Fey Civil War

[Kymme]

First, a warning. If you're one of my players (X, C, G, K, you know who you are) steer clear of this thread. This isn't for you! :smallmad:

So, to make a long story short, my characters are traversing through a very large forest filled to the brim with fairies of all shapes and sizes. These fey were kept in check up until recently by an exceedingly powerful and wise spirit. However, said spirit was destroyed and now old rivalries have begun to bubble to the surface. Now, two particularly charismatic and intelligent fey have risen to prominence, and their followers stage a never ending war against each other.

Which brings me to my dilemma: What the heck does a 'fey civil war' look like? What would travelers through the forest encounter? The PC's have already heard tales of mysterious lights in the forest and people vanishing from the roads, but I'm not sure of what to do once they actually get onto a game trail and start heading through the forest proper. I'm not really looking for enemies and combat encounters (those are still totally welcome, btw), more so ways to set the mood and shape up the setting of a once-peaceful forest now turned into a faerie war-zone.

So, help? :smallredface:

[Rusher]

Sounds like an interesting premise.

Perhaps the party is ambushed by a fey scout group, or the other way around.
The Fey aren't interested in a fight, just information: Is the party serving the other side? Have they seen any fey troop movements? Are they looking for work? A good opportunity for your party face to shine.

Personally, I see a Fey civil war as something where both the charismatic fey leaders would be trying to woo powerful groups of adventurers to their side. As a long lived, magical race they would reluctant to enter into physical combat themselves.
If they can't convince the PCs, I am sure the Fey wouldn't mind magically dominated thralls.

This sort of opens the door for a wide variety of creatures to be populating the that forest.
It also potentially creates a third party who wants to stop this war. Maybe a powerful Silvan contingent enlists the party to stop the war. Treants and Unicorns are tired of magically dominated Limbo Stalker and Demons from wrecking havoc in their woods.

There is my two cents.

[Gildedragon]

Fey Civil War looks like Midsummer's Night Dream... only a lot more so.

[Beowulf DW]

I would emphasize the effects of Fae magic on the environment. Have magic users suffer a sort of sensory overload from the residual magic. Describe rock formations and plants that have been warped unrecognizable by the fighting. Above all, create a clear sense of the wrongness of their surroundings. It doesn't have to be scary, but the character's senses of reality should be in total rebellion at what the environment.

[ArqArturo]

Dresden Files' Summer Knight makes a really good description on how an all-out Fey War would look like. However, since I can't find the specific quote, I'll leave these two:

“Yes, I was standing on nothing but congealed starlight. Yes, I was walking up through a savage storm, the wind threatening to tear me off and throw me into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan far below. Yes, I was using a legendary and enchanted means of travel to transcend the border between one dimension and the next, and on my way to an epic struggle between ancient and elemental forces.
But all i could think to say, between panting breaths, was, "Yeah. Sure. They couldn't possibly have made this an escalator.”
― Jim Butcher, Summer Knight

“The noise was deafening, and no one could have heard me anyway as I let out my own battle cry, which I figured was worth a shot. What the hell.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IN FAERIES!”
― Jim Butcher, Summer Knight

[Kymme]

Sounds like an interesting premise.

Perhaps the party is ambushed by a fey scout group, or the other way around.
The Fey aren't interested in a fight, just information: Is the party serving the other side? Have they seen any fey troop movements? Are they looking for work? A good opportunity for your party face to shine.

Personally, I see a Fey civil war as something where both the charismatic fey leaders would be trying to woo powerful groups of adventurers to their side. As a long lived, magical race they would reluctant to enter into physical combat themselves.
If they can't convince the PCs, I am sure the Fey wouldn't mind magically dominated thralls.

This sort of opens the door for a wide variety of creatures to be populating the that forest.
It also potentially creates a third party who wants to stop this war. Maybe a powerful Silvan contingent enlists the party to stop the war. Treants and Unicorns are tired of magically dominated Limbo Stalker and Demons from wrecking havoc in their woods.

There is my two cents.

I like that first idea. Could totally serve as a way to introduce the party to some rumors and get them thinking about the bigger picture.

Hm. I hadn't really considered other adventuring parties getting roped into this conflict. Fey never really crossed my mind as the kind of people who keep their word, so I don't think that the average adventuring party would be inclined to trust them.

