Pixie Lore

Pixie Lore | Shimmerlings:

"Pixies dwell in the twilight, between day and night, between the heavens and the earth, between the conscious and the unconscious... where all things are possible, where our past and future meet, where we meet ourselves coming back. When we dance with the pixies, we dance with the reflections of our true selves and the true nature of the world."

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Some Sylvaeon Pixie Folklore:

Pixies are universally known to be mischievous and to have the power of invisibility.
Their jokes may seem cruel at times, but as with all Fey creatures, Pixies have an agenda and ethic that is inscrutable to the humans and others that they perpetrate pranks upon. Their power to turn invisible serves Pixies well in pulling off such stunts. Leading travelers astray or stealing/misplacing small objects from villagers is a favorite pastime of these wee folk. However, Pixies sometimes have a soft spot for the larger folk and may go from pranking them to helping them, to make up for their jesting.

Pixies are said to be anywhere from a few inches in height to up to two feet in height. This may be due to magical adaptations to different environments and lifestyles of the Pixies or for mistaking other fairy-beings for Pixies. Whatever the case, Pixies are small by human standards.

Pixies in Sylvaeon generally live in mounds or among flora that can conceal their existence. A Pixie is usually seen only when it wants to be! When they are seen, it has been reported that most Pixies dress in bright colors, often mimicking the general style of clothing of the nearest non-Pixie population to them.

[EDIT:

Pixies can live in communities, but some are solitary. When encountered, they can also be solitary or perhaps up to half a dozen (unless something VERY strange is going on, when there could be more!)

Pixie communities are sequestered away and protected by Pixie magic.]

Travel Tips if a Pixie is Encountered in Sylvaeon:

• Do not taunt back or grow angry with a Pixie that pranks you - it only encourages them.
• Sometimes Pixies can be bribed to desist in their tricks with food, shiny objects or other valuables.
• If a Pixie is amiable to a traveler, they generally enjoy tales or conversation and will possibly exchange such pleasantries for a bit of information about the surrounding area.
• If a Pixie is harmed in anyway, it will hold a grudge against the one that harmed it for the rest of its days (which may be centuries!)

Queen of the Fairies

Queen of the Fairies

Like many ancient myths, there is no clearcut or authoritative version of just who the Queen of the Fairies is and what her nature is like. The name of the Queen of the Fairies changes according to different adaptations. She has no name in the oldest times, but has been associated with Morgan Le Fey in Arthurian legends and Shakespeare called her Titania. Oberon (also spelled Auberon) is often considered her consort and the king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature.

William Blake's Oberon, Titania and Puck With Fairies Dancing

Titania. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;

Then, for the third of a minute, hence;

Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,

Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,

To make my small elves coats, and some keep back

The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders 

At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;

Then to your offices, and let me rest.

(A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, Act II. Scene II. Another Part of the Wood)

The Queen of the Fairies is a beautiful, cunning and commanding Fey creature of great magical power, able to assume any shape she pleases. She is sometimes said to ensnare mortal for her purposes, as in the Queen of Elfen legend of the Scottish Lowlands. Humans ensorcelled by her sometimes become a "tithe to hell", which reflects the conflict between Christianity and Paganism in those days.

In a sylvan setting in an RPG campaign, she could be a figure that lies behind happenings or has agents among the woodland creatures and her various subjects. She appears to mortals only when she desires to be seen. It would be very difficult to trap or threaten the Queen of the Fairies, as her own realm is one of particularly fey magic and possibly a dimension all to itself, where she is in absolute authority. She seems to be favorable to whom she will and as equally capricious.

Certainly the Queen of the Fairies is a fascinating and mysterious figure for any campaign, the mythology of whom has only been scratched here.

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:

There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;

And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in