Lore: Battle for the Unseelie Courts

Hello Fellow Trappers!

Here's the lore entry for this month! Enjoy!

The Feywild

The Feywild is a land of mystery, wonder, and danger. Up until recently, this land was ruled by two opposing forces which, though unfriendly towards one another, maintained the delicate balance of this realm, where emotions run high and even the most ordinary actions and items can become deadly. The Seelie Court and their queen oversee the more amicable of the fey folk, reveling in the beauty of nature, the joy of a harvest, and the whimsy of their realm. They hold all life as sacred and worthy of protection. Counter to the Queen of the Seelie Court, Queen Malvessa of the Unseelie oversees the darker side of the realm of the Fey. She and her people revel in the darker emotions of the world. Darkness is their preferred state, and they cooperate extensively with creatures often considered vermin by those who cling to the light. Despite their differences, these two perfectly opposed forces have, for many centuries, maintained the fragile balance of the Feywild. The land has prospered under the reign of these two great leaders, but now a new threat has risen, and the Feywild may never again be the same.

Pan, Sire of Fauns

Among the Unseelie Fey, fauns are well known as malevolent pranksters, whose tricks often result in deadly consequences for those unfortunate enough to fall for them. The leader of the fauns, Pan, is particularly malicious and power hungry. In an unprecedented abuse of power and show of strength, he and a number of Unseelie under his command recently deposed Malvessa, and he now sits in power as the Lord of the Unseelie Court. Where Malvessa practiced control and restraint in order to maintain the balance of the Feywild, Pan seeks only more power, and is doing all he can to spread his influence across the Feywild. It is unlikely, however, that he will stop there, for with an appetite such as his, one successful conquest is not nearly satiating enough...

Balanced Warfare

Although Queen Malvessa was imprisoned by Pan and his forces, those loyal to her have formed a resistance of sorts that continues to gain strength as supporters of the Queen rally the their ranks. Pan's initial attack relied on stealth and surprise. As such, with this rebel force constantly at the ready, and numbering more each day, he and his forces have not yet engaged in open warfare with them. Each side knows that attacking their enemy while in their fortifications would likely lead to defeat, and as such, the war, though very real, is at a stand-still, with neither side willing to make the first move until something tips the scales.

The Daughter of Malvessa

Although Pan's attack on Malvessa was swift and relentless, Malvessa's daughter, Laureth, was able to escape in the confusion and panic surrounding the attack on the Unseelie Court. She fled to the material plane, where she searched relentlessly for a powerful organization capable of helping her restore her mother to the throne, and defeat Pan and his minions. This led her, eventually, to the Dragon Trapper's Lodge, where she now seeks to gain support and assemble a team of powerful adventurers capable of defeating pan and restoring the Feywild to what it once was.

The Council of Five

Nature has many defenders in the Feywild, and when the balance of power shifts in such a dramatic fashion as it has, it is not uncommon to see awakened shrubs, trees, and spirits of nature rising from their slumber to combat those that would dare to oppose the natural order. It is not often that these guardians of nature intervene, but given enough provocation, they can be a deadly enemy, and one that is capable of tipping the scales in a war as closely contested as the one in which the Unseelie Court currently finds itself engaged in. Many of the awakened creatures are influenced strongly by the Council of Five, a group of five awakened trees that oversee the actions of their kind in many matters, including warfare. This council is known to be slow to come to a decision, but firm and unbending when they have reached agreement. If either side of the current conflict can find a way to gain their support, they will have a great advantage in the war to come.

Aeleth and Thumine

Aeleth and Thumine are twins from the Elven clans. They grew up there and are quite well versed in the ways of their people. Both are exceptionally close with nature and quite concerned for the well being of the world around them. They also have a very strong bond, and you’ll get a sense for that the moment you start a conversation with them. Each seems to know innately what the other is thinking, and they often finish one another’s sentences. The two had a fairly comfortable childhood, and were given the best opportunities that their clans had to offer where educational and combative training was concerned. Aeleth is a master of stealth and tactical maneuvers, while Thumine excels in counteracting harmful magics and supporting her allies both on and off the battlefield. Together, they are some of the most effective and experienced trappers we have. The two joined the lodge almost on a whim, it would seem. They're still both relatively young by the standards of their people, not having passed their 100th year yet. As such, to prove themselves in a rite of passage of sorts, they chose to join the Trapper's Lodge, showing those of their clan that they truly have come into their own by lending their assistance here with a problem that their clan's matron sees as particularly important. They haven’t been with the lodge for a long period of time, but with everything that has happened surrounding Pan’s activities in the Feywild and the sundering of the Unseelie Court, they have come to lend their aid at the behest of their clan’s matron, who is, from what I understand, very in tune with the happenings of the Feywild. She is concerned that her people may be among the first targeted by Pan on the material plane, since they have ancient ties to the Feywild and its denizens. As such, Aeleth and Thumine have been dispatched to see to it that he gains no more power than he already has.

