Fairfolk

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The Fairfolk have striking differences from their Elven ancestors.

Overview

Fairfolk (Commonspeak), also Sidhe (Feyspeak \ˈʃi\ for fairy), are a Fey species native to Arcadia. Unlike all other Fey species, Fairfolk do not belong to any Fey Court and are not ruled by a Fey God. They represent the default Fey form, arising not from a specific philosophical doctrine, but from prolonged exposure to Arcadia itself.

Fairfolk are the most numerous Fey species by a wide margin. Any Fey who does not follow a Court, which is to say most Fey, is Fairfolk by definition. They form the connective tissue of Arcadian society, enabling Courts to exist without wholly sustaining themselves.

History

Shattered Age

Fairfolk are the oldest Fey species. They first came into existence when elves from Elfhome began entering Arcadia and remaining there for extended periods. Over time, the Strange environment reshaped these elves into Sidhe.

The earliest recorded instance of this transformation dates to circa NIR 200, making the Fairfolk older than all Fey Courts and all Court-derived species.

As Fey Courts emerged, proliferated, split, fused, and dissolved, Fairfolk remained constant. While many Fey chose Court affiliation in pursuit of specific forms of Strange Meaning, the majority did not, remaining Fairfolk either by preference or inertia.

In every era, Fairfolk have outnumbered Court-aligned Fey.

Cosmology

Fairfolk represent the unshaped potential of Arcadian philosophy. They can drift into and out of Courts, taking and leaving shapes of other Fey species in the process.

Unlike Court Fey, whose bodies are arguments, Fairfolk are consequences. Their existence demonstrates that prolonged exposure to the Strange inevitably alters the self, even without intent or belief.

Because they are not anchored to a Fey God or Court philosophy, Fairfolk are considered adaptable, resilient, and philosophically uncommitted, traits that make them indispensable and quietly unsettling to Court society.

Society

Fairfolk do not possess a Court or unified political structure. Instead, they collectively constitute Arcadian society outside the Courts.

They commonly:

• Serve as artisans, traders, and laborers.
• Maintain infrastructure that Courts neglect due to philosophical fixation.
• Act as intermediaries between Courts, or between Courts and other realms.

Fairfolk may work within a Court without adopting its philosophy, performing necessary functions that Court-aligned Fey cannot or will not. Others operate entirely outside Court influence, forming loose communities, trade networks, and itinerant groups.

All such activities follow Arcadian dream-logic. To mortal observers, Fairfolk commerce, craftsmanship, and social norms appear incoherent or symbolic rather than functional, despite working perfectly within Arcadia.

Ecology

Fairfolk resemble elves only in the broadest sense. Their bodies are extremely thin, almost fragile in appearance, with exaggerated proportions that verge on the inhuman.

Common traits include:

• Impossibly long, thin limbs, necks, fingers, and toes.
• Enormous, almond-shaped eyes that do not blink and sit wider apart than mortal anatomy would allow.
• Very small mouths and elongated, tapering ears far longer than those of elves.
• Hair that is universally long, often exceeding their own height.

Their overall appearance is delicate, unsettling, and unmistakably Strange.