Faeries

The oldest sentient race to inhabit earth, faeries are an old and very powerful race of Supernaturals.

Origin
The fae were already ancient and established when the first humans crawled from the earth, having walked the earth alongside the dinosaurs, and no one besides the fae themselves and perhaps the angels in heaven know how they came to be.

They were both feared and revered by ancient men, who called them the Fair Folk, Good Neighbors, and Wise Ones as ways to appease them.

When the angels, demons, and eventually the Casters waged war, the fae did not fight unless directly engaged, and they attacked anything regardless of its race when their territory was encroached upon. Afterwards, they attempted to return to the earth and their old territories, but when man discovered iron, which is toxic to faeries, they were forced to retreat to hidden parts of the world.

At some point during their history, the fae split, forming the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. The Seelie court was ambivalent towards men and Casters and created the Conclave only because they were asked nicely. Though the earth was theirs first, they had no desire to do battle with the Casters and retreated to their own realms silently.

The Unseelie Court on the other hand hated that they were forced out of their home. They are utterly and entirely malevolent towards Casters, Mortals, and even some of the other Supernaturals.

Appearance
Faeries are incredibly varied in appearance, as there are many different species of fae, each separate from the other. The fae of the Seelie Court include elves, pixies, sprites, dwarves, unicorns, nymphs, satyrs, and many more. These faeries tend to be beautiful, but in an unearthly, alien way. Despite this beauty, they can still be incredibly dangerous, and many faeries find pleasure in tormenting humans, Mortal and Caster alike.

Unseelie faeries, however, tend to be much more frightening in appearance. Their people include orcs, imps, goblins, trolls, ogres, and other dangerous creatures.

Leadership and Society
The Seelie Court is led by four individual monarchs, who rule according to the seasons. The ancient Queen Cailleach rules during winter, and is the oldest of the monarchs; Queen Eostre rules during spring and is the youngest of the four; High Queen Blodeuwedd rules during summer, and is by far the strongest of the monarchs; and King Cernunnos, the only male, rules during autumn. The Unseelie Court however is led by a council known as the Morrigan: the three legendary fae Badb, Macha, and Nemain.

Both Courts have a very strict social hierarchy however, much like medieval European social structure. At the top sits the monarchs, below them the royal family and other nobles of varying degrees of power, next are the knights and warriors, the artists, then farmers, herders, and clansmen occupy their own level, and finally there are troopless fae at the bottom.

Strengths
Like many other supernaturals, faeries possess enhanced strength, speed, agility, grace, and senses, and while these gifts are not so heightened as vampires, werewolves, or even Guardians, any faerie knight can overpower a human. Faeries are also masters of illusion and while a Caster may be able to sense a faerie’s glamour they are not capable of seeing through it without a powerful spell. All Faeries are capable of communicating with animals, and manipulating plant life to varying degrees.

They have a very unique kind of magic, one that is very ancient and neither seraphically or demonically aligned. Their magic comes from the earth, but not the energy that Casters manipulate. Rather, their magic stems from the life of the world and the forces of nature themselves. The get energy from growing plants, newborn animals, and the progression of life in general. But they also get energy from death, as it is a part of the process of life. Because of this, they also have a strong dislike of vampires and other kinds of undead.

Weaknesses
Pure, unforged iron, untouched by heat and shaped by no man's hands is incredibly toxic to faeries. Simply being in its presence acts a poison that severely weakens faeries, and contact with the metal is fatal. Rowan wood also nullifies their powers.

Faeries also have certain diseases that only affect their people, some of which are fatal others simply like a human cold.

Despite their own magic and their great powers, fae are weak to Caster magic and its effects.