The Faerie Kingdom

History

The Faerie Kingdom was born of High Magic akin to the Prime spells Dimensional Pocket, and Pocket Realm. The Faerie pioneered the manufacture of dimensional pockets, initially for the necessity of transporting materials as their small size made this challenging for their race. This is most often seen in the valuable, but somewhat commonplace ‘Faerie Pockets’ used to carry belongings in an adjacent extra-dimensional space accessible by binding the entry to a pouch or bag.

Over many millennia, Faerie mages have expanded on this technique with powerful group rituals and High Magic that creates extensive permanent structures in extradimensional spaces. The methods used to perform this magic is considered one of the most closely held secrets of the Faerie Ascendancy, the ruling body of the kingdom.

Permanent and expansive Pocket Dimensions require significant magical expertise, groups of highly skilled mages, and a persistent magical power source (such as a Nexus) to tether the spell to.

After the Elari made their migration from the chaotic wilds of Pandemonium, to occupy and control the prime plane of Lorithandar itself, the Faerie Ascendancy voted to follow them and contest their control… intending to possess the prime plane for themselves.

While the Elari leveraged their planar power by forging massive permanent gates to the outer planes from their megacities within Elarum, the Faerie found another path, through the construction of their greatest work… the Faerie Kingdom.

It was envisioned that the Faerie race would construct a perfect home that combined all of the comforts and safety of the Seelie court, with impenetrable defenses, and the ability to be accessed by all Faerie anywhere in the planes. This home could travel with them wherever the war followed, providing perfect security for the faerie for all time.

An undertaking of this complexity and size would require the greatest minds of the Ascendancy, a persistent Nexus of tremendous power, and absolute control over Magecraft itself. Settling themselves in Lorithandar, the first faerie to arrive located the strongest Nexus of Prime magic in all of Lorithandar, located on a large island off the western coast of Trevas. This would be the tether that would feed the grand design. Even the Ascendants among the faerie leaders could not create such a massive magical construct by themselves… however the Elari had demonstrated that tremendous control over a form of magic could be obtained by controlling it’s physical embodiment; one of the Dragon Gods.

When the Elari chained Sudreth, the Dragon Goddess of Sorcery to their dark aims, the Faerie retaliated by capturing Tyrath, the Dragon God of Magecraft. With his raw power at their command, the Faerie were able to build the Faerie Kingdom… a sprawling extradimensional realm continually fed magical energy from the Dragon God and the Nexus. When the Elder God Kao freed Sudreth from her chains, this inequity between the sides lead to the eventual victory of the Faerie, and the retreat of the Elari to their new homeland of Elarum, where they have largely remained for tens of thousands of years.

Geography

The Faerie Kingdom has never, ever been visited or even seen by a non-Faerie. It is considered a sacred trust, and any faerie would die rather than do anything which might weaken its defenses. Wards and spells prevent non-faerie from entering the realm, and it is considered extraordinarily impolite to even discuss the nature of the Kingdom with non-faerie.

Appearance

Because the Faerie Kingdom is a sealed extradimensional space, it has a defined three-dimensional space offset from normal reality. The dimension is represented as a 50 mile square cuboid space with flat surfaces.

The limits of this space are naturally a blank white-grey of nothingness, however the dimension is draped in thousands of spells both defensive, protective, and cosmetic. This gives the limits of the dimension a pearlescent pastel rainbow hue. This hue provides the illumination that fills the dimension at all times. There is no day/night cycle, sun, or stars within the Kingdom, only shimmering pastel lights that fill the ‘sky’ and borders.

There is no naturally occurring terrain within the Kingdom, however the entire space has been terraformed by Earth Mages for millenia providing natural greenery, running brooks and streams, and beautiful mountains. The construction of this terrain is for some faerie, their life’s work as artists. Frequently these constructions are formed of colors and shapes unseen in either Arcadia or Lorithandar itself, as the terrain artists make names for themselves with radical designs. Permits for these designs often take decades to be approved.

Special Aspects

Within the Kingdom, faeries are exposed to a constant field of healing energy, equivalent to a Regenerate spell. In addition to rapidly repairing accidental injury, and fighting off disease automatically, this aura sustains all faeries biology, preventing them from needing food or drink to survive while in the pocket dimension. However, faeries do eat and drink for enjoyment rather than sustenance.

