Faerie, Seelie

Seelie faeries are among the Shadow World's oldest and most numerous residents. The ancient fair folk are to this twilight land what the elves are to Cerilia, and are as in tune with the Seeming as the elves are with nature. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, seelie faeries might amuse, confuse, bemuse, or abuse adventurers. In fact, characters can count on only one certainty in a seelie encounter: It will prove interesting.

The physical appearance of seelie faeries cannot be generalized. Each is unique. They are tall, short, fat, thin, old, young, gargantuan, and diminutive. Some have wings, some have horns, some have tails or fins. Some look like small humanoids; others are bizarre composites of various life forms, bearing perhaps a pumpkin head, ivy hair, or goat hooves.

No one knows for certain whether members of the Seelie Court bear these characteristics for real, or whether the broad range of shapes, sizes, and features is the work of the Seeming. No other denizens of the Shadow World can manipulate the Seeming as they can. A few scholars posit that, were the Seeming stripped entirely from the Seelie Court, all these fanciful creatures would look exactly the same as each other—and very boring indeed.

Seelie faeries will help or hinder characters as the whim strikes them. Their appearance can provide a catalyst for an adventure. They can offer cryptic hints toward the successful completion of a quest. Or they can slow down or beleaguer a party

Though faeries may, at times, befriend player characters, the fair folk are too capricious and unpredictable to serve as reliable allies. Too-trusting PCs may, however, learn this truth the hard way.

How seelie faeries treat PCs depends in no small part on how PCs treat them during an initial encounter. Kindness is repaid with kindness—sometimes tenfold. But woe betide the traveler who mistreats or insults a faerie, for that treatment, too, is more than repaid in kind.

Combat: Seelie faeries rarely engage in direct combat, preferring to mire their opponents in confusion and deleterious promises. Should they need to physically defend themselves, however, the fair folk are well able to do so.

Their ability to turn invisible often enables seelie faeries to gain surprise.

The fair folk, being often small of stature and lacking in great strength, avoid melee combat at all costs. Should they have to defend themselves so directly, some carry a small knife or dagger capable of inflicting 1d4 points of damage.

Faeries prefer, however, to use their spellcasting abilities and the Seeming to attack and defend themselves. They can cast any priestly enchantment/charm spell of 1st or 2nd level, plus create water, entangle, faerie fire, light, protection from evil, purify food and drink, shillelagh; barkskin, goodberry, produce flame, speak with animals, warp wood; continual light, create food and water, pyrotechnics, seelie spell of forgetting, tree, water walk. They can cast five spells per day, and the seelie spell of forgetting an unlimited number of times.

In addition to their spellcasting abilities, seelie faeries make liberal use of the Seeming to defend themselves with a host of illusions (described at right).

The fair folk are especially vulnerable to iron weapons; such instruments inflict an additional 3 points of damage per hit. Salt thrown on a faerie renders it unable to turn invisible for 1d4 turns.

When a faerie approaches a traveler, it is usually with some purpose in mind—begging aid, issuing warnings, or perhaps seeking mischief. They may appear to travelers in need, perhaps having secretly followed them for miles or days. Or they might make themselves known when an adventurer inadvertently trespasses into a faerie's territory. Faeries who do not wish to be discovered seldom are.

Often, encounters with faeries are less direct. The fair folk may work their magic on unwary travelers without ever being seen.

The seelie faeries are true creatures of the Seeming, manipulating it as few denizens of the Shadow World can. In combat, they use it to alter their appearance into intimidating, menacing figures—perhaps towering over opponents, swiping with razorlike claws, or breathing jets of flame. In other encounters, they may speak in booming voices, create sweet or unpleasant odors, or alter terrain to block a traveler's path. While others' control of the Seeming may be limited to effects on one or two senses, seelie faeries can affect all five.

Habitat/Society:

Most seelie faeries live among the Seelie Court, a grand congretion of faerie folk. The Seelie Court resides deep in the Shadow World's most enchanted forest. As no one who intentionally goes looking for the court ever finds it, many believe it to be a traveling court that brings its own enchantment into the various forests it enters.

Occasionally, a traveler stumbles upon the Seelie Court accidentally. When this occurs, the faeries torment, test, or aid the traveler as their fancy strikes them. When the faeries are through, they lead the traveler out of the forest and cast a seelie spell of forgetting on the character. The traveler falls into a deep sleep; when the character awakens, she at best remembers the faerie encounter only as a dream and cannot find the way back to the court.

Though the Seelie Court comprises hundreds of faeries, travelers generally encounter them individually, far away from the court. Cerilian encounters are almost always single, particularly in the case of changelings (see separate entry). The fair folk don't like to be seen; they can become invisible at will and often move about thus hidden from view. Detect invisibility, detect magic, or similar magic reveals them, as does a perception score within 10 points of the faerie's Seeming score. A faerie might freely choose to reveal itself for some purpose, but never to an evil creature. Seelie faeries have the innate ability to discern the nature of those they encounter (per the know alignment spell).