Other factions would be sweet, but I don't know how complex I want to make this. The party is already dealing with a lot of names and places and factions, and I'm not wholly confident in their ability to keep them all straight.


Fey Civil War looks like Midsummer's Night Dream... only a lot more so.

You. I like you. :smallbiggrin:


I would emphasize the effects of Fae magic on the environment. Have magic users suffer a sort of sensory overload from the residual magic. Describe rock formations and plants that have been warped unrecognizable by the fighting. Above all, create a clear sense of the wrongness of their surroundings. It doesn't have to be scary, but the character's senses of reality should be in total rebellion at what the environment.

Wonderful idea! They could come across a place where all the plants have become weird colors (curse you, prestidigitation!) or find entire groves of forest that's been shrunk to a tenth of their previous size. Try to maintain a mood of 'weird' rather than 'creepy'? I like it!


Dresden Files' Summer Knight makes a really good description on how an all-out Fey War would look like. However, since I can't find the specific quote, I'll leave these two:

“Yes, I was standing on nothing but congealed starlight. Yes, I was walking up through a savage storm, the wind threatening to tear me off and throw me into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan far below. Yes, I was using a legendary and enchanted means of travel to transcend the border between one dimension and the next, and on my way to an epic struggle between ancient and elemental forces.
But all i could think to say, between panting breaths, was, "Yeah. Sure. They couldn't possibly have made this an escalator.”
― Jim Butcher, Summer Knight

“The noise was deafening, and no one could have heard me anyway as I let out my own battle cry, which I figured was worth a shot. What the hell.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IN FAERIES!”
― Jim Butcher, Summer Knight

This is pretty cool! I'll have to look into that book for some more inspiration.

[Bronk]

I think what the random adventurer would see would depend a lot on just who the players are in this forest. Are they good and/or neutral or is this a good vs. evil thing? Seelie vs. Unseelie? How long ago did the fighting start?

How about this... This ancient, old growth forest is filled with fey that are members of both the Seelie and Unseelie court, and despite their antagonism towards each other, they've been kept in check by a powerfully advanced 'Spirit of the Land' (a neutral, incorporeal fey from MM2, base CR23) that has recently been destroyed. Now, the spirit kept the peace so well and for so long that the area has been used for centuries or millennia as the kind of neutral territory that is perfect for official meetings and treaties between the two courts, but in the meantime, many other fey have moved in permanently, taking homes or springing up more or less randomly throughout the woods, due to the peace. Now, with the great spirit dead, the fey realized that they were side by side with their mortal enemies, and vicious fighting broke out very quickly.

A group passing through the forest at this stage would find localized areas of violence, mostly off the beaten path... shrill cries in the distance, blood dripping from tree leaves, wee arrows stuck into stumps or furious fiddling... small signs of vicious little battles. There would also be areas of upheaval throughout the forest, such as rock slides, burnt areas and things like that, that would be signs of either the fight against the spirit of the land or its death throes. The land would be stressed, and Shimmerling Swarms would arise at little provocation to menace the unwary and unprepared.

Soon enough, the factions would gather and coalesce. On one side might be led by a group of Seelie nymphs, protectors of the forest, while the other side might be led by an Unseelie Verdant Prince (MM4, base CR11), an evil mastermind and deal maker. At this point, they would make targeted battles against each other to gain territory, necessary because there are so many types of fey that are bound in place, and they would probably make their bases in dryad groves.

A group passing through at this point might find dead animals all around, rotting just off of trails or floating, bloated, in streams, victims of the Unseelie fey. They will also find destroyed oak trees, smashed or burnt, that had been dryad trees too far away from the main groves, that had been either Seelie or Unseelie, and local streams and waterfalls will also be eerily silent and filled with death as the naiads and fossegrims were attacked as well. Some of the burnt areas might seem to have a patch of green in the middle, residual illusion magic from a futile attempt to hide from their own former neighbors. They might witness some of these attacks... fires springing up around trees as a barkskinned woman tries to beat them back, while a pitched battle of invisible pixies rages overhead, only visible to mortal eyes when one dies and falls to the ground. The Seelie might reach out to goodly adventuring groups for aide, especially if they are accompanied by a druid or a ranger. The Unseelie might seek to hire and adventuring party for help, or the verdant prince might offer them a magical deal in trade.

