Ok the court I was in, and still are in, is the Nature court. It’s also been called the Beast court, but that usage is anthrocentric and somewhat inaccurate as we include plant fae, among other types.
Most of the fae that are part of the nature court are ‘nature’ types such as phouka, lamia, sylphs and dryads, satyrs, pixies, and the like. Some kinds of merfolk especially the very fae oriented Selkies are often part. A general rule of thumb would be that the less humanoid a faerie is, the more likely they are to be of the nature court. But please do not do what human mythos has done and presume that ‘rules of thumb’ equal ‘ironclad rules that will apply everywhere’. These stereotypes have tried to define us in a way that is now misapplied widespread on Earth. Fact is that there have been elves in the nature court, phouka in other courts, and so on.
The fae that are part of the nature court are usually tied to nature in some way, athough, whether by choice, nature or instinct. When there is court, it usually occurs in a forest, near high natural energies. There is no requirement for it to be held in a castle, though it is an option to set up some kind of permanent settlement. Most of the time i’ve participated in Court its been just a bunch of rocks set up in a circle marking ‘where it was happening’. Usually we don’t do castles, if theres a permanent settlement it will be part of the natural setting. My preference has always been for canopies of trees that obscured the sky.. for others it could be quite different.
Usually nature courts handle affairs of nature amongst fae. Back before the holocene era, it used to be mostly about territory disputes and natural balance issues, but things changed alot when humans came out of the trees. I’ll wait for a specific ask about that before getting into that or else this post might get too long. But just for a little bit of an explanation, it is true that fae are sill all around us, but for reasons having to do with the energy of many places becoming corrupted, they are less in some places than others.
As for relationships with other courts, one should first point out that the terms ‘seelie’ and ‘unseelie’ are umbrellas mortals tend to put us under, but amongst fae the distinctions are not so hard cut. There are countless courts these days, some as small as the fae in your backyard and some so large they span galaxies. Still the base concepts have some validity, in that fae who are “Seelie” tend to be associated with light and summer. They also derive the ‘right to rule’ from the birthlines of those who have always ruled, and are the most hardcore about court loyalty. The “Unseelie” associate with dark and winter, derive the right to rule from the one strongest enough to take it, but are actually less hardcore about court loyalty.
These are given just to contrast with Nature court. Nature court tends to associate with spring or autumn, depending on the particular court, most nature courts are active mostly during those seasons. We generally like twilight, because that’s when the hunting is best. Also full moons. Bright nights, for the same reasons really. We believe the right to rule should be given to the ones who can do it the best. And as for court loyalty, we are pretty loose about it and its somewhat common for nature fae to be part of another court as well.
In general, we kind of lean more towards the Unseelie side than Seelie. Why? Because you can’t trust Seelie. With the Unseelie, if one wants to kill you, you’ll see their weapons or fangs out, their intent is clear, and that is kind of how Nature rolls too. If a Seelie wants you dead, you will die never knowing how or why. The last thoughts in your head will probably be “Wonder who I pissed off..”
I guess to conclude, i’ll just say that while the Seelie and Unseelie oriented fae do not have a direct aversion to having us ‘animals’ in their courts, there’s certainly reasons that you don’t often see us there, often time Nature’s issues just aren’t covered in their list of concerns, so thats the main reasons we are our own Court.
Just a (fae) phouka kitsune type thing. I’ve been out as otherkin and therian for over 20 years, and been awakened for even longer than that. I’m demi and lean towards female gender.
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