Seelie faeries prize beauty, in both individuals and in objects. They often covet beautiful things, be they trinkets, treasure, or human children (see separate "Changeling" entry). They may offer aid in exchange for a traveler's possession, or attempt to trick the individual out of it.

The Seeming permeates the speech of seelie faeries as much as it does their appearances. The creatures love to talk in rhyme, riddles, and conundrums, making great use of double entendres and hidden meanings. There is always a grain of truth in anything a seelie faerie says—but often, one must search very hard to uncover it.

In any seelie encounter, travelers must watch their own words as carefully as those of the faeries. Seelie law and codes of conduct are predicated on the literal interpretation of language—particularly oaths and promises. The faeries are famous for exacting promises from unwary travelers who don't realize until too late what they're getting themselves into.

For example, an adventurer who makes the promise, “I will share my supper with you if you tell me how to reach the haunted castle” may well find the faerie showing up for dinner every night for the rest of the character's life (or at least, until the faerie gets bored) in exchange for directions so encoded in doubletalk that the PC couldn't even follow them.

Seelie faeries are bound, however, by the same literalness they use to torment others. Thus, a person who manages to find a loophole or technicality in an oath can manage to become extricated from it. Faeries are also thrown off-balance by erratic or unexpected behavior. Their guiding principle is, "If p, then q." Add r to the equation, and they don't know what hit them. In other words, the poor traveler with the constant supper companion could get rid of the unwanted guest simply by calling this evening meal "breakfast". The bewildered creature won't know what to think—but will be forced to admit defeat.

When a faerie demands an "either-or" decision with two unappealing choices, a wise person always tries to come up with a third, unanticipated option.

The Faerie Queen

The Faerie Queen reigns over the Seelie Court. Known in various legends as Titania, Maeve, or Mab, she is a fey creature of unearthly beauty. Of lawful neutral alignment, she is devoted to her "children" but is fair to travelers she encounters—so long as they have not mistreated the faerie folk.

Faerie Queen: AC 2; MV 15, Fl 15 (B); HD 20; hp 162; THAC0 5; #AT 1; Dmg by spell; SA Seeming, spells; SD immune to illusions and charm spells, invisible at will, know alignment; SW iron, salt; MR 50%; SZ M (5' tall); ML 16 (champion); AL LN; XP 21,000

Notes: The queen has a Seeming score of 100 and no need of a perception score—she can see through the Seeming at will. SW—Iron weapons inflict an additional 2 points of damage with each hit; salt thrown on the queen neutralizes her invisibility ability for 1 turn.

S 10, D 18, C 16, I 18, W 17, Ch 19.

Personality: Capricious, fair, devoted to and defensive of her subjects.

Spells under her command (6/6/6/6/6/5/4/4/3 per day): All illusion/phantasm and 1st- and 2nd-level enchantment/charm spells (priestly or wizardly), plus affect normal fires, color spray, create water, dancing lights, detect magic, entangle, faerie fire, feather fall, light, protection from evil, purify food and drink, shillelagh; barkskin, detect invisibility, goodberry, produce flame, speak with animals, warp wood; blink, continual light, create food and water, gust of wind, hold person, protection from evil 10-foot radius, pyrotechnics, seelie spell of forgetting, suggestion, tree, water walk; confusion, reflecting pool, tongues; false vision, Leomund's lamentable belaborment; enchant an item, true seeing.

The Faerie Queen is a creature of such ethereal beauty that any nonfaerie who beholds her must immediately succeed at a saving throw vs. spell or be charmed.

In all the Shadow World, the Faerie Queen has the greatest power over the Seeming—after all, she was alive before it existed, and has had an eternity to hone her command of it. As the last surviving Sie (see "Ecology," below), she also commands both wizardly and priestly magic.

The queen considers herself the ultimate protector of the faeries, and defends them from outsiders as a mother does her children. Should one of the faeries commit a misdeed, however, she also punishes it as a mother would her wayward child. Faeries encountered outside the Seelie Court are often the subjects of such discipline, enduring temporary or permanent banishment from the court as the penalty for some transgression. The fair folk love their queen so dearly that such exile is the strongest form of punishment imaginable to them. Just as the queen devotes herself to their protection, they in turn will defend her to the death.

Types of Faeries

Though the very nature of seelie faeries defies summary and stereotype, some of them fall into a few broad, general categories.

The Deceiver

Some faeries intentionally try to deceive those they encounter. The creatures habitually give poor directions, misleading information, and bad advice. Though they do so not out of real malice—to them, it is all a grand game—their deceptions sometimes have dire consequences for travelers in a land where a single wrong turn could prove fatal.

The Innocent

Though all seelie faeries exhibit a certain amount of childlike innocence (as evidenced in their literal interpretation of speech), some carry it to an extreme. They tag along, asking “why” eighteen times in a row, poking and prodding at unfamiliar objects and people, letting curiosity guide them until the beleaguered traveler is driven to distraction. Innocents tend to be very young faeries (only a couple centuries old).

