The GAFT Fae Primer

This is draft material written for Go Action Fun Time a table-top role-playing game about teenage superheroes traveling randomly through time. They sometimes meet the Fae.

General

The Fae Folk of mythology occur across several different folklores and go by many, many names. 

Fae includes fairies, pixies, sprites and elves. There are many sub-variants of each of these, many of which have made their way into folklore across the planet. Most of them can be sorted as subsets of one of the four types listed above.

Before we start separating, let’s look at what they all have in common:

The Fae are all long-term resident aliens who arrived on this planet sometime during the Eocene, fleeing from the expanding chaos fallowing the collapse of what had been previously a great galactic empire. They have adapted their forms to this planet, yet remain not-quite-of-it, despite their association with nature.  They have no collective interest in returning to the stars.

They are particularly adept at manipulating dimensions, creating a network of pocket dimensions for their use. Visitors should be cautioned – time works differently in these pockets.

The Fae are not immortal, but they are extremely long-lived, commonly into the thousands of years. This, coupled with their relative lack of genetic diversity have given the impression of immortality to mortal observers.

This long life-span gives them a perspective on the hustle and thrashing of the locals that may be mistaken for caprice.

The wee folk – fairies and sprites and the like – generally steer clear of humans, and it is highly unlikely that an individual would be encountered twice. Elves, in contrast, have modeled themselves after humans, and take more interest in their affairs. Time travelers might meet an elf more than once.

What separates Fae from humans more than magic is lifespan and the metabolism that allows such a remarkable longevity. If Fae age slower, they also heal slower (1/5 rate). The Fae circadian rhythm is a 42 hour cycle, from a different planet around a different star.  They seem to be immune to most diseases, but when they catch one (a standing 5% chance) they suffer five times the normal effect and recover in the same slow way that they heal.

Because Fae have difficulty breeding amongst themselves. their children are highly valued and their upbringing is attended to by the entire community. Juvenile Fae of any sort are rarely seen outside of their hidden domains. Those that wander the mortal world are adults, and accomplished ones at that. A Fae of any sort encountered outside of their homeland will almost always be a Guest Star.

All Fae can learn the languages of animals as common skills.

As a general rule, the smaller the Fae, the more magic they possess. Magic is a common emotional Stat for all Fae, and is the basis for magic powers.  Fae will typically have one power per Dice and one rank per Dice in each power they possess. Elves do not gain powers, but typically make up for it with spell-craft.

Fairies:

Wikimedia commons

Fairies are the smallest of the Fae, the wee buggers what ride bugs and and sit upon flowers. They can be size -7 all the way down to -9. Many, but not all, fly.

Fairies have the Stat Magic equal to their Dice.

In the mortal realm, these folk are mischievous, happy to torment mortals, but rarely meaning harm. But to intruders, they can become cruel, tormenting would-be trespassers to the point of madness and even death.

Fairies can possess any of the following powers, typically 1 per Dice:

• Invisibility
• Shape change (into a creature of similar size)
• Illusion
• Teleport self (usually to their home realm).
• Charm mortal (human or otherwise)
• Light Control.
• Air Control.
• Water Control.
• Earth Control
• Ice Control
• Fire control
• Super speed (number of actions/round is equal to current dice)
• Change size

There exist elder Fairies who will do meta-magic, but these are never encountered randomly.

Fairies often make friends with (or charm) the small critters around them and use them a domestic animals. They very often make friends with bees, and those form the first line of defense of a Fairy hold.

Tribes of the Fae are often developed societies with populations in the thousands. They tend to be insular, and indifferent to the affairs or concerns of the biggers, including other Fae.

Sprites:

Uncredited clip-art

Sprites are larger than Fairies, SZ -6, and can fly. Tinkerbell is a Sprite. Sprites wander in clans, rarely numbering more than 100, sheltering in hidden places only in times of trouble – or really bad weather.

Sprites have the Stat Magic equal to half their Dice or more.

They do not, as a cultural norm, care for the complexities of civilization, preferring to hunt and gather as the winds direct them.

Sometimes sprites wander off on their own with no other intent than to get into trouble.

Sprites can possess any of the following powers, typically 1 per Dice:

• Invisibility
• Charm mortal (human or otherwise).
• Light Control.
• Air Control.
• Water Control.
• Ice Control
• Fire control
• Super speed

They are also notorious for using poisoned arrows, typically a sleeping poison, but not always.

Sprites are not known to use meta-magic, but such a thing would not be impossible.

Sprites normally steer clear of humans, preferring to hunt in the wilder wilds, but when they do encounter us, they are not afraid of trouble.

Pixies (Gnomes):

Pixies, like Sprites, weigh in at SZ -6, but do not have wings. Pixies settle in organized clans often numbering in the hundreds. The Firbolg of Irish myth and the gnomes of German myths are variants of Pixies.

Pixies have the Stat Magic equal to half their Dice or more.

Pixies can possess any of the following powers, typically 1 per Dice:

• Invisibility
• Shape change (into a creature of similar size)
• Illusion
• Charm mortal (human or otherwise).
• Water Control.
• Earth Control
• Ice Control
• Fire control
• Super speed (number of actions/round is equal to current dice)
• Change size

Many of the eldest Pixies can use meta-magic.

While Pixies in general tend to stay among their tribes in their hidden realms, a few variants are well known to wander among mortals.

Leprechauns are remnants of an outcast tribe of Firbolg who find no welcome among other Fae tribes, and often take out their frustrations upon mortals.

Kobolds are Pixies who exist entirely underground when possible. They are not harmed by sunlight, but are quite annoyed by it. They are most frequently encountered in mines.

Brownies are a monastic(ish) order of gnomes dedicated to random acts of kindness.

Spriggans are gnomes who can change size and are charged with defending or avenging their tribe.

Elves:

Greycloak the elf

Elves are the most well known and most human like of the Fae, or Faerie races. They are still distant, eccentric and only tangentially involved in the affairs of men. Elves have a delicate constitution but are extremely long lived (perhaps as long as a thousand years) so long as they can avoid serious injury or disease. Physically, they are slim, fair-skinned and short, with the requisite pointy ears. They are not as strong as humans, but are generally much faster. They are extremely capable spell-casters and claim to have invented magic.

Elves are masters of the hidden as a cultural imperative. Any elf can be assumed to have the Talent of Hide and the Talent of Seek at a value equal to their dice.

Elves do not gain powers such as their smaller kin. They often make up for that with spell-craft. Most elves know at least some magic and many study it extensively. Elves can use human spell magic without risk of insanity and have their own powerful variety of magic as well. Elves will never teach their spells to a non-elf.  Many elves are warriors as well, compensating for their thin constitution with quickness and skill.

Elves have difficulty breeding amongst themselves. Therefore, elven children are highly valued, and their upbringing is attended to by the entire community. Children grow to have features almost identical to their parents, and this has perpetuated the myth that elves are immortal.

Elves can interbreed with humans more easily, and many perpetuate their seed in that manner.

Long life grants elves a peculiar outlook.  In general, they seem oblivious to schedules, boundaries and overt materialism. Within the week is prompt for an elf, the locked door is a riddle to solve, the jewel in your purse will look just as pretty in the elf’s purse. They seem obsessed with riddles and secrets and hiding and finding things. Hide and Seek is, in fact,  a professional sport among developed elven societies

Elves can and will hibernate for decades at a time when injuries or unpleasant circumstances or simple boredom makes this desirable. A hibernating elf will appear as dead to the casual observer and needs no food and only a fraction of normal oxygen.