fae courts

Mar

2018

Could you tell us about the court you were in?

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.

Feb

2018

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

Feb

2018

l1ghtborn:

otherlycreatures:

The Fae Speak:

Posts claiming Fae Aesthetics are airy pink dresses, sparkly lip gloss, little scratches on your knees, giggling, and picking buttercups … aren’t aesthetics about Fae. Those are aesthetics for Lolita or ‘little’ lifestyles.

Not all fae are the same. We are as varied as humans. And just like humans, singular fae do not speak for us all.

As fae it distresses me somewhat that one person claims to speak for all of us. It also makes me wonder why I don’t get any say in what we are, either.

This being said I agree somewhat with the sentiment. The “cute aspect” of fae are somewhat of a minority element, it does exist out there, mostly as a Seelie thing (and not to presume that all Seelie are ‘cute’ either, or even a majority, but its not non-existent).

On the other paw, this ‘cute and frilly aspect’ is non-existent amongst the Unseelie and rare in nature and other courts. Its mostly a Seelie thing, where it even exists amongst them.

TL;DR: You can’t put Fae into a basket, theres not just one type of fae, just like there isn’t one type of human. You wouldn’t make these kinds of generalizations about humans, soo..

@otherlycreatures

Aug

2017

Can you tell me more about the Unseelie Fae Courts?

I don’t consider myself an expert on Unseelie, but here we go. 🙂 I think to start though we need some proper context.

In the beginning there was just the fae courts. They were unified and while there was sometimes conflict there was peace. Then stuff happened, alot of stuff that is tl;dr for this post and I don’t even know all of what happened, but, tl;dr, there was a difference of opinion on what constituted the right to rule.

Generally who we call the Seelie today (note, these are mortal words anyway) believed that the right to rule came from birthright. Passed down from those who already rule. Those generally considered Unseelie believed it came from strength, both from strength to assume leadership, but also strength to defend it. Still other courts believed the right to rule came from the those who would be goverened, who had the most shinies, etc, but those principles formed courts that would not see so much attention. I’ll save those for a later time.

Anyways, the terms Seelie and Unseelie come from Gaelic, and are not necessarily of fae origin (even though we use them). Seelie, meaning happy, holy, pretty, shiny; and Unseelie which means sad, unholy, ugly, and dim. It is a distinction that mortals made that we fae did not (until later when mortals started referring to the courts this way).

With that context, I think I can talk about Unseelie.

As noted they are the the type of fae that believe the strongest one wins. Most of the types of fae that are Unseelie are ones who are known for killing, whether its mortals or other fae, that does not really matter that much to them. They are also likely to employ fear to get what they want. But they also have a kind of honor around their bloodlust. An Unseelie is not the type to pussyfoot around with poisons or backstabbing or other methods of subterfuge when they decide to kill.

Their court operates much like this. Subduing your superiors is the way to get a promotion, their kings and queens stand upon the mountains of those they had to conquer and eliminate to get there. Sometimes this involves murder, but the Courts are usually more .. well .. courtly than that, and simply beating them to a bloody pulp is enough to prove your point.

You might think that this would create an environment of blood and ugliness, but in their own way, Unseelie castles and kingdoms have their own dark beauty. Things are kept clean, castles are built, etc. But the Unseelie Court, when it is run, really just gets down to business when its halls open, without all the pomp and etiquette (though for sure there is still, etiquette) of the Seelie court (which is almost etiquette for its own sake).

Being part of the Unseelie court has more to do with what you believe you are than things like birth, race, and personal edginess (heh). In most cases if you want to be Unseelie you just got to kill another unseelie (or beat them thoroughly) or eat them or something (assuming you’re fae yourself) I don’t think any of them would argue with that.

Because of this (also much like the seelie) there is no specific “racial associations” with being Unseelie. There are unseelie pixies, and sidhe, and even unicorns.

I think the last immediate thing I can think of, is that if you want to meet unseelie fae out there in nature, you can call to them and/or look out for them, but if you meet any, respect is helpful but not mandatory, but do not do anything that might be construed as a challenge, because if you do, they will accept and hold you to it. If they challenge you in some way, you may respectfully decline, but expect them to deal with you no longer (at least for a while, and they aren’t a collective, so there are still others to talk to). If you accept it, you might be harmed, killed or eaten, but if you win, its worth *alot* of credibility and respect with the Unseelie. But I should reiterate, this can be quite dangerous.

EDIT!: @unseelie-sorceress is an Unseelie and more informed regarding them than I. You should also ask her.

Aug

2017

Questions and asks open

So i’m gonna change how I do tumblr because i’ve discovered people in general who have asks open, get them, but I rarely do, and I’d actually like to answer questions for folks.

I am not sure how to get more visible on tumblr, but I typically don’t fill my posts with tags and I think that in order for people to know i’m out here, i’m going to have to start doing that.

So this is just a reminder post that my blog is open and people can chat and ask stuff, typically I will answer questions about

foxes, therianthropy, otherkin, fae, kitsune, phouka, Fae Courts, magick, energy work, animism, and spirits and other spiritual concepts.

I’m open to talk about other things at all, but trolls will simply be ignored and blocked, because I want to focus on answering sincere questions. You can also read back on this blog to see what I generally think and feel about things.