The Helper

Some faeries make a genuine effort to aid travelers they encounter. Usually, this philanthropy comes as the result of a kindness shown them by the recipient or other travelers who came before. (For example, a faerie might help a Khinasi adventurer because a century ago another Khinasi did it a good turn.) The helper may reveal itself to the recipient, or offer aid secretly (for example, magically replenishing a party's diminishing rations while they sleep). The attempt at aid is not always successful—faeries have been known to inadvertently make a situation worse instead of better—but the intentions are good. The assistance is generally limited to a single instance.

The Protector

Occasionally, a faerie chooses to serve as a protector to an individual or part y. Perhaps the faerie believes itself to be in the individual's debt (if, for example, the traveler saved the creature's life or outsmarted it somehow). Or perhaps the faerie seeks to aid the person's mission. Regardless of motive, the faerie watches over its charge from a distance, rendering aid or fending off harm as the need arises. As in the case of helper faeries, recipients of a faerie's protection may not even be aware of the attention or its source. But unlike helpers, protectors stick with their self-appointed charges until their protection is no longer needed (for example, the recipient leaves the Shadow World) or the obligation is fulfilled (for example, the faerie saves a life in exchange for its own being saved).

The Trickster

While all faeries delight in puzzles and games (particularly verbal contests of wit) some turn every encounter into an opportunity for amusement—at the travelers' expense. Such a creature tries to trap the unwary into commitments they would rather not keep or actions they would be wise not to take. Some of the ploys in a trickster's arsenal are downright menacing, while others are meant merely to amuse the faerie. Rumplestiltskin's bargain is an example of a trickster's plot. Because one never knows whether a faerie might be a trickster, the wise individual exercises caution while speaking with any faerie. It is easier to avoid entering a trickster's power than to extricate oneself from it.

Ecology: The seelie faeries were the first children of the Shadow World. Long ago, when the waking world and the Shadow World were one, a race known as the Sie (“see”) populated the land. These creatures were beings of great magic, innate wielders of both sorcery that worked with nature (priestly spells) and sorcery that broke the rules of nature (wizardly spells). They cast their spells not by the prayer of priests or the rote memorization of human wizards, but rather the gathering of magical energies (the process yet employed by today's elves).

The force that spilt the world into two halves was so strong that it also split the land's inhabitants, ripping the Sie in twain. Each creature became two separate entities—a faerie (seelie) in the Shadow World and an elf (Sidhe) in Cerilia. The seelie retained control of natural magic and gained power over a new force in the Shadow World: the Seeming. The Sidhe retained control of wizardly magic and became bound to the land itself.

Though the ancient link between the two peoples has long since been forgotten by all but the Faerie Queen (the only surviving Sie), to this day, when an elf is born in Cerilia, a new faerie appears in the Seelie Court. While it is possible that a traveling elf or faerie could meet its counterpart, no one knows what would happen in such an extraordinary event.

Unless slain, seelie faeries are immortal in the Shadow World but mortal in Cerilia. Conversely, elves are immortal in Cerilia but mortal in the Shadow World. The faeries are as attuned to the nature of the Shadow World as elves are to Cerilia. This link enables them to exist in such a hostile environment with virtually no natural predators. The evil of the Shadow World, however, holds plenty of unnatural ones.

Seelie faeries are generally vegetarians, subsisting primarily on fruits, nuts, roots, and seeds. They do, however, eat meat when it is offered to them. The fair folk have an aversion to milk—a means by which savvy individuals have been known to expose a faerie so masked in the Seeming that its identity was otherwise indeterminable.

In addition to their link to Cerilian elves, seelie faeries have an evil counterpart: the unseelie faeries (see separate entry). Brownies, leprechauns, and sprites (see the MONSTROUS MANUAL volume) are all types of seelie faeries.

Seelie Spell of Forgetting

(Enchantment/Charm)

This spell, which can be cast only by members of the Seelie Court, enables the caster to erase the recipient's memory of time spent among the faeries.

Saving throw adjustments are based on the victim's perception score: a +3 penalty for no perception, a +2 penalty for slight, a +1 penalty for lesser, no adjustment for middling, a -1 bonus for greater, and a -2 bonus for extraordinary. Should the recipient succeed at a saving throw vs. spell, he or she recalls the faerie encounter as a dream. Failure means the recipient remembers nothing. Should the victim recall anything, the memory is hazy and seems not quite real. The character cannot recollect names, locations, directions, or any other specifics unless the caster so desires. For example, a faerie might cast this spell on a lost traveler to make him or her forget the faerie's name and the location of the Seelie Court, but may allow the character to remember directions to the nearest safe haven.

If the recipient again encounters a faerie or place “forgotten” as a result of this spell, he or she experiences a sense of deja vu, but does not recall specifics.

The spell does not negate charm, suggestion, geas, quest, or similar effects the recipient may have entered into during time spent among the faeries. The character does, however, forget the circumstances and the spellcaster that bound him or her with such magic

Only a limited wish or wish can enable someone to recall experiences erased by this spell.

The material component of this spell is one pinch of faerie dust per recipient.