In addition to the aura of healing energy, the Kingdom is a cavalcade of persistent spells, as every plant, or rock has been created or imbued with magical energy. Faerie in the Kingdom exist in a constant interaction with these many spells, often able to interact with mere proximity. An example might be gesturing for plants to form a pleasant bench to sit upon during an excursion. As a result, those faerie who have never left the Kingdom are ill-equipped to handle life outside the pocket dimension which is dramatically less obliging.

Politics

Despite the name ‘Kingdom’, the faerie government could best be described in modern times as a theistic mageocracy with the Faerie Ascendancy forming the governing body that decide on large scale societal changes through private votes. The naming comes from a long-gone era when the faerie were ruled directly by a single royal family. While the family line remains, their role in society has become ceremonial rather than governmental. The closest real-world analog would be the British royal family, who have a place in politics, but mostly act as a ceremonial figurehead for the government which is parliamentary.

The Ascendancy governs as a combined body rather than individuals, however within Celestia’s central tower where the Ascendancy meets there are no doubt factions and politics at work. Once overall decisions have been made by the Ascendancy, a loose hierarchy throughout the Kingdom implements their will. This includes changes to the Kingdom itself, as well as policies affecting faerie in Lorithandar.

Economy

Citizens occupy positions based on their aptitude and appointments, which are defined by the hierarchy underneath the Ascendancy. The individual faerie’s talents are taken into account, as well as their family line, and desired position.

Faerie contribute to society within the Kingdom as part of their cultural obligation rather than necessity. The exchange of goods and services is performed as needed by the community, and authorized by the hierarchy rather than paid for with currency. In fact, there is no form of official faerie currency. While friendly barter may happen between individuals who create something special, all necessities are provided for all faerie within the Kingdom, both subsistence and tools required to perform the authorized jobs.

Culture

Day-to-day activities within faerie culture differ tremendously depending on the position in the society.

Crime and Law Enforcement

Because each faerie has a defined position within the organized machine of the faerie hierarchy, there are no poor, or destitute faeries within the Kingdom. There are no slums, and violent crimes are extremely infrequent compared to other less rigid societies.

That is not to say that crime is non-existent within the kingdom. Faerie are still people, and among them are those who are discontent with their position in life, and crave more. They act on passions and desires, sometimes committing crimes even against their own kind. These crimes tend to be more subtle ‘white-collar’ crimes of influence and subverting political rivals within the hierarchy than violence, but law enforcement does exist. They operate mostly to ensure local conflicts, or accidents are handled by those in authority to do so. There is also a standing military which retains constant readiness through drills and rotating deployments out of the Kingdom.

Wanderlust

There are two primary reasons any given faerie leaves the Kingdom, either they are following the direction of the hierarchy and have been assigned somewhere outside the Kingdom, or they have decided on their own to leave for more personal freedom.

While the first is far more common, the second is more common than you might expect. While the Kingdom provides a safe, and ordered environment that maximizes the benefit an individual provides to the society, this constant structure can feel confining, especially to young faerie who have not yet ‘settled’. Commonly young faerie experience what is described as ‘wanderlust’ where they feel a need to explore and see things for themselves, wander the world, or the planes, and learn on their own. This wanderlust is considered a core part of the growth process for faerie. It may be considered a fantasy analog to the Amish Rumspringa, where young faerie leave their assigned roles in faerie society and venture into the world to explore. Most often they choose to return and take up an assigned role in the larger faerie society, either within the Kingdom, or among one of the faerie-controlled locations in Lorithandar.

Occasionally a faerie becomes enamored with this exploration, and chooses to venture out on their own, without being part of greater faerie society. These faerie are the most likely to become adventurers, or live among other races in the prime plane. While they are still accepted as faerie among their kind, they are viewed in a negative light by those directly serving the Ascendancy. They would still be welcomed into the Kingdom, but viewed with some suspicion and have limited social mobility compared to those serving roles for the Ascendancy.

Important Places

The largest collection of structures within the Kingdom is the capital city, Celestia. Because the pocket dimension is a square space of limited size, and because faeries can fly, structures tend towards the vertical. Celestia has towers, spires, and floating platforms from the base of the pocket dimension all the way to the ‘roof’ 50 miles above the ground.

While some faerie are more comfortable residing near the ground, in general as an aerial race they are just as likely to have homes suspended in mid-air through magical means, to take maximum usage of the available space in the Kingdom. Fortunately, faerie reproduce slowly enough (and are small enough!) that overpopulation has not become a legitimate concern, despite the relatively small available area.