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The Lore of the Feywild

Book

The Lore of the Feywild is an exhaustive tome, written by the underappreciated scholar and planar geographer, Ulfgar Frostbeard, a member of the Faculty of Metaphysics at the University of Chardon.

Ulfgar is among the primary proponents of the unlikely theory that the Feywild, the Material Plane, and the Plane of Souls are, metaphysically, a linked triad of the magical, the material, and the mental, representing the three fundamental powers of creation in the Multiverse. The first half, roughly, of The Lore of the Feywild is dedicated to a long and dense argument in favor of this theory.

The Fey Discourses

The book, however, is better known for its second part, Collected Discourses on the Fey, Their Realms, and Their Ways, often referred as simply the Fey Discourses. This is an extensive collection, rambling and full of digressions, consisting of stories, tales, and myths, many contradicting each other, collected from many sources around the west coast and the Chardonian Empire.

The Fey Discourses is famous particularly for the rare sources it collects. It contain the most complete summary of the lost Drankorian play, A Fool’s Fortune, which recounts the tragi-comedic story of a hapless merchant who finds himself tricked out of his wealth in the Feywild; a nearly complete translation of the works of the elven poet Calenya of Orenlas, who wrote frequently on the marvels of the Feywild; one of the only recorded versions, pieced together from the unpublished notes of Eukos the Wanderer, of the Deno’qai epic The Tales of Ma’qaar; the largest surviving fragment of the ancient book Terrageum Virion, considered ancient even by the Drankorians, and often translated as “The Geography of Wonder”; and the only complete copy of the legends of the Feywild spoken by Breda Mistweaver, a cloud giant mystic, to an unnamed scholar from Amani, which were thought lost forever during the Great War.

It also represents one of the most complete recorded collections of oral histories and traveler’s tales about the Feywild, although some scholars would point out it has a strong Chardonian bias and tends to ignore tales from places like Tyrwingha. Although the entirety of the Fey Discourses is far to long to summarize here, a few key points are recorded.

The Fey

There are numerous stories about interactions between the fey and natives of the Material Plane collected in the Fey Discourses. While these stories are diverse and unusual, Ulfgar organizes them into a handful of themes.

First, he collects a large number of tales about what he calls the trickster fairies – the small people of the Feywild, the pixies and sprites and brownies and others. In these tales, the fairies usually get the better of things, and they are often written almost as morality plays. The merchant who things too highly of himself is tricked by a pixie; the knight-turned-ruffian finds her spoils constantly stolen by a quickling. Commonly in these tales the fairies act with honor, of a sort, but always seek to twist the words of those they bargain with, often to achieve mischievous or humorous ends. In Ulfgar’s telling, the most dangerous of the trickster fairies are the hags, who are often involved in tales where things slide from playful to spiteful and the person getting a comeuppance is lured by desperation rather than greed.

Second, he collects some tales, mostly from traveler’s accounts, of the revelers, as he calls them. Most famous are the satyrs, who frequently, it is said, bring their revelry to the Material Plane, but more elegant and refined are those who are often simply called fey, or fae, the graceful and refined lords and ladies of the courts of the Feywild. The tales of the revelers collected by Ulfgar frequently focus on both the undeniable glamour and beauty of fey parties, and also the dangers such things hold for natives of the Material Plane. In particular, Ulgar seems fascinated by stories of people who failed to repay debts, often without realizing they had incurred them in the first place, and the dire consequences of such a failure. However, there are also stories of the generosity of fey. In one memorable tale a lost traveler stumbles into the Feywild, and is given food and dressed in splendor, in exchange only for an honest tale of his life.

Finally, Ulfgar collects tales of what he calls the spirits of the land: dryads and naiads and nymphs who usually are strongly associated with a specific place. Ulfgar seems less interested in these tales, and there are far fewer here. The longest section is devoted to the classic Chardonian ballad, Curse of the Thorned Feast, which concerns a wronged dryad and the curse she places on the knight who wronged her.

Fey Geography

Ulfgar, in the Fey Discourses, compiles a vast collection of descriptions of the Feywild’s geography—nearly all of which contradict each other in critical details. Much of the final section of The Lore of the Feywild is devoted to an extended and discursive treatment of these inconsistencies, weighing various interpretations.

Despite the contradictions, Ulfgar asserts that two fundamental truths remain constant across all accounts. First, the sun does not move through the sky in the Feywild as it does in the Material Plane. Instead, it remains fixed in time but not in space. As one travels eastward, the sun sinks lower in the sky, and eventually, night falls. Conversely, heading west brings earlier and earlier parts of the day, until one presumably reaches an eternal dawn. Numerous theories attempt to explain why sunset and sunrise are reversed in the Feywild, yet none offer a wholly satisfactory answer. Second, the geography of the Feywild loosely mirrors that of Taelgar, though not in a strict one-to-one correspondence. Where the Sentinel Range rises in Taelgar, mountains rise in the Feywild; where the ancient forests of the Elderwood stretch, deep fey-woods exist as well.

