Hello everyone,
(I apologize in advance if this was not the right section to post this, and for the long post) I have been working on an idea of a Sprite for Pathfinder 2e, Luminous Sprite... I've read the Sprite section in the Lost omens Ancestry Guide but I found that not sufficient for my needs. I want to write some extensive backstory for my character's Fey lineage going back multiple generation in the First World. So I have been searching on the Web for information about their lore which is scarce to say the least.
More specifically I would be interested in the way they organized their tribe or whatever it is they have when they group together. I've read the Sprite Section in the first edition of Fey Revisited. They mention in the book that Sprite live in group that range from 40 to several thousand. It describes their settlements as villages that are a group of several families or tribes. It also mentions a very large village called Allavelium built high in the trees of the Mwangi Expanse. This village is said to be so large that it actually rivals a large human city in size. Yet one problem remain (at least for me): The absence of hierarchical structure.
1- How do they resolve conflict as a tribe?
2- How do they take important decision that affect the entire tribe?
3- How and who is responsible for passing judgement on transgressors, criminals and wrong-doers, of their tribes?
4- Are they matriarchal or Patriarchal?
5- Do they have a leader or governing body?
6- If they have a Leader, do they have succession by blood or are these leaders elected?
I've read on wiki pages about the Eldest which I believe are the remnant of the Archfey from Dnd. In Dnd some of the Archfey like their Pathfinder counterpart (the Eldest) are Godlike beings in terms of power, similar to deities and are some of them are part of the Summer Court, or the Seelie Court. While some others are part of the Winter Court, the Unseelie Court. The Seelie/Summer and Unseelie/Winter Courts are saddly not present in Pathfinder lore.
I then spent a large portion of time researching lore about Sprite in Dnd. Which is almost as difficult to find as it is for Pathfinder.
7- Does anyone happen to know any lore about the Sprite's society, their hierarchical structure and how to do diplomacy, if they have royalty...etc?
8- Does anyone know any book that I could read that I could find some of the information I am looking for or relevant information, either from Pathfinder 2e, 1st or even any dnd editions?
or point me in the right direction...
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the big thing with fey is that they have their individual nature - but at the same time are rather unpredictable
not to mention the first world is a really huge place
so the easy answer: however do you think is most interesting for your backstory
as you said, there is not much background lore
I still try to convey my general vibe for all answers to you, but don't nail me down on anything
1. Sprites are generally funloving and not very violent, some individuals may feel as great warriors but there will likely be no real big conflicts between familiy clans and those gonna be resolved with pranks and maybe a 'honor duel' which is supposed to be fair but both sides try to rig to their advantage
2. fey societies usually ask their eldest (not the gods, the actually oldest of the clan) or the one with the highest noble rank - note here that sprites like to think up noble ranks and try to use those to exert their supposed authority over 'lesser nobles'
3. same as 2
4.with how chaotic fey are this question is moot. whoever gains authority for whatever reason has it, gender doesnt matter
5. the more nobles there are, the higher the chance of them creating a court with the highest in charge and possibly subservient to another mightier/bigger court
6. usually it would be might makes right, so there is a natural tendency for the power to go to the eldest of the courts with that power often being magical
but generally that is up to the court/clan to relegate themselves
heck, for a group of sprite it could be 'whoever makes the best pranks'
summer and winter court are afaik really not a thing in pf but its general lore, not dnd specific
and the eldest are for all matters an purposes deities in the terms of rules
7. I think I answered that already with the points above, but my impression would be that powerful fey claim great swathes of land and appoint themselves as the rulers in whatever way they deem most fitting and with their magical power and authority they exert society within their realm will slowly form
but with the next fey sovereign a few miles over everything could be entirely different again
8. not from memory
the big thing with fey is that they have their individual nature - but at the same time are rather unpredictable
not to mention the first world is a really huge place
so the easy answer: however do you think is most interesting for your backstory
as you said, there is not much background lore
I still try to convey my general vibe for all answers to you, but don't nail me down on anything
1. Sprites are generally funloving and not very violent, some individuals may feel as great warriors but there will likely be no real big conflicts between familiy clans and those gonna be resolved with pranks and maybe a 'honor duel' which is supposed to be fair but both sides try to rig to their advantage
2. fey societies usually ask their eldest (not the gods, the actually oldest of the clan) or the one with the highest noble rank - note here that sprites like to think up noble ranks and try to use those to exert their supposed authority over 'lesser nobles'
3. same as 2
4.with how chaotic fey are this question is moot. whoever gains authority for whatever reason has it, gender doesnt matter
5. the more nobles there are, the higher the chance of them creating a court with the highest in charge and possibly subservient to another mightier/bigger court
6. usually it would be might makes right, so there is a natural tendency for the power to go to the eldest of the courts with that power often being magical
but generally that is up to the court/clan to relegate themselves
heck, for a group of sprite it could be 'whoever makes the best pranks'summer and winter court are afaik really not a thing in pf but its general lore, not dnd specific
and the eldest are for all matters an purposes deities in the terms of rules7. I think I answered that already with the points above, but my impression would be that powerful fey claim great swathes of land and appoint themselves as the rulers in whatever way they deem most fitting and with their magical power and authority they exert society within...
Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions. I appreciate it. Yeah I think I might do as you suggested at the begining and simply just write something and check with the GM to see what works and what doesn't. With not a lot of official lore on the subject from Paizo we are kinda free to write it however we want I guess. I like your ideas I might use some of them.
I think though that it could be interesting if Paizo could revisit Fey as with a Book, maybe concentrated on the First world and different type of Fey, the Geography, Politics and just new interesting stuff.