Later, the fighting would become more intermittent as the territories coalesce, mostly in the form of raids and border actions. At this point, they would start to get paranoid, looking for outside allies while worrying that the other side is doing the same thing. Emissaries would be sent out to the remaining forest creatures, such as unaligned fey, centaurs, dire animals, oaken defenders and such, and each side might also try to create or call for a new Spirit of the Land to protect them or even to cover the whole forest. The side of evil might also try to seek out old hidden battlegrounds in the hopes of rousing a Rage Walker.

A group passing through at this point must be wary. They could be courted by either side for help, or, if they wander too far towards a sensitive area, might be assumed to already be working for the other side. Those parties containing a goodly druid or ranger might be attacked on sight by the Unseelie as well. They could expect to be attacked by fiddling grigs, or suffer from pixie arrows, only to wake up bound and gagged as prisoners. They might also be trampled by centaurs or fall afoul of joy stealers.

At this point, the story could go two ways:

First, if they are indeed Seelie and Unseelie, they might get reinforcements from their respective courts... the Seelie might send in units of Thorns, while the Unseelie might send in shaedling air units, and the entire forest would devolve into a crazed land of constant guerrilla warfare, magical and otherwise, making the land nearly impassable to any but the most seasoned adventurers. If either side had any success raising a new 'spirit of the land', that would be manifesting all over the forest as well, seeming as if the land, air, water and fires were springing up out of nowhere to attack. Nobility of the various sides might arrive, and the scope of the battles might start to extend into populated lands.

Second, one side might win. No matter who actually wins, they will have the time to look into the circumstances of the death of the original 'spirit of the land'. It could have been an evil dragon, a lich, or some other powerful force with magic at their disposal. They might need help from adventurers to get revenge or to right that wrong. Alternately, whoever did the deed might have framed someone else... perhaps that person, town/city or organization will need adventurous help in order to clear their name and smooth things over, or to fight back with a vengeance (especially if the winners were evil).

[Kymme]

*extremely well thought out and detailed situation*

This is... well, way more in-depth than what I had imagined. I already had ideas for the two factions and their leaders, but all this on their interactions and how their feud rages across the forest... it's really good.

Thank you!

[LarwisTheElf]

It's all in the description you give the players. E.G. "As you stroll through the forest you suddenly realize that the air around them has grown silent. No birds sing, no crickets chirp, no animals chatter at all. You feel a heavy sense of foreboding wash over you, and you get the sense that something is watching you, even though you see nothing." If any of your characters has a history of war or battle, tell them that they recognize it as the calm before a battle starts. Roll listen checks for everyone, if they succeed, "Through the dread calm, you hear the sounds of battle in the distance!" After this have them run into a skirmish between the two factions. This would be a great adventure hook, because then they can decide what to do, who to help, etc.

Another thing you could try is have the road they are using be the border between the two factions. While traveling have various fey try to entice them over to their side. If they decide to help one side, the other side attacks to try and deny their foes access to allies and outside resources. The more malicious fey might try to trick the PCs into joining their side. E.G. they use illusions to disguise themselves as travelers, get the PCs drunk, then kidnap them and force them to serve in the army.


Fey Civil War looks like Midsummer's Night Dream... only a lot more so.

I loled at this. Mind if I sig it?

[Afgncaap5]

I'd do things to emphasize how alien and uninterested in humanity the fey are. You mentioned kidnapped people, and I suddenly imagined a chess board where the kidnapped victims are slowly walking through a game being played by two powerful fey from either side, with the humans ruthlessly killing each other/allowing themselves to be killed when their square is taken.

[Bronk]

This is... well, way more in-depth than what I had imagined. I already had ideas for the two factions and their leaders, but all this on their interactions and how their feud rages across the forest... it's really good.

Thank you!

Neat! I'm glad I might have helped a bit, plus... that was pretty fun!

[JellyPooga]

A sense of the unreal from magical fallout should be a big thing in the "war zone". Emphasising this can be tricky, but borrowing ideas from books is totally allowed:

- The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien): When Frodo puts on The Ring, his perception of the world becomes shadowy and indistinct, with highly magical creatures like the Ringwraiths and Elves standing out like beacons. Perhaps in your Fey War-zone, characters using excessive magic suffer a similar effect; the more magic you use, the more your normal perception suffers, but in compensation you can "see" the magical auras of things.

