Faerie Lore

Ars Magica Primer
Game Setting
Mythic Europe
The Order of Hermes
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Introduction

This section provides information typical of what is known by anyone with Faerie Lore of 1+.

The Origin and Nature of Faeries

Members of the Order of Hermes and other learned people who have studied the fae do not have a definitive answer as to the origin of the fae but there are a number of theories. These include:

• Faeries are Angels that did not aid God during the Satanic rebellion but did not actively rebel
• Faeries are the descendants of Cain
• Faeries are dead pagans
• Faeries are the spirits of unbaptised children
• Faeries are the spirits of those who died incomplete, particularly if they were crossing a border
• Faeries are the product of human dreams, art and vision
• Faeries are spirits that prey on humans, particularly their spiritual essence.

The fae generally appear to be associated with humankind, though typically they are most common on the periphery of inhabited country. Faeries are rare in true wilderness and where they are found in the wilderness, there are often traces of now abandoned human habitation nearby. Faeries are rarely found in Dominion auras and those that are often are "appropriate" for some places.

Level 1 in Faerie Lore allows a possible understanding of faerie behaviour, including prediction of likely behaviour in specified circumstances.

Level 1 in Faerie Lore allows identification of general classes of the fae and some specific knowledge of fae from a character's home locality.

Faerie Lands

Areas where faeries are found will have faerie auras. A faerie aura may be detected by someone with Faerie Lore: such auras are characterised by heightened emotions, exactly which ones varies. Faerie regios almost always arise within areas that have a faerie aura; more so than perhaps than the regios of other realms. A character who detects the entrance of a Faerie regio, which might be by magic, Magic Sensitivity, Second Sight, Faerie Sight or a similar virtue, will have a chance of figuring out how to enter the regio according to their level of Faerie Lore. Faerie Lore of itself does not allow a character to detect the presence of a regio,

Faerie Lore 3+

This section provides information typical of what is known by anyone with Faerie Lore of 3+. Some of what is here may contradict or adjust what is known by those with Level 1-2 Ability. What faeries want with humans Faeries seem to want to be with humans: a character with Faerie Lore 3+, for whatever reason, knows that some faeries are attracted to expressed emotion, that others seek out artistic expression and others substances that in some way contain "vitality". This last class can be in the form of offerings, perhaps of milk or bread, or can be stolen.

Glamour (Grammar)

The Fae appear to be ruled by something in their internal nature, their Grammar, which are the rules by which they exist and interact. "Glamour" is a mispronunciation of Grammar but has become widely used in English speaking lands and will be used here. The fae apparently cannot break their glamour.

The appearance of a faerie, whether beautiful or ugly, appears to be a reliable guide to their kindness and trustworthiness at the time.

Taboos

All fae appear to have within their glamour rules as to what they cannot do or have done to them - their taboos. If a human breaks one of these taboos, for example by thanking the relevant faerie, then the faerie may seek redress.

Abilities

Faeries seem to use magic to achieve certain effects that humans might use skills, such as cooking, to achieve. These magical skills are often called "Pretences".

Faerie Places

Faerie auras fluctuate, often with the seasons. Faerie regiones are very common in faerie auras. Furthermore, Faerie regiones are typically larger than those associated with other realms and easier to enter. It is said by students of Faerie that this is because the fae want humans to seek them out. Regiones tend to offer near repeatable experiences, at least to particular visitors. Visitors to a regio who enter separately or at different times do report differences but that the theme is the same.

Distinct from Faerie regiones, which are paradoxically often fairly immutable, there is also the Faerie Realm, which is often called as Arcadia. The faerie aura in Arcadia is 10. Arcadia is often said to be just beyond the mundane world or "beyond the fields we know". Reports from those few humans who have been there and returned suggest that Arcadia is very mutable, almost the extent that both the places described and the laws of those lands are completely different. This is a source of much speculation amongst scholars of the fae.

Faerie Lore 5+

This section provides information typical of what is known by anyone with Faerie Lore of 5+. Some of what is here may contradict or adjust what is known by those with Level 1-4 Ability. It is rare that any human will have faeries lore at this level without being a member of House Merinita of the Order of Hermes. The members of this House tend to keep this information very much to themselves.

