The Lords and Ladies

The Lords and Ladies is an overarching pantheon for most things fey. Standard seele court bullshit - warring opposing forces, night and day etc.

In general they are prone to whims of fancy, and have a twisted sense of right and wrong compared to that of the common mortal. Though they are chaotic in their dealings with mortal world, it is important to note that they do adhere to any bargain made, and just as a fey owing you a fair favor can be seen as a great boon, the opposite is often seen as a curse. Care should be taken when making a deal, as the interpretation of the deal is often up to the fey that made it.

If any character wants involvement in druidic casting, or any other nature related magic, the fey courts are usually not far away.

History

The Lords and Ladies came into being shortly after the first elves were created by Yarec. For long centuries afterwards they lived in relative peace, soliciting tributes and worship from their adherent elves while keeping the forces of nature, life and death in balance.

They had prophecies of the arrival of humanity, and did not like it. Fearing upset to their reign, they did their best to keep the two races separated when humanity did eventually did show up.

When the world stopped they offered elvenkind the option of joining them in the Fey Wilds, which a large number of elves accepted, leaving a life of hardship and probable death, for one of reluctant subordination to chaotic and capricious masters.

As the then newly tidally locked planet's climate "stabilized", the reverberations in the Fey Wilds resulted in summer and winter courts, and a conflict which persists to the present. These conflicts play out primarily in the Fey Wilds, but it is not exclusive to it, and several battles have been fought on the material plane in the past.

It is at this point most most humans recon their origins, not usually putting any stock in stories of the world once revolving, but rather there being a near perpetual period of uncounted years of twilight, into which their ancestors were created by their gods, be they the greater outwards facing gods, or some variant of a more contemporary of the inwards facing gods

The Age of Rust

A depiction of a group of fey interacting with a human woman during the Age of Rust

When civilization collapsed in this first dark age, the Lords and Ladies and other fey forces exploited their return to the position of "top dog". An offer to join them in a retreat to the Fey Wilds went out, and many accepted. Both human and elf. Their retreat was not complete, and those who rejected the offer were still not safe from the games of the Gentry - the ones not strictly high born among the fey, but still powerful.

Slinging around grand curses, and molding physiology and psychology like the world was their playground, they created several altered humanoids and monsters during this time, both in their own domain and on the material plane. Most notable for a citizen of Mendaris is the Wild gnomes who are said to have their origin in this age.

What manner of transmutations performed in the Fey Wilds are not well known, but they are assumed to be great judging by what humanoid creatures can now be found in the Fey Wilds. Most notable is perhaps the distinct lack of any notable population of humanity, hinting that any human taken in by the Lords and Ladies may quickly find themselves changed. Most are recruited into the internal conflict between the summer and winter court, foot soldiers in the grand game.

In addition to creating monsters for their conflicts, such as Beastkin. they were a constant source of oppression of many groups and civilizations of the mortal races. This caused some elves and desperate humans to go underground, warding themselves behind cold iron and strong magics. These were the progenitors of the drow and dwarves.

During the rise of the Remnants

At some point humanity threw off their fey-shackles as K'Shaal managed to develop their own hero-deities, and rediscover arcane magic. This was used to combat the fey oppression, and force them out of their cities and nations.

The Lords and Ladies were weakened by the magics from a surge of new human gods as their belief was redirected to new targets. The fey then fell from their role of absolute rulers of the surface of K'Shaal, to be something humans mostly avoided interacting with. From this time on humanity was freed from their "deals", and could mostly live without fear.

Many tribes of elves on K'Shaal joined humanity in their newfound freedom, throwing off their bonds and allying with the emerging human empire. These elves became the Sysaerean elves. As humanity expanded to Orn, they brought their freedom with them, accepting any native elves wishing to join them, defending the defectors with the might of an intercontinental empire.

The elves of the Verdant Veil were not as fortunate, and remained under fey influence and control. They remain as one of the few known fey-controlled populations to this bell.

The Second Dark Age

When Orn was attacked, the Lords and Ladies used their access to the Fey Wilds as a safe haven from the troubles once again. If any of their subjects were actually saved is unknown.

After Ornian civilization had fallen, they again saw their shot at taking control, but as the remaining humanity were wise to the tricks of the fey, they better resisted their influence. Warding their homes and themselves with cold iron.

Current situation

The Lords and Ladies still play their games, wage their unseen war, and grant self serving wishes to the occasional unwitting human looking for solutions too good to be true. They play their games all across the green band, but do not speak of their dealings on other continents to even the most devout supplicant.

Notable presences

Orn

On Orn the Verdant Veil is a heavily forested area still ruled over by the fey and their elven servants. In recent decades there has been clashes with humans, as new settlements, and aggressive settling have tested their borders in Linfield and Mendaris' Wahlminster

K'Shaal

Cepra

Tumanako

Abora