Sarn

Sarn is one of the few Fauns not loyal to Pan and his cause. He escaped to the material plane just before Pan’s attack on the Unseelie Court, and has been trying to find support for a crusade against Pan since that time. He’s no supporter of Pan, but that doesn’t mean he’s nice. Try not to get on his bad side, he can be vindictive and spiteful, and is quite fond of playing tricks on those he calls his enemies – tricks that often result in injury or death. Despite this, he is an exceptionally dependable ally. Sarn is one of the most physically adept lodge members that we have, capable of great feats of speed, strength, and endurance. He isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and can almost always be found in the thick of things. Sarn is one of the few fauns that chooses not to follow Pan. He is, after all, the father of Fauns, and most are loyal to a fault. Sarn, however, takes issue with Pan’s chaotic bent, preferring the consistency Malvessa’s court offered to the constant struggle for power and unpredictable occurrences that are the natural result of Pan’s rulership. His fight is with Pan, not for us, but for as long as he has been here, he’s been assisting us in our efforts - likely in order to secure our aid in his quest for vengeance.

Laureth

Laureth is the daughter of Malvessa, and, as such, the princess of the former Unseelie Court. She is the one from whom we learned the most about Pan’s usurpation and the situation in the Feywild generally. She barely managed to escape Pan’s attack with her life, but was able to make it to our plane of existence. One of our trappers found her half dead on the roadside and brought her back here to treat her wounds. Upon recovering, she sought our aid in the fight against Pan. She is a capable ally, specializing in magical enchantments that disable her enemies, or even turn them on their former allies. Oddly enough, despite the fact that she continues to seek help in her fight against Pan, she hardly ever mentions her mother, other than to assert her authority or position as a Princess. She has mentioned that her mother is being held in some sort of prison, but whenever she speaks of her goals for overthrowing Pan, freeing her mother never seems to be mentioned in those plans. It seems that the two don’t have a particularly close relationship, and Laureth may seek to rule the Unseelie Court herself. She has mentioned the fact that her mother’s restrictions on her were stifling and unfair, so I doubt she’d be bothered if Malvessa remained locked away for a good while yet.

Dryagons of the Feywild

Of all the spirits of nature, some of the most powerful and vicious are the Dryagons, guardians of sacred groves and hallowed woodlands.

Though they look like dragons in their appearance, these creatures are definitively Fey in nature. They are closely related to Dryads, and take their name from this relationship. They are born of powerful magic, created for one purpose only - to defend their grove, wood, or forest from any foolish enough to wish the wilds harm. These creatures can be created by the powerful latent magic of the Feywild surrounding a particularly old or magically resonant forest, or they can be formed as large groups of Dryads join together to form a creature capable of staving off attacks from powerful foes.

Born from the magic of the grove or forest which they protect, Dryagons cannot stray too far from their homes. A Dryagon that leaves the woods in which it was formed will grow weaker and weaker as the distance from its home increases, eventually being forced to return. They are capable of pursuing wrongdoers some distance, maintaining some power in the area within 20-30 miles of their homes, but cannot extend their influence beyond that point. The only known exception to this rule is when a Dryagon is given the ability to leave this limited space under the direction of the Council of Five, whose magic is capable of granting these creature's the ability to roam the Feywild as they see fit. This is, however, exceptionally rare, as the Council only makes such a decision when in the most dire of situations.

A Dryagon slighted is an enemy whose ire will follow a creature throughout the Feywild. Though these creatures cannot leave the bounds of their forests, they have an innate connection with the natural world, and when angered, share that anger with the whole of nature. A creature marked for vengeance by a Dryagon can expect attacks from awaked plants, poisons spurted from each flower they sniff, and brambles and thorns eager to engulf them wherever they go in the Feywild. While these effects may alone be nothing more than inconvenient distractions, they can prove to be critically dangerous when the creature finds itself facing foes while nature itself fights against them.

Unseelie Guards

Sworn to protect Malvessa and uphold her laws in the Unseelie Court, Unseelie guards are faeries who have been granted power by Malvessa's magic. Through her spellcraft, these faeries are under the effects of a fairly permanent enlarging spell, which makes them about the same size as a human. Although Malvessa has been captured, her magic remains in force, and these guards form the most powerful and desperate of the ranks of the resistance to Pan's forces. They will stop at nothing to defeat Pan and restore their Queen to her throne.

