the de’Falarothi, who delight in cruelty and the suffering of others. Backed by the power of a chaos god, they have overrun the entire plane and laid waste to it in the name of amusement.
They came without warning, bursting out of portals from the base of trees. Wearing armour and war paint, these faeries were quite unlike any fey our plane had seen before. The first wave destroyed several cities before they fell back to their home plane. It is to our fortune that the base nature of our plane is highly lawful. The de’Falarothi are so chaotic that to exist on our plane is tiring to them. Extended operations are only possible through the expenditure of great magical effort by their most powerful priests.
Encounters in the two years hence have been sporadic and involved much fewer numbers. Some scholars believe that the de’Falarothi are gathering their strength to make a permanent foothold. A few hope that these chaotic creatures have got bored and moved onto other things. The adventurer’s guild has put together this guide, taken from testimony of survivors and what little has been gained from interrogation. As a culture de’Falarothi are individualists motivated by their selfish interests. Authority is nearly entirely absent from their way of thinking. In combat they lack discipline, unit cohesion or practised co-operation. All de’Falarothi are faeries only a few inches tall that fly on large dark gossamer wings. They wear war paints in patterns unique to each faerie and armour is common. Unlike the fey of our realm, de’Falarothi have no natural affinity for invisibility; presumably they lost it once they became the dominant predator of their plane.
Fire Bombers
Common sense would suggest that a creature that can fly would not need a flying mount. The de’Falarothi don’t need common sense and have domesticated a bird of prey from their home realm and taught it to carry things. The bird’s species is not known, but it appears to be some kind of falcon, albeit one with a six foot wingspan and obsidian black feathers. In war the birds are used to attack enemy familiars and deliver explosive payloads. Their riders appear to compete over who can cause the largest explosion.
Laughing Knives
Evidence has come to light that the de’Falarothi have known about our plane for several years before the invasion. The scholar Braemus compiled a list of suspicious deaths where the victim died of dozens of knife wounds and the only clue was a high pitched laugh. One of the few successfully captures of a de’Falarothi was because Braemus had set up trapping wards around the Crown Princess for her protection. The prisoner was dressed entirely in black feathers and their war paint obscured their outline. The knife was the same size as the faerie and made of a metal of unusual lightness unknown on this plane.
Slave Hunters
The most common form of post-invasion raid has seen dozens of heavily armoured faeries emerge from a tree portal and attack small villages and hamlet. Those that aren’t killed are captured and dragged back through the portal to Falaroth. These are the most capable of the de’Falarothi warriors. They use their small size and mobility to exploit any weakness of their enemy but rarely go for a swift kill. Survivors say there appears no method or pattern in the selection of who is taken. Scholar Braemus suggested that the taken are those most likely to amuse.
Chaos Spinners
Dressed in colourful robes and wearing intricate face paint, these faeries are seen only very rarely. During the first invasion they were present at several of the portal sites. That the other de’Falarothi give them respect and follow their commands indicates they must be exceptionally powerful and highly placed in de’Falarothi society. Where they gathered, the chaos spinner permanently tainted the fabric of reailty and turned it towards chaos. Should this taint spread far enough, the de’Falarothi will be able to exist in our plane without assistance.
Image Credit – Sea Sprites in Flight by John Anster Fitzgerald – Public Domain
