Post by Millifiori on Mar 29, 2007 0:23:50 GMT -8
Each fey has powers that are unique to their race, and it would be an eternal endeavor to list them here. But all fey, Seelie or Unseelie, have a few universal powers that can be used for good or ill. Here are a few, along with the key to understanding (and possibly surviving) them. The fey trip us up so we can get a new outlook, and it's up to us to see that for what it is.
Many can cast glamour, an illusion that hides the true nature of things, whether beautiful or ugly, young or old. This power is used to hold a mirror up to the beholder, so that he or she can either wallow in the illusion, or see through to the truth. It is a power used to protect, keeping the lazy, greedy or misguided from gaining and abusing the treasures of life. Or, it is used to trick people into thinking that seeing is believing, that all that glitters IS gold. If you can read between the lines, if you take things beyond face value, glamour will have little effect on you.
Faerie music is traditionally the most lovely, the most haunting and the most alluring music in the world. If you are mortal, have a care not to linger overlong, or you'll find yourself waking up on a hillside the next morning, hundreds of years later! Some fey have the ability to control the moods of others, or at least affect them, with their music; still others can cause people to dance whether they want to or not. Only the completely tone deaf are immune to fey magic, though the strong of will can resist many of its draws.
Guardians have certain powers over the thing or things they care for, which can mean anything from manipulating their growth cycles to giving them sentience where before they lived more simply. In addition to having certain sway over the thing or things a Guardian protects, they are given fierce loyalty and devotion, as well as a small measure of protection such as their wards can provide. It's a fairly symbiotic relationship, though in the end, the Guardian holds the main source of power to protect and defend. There are certainly other beings who have some power over a Guardian's wards, such as an Earth elemental who can hold some sway over Millifiori's plants and flowers, no one can ever wrest enough of their control over their wards away that they can turn their wards against them, or force one or the other to harm each other, intentionally or otherwise. In other words, you might be a more powerful creature than a particular Guardian, but no matter how godlike you are, you can't make them hurt their wards, or vice versa. You also can not take their powers of Guardianship away, or make them go haywire. They may not be able to harm you, but you certainly can't harm them, not using their wards against them.
As with any sentient being, the fey are quite capable learning, and any magic that a "regular faerie" is exposed to is quickly added to their arsenal if at all possible. For instance, Millifiori knows some limited Avian magic, in as much as her small body can handle certain spells better than others. Some of the spells are quite draining, so it doesn't always serve a fey to learn complex spells that would drain them, but leave others relatively whole.
There are some old fashioned charms and rituals that "protect" people from the fey, but they're really more annoying than powerful, and sometimes belittling, so the fey avoid them out of annoyance rather than because these so called protection items force them to begone. Mirrors, carrying particular plants or twigs (rowan, St. John's Wort, etc), burning leather or bindweed, these things can put a fey off of visiting certain homes, and turning your pockets inside out or your jacket backwards (or speak backwards or stand on your head), you'll be on "even footing" with the fey, and they'll have no power over you, but that's likely because they'd be laughing too hard to try to put the glamour on you! Holy items and churches are not friends of the fey, as few can bear to be near them. This isn't because they are against Christ or his followers, it's simply because many early European Christians aligned the fey (all fey, Seelie and Unseelie alike) with paganism, and used the holy articles as weapons against them.
The real bane to most fey is cold iron, in any form. Irons under mattresses prevent nocturnal abduction, circles drawn around cribs and cradles with an iron tipped knife prevents changeling switches, and putting a knife in the door so it can't be closed keeps one from being shut away in Tintagel forever. A fey who is bound in iron is unable to use any of its magic, and prolongued exposure can lead to serious burns or death. Any fey injured or on the brink of death due to iron can be healed by a non fey, such as a human healer/religious leader (oddly enough, yes, priests can heal fey, if they're so inclined, but we mean religious leader in the broadest sense of the words), an Avian healer, any medic from any realm who does not suffer adverse effects from iron. A stronger, healthy fey can also sometimes help heal an iron injured fey, but more often than not, this is not enough.
Many can cast glamour, an illusion that hides the true nature of things, whether beautiful or ugly, young or old. This power is used to hold a mirror up to the beholder, so that he or she can either wallow in the illusion, or see through to the truth. It is a power used to protect, keeping the lazy, greedy or misguided from gaining and abusing the treasures of life. Or, it is used to trick people into thinking that seeing is believing, that all that glitters IS gold. If you can read between the lines, if you take things beyond face value, glamour will have little effect on you.
Faerie music is traditionally the most lovely, the most haunting and the most alluring music in the world. If you are mortal, have a care not to linger overlong, or you'll find yourself waking up on a hillside the next morning, hundreds of years later! Some fey have the ability to control the moods of others, or at least affect them, with their music; still others can cause people to dance whether they want to or not. Only the completely tone deaf are immune to fey magic, though the strong of will can resist many of its draws.
Guardians have certain powers over the thing or things they care for, which can mean anything from manipulating their growth cycles to giving them sentience where before they lived more simply. In addition to having certain sway over the thing or things a Guardian protects, they are given fierce loyalty and devotion, as well as a small measure of protection such as their wards can provide. It's a fairly symbiotic relationship, though in the end, the Guardian holds the main source of power to protect and defend. There are certainly other beings who have some power over a Guardian's wards, such as an Earth elemental who can hold some sway over Millifiori's plants and flowers, no one can ever wrest enough of their control over their wards away that they can turn their wards against them, or force one or the other to harm each other, intentionally or otherwise. In other words, you might be a more powerful creature than a particular Guardian, but no matter how godlike you are, you can't make them hurt their wards, or vice versa. You also can not take their powers of Guardianship away, or make them go haywire. They may not be able to harm you, but you certainly can't harm them, not using their wards against them.
As with any sentient being, the fey are quite capable learning, and any magic that a "regular faerie" is exposed to is quickly added to their arsenal if at all possible. For instance, Millifiori knows some limited Avian magic, in as much as her small body can handle certain spells better than others. Some of the spells are quite draining, so it doesn't always serve a fey to learn complex spells that would drain them, but leave others relatively whole.
There are some old fashioned charms and rituals that "protect" people from the fey, but they're really more annoying than powerful, and sometimes belittling, so the fey avoid them out of annoyance rather than because these so called protection items force them to begone. Mirrors, carrying particular plants or twigs (rowan, St. John's Wort, etc), burning leather or bindweed, these things can put a fey off of visiting certain homes, and turning your pockets inside out or your jacket backwards (or speak backwards or stand on your head), you'll be on "even footing" with the fey, and they'll have no power over you, but that's likely because they'd be laughing too hard to try to put the glamour on you! Holy items and churches are not friends of the fey, as few can bear to be near them. This isn't because they are against Christ or his followers, it's simply because many early European Christians aligned the fey (all fey, Seelie and Unseelie alike) with paganism, and used the holy articles as weapons against them.
The real bane to most fey is cold iron, in any form. Irons under mattresses prevent nocturnal abduction, circles drawn around cribs and cradles with an iron tipped knife prevents changeling switches, and putting a knife in the door so it can't be closed keeps one from being shut away in Tintagel forever. A fey who is bound in iron is unable to use any of its magic, and prolongued exposure can lead to serious burns or death. Any fey injured or on the brink of death due to iron can be healed by a non fey, such as a human healer/religious leader (oddly enough, yes, priests can heal fey, if they're so inclined, but we mean religious leader in the broadest sense of the words), an Avian healer, any medic from any realm who does not suffer adverse effects from iron. A stronger, healthy fey can also sometimes help heal an iron injured fey, but more often than not, this is not enough.