While no one truly rules the Feywilde nor do any deities inhabit it, there are those entities so powerful as to command respect and obedience from other residents, and even from the land itself. These all-powerful personalities go by many names—the feylords, the shapers, true fae or Court Lords, or Elder. Parents, dictators, and forces of nature all in one, the Eldest have little interest fey politics of either the Feywilde or the Material Plane, and even the hangerson that make up their personal courts matter no more to them. For the most part, the Eldest are content to commune with each other and pursue their own cryptic plots and curiosities. Yet when their ancient eyes focus on outsiders, dreams can be granted, and whole worlds can feel their touch. Manifestations of their masters’ will, the demesnes of the Eldest are the stablest landmarks in the Feywilde, yet tend to follow their masters around unless specifically anchored. While Eldest presumably exist throughout the infinite reaches of the Feywilde, the term is usually used on Golarion to refer specifically to the known entities who live close enough to make their presence felt. Oberan & Titania The Oberon and titania is the strangest of the eldest. Not actually one person but more of a mantle. When one of the courts comes into power then the leader of the court becomes the Oberon and/or Titania. This position carries with it great power and transforms the bearer into an Eldest. They retain aspects of the host mixed with the mind of the mantle. Oberon is the mantle bestowed upon the male ruler of the Seelie Court or Court of Dreams Titania is the mantle bestowed upon the female ruler of the Seelie Court or Court of Dream The Courts of Summer , Winter, Spring and Autumn all fall under the Seelie Court or Court of Dreams. These titles are used interchangeably. Many things in the Feywilde have several titles or names. The Unseelie court is also known as the Court of Nightmares. The court of Nightmares does not have a structure such as the Court of Dreams. It is a loose affiliation of abominations and cast offs from the Court of Dreams. The Court of Nightmares is antithesis of the court of dreams. Green Lord Oran is the Summer Knight of the Summer Court. His cloak is made of green leaves stitched into green leather. Green Lord Oran is the consort of Tiandra. He is the father of Damh and Verenestra. Eachthighern allows Oran to ride him. He has little political authority among the Summer Court but is highly respected as the consort of Tiandra. Queen Tiandra is the Queen of the Summer Court. Her symbol is a white diamond with a blue star glowing in its center. Caoimhin (pronounced "koo-evinn,"meaning "kindly") His symbol is a tiny bowl and pin. Caoimhin is a large-nosed, mouthless brownielike creature only a foot in height. He wears gossamer armor. He grumbles nervously from time to time. Caoimhin dwells in the Seelie Court realm. Damh (pronounced "dav," meaning "horned beast") this eldest is the patron of loves dance, song, and celebrations. His symbol is flutes, pipes, and a drum. Damh appears as a male korred with long, tawny-auburn hair tied into braids. He carries a set of pipes, a wooden flute, and a harp. A physically powerful individual, he may ambush hostile invaders into fairy lands. He is in the Inner Circle of the Seelie Court. Damh's main followers are korreds, satyrs, and atomies. Eachthighern (pronounced "ek-tee-arn,") is a unicorn that profess Healing, Loyalty, and Protection. His symbol is a unicorn horn. Eachthighern is depicted as a winged unicorn with a white coat and slight gray dappling on his belly. There is a gray fringe on his mane and beard. Eachthighern is a member of the Seelie Court. Emmantiensien (Emm-ann-tee-enz-ee-an) is the eldest of treants His name is a contraction of a Treant word meaning "one who is slow to rouse but is great in might when stirred to action." His symbol is a pair of acorns. Emmantiensien appears as a vast treant with well-sheened bark, his roots curled around a magic crystal. Count Ranalc The third volume of Hobard’s Catalogue of Impossible Beings describes a regal fey lord named Ranalc among the Eldest. A primal being of darkness and the chaos of creation, Ranalc was exiled from the Feywilde millennia ago by his fellows, carving out a forlorn barony in the depths of the Shadow Plane, from which his sworn agents manipulated events on the Material Plane. Records of Ranalc’s interference date back to the earliest days of the Age of