Pan's Fauns

Children and followers of Pan, his fauns make up the majority of his army. These creatures are sadistic and cruel, often reveling in torturing captured enemies for days before watching them slowly waste away to the ravages of hunger and thirst. Their cruelty knows no bounds, and their prowess in combat is nearly equal to that of the Queen's guards themselves. They seek Pan's rulership, and have been promised the blood of many more planes before his conquest is over.

Malvessa, Queen of the Unseelie Court

Malvessa's rule over the Unseelie Court, while absolute and uncompromising, is not a rule of terror or of coercion. Until Pan's coup, she was the absolute authority in the darker realms of the Feywild, and all were subject to her not merely by choice, but by nature. She IS the Unseelie Court in many ways, and the fact that Pan was able to rebel at all is no small wonder. When Malvessa speaks, the Feywild listens.

Like most magical creatures, Malvessa was not born in the mortal sense, but rather created to fill the void in rulership present in the Unseelie Court. The magical energies that created her and her kind bestowed the powers, rights, and privileges of rulership upon her from the moment of her birth, and while she and her people now exist mortally just as any other mortals do, their origins are anything but natural.

Knowing that her right to rule was mandated by nature itself, Malvessa has ruled without question for centuries - her leadership never questioned, her power absolute, her reign assumed to be endless. No shadow of doubt ever crossed her mind, for if nature itself declared her Queen, who could deny its truth?

Because Malvessa has lived a life of rulership, knowing no other path, the process of being stripped of her throne and power has taken a heavy toll on her. Even if she is freed from the Labyrinth of Pan, her psyche is shattered, and may be beyond repair by mortal means. Knowing now that her power is not absolute, and that her rule can be challenged and even overthrown, she is filled with doubt and uncertainty, and may not be fit to rule until many more years have passed.

Pan, The Ursurper

Vindictive, spiteful, and cruel, Pan represents the worst that the Unseelie Court has to offer. For years, his appetite for chaos and destruction festered unsated as Malvessa remained at odds with, but not at war with the Seelie Fey. After centuries of discontent, he finally managed to gather enough fauns loyal to him and his cause, launching his reckless and daring coup to overthrow the Unseelie Queen. This effort did not come without cost, for although his bid for power was successful, he lost many fauns in the effort. He is, for the moment, at a stand-still while he rebuilds his forces, but the horrors he may yet unleash from his newly acquired seat of power are a threat to more than just the Feywild.

Although he has made himself an enemy to Malvessa, they share a hatred for the Seelie Fey. Unlike Malvessa, however, he does not respect the balance of power between their two peoples, and believes that eliminating the Seelie once and for all is not only his duty, but his destiny. He will not rest until all of the Feywild bows to the Unseelie Court, with him as their ruler.

Pan, like the fauns that follow him, revels in chaos and confusion, and causes it wherever possible. His tricks tend to be more sadistic and dangerous than those of the more innocent fey of the Seelie court, however. He sows seeds of dissent, distrust, and anarchy wherever he can, reveling in the sheer chaos of a world turned upside down.

Pan's appetite for destruction and pain extends far beyond the borders of the Feywild. It is no secret that he plans to bring his forces to bear against the material plane once his power is more secure at home. Already his fauns have begun to infiltrate the material plane, and seem to be scouting out the weakest positions of power on this plane, preparing to strike fast and hard, as they did in their usurpation of Malvessa's throne.

Pan's greatest and most potent weapon is the mystical set of Pan pipes that he carries. The magical melody he summons is capable of sapping the will and strength from even the most powerful of creatures. Many of those who now serve as Pan's henchmen, guards, or servants are mere puppets under his control, and many more face the same fate if his power continues to grow

The Labyrinth of Pan

Unable to destroy Malvessa completely, Pan has instead imprisoned her essence within a powerful warding stone. Until the stone is destroyed, Malvessa cannot escape, and her forces remain too weak to pose a significant threat to his power without her presence. Rather than chance the safety of this stone to his fauns and run the risk of losing it to a superior force or a stealthy incursion, he has elected to place the stone in the center of an elaborate Labyrinth of his own design. The Labyrinth's purpose is to dissuade or destroy all who enter besides Pan himself, and the magic woven throughout the Labyrinth is exceptionally powerful. Those who wish to make it through the Labyrinth must be brave, clever, and skilled. All of these attributes are necessary to make it through the Labyrinth, and making any mistakes in this maze can prove to be fatal.