otherlycreatures:

unseelie-sorceress:

You think human politics are complicated? Try Fae politics.

The Fae Speak:

Politics in the way spoken of here are through the lens of a humanized perception. These types of politics you are thinking of are structures that bind and control beings into a certain way of societal behavior. Binds like that diminish the true nature of one’s being, and are binding. Binds kill Fae.

Atri leaves it at that.

I’m going to tl;dr fae politics down to the brass tacks here, and even then its not going to be short.

Once long ago there no court at all and the Fae considered no division amongst them.     Through the natural course of finding not differences, but preferences for certain seasons, appearances and ideals, did the fae even learn about the idea of ‘differences’.  Eventually that lead to the two courts, but these courts did not oppose eachother, but instead complemented eachother, each lending their hands to the aspects of nature they were most adept to handle.

Through later events that I feel not at liberty to get in depth with, conflicts arose, and other courts began to split from the main two (Seelie and Unseelie).   Upon seeing this happen, the fae realized that there was no particular sacredness of either court.  New courts began to form at a rapid pace, because all fae felt the freedom to form one if they desired.  These days there are.. many courts.   I can’t give an accurate count, i won’t even try. 

Some courts try to exert more authority than others, but for the most part the various courts ‘accept and tolerate’ the other courts and do not try to make war between them, because they have some level of awareness that the relevance of ones own court is only measurable by the existence and standing of other court around them.  Fae courts interact with eachother through diplomacy in general and subterfuge if necessary.  I’ve heard stories of wars, but if any of them are true, they occur so infrequently as to be effectively legend.  They would be more likely to have war with mortals, because mortals have this weird thing about taking a stand and digging their feet into that ground even against contrary evidence, but that’s a subject for another time.

This being said, the whole idea of ‘government’ came to humanity through watching Fae courts, it could be said it was given to humanity, or taken from us, but either way, what you see today of human courts does not represent in any way what Fae courts are like.  Fae tend to see the longer picture and therefore, even if any particular ruler had a lust for power (somewhat rare among us), they would still take the longer road to it, whereas human courts sway wildly in what they do and what their goals are depending on how the current leadership wants to see the world around them be like.   This is more of a side effect of mortality than anything, since they feel they have such a small slice of time to affect change.

I should also note that some fae recognize courts, some do not, some have not even heard of them.   The idea of courts is not a universal idea amongst fae.   Fae are not exclusive to this planet and some of the things that have happened here are not relevant to all of them.  The above only relates to the ones who were part of it, and it its more of an event that formed them then a place where they formed, but it does manifest in Europe more so than other places.   This is partially because Ireland holds a special place amongst some Fae as a bridge between worlds.

@otherlycreatures @unseelie-sorceress