Mutability of Faerie Experiences

Faeries are mutable. The experience of any particular faerie phenomenon by a human will not be the same as that experienced by another human.

It is known that although faeries behave as though they have a consistent history, reports from different observers of what are assumed to be the same faeries or places in a faerie regio can imply that the "same" place/faerie/story can differ depending on the observer.

Merinita mages have a standard experiment in which two allied Merinita mages attempt to experience a faerie or faerie place individually and then try to experience it together, in order to find who had the "right" experience. Results have been mixed and are certainly inconsistent.

What are faeries like when not interacting with humans?

Magi do not agree what faeries are like when they are not interacting with humans. The key problem for researchers is that faeries at varioius times have apparently provided confirmatory evidence for any theory. Faeries it has been suggested, treat attempts to understand their nature as a form of traditional offering, and possibly adapt to meet the researcher's dream of enlightenment or glory. Many theories about faeries are popular, though, and different theories may be true for different faeries, or even for the same faerie depending on whether it's in Arcadia and the mundane world. These possibilities include:

• Faeries have permanent identities and a complex society in Arcadia, hidden behind a defensive facade of stories.
• Faeries act freely when humans are not watching, but select a role suited to their audience when a human is encountered.
• Faeries act freely when unobserved, but are forced into a role that suits an observer.
• Faeries continue to play their role in whatever story they were last involved with, until they find a new audience. If the story concludes, it begins again, repeating endlessly until a human intervenes.
• Faeries don't do anything when people aren't watching. They just wait for human observers. Humans that repeatedly visit a group of faeries may not realize that the faeries lose motivation in their absence. When the faeries restart the story, they may skip events so that, to the human, the narrative seems to have progressed.
• Faeries don't even remain physically incarnate when people aren't watching.
• It is impossible to meet the same faeries twice. When humans appear, a faerie who is present adopts for the form that the humans expect to meet.
• Faeries cease to hold their roles when people cease to observe them, even for an instant, and new faeries seize each role as human attention returns.

Faerie Auras, Regiones and Arcadia

A Faerie aura arises in placesd where the fae are strong. Events that promote the well-being of the fae enhance the aura but the aura will decline if the fae leave the place.

The presence in a place of a member of the Fae that has the power to extend its Glamour will create a faerie aura. If more than one faerie with this ability inhabitants a location, one will usually be dominant and be responsible for the aura. At times however, such fae clash and this can have powerful effects on the aura. Seasonal courts fighting battles and undertaking challenges is often a manifestation of such a clash.

Sites where epic events are said to have taken place often have faerie auras. This is not, so magi have discovered, because the events impress themselves upon the landscape, though that sometimes creates magic auras, but because faeries flock to legendary sites. These are thought to help bolster their vitality and the faeries seem to adopt the legendary roles of the participants in the event undertook. This can result in multiple versions of the same site; for example, in the Stonehenge Tribunal there are a number of sites apparently of King Arthur's Camelot, for example, near Edinburgh, near Winchester and near Caerleon.

Although Faerie regiones are less mutable than Arcadia (see below), they still change in response to visitors, to events in the mundane world and following changes to their inhabitants. A Regio will be controlled by a chief faerie, who somehow defines the nature of the regio. Other faeries in this realm will be subservient, though if another faerie should win out over the chief then that faerie will gain in power, take control of the regio and perhaps change its nature as a result. The aura in a faerie regio may vary without a regio boundary being encountered. This is thought to be due to changes to the primary faerie, the one that is supporting the aura.Time in a faerie aura within the mundane world moves at the same rate as the rest of the mundane world. In line with folklore, time in Faerie regiones does move at a different rate from that in the mundane world. Whether it is faster or slower seems to depend on how involved a character becomes in what is happening in that place. This is more so for Arcadia than regiones.

The Faerie Realm takes many forms but some scholars divide it into three distinct parts: where new stories are made (Arcadia), where myths are real (Elysium) and where one's personal stories are formed (Eudokia). Entry into the Faerie Realm, like entry into a faerie regio, is often easier at a boundary of some sort in the mundane world.