The Archfey, gods and religion?

[RossN]

I'm designing a D&D 5e world and while I'm fairly happy with geography and cultures I'm still trying to decide how to handle faith and the gods, and other forms of religion. Originally I'd planned on fairly standard gods (I'm using the D&D 'default' deities until I can design my own) but I'm not sure how well they gel with the Archfey.

I have a soft spot for the Warlock class and both Fiend and Great Old One based pacts are very easy to fit in as secretive, evil cults but the Archfey are a little trickier (which suits them I suppose.) Specifically how would they interact with religion. Do the common people worship them? Can they tell the difference between them and the 'true' gods - the ones who can grant spells to their followers?

One idea I've had is to use them as non-evil (or at least not automatically evil) Mystery Cults. For instance Hyrsam, the Prince of Fools is a great Dionysian-type figure revered by nobles and others in revelries. However in some areas as the faith the 'true' gods has waned they might be served more openly; I have considered a tribe of embittered and isolated Mountain Elves turning away from Corellon to worship the Prince of Frost in their bleak and snowy lands.

Still, I'm trying to work out the kinks. I'd very much appreciate any advice or ideas anyone has on working the Archfey in here.

[Mith]

The idea I have toyed with in my head, using LudicSavant's pantheon interpretation (Here's his interpretation of Nerull (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?443831-My-pantheon-s-take-on-Nerull)) is that the divide in the Seelie and Unseelie Archfey follows the Divide between Corellon and Lolth. So one of the Titles that they hold are "King and Queen of the Fey".

I would see the Archfey as being not full on deities, but rather an extension of ancestor worship, where in this case the ancestor continues to live. (Perhaps when your elves die, they join the Courts as their afterlife).

This idea is based off of what I know of the old Nordic Traditions with regards to Elves. Here is a good source. (http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/elves/)

[HolyCouncilMagi]

I think it would depend on the specific Archfey (what is the singular of that?). Fey are weird that way. One might act similarly to a god, craving worship and rewarding it with power, while another might not care at all and a hypothetical third might actively devour the souls of those who worship it. Anything to do with the fey is generally too variable to classify under a single system.

[RossN]

The idea I have toyed with in my head, using LudicSavant's pantheon interpretation (Here's his interpretation of Nerull (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?443831-My-pantheon-s-take-on-Nerull)) is that the divide in the Seelie and Unseelie Archfey follows the Divide between Corellon and Lolth. So one of the Titles that they hold are "King and Queen of the Fey".

I would see the Archfey as being not full on deities, but rather an extension of ancestor worship, where in this case the ancestor continues to live. (Perhaps when your elves die, they join the Courts as their afterlife).

This idea is based off of what I know of the old Nordic Traditions with regards to Elves. Here is a good source. (http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/elves/)

That's an interesting idea. I had been wondering how the Elven deities were linked with the Seelie and Unseelie Court.


I think it would depend on the specific Archfey (what is the singular of that?). Fey are weird that way. One might act similarly to a god, craving worship and rewarding it with power, while another might not care at all and a hypothetical third might actively devour the souls of those who worship it. Anything to do with the fey is generally too variable to classify under a single system.

I'd also throw in 'wants to have sex with a handsome/beautiful mortal'. I base a lot of my view of the Archfey on Irish myth and they are fair match for the Olympians in that area.

Those are good points and I can see how an individual farie lord or lady might occupy different attitudes at different times to different people. For instance her is a faerie lady I came up with:

The Dancing Damsel

The beautiful Dancing Damsel appears on lonely nights on hillstops under the stars, her golden hair and green eyes lit by moonlight as she dances to music from hidden instruments. She entices handsome young swains to dance beneath the stars and those who do ever after bear a token of her charm and grace - unless she takes too much of a liking to one and whirls him away into the night, never to be seen again. To country maidens who honour her and bring her gifts she teaches some of her simpler steps and on rarer occasions still something of her other secrets.

[Tzi]

It may not be the cleanest organization but I tend to put angels, demons, fey, and Gods in roughly the same amorphous category. As a conceptual framework you could work with it as this, if Evil is way BELOW the material plane and Good is way ABOVE the material plane than the Fey worlds are inter-spliced with it. Because the Fey are always presented as part of nature they are