- Oath of Gold (Elizabeth Moon): When Paksenarrion encounters the Queen of the Elves at the Halveric estate in Winter, the Queen brings the Summer of the Elven lands with her. It's described like being underwater, except having free movement and being able to breathe. Your war-zone might display similar sort of traits; clothing and hair seems to float, hearing is muted yet clear, soft motes of light float through the trees causing buds to open and flower where they touch, only to wither and die when they pass on.

- The Wise Mans Fear (Patrick Rothfuss): When Kvothe encounters Felurian. I can't do this one justice; the story element of that book may have been total garbage compared to the 1st book, but his writing style is still compelling and for a description of a Fae realm, this one is about as good as it gets. Go read just that section, if nothing else.

One original idea I had (at least, I've not read it anywhere) is have characters perceptions change based on their mood. This one could be tricky to implement, but ask the players how their character is feeling (happy, angry, pensive, etc.) and give them a description of the surroundings based on that; a happy character might perceive sunny glades and lush undergrowth, whilst a sad or nervous character sees tall, dark trees wreathed in shadows and thorny scrub. This is better suited to a play-by-post game than table-top, where you can take the time to prepare individual descriptions for different players, but could work very well for a sense of the unreal, especially when the players start to realise the difference in their perceptions.

[Kymme]

It's all in the description you give the players. E.G. "As you stroll through the forest you suddenly realize that the air around them has grown silent. No birds sing, no crickets chirp, no animals chatter at all. You feel a heavy sense of foreboding wash over you, and you get the sense that something is watching you, even though you see nothing." If any of your characters has a history of war or battle, tell them that they recognize it as the calm before a battle starts. Roll listen checks for everyone, if they succeed, "Through the dread calm, you hear the sounds of battle in the distance!" After this have them run into a skirmish between the two factions. This would be a great adventure hook, because then they can decide what to do, who to help, etc.

Another thing you could try is have the road they are using be the border between the two factions. While traveling have various fey try to entice them over to their side. If they decide to help one side, the other side attacks to try and deny their foes access to allies and outside resources. The more malicious fey might try to trick the PCs into joining their side. E.G. they use illusions to disguise themselves as travelers, get the PCs drunk, then kidnap them and force them to serve in the army.

That idea is great! Gonna have to try to drop that in the session wholesale!

I like this idea, but I was thinking more game trails than a real road. But anything could work, honestly.


I'd do things to emphasize how alien and uninterested in humanity the fey are. You mentioned kidnapped people, and I suddenly imagined a chess board where the kidnapped victims are slowly walking through a game being played by two powerful fey from either side, with the humans ruthlessly killing each other/allowing themselves to be killed when their square is taken.

Wouldn't that imply a friendly agreement between the two fey? :smalltongue: Regardless, I like it.


Neat! I'm glad I might have helped a bit, plus... that was pretty fun!

:smallsmile:


A sense of the unreal from magical fallout should be a big thing in the "war zone". Emphasising this can be tricky, but borrowing ideas from books is totally allowed:

- The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien): When Frodo puts on The Ring, his perception of the world becomes shadowy and indistinct, with highly magical creatures like the Ringwraiths and Elves standing out like beacons. Perhaps in your Fey War-zone, characters using excessive magic suffer a similar effect; the more magic you use, the more your normal perception suffers, but in compensation you can "see" the magical auras of things.

- Oath of Gold (Elizabeth Moon): When Paksenarrion encounters the Queen of the Elves at the Halveric estate in Winter, the Queen brings the Summer of the Elven lands with her. It's described like being underwater, except having free movement and being able to breathe. Your war-zone might display similar sort of traits; clothing and hair seems to float, hearing is muted yet clear, soft motes of light float through the trees causing buds to open and flower where they touch, only to wither and die when they pass on.

- The Wise Mans Fear (Patrick Rothfuss): When Kvothe encounters Felurian. I can't do this one justice; the story element of that book may have been total garbage compared to the 1st book, but his writing style is still compelling and for a description of a Fae realm, this one is about as good as it gets. Go read just that section, if nothing else.

One original idea I had (at least, I've not read it anywhere) is have characters perceptions change based on their mood. This one could be tricky to implement, but ask the players how their character is feeling (happy, angry, pensive, etc.) and give them a description of the surroundings based on that; a happy character might perceive sunny glades and lush undergrowth, whilst a sad or nervous character sees tall, dark trees wreathed in shadows and thorny scrub. This is better suited to a play-by-post game than table-top, where you can take the time to prepare individual descriptions for different players, but could work very well for a sense of the unreal, especially when the players start to realise the difference in their perceptions.

