Fey Caste System


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


Did Paizo post an official Fey hierarchy system like the outsiders do (devil, demons, etc) I’m looking for a Fey lord type creature.

Silver Crusade

Pretty much all we know is that the greatest of the fey are the ones known as the Eldest.


Ah did a quick search, those are all deities. Will definitely do further research, might have to homebrew some mortal Fey King that isn’t a god level power for my game I’m planning as the fey world (first world) will have a massive role

Thank you though for that little bit of info


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I mean, fey are unlikely to have a rigid hierarchy. That's not usually a fey quality.

They might have a king and queen, being the most powerful non-deific fey, like an Oberon and Titania. But are king in queen only in the concept of being the strongest.


That is what I’m looking for


While I'm not sure if there's a hierarchy system, the different Eldest definitely have courts and titles of their own. Check out the Gathlain Court Titles for the few examples of them we have.

Quote:
The courts of the Eldest have many fanciful titles, and the strange logic of the fey means bearing one of them can grant a creature unusual powers.

I did find being an Ineffable Count of the Clock very useful for a recent build. I also love the pun.


I figure any individual Eldest is likely to have a court which follows some kind of hierarchy. It's just that these hierarchies are not easily understood by outsiders, and may not have a darn thing to do what the particular Eldest wants or values (c.f. Imbrex, who talks to no one), and are prone to sudden and dramatic change.

Plus there's the matter of the "hierarchy" potentially not being ordered in the traditional sense, since like "the person closest to the Green Mother" is potentially a position of some influence, but it's also an incredibly dangerous position to occupy. Somewhere much lower in the court is going to be the people she trusts, relies on, and does not plan on consuming after she has gotten whatever she wants out of them (both secrets and... other things.)


So home court to an eldest is way to go


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How I see it, Eldest by Eldest:

Ranalc- Missing, possibly does not exist anymore, but still grants spells to his Clerics somehow. So there are likely multiple, competing courts who claim to be the real court of Count Ranalc often at odds with each other.

Green Mother- 24/7 ball/feast/party/debauch at the Hanging Bower, but there's levels of deadly intrigue below the surface. VIPs and newcomers are constantly coming in, and *most* are allowed to leave. It's a fun, friendly, and dangerous environment with enough sudden and shocking death to keep outsiders uncomfortable.

Imbrex- Fae have literally built a city at and spiraling up the feet of the statues- Imbrex speaks to no one but everyone there has weird, but significant feeling dreams. All politics are local politics, with the upper crust living higher up on the statues, but with major influence from religious leaders who claim to know what Imbrex is on about.

Lantern King- By nature a traveling fae, but if he can be said to hold court anywhere it's the Witchmarket, so the courtly politics are just the politics of the Witchmarket. Which is kind of like any other large traveling market just with 300% more malevolence and 10,00% more whimsy.

Lost Prince- He's sad and lonely and wishes to be left alone. Nevertheless he has acquired a coterie of admirers and servants. He doesn't seem to show any particular interest or favoritism with his followers and maintains appreciable distance and impartiality with all but the other Eldest.

Magdh- Rarely interacts with anyone save for a small circle of norns, unless she's on one of her errands to ensure something or other happens. Willing to talk anyone's ear off about the nature of reality, but mostly her relationship with others is "if Magdh tells you to do something, it's for a good reason."

Ng- Halls of the Seasons are generally fairly empty empty save for the occasional scholar. Ng's people will show up, have a brief and cryptic talk with Ng, then head off to wherever to do whatever. I figure the Hall of Seasons is very empty even if there are people there.

Ragadahn- Holds court at the bottom of an oceanic trench, everyone there breathes water and hates you. Not a safe place for outsiders. No one comes there without a very good reason, unless they naturally fit in there.

Shyka- Utterly unpredictable as Shyka is many people, so you never know which one you'll get. Shyka is generally benevolent and lets people wander around their libraries and galleries, since you know in advance what they are going to do. Sometimes greets visitors personally, perhaps aware of their personal arcs. But I figure most of Shyka's friends are Shyka since if you exist simultaneously at all points in time it's hard to have friends who don't also do that.


Slightly OT but related. For an Elven realm, I had several noble houses who were each sponsors to several mercantile houses. Each house was then randomly, by dice roll given a relationship level (either allied, friendly, neutral, disliked or hated) with every other house within the same tier. Ones that didn't make sense were then adjusted.

Overall it gave a great dynamic to the players' interaction with the realm's nobility as they had to navigate through a complex web of relationships to get what they wanted.


Don't forget Seelie and Unseelie, and the neutral-ish fae between. Classically the fae have been broken into summer and winter courts, with winter being vastly more powerful, but also far too chaotic to weild that power effectively. And titles will remains the same, with individuals rising to fill the positions (Dresden files had a great take on this with titles literally changing their bearers).
And while the fae cannot lie, they can mislead, or withhold information unless asked. Thus a jester may act the fool, but really be a powerful member of court. A lord may act important but be impotent under a knight ("I will grant you access to X as much as my position allows if you do "quest" [powers =none]).

Thus I think the hierarchy needs to be kept fluid. Even literally changing with the seasons (When hunting season is over, the Erlking retires).
Or a position is killed, this shifting all positions below that (until they murder their way back to their original position again).


The closest thing you’ll probably get are the erlking and the hamadryad

To very high CR powerful fey that typically represent the king and queen of any forest they inhabit and are like brother sister and husband wife.

There are stronger fey such:

The Norn, but they seem to exist outside typical fey structures and have there own things going on

The Tane, which are weapons of mass destruction and definitely not part of any court

And there is also a CR23 fey that works a bit like a super powerful Kineticist, they’re all about Mother Nature vibes from what I can remember but can’t find one now for the life of me


Chromantic Durgon <3 wrote:


And there is also a CR23 fey that works a bit like a super powerful Kineticist, they’re all about Mother Nature vibes from what I can remember but can’t find one now for the life of me

Glaistig.

https://aonprd.com/MythicMonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Glaistig


I would imagine that, when you don't have a high powered fey that effectively bully everyone else into following their whims,... most "fey courts" are actually just elaborate plays/soap operas acted out by the local fey.

Characters get killed off, brought back in, replaced with evil twin brothers with mustaches, etc. At some point, if they get bored with the current plotline, they will just abandon the whole thing and make a new court, with players given entirely new roles (so the king might turn into the jester, etc).

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