Faeries

Faeries are a species in the Historyverse. They have the ability to use magic and are pretty much deeply fascinated with human society. They're pretty much everything that cute little pixie over there on the right is not.

Appearance and Physiology
Faeries vary wildely in appearance. Seolig faeries tend to have warmer skin tones and eye colors. Unseolig faeries tend to look sickly or washed-out and have dull and cool eye colors. You can generally tell which court a solitary faerie was born into based on what they look like, but not always. More rarely in the past but more frequently now, some faeries also switch courts, which makes this method unreliable.

Origin
Faeries' weird beauty was naturally selected to allow them to be better at killing people. Oh yeah, faeries used to eat people, by the way. They had to stop when people started noticing people disappearing from their villages, much like another type of creature whose food source is people.

No one really knows where faeries or magic came from. It's a topic that gets talked about like where the universe came from and there are just as many varying answers. Did faeries evolve from humans? Do they even share a common ancestor? Where does magic come from? Seriously, where does it come from.

Seolig vs. Unseolig vs. Solitary
The seolig (also spelled seelie or selly) court of faeries are usually known as the benevolent group. They are known for their otherworldly beauty and quick wit. They aren't necessarily good, but aren't necessarily evil, either. Think Tinker Bell and you're on the right track: she might have been Peter Pan's right hand pixie, but she also tried to kill Wendy, soooo... Seolig faeries prefer to fight hand-to-hand combat, but aren't averse to using magick during it. The seolig court's tenets include "death before dishonor", "love conquers all", "beauty is life", and "never forget a debt".

The unseolig (also spelled unseelie or unselly) court of faeries are usually known as the "bad guys". They are also known for their beauty, which is sharper, hungrier, and more beastlike than the seolig court's. They are not necessarily evil, but not necessarily evil either. Unseolig faeries prefer to fight from a distance with magic or bows. Their main tenets include "change is good", "magic is free", and "duty is a lie".

Solitary faeries are arguably the most dangerous kind of faerie because they don't adhere at all to the comparably strict moral codes of the courts. They prefer to pick and choose their morality, which is what makes them so unpredictable.

Other Culture Notes
Because of the prevalance of glamour in the unseolig court, many faeries are able to change their appearance at will. This results in very few trans faeries having body dysphoria-- if you can't change your own body, just find an unseolig who's willing to do it for you. No problema.

The faerie language has a built-in gender-neutral/genderless pronoun because f**k that noise. Faeries dislike speaking languages with two grammatical genders or that only have a binary pronoun set. English-speaking faeries are notoriously huge proponents of GNPs. Many faeries build conlangs with complex grammatical genders in their spare time and speak them with their group of friends/relatives.

Faeries have weird hobbies.

Faerie Weaknesses

 * Can be unnerved and confusd by the presence of certain metals (seolig: iron, unseolig: silver, solitary: ??? perhaps mercury)
 * Tend to be smaller and lighter than humans and can be physically injured more easily
 * Court faeries find it hard to break their self-imposed rules and can be confused or stalled by moral dilemmas

Faerie Strengths

 * Tend to be smaller and lighter than humans and can generally hide, flee, etc. better
 * Can entrance humans with their weird beauty idk
 * Can use magick and/or glamour
 * Generally have good eyesight
 * Sharp teeth, grr grr
 * Can instill a kind of battle-panic that makes the fight or flight response in their foe/prey go absolutely bonkers (this is really scary)
 * Have long life spans due to magic

Trivia

 * I love faeries you guys.
 * Faeries are often fascinated by babies. Because they live so long, they rarely see infants.

Outside Sources

 * Seelie and Unseelie Court