Anguish, but by the third century of the Age of Enthronement his name had disappeared from most new texts. Ranalc’s disappearance (some say murder) dates almost exactly to the siege of Absalom by the archwizard Nex, a longtime foe of the fey lord, and Hobard himself suggests that the shadowy creatures Nex used to raid the city may have some connection to the missing Eldest. The Green Mother: This tall, beautiful woman resembles a cross between a nymph, an elf, and a dryad, and has shocking green hair. Her flawless skin constantly shifts to resemble natural features—sometimes her hands are gnarled tree roots, other times the flesh of her stomach and legs smoothes into liquid, enveloping any who dare touch it. This is the Green Mother, and within her forest bower she is the most seductive and manipulative creature in the Feywilde. Attended by a legion of admirers and would-be lovers, she weaves her delicate webs of intrigue with the grace and subtlety of a peerless courtesan, though when enraged she is a terrible sight to behold, distorting her shape horribly in order to swallow offenders whole. For ages, her greatest desire has been to bring the Lost Prince under her spell, but to date the Melancholy Lord has rebuffed all her advances. Imbrex the Twins: Whether the entity known as the Twins is truly a pair of siblings or simply one creature split into two bodies is a question that may never be answered. Hundreds of feet tall, the sphinx humanoids that refer to themselves collectively as Imbrex stand silent and unmoving, their androgynous faces never flickering with a hint of expression. Yet those devotees who live at their feet have no question as to their lords’ will, for the telepathic word of the Twins reaches everyone within 20 miles, and the terrible power of the living statues stands guard over the settlement that has sprung up around their feet. Legends whisper that one day the Twins will shake off their torpor and begin walking, heralding the end of the Feywilde and the retiring of the Material Plane, but so far Imbrex itself has refused to confirm or deny this possibility. Some people postulate that the twins are in actually dual plane creatures. Existing in the Fey Wilde in one form and on the plane of Dreams in the other. The Lost Prince: Often referred to as the Melancholy Lord, the gaunt, dark-haired individual known as the Lost Prince is a morose and dour individual, generally rejecting the company of other Eldest in favor of brooding in his domain, the Crumbling Tower. While his servants expound with fervor on his good works, the truth is that the Lost Prince attempts to remain neutral in most matters, which makes him all the more important when other Eldest seekto arbitrate disputes. Strangely, while all of the Eldest’s origins have been lost to time, rumors persist that the Lost Prince is the only one not originally from the Feywilde, having emigrated from some alternate reality. Why he left, and when and how he might return, may well be the subject he ponders as he sits alone on his blackened throne. The Lantern King: If the Feywilde can be said to have a trickster god—no easy feat in a world where capricious, reality-bending mischief is standard practice for many natives—then the title belongs to the Lantern King. Generally appearing as a foot-wide ball of floating light, a faery dragon or a fey humanoid with a lantern, the Lantern King has been pointed to by some as the progenitor of all will-o’-wisps, but such allegations meet with derisive laughter from the King himself. Forgoing an established realm of his own, the Lantern King roams as he wills through the fields and forests of the Feywilde, and those lives he touches are rarely the same afterward. For though the Lantern King’s sense of humor is vast, it can easily turn dark or incomprehensible. Also known as Nathair Sgiathach is the fey deity of mischief and pranks. His symbol is a smile. Nathair Sgiathach is revered by faerie dragons as well as sprites, pixies, and grigs. Magdh: Capable of seeing farthest into other realms and down the long lines of probability and fate, Magdh is the prophetess and seer of the Eldest. Though her form can change, even splitting into three parts when necessary, the woman known sometimes as the Three most commonly appears as a robed and well-proportioned human female with three faces set equidistantly around her head. Though not independent entities, the three faces each appear to represent a different part of her personality, and in