The Mortal Realm and the Faerie Kingdom

[Alex Reutter]

This is also posted at www.princecon.org/pcon33, but the following is
some flavor background for helping you to flesh out your character.

Cheers,
Alex


The Mortal Realm is neatly divided by the Blackroot Mountains, which
run North/South through the middle of the land. There are eight
primary Mortal (i.e., Player Character) races that have spread over
the land, with the following special notes:

* Catfolk are native to the Tulu Plains in the far west, where
they are still organized into Prides of now-mixed races. Many Tulu
Catfolk are valued scouts in the service of the Free Cities of the
Merian League.
* Dwarves are native to the Iron Hills in the northeast. Though
now less influential than the larger dwarven population centers in the
Blackroot Mountains and Circle Crown Range, Dwarves carry an almost
religious sentiment for their homeland, and still refuse to allow non-
Dwarves to settle permanently in the hills.
* Elves are descended from Alfar outcasts from Faerie (the
Expulsion of 270 c.e.) and have taken residence deep within Alsip
Forest east of the Blackroot mountains, with a smaller settlement
rumored within the Lost Forest west of the mountains. Though their
Faerie magic and immortality have been severed, Elves are still viewed
with mistrust by the "native" inhabitants of the Mortal Realm, and
have fought battles along the northern edge of the Alsip Forest
against joint forces of the Kingdom of Tyrus and the Iron Hills
Dwarves.
* Eponai are native to the Red Plains in the southeast, so named
(we believe) for the vast amounts of blood spilled in "good-natured"
tribal wars. Many Red Plains tribesmen are valued shock troops in the
service of the Kingdom of Tyrus.
* Fey are descended from Fey outcasts from Faerie (the Expulsion
of 270 c.e.) and have taken residence throughout the Circle Crown
Range and Blackroot Mountains, and even on the spires of some of the
taller towers in the Free Cities, but especially on the Great Moss
Cliffs of C'toan on the southern edge of the Blackroot Mountains. Like
Elves, their Faerie magic and immortality have been severed and they
are viewed with suspicion, but Fey don't seem to mind as much as their
taller cousins.
* Hobbits can be found wherever the fields are fertile and the
eating is good.
* Humans are found throughout the Mortal Realm, but they primarily
reside in the Kingdom of Tyrus and the Free Cities of the Merian
League, which represent very different modes of government. The
Kingdom of Tyrus unites the countryside under a monarch, while the
Merian League is the "governing" body of a loose affilition of city-
states, each of which practices its own quirk of government, including
the demogogues of Pavia, the warrior-scientists of Algol, and the high
judges of Mera.
* Perrin are native to the Wet Coast in the far east, but can be
found on any coast and up any river of the Mortal Realm.

Everybody knows that the open Ways to Faerie are usually found in
remote or enchanted parts of the Mortal Realm, but not much is known
about the geography of Faerie. Past explorers have described palaces
with impossibly tall towers hosting grand balls, wondrous caverns of
light and sound, eerie forests with a thousand watching eyes, and so
on. There are five primary (NPC) Faerie races:

* Liosalfar (high elves) are the hereditary nobility, tall
(~6'6"), intelligent, charismatic and confident past the point of
arrogance. Generations of inbreeding have sapped some of their
vitality.
* Alfar (elves) are the Faerie common stock. They are physically
very similar to the Elves of the Mortal Realm (~5'6"), who are
descended from Alfar outcasts from Faerie.
* Pixies are winged Faeries, very similar to the Fey of the the
Mortal Realm, who are descended from Pixie outcasts from Faerie.
* Svartalfar (gnomes) are most at home underground. They are
similar to Dwarves in height (~4'6"), but are not quite as stocky or
hairy.
* Pookas are natural shapeshifters, and have the ability to take
the form of any non-humanoid natural animal. Pookas are decidedly
second-class citizens in Faerie society -- their racial inability to
take humanoid shape is a punishment levied for some unspeakable
betrayal of which the whole race was deemed guilty.

All Faeries have the following common traits:

* Low-Light vision
* Glamour; can alter personal appearance somewhat; this is
equivalent to what could be accomplished with stage costumes and
makeup, but can be altered at will. A Faery using Glamour can be more
Charismatic. Glamour will not hide the sound or bulk of metal armor.
Faeries can use Glamour to look close enough to a Mortal Race to pass
casual inspection.
* All Faeries are immortal in the sense that they do not age and
are immune to all normal diseases; in other words, they never die of
natural causes although they can be killed
* All Faeries share a deadly vulnerability to iron (all varieties
of steel count as iron for these purposes). The mere proximity of iron
causes pain and will distract spellcasting. Any Faery can detect iron
within 10' from the discomfort it causes. Wearing iron armor is
impossible for a faery; prolonged direct contact with iron will cause
nonlethal damage. Wielding an iron weapon is painful but possible.
* Faery spellcasters can automatically see the presence of magic
in or on an area or object. This ability works at LOS range; it
detects spells, prayers, and item enchantments, but does not
distinguish between them.

[Alanz]

I was wondering if we know anything about what creatures the summoning
spell will call if we it is cast in the faerie lands


On Feb 14, 9:29 pm, Alex Reutter <alex.reut...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This is also posted atwww.princecon.org/pcon33, but the following is

[tiger_t...@yahoo.com]

Alan,
I see you are already using that knowledge (Faerie) skill :)
It's a good question. For my game, what you summon will be straight
from the rules. I know, I know, that's kind of lame. Way back when I
first started to think about the theme, I wrote on my to-do list
'create custom monsters for Faerie'. But it never happened. Partly
because I was too busy (well OK, too lazy), but mostly because I am a
whimp.

If I write up a custom list, I have to put it on the GM list and get
other GM's to accept and approve it. It's work, work, work, work. I
thought about having a list that I would just use in my runs, but then
I figured players would (rightly) complain if they could not spring my
over-powered monsters on some other GM.

I will say that if you can convince York to come up with a custom
list, I will use it (cause then York's gotta do the work, work,
work). If he does come up with one I would assume both players and
GM's could use it.

So start chanting 'York' 'York' 'York'. Of course you could get some
other GM who is not as much a whimp as I am. But my guess is that
York is your best hope for 'monsters of the Faerie Realm'.

Cheers

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[tiger_t...@yahoo.com]

Alan,
York has created Faerie Monsters that can be summoned by players.
Here is the write-up that I have:

In the Faerie Realm, Banshees can be summoned at any level from 2 on
up
with increasing power.

Griffons can be summoned by Summon Animal as well as Monster
Summoning.

All "natural" animals summoned by spells or prayers will be larger and
handsomer than the mundane version (no change to mechanics), and will
have the Faerie vulnerability to iron. Even diurnal ones will have
Low-Light Vision; nocturnal ones will have Darkvision. 50% of them
will
be able to speak (in the Faerie tongue only).

For the other distinctive creatures listed here: Piskies and Cu Sidhe
can be summoned as Level 3 monsters, Barghests as Level 4, Faerie
Manticore as Level 5. Other creatures listed here resist summoning.
PCs
do NOT have stats for these the way they do for regular creatures on
the
Summoning tables.

Cheers

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