Faerie

About

Several varieties of pixies, twiglings, and the like are believed to live in the canopy and undergrowth of the forests throughout Entorais. Most rural peasant folk, tribal peoples, and foresters have some second or third hand accounts to share with others. Few claim to have encountered them personally, with little evidence to support their stories.

Some tales are fantastical, describing primitive celebrations and rites performed under the light of the moons. Others speak of much more mundane encounters, observing the wee folk on a hunt, or gathering berries and nuts in the woods. Some other stories involve never seeing the fae themselves, but just evidence of their activities.

Most urban people, and certainly the more educated classes discount the existence of such creatures as the fever dreams or idle imaginings of superstitious yokels.

Appearance

Those who claim to have encountered such creatures usually describe them as slender youthful looking beings about 20-30 cm in height. Sometimes with insect-like wings, sometimes bark-like skin and leaves for hair. Wearing woven leaf or flower petal clothing, or armour crafted from the hides of small game, and wielding miniature bows and spears. Sometimes they are described riding upon the backs of small animals or larger birds.

Variants

Forest Children

Some stories involve people hearing the voices of children laughing or calling out from amongst the trees. Efforts to find these hidden children will inevitably lead the seeker deeper and deeper into the woods to their peril. The voices are always just behind the next tree, or over some large rock, and their owner is never visible. Some believe these voices to belong to children stolen away by the fae and used to lure more to join the wee folk in their homes.

Goblins

Small tricksters who live in and around treahni settlements. They seek out treahni children and invite them to play with them, engaging in all sorts of fun boisterous activity. These games often result in mischief, broken crockery, or other mishaps. The child wears the blame for such accident of course, as these creatures are magically invisible to all adults, except for those with feeble, child-like minds.

Night Pixies

Night pixies are believed to lure unwary sorts deep into the woods by leaving short lived trails of blue or purple phosphorescent dust in the air. Individuals who follow such lights in to the deepest woods are never found, or wander back after a long absence with little or no memory of their time away. Dark the night, avoid the light is a simple rhyme used to warn children of such dangers.

Nixies

A sea dwelling pixie variant believed to live in deep water, dwelling in miniature castles made of coral. They are described wearing armour made from shells, wielding small swords crafted from the spines of poisonous fish, sometimes they ride the backs of crabs, or eels. These creatures lure the unwary into the sea to drown, filling their heads with promises of treasure and the ability to breathe underwater to come see their beautiful homes beneath the waves.

Pazöpëzëvmü

In Kythus, some people believe in a type of kindly fae which will visit homes and shops at night. If one leaves out treats, they may find the place tidier: broken things mended, supplies organized, and small crafting tasks completed. Without a treat these same fae will cause mischief such as: dulling tools, spilling jars of nails, scattering ingredients, fraying ropes, tearing holes in sacks, and other general chaos. Generally described a tiny people with brightly dyed wool hood, and leather clothes made from the hides of rats or other small animals, carrying hammers, shears, and other crafting tools.

Pine Pixies

Pine pixies are believed to dwell in the upper canopy of evergreen trees. They will defend their homes from interlopers by shooting them with arrows made from the long needles of trees, or spears tipped with short spruce needles. These weapons are purported to be coated in some form of poisonous resin which induces a deep sleep, allowing the pine pixies to steal foodstuff and other small items from their victims.

Twiglings

Twiglings are described as tiny anthropomorphic trees, with tiny claw-like hands and sharp teeth. They will bite and scratch an intruder's exposed skin causing numerous cuts which bleed profusely, and are extremely itchy, often leaving unsightly scars. They may even try to stab the eyes of their victims rendering them blind.