Fey Realms

Ulfgar expresses particular fascination with the many fey realms, cataloging dozens (with a focus on those west of the Sentinels). However, he acknowledges the great challenge of identifying unique and consistent domains. The problem, as Ulfgar writes, is that most tales and stories simply describe a journey to the Feywild, perhaps occasionally mentioning the name of a fey ruler. Given the changeable nature of the Feywild itself, and the many names by which fey realms are identified, it can be extremely challenging catalog a consistent set of unique realms. However, Ulfgar highlights eight realms that he considers “reasonably certain” to be real:

  1. Twilight’s Grace, the only realm east of the Sentinels described in detail in the Fey Discourses. This place, Ulfgar says, is a land of twilight ruled by the graceful queen Ethlenn. Twilight’s Grace is the Feywild counterpart to Tyrwingha, a place that has long been known for its deep and abiding connection to the fey.
  2. Amberglow, described as south of the Sentinels, occupying the land that on Taelgar is northern Dunmar, is summarized by Ulfgar as a “land where hope is dead and scavengers feast.” Once, it seems, this was a land of golden sunsets, but since the death of the Cloudspinner, the Queen of Sunsets who ruled Amberglow, it has been a place where travelers fear to tread.
  3. Shimmersong, described as resting within the embrace of the southern Sentinels, where Ardith once thrived, is extensively documented by Ulfgar. He details stories of forests made of emerald trees, of bees that make honey of flowing gold, of the lord of the realm, Lightdancer, turning rubies to delicious fruits of incomparable taste with their touch.
  4. Fortune’s Rest, described as west of Shimmersong, in the northern part of the Yeraad Watershed, on the southern edges of the Elderwood, is supposed to house a marvelous court, hosting a never-ending garden party where all games of chance and luck can be found and played. But beware, Ulfgar writes, for “the Chanceweaver plays with fortune itself—and punishes those who refuse to wager.”
  5. Dreamhaven, described as north of Fortune’s Rest and congruent with the ancient elven realm of Ainumarya, is supposedly a place of ancient forests and hidden paths, ruled by Lady Seraphine, Warden of the Wood and Guardian of the Living Dream. Though, Ulfgar warns, “reliable stories of Dreamhaven are rare, as all who journey there report feeling as if they have entered a dream.”
  6. Honeybloom, a realm of rolling orchards, golden meadows, and drowsy glades, located in the Feywild northwest of Fortune’s Rest, and northeast of Gleamwater. The scent of ripe fruit lingers in the air, lulling visitors into languid contentment—but those who linger too long often forget why they came, or how to leave.
  7. Gleamwater, a land of golden canals, floating gardens, and drifting gondolas, roughly aligned with Chardon and the lower Chasa River Valley. Here, boats glide effortlessly over crystal-clear pools that reflect the endless afternoon sky.
  8. Fate’s Ruin, south of Chardon, west of Fortune’s Rest, and steeped in decay. It is a land where all things, no matter how great, crumble to dust in time. Travelers whisper of a mysterious Baron, whose mere touch hastens the inevitable withering of all to dust, yet none dare to speak his name aloud, lest they draw his gaze.

Traveling Between Worlds

There are many, many tales of the brave, foolish, and unsuspecting finding themselves crossing between worlds, often unwittingly. Most of these stories contradict each other in details, and there is, in Ulfgar’s opinion, no reliable information about what might lead a traveler to step between worlds unawares. Ulgar, in his marginalia, often suspects these are the accounts of those who wronged fey, knowing or unknowingly, and were pulled across in punishment.

Nonetheless, it is clear that in some places, as Ulfgar puts it, “the barrier between the material and the magical is thin.” After extensive collation between stories, Ulfgar proposes four fey portals that he believes can reliably be expected to allow a person to intentionally step from our world to the Feywild. These are:

  • Lastlight Falls, described as an incongruous waterfall with no clear source, that glows with an inner light at the moment of sunset. It is located in what is now the Nashtkar, northwest of Kharsan and south of the Sentinels on the Material Plane, and connects to the fey realm of Amberglow.
  • Deepforest Stones, described as a grove of three gnarled and bent trees that seemingly grow of stone itself, inside which no sound can be heard. It is located near the source of the Kayan in the Elderwood on the Material Plane, and connects to the fey realm of Dreamhaven.
  • Tangled Vale, described as sheltered pocket of moss and small flowers contained with dense brier of tangled thorns, that feels like stepping into a bright painting. It is located in the Tawir Forest on the Material Plane, although supposedly the exact place changes, and connects to they fey realm of Wildrun.
  • Golden Door, described as a door of shining afternoon sunlight, said to only appear to those who fortune favors. In is located somewhere along the ancient road that follow the north bank of the Yeraad in the Material Plane, and connects to the fey realm of Fortune’s Rest.