conversation may cut each other off suddenly, as her head swivels to present another face to her audience without adjusting the rest of her body. Those seeking her wisdom and second sight are welcomed according to strange and mysterious guidelines, her required tributes ranging from a child’s shoe to the heart of a star. The knowledge Magdh gleans from her forest pools is often opaque, yet many supplicants believe that the Three sees far more in her divinations than she lets on, and already knows how every story will end—even her own. Ng the Hooded: If Ng the Hooded has a face, no one has ever viewed it. Always garbed in long, flowing silver robes that keep the space below the cowl in total darkness, Ng is a detached and dispassionate entity, with a patience and logic that could drive the axiomites mad. Often lairing at the Palace of Seasons—which he maintains is not his home, merely a site he’s maintaining for some unnamed other—he can also be found wandering paths throughout the Feywilde or standing completely motionless while studying someone with unseen eyes. Some whisper that the delicate gloves that are his only visible body part hide whirring clockwork, others that he’s the mouthpiece of a distant god or the Overmind itself. Whatever the truth, Ng meets questions regarding his nature with silence, leaving the asker looking at his trail in the dust—a trail that shows only the swishing of robes, with no sign of footprints. Ragadahn the Water Lord: Ragadahn claims all oceans and lakes as his own, having ceded the land and its shallow tarns to his brood. Those few creatures other than the Eldest who dare seek his counsel find him wise and knowledgeable, if somewhat quick to wrath, and are advised to call his name from a peninsula or seaside cliff rather than approaching his aquatic lair directly. Shyka the Many: Time is fickle in the Feywilde, and Shyka knows this better than any. Over the eons, many men and women have borne this title—and continue to. For in all of his incarnations, Shyka the Many is a master of time, and sees no reason to restrict themself to any particular age. Long ago, the original Shyka—whichever one that may be—made a deal with all those who would eventually bear his title, sharing the reign not chronologically but in fits and flickers, that each might experience representative samples of eternity. As such, though there’s never more than one present at once, there's no telling which incarnation of Shyka may have claim to an existing moment. Sometimes he’s a young black-skinned man, other times a pale elven woman, or any of dozens of other forms. His personality varies accordingly, but though each Shyka is his own entity, all have spent enough time living each other’s lives to have amassed the same amazing stores of knowledge, and when Shyka speaks, he speaks for all of Shyka, past and future. It is said that Shyka is a being of the plane of Time. Fionnghuala is a intelligent giant swan of immense power. She may also appear as a dazzling human woman with red hair and green eyes. She wears white feathered patches on her shoulders and on the crown of her head, and gossomer armor. Fionnghuala is followed by fey and some have even created an organization of female rangers with the ability to transform into swans. Her symbol is a white feather. Queen Frilogarma outcast of the Feywilde and banished to the Shadow plane for her indiscretions with bargains made. She is the self proclaimed ruler of the Court of Ether which she created. She entraps creatures into her court in order to gain power to achieve her ultimate goal of bringing her court into the Prime Material Plane. She has adopted the mantle of fungal and vermin creatures. Mab, The Queen of Winter, Air & Darkness is the Queen of the Winter Court. Her symbol is a black diamond. She appears as a faerie with pale, angular features, blood-black eyes, and a mane of black hair. She is beautiful, but hers is a terrible, eldritch beauty that chills the bone. The Queen is cold and utterly emotionless. It is rumored that Mab is the sister of Tiandra. Skerrit is one of the most powerful centaurs. Skerrit is also known as the "Forester." His symbol is an oak growing from an acorn. Squelaiche is a powerful leprechaun full of trickery and illusions. His symbol is a clover leaf or a green hat. Squelaiche appears as a handsome male leprechaun, two feet in height, with a fine silk cloak and a green hat. As the Spring Court's Puck, Squelaiche may speak impudently even to the Queen. |