Seems I've got quite a bit of reading to get done. :smallredface: I'll see what I can do.

Thanks, all! Now, one more question. I don't have access to every Monster Manual, and I was wondering what types of fey might be used as 'grunts' in this conflict. I was thinking of porting Mites back over from Pathfinder, but they're a bit weak. Does anybody know of some run-of-the-mill yet reasonably powerful fey?

[Bronk]

Here are some fey that would make great grunts...

Low level:
Petal (CR1, MM3) basically a tiny flying flower fey, very cute, good
Grig (CR1, MM1 or srd): tiny cricket legged fey, good
Jermalaine (CR1/2, MM2): tiny, kinda ratline humanoid, evil
Red Caps (CR2-7, MM3): small, crazed fey with scythes, evil
Splinterwaifs (CR2, Dragon 307) evil creatures of twisted wood
Domovoi (CR1, Frostburn) goodly hearth spirits that look like wee dwarves

Slightly higher level
Pixie (CR4-5, MM1 or srd): small flying fey, can be invisible, sleep arrows, good as written
Red Caps: these guys get stronger the more they kill.
Thorn (CR7, MM3) small plant-like humanoid fey, militaristic, good


These are all fey that you can imagine there being a whole lot of in the woods just out of sight of regular folk that can suddenly be rounded up and mobilized into a fighting force by more powerful fey, or show up to join one side or the other. These are all quintessential little fey... bigger, human sized fey with small CRs are around (shaedlings, shadar-kai for evil examples) but they might not fit the theme as well, seeming more like the PCs.

Petals, Pixies and grigs might just be hopping or flying around normally, when the fighting breaks out, and they're generally cute enough that seeing a bunch of them skewered against a tree would be pretty messed up. They're all normally good, but the application of the unseelie template would be enough to make them into bad guys (perhaps with creepy black eyes and prominent veins).

There might have only been a few of the evil berzerker Red Caps, small humanoid shaped fey with wicked weaponry, kept in check by the treaty before, but now they might start multiplying and gaining power as they kill.

Splinterwaifs are city fey, hinted that they might spring out of boards made from the wood of felled dryad trees, or even the remnants of the dryads themselves. They might come into play if a town is menaced...

Domovoi are wee goodly hearth fey who might help out against splinterwaifs...

Jermalains are evil and malicious fey that would boil up out of the woodwork like a swarm of rats without someone to stop them. Perhaps they've been breeding in secret in some dank cave system...

Thorns are troops that are sent by the Courts to protect the fey...

[OttoVonBigby]

If you want to go the Seelie and Unseelie routes, there are templates for both in the Dragon Magazine Compendium (but their balance is apparently (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?325905-Unseelie-Fey-OverPowered) debated (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?131807-%283-5%29-Dragon-Magazine-Compendium-Template-Question)).

FWIW, in my setting I tend to keep the seelie and unseelie in the Plane of Faerie, and would employ mostly more typical Monster-Manual-fey in any Material Plane spillover of a fey civil war.

[Bronk]

Those are indeed the templates I was thinking of, also found here:

http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/seeliefey.shtml

http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/unseeliefey.shtml

They mostly give you, the DM, the ability to easily differentiate the two sides and to make the bad guys look extra creepy (strange looks, different or more corrupt looking wings) and you'd rarely have to actually stat something out, especially set pieces showing the aftermath of fey battles. They do offer interesting ways for NPCs to interact with the PCs, such as 'vernal touch', and to make regular animals or whatnot into good/evil fey creatures, like a swarm of evil looking rats with hateful glowing eyes and crumpled wings (instead of a regular rat swarm).

Oooh, maybe the evil side was breeding these things in anticipation of the treaty failing! Stuff like that. Oh, and 'vernal touch' would also give the good guys a defense against any undead that the bad guys called up.

Since they're inherited templates, there's no easy way for your PCs to get a hold of any unbalancing traits unless you already approved them at character creation.

[stack]

Thought this (http://www.ruleofcool.com/worlds-end-fair-trial/#more-712) might be of interest, apart from just being interesting. It's for a fey court, but given how the fey are that might not be so different. Worth it just for ideas for how 'other' they can be. Written as a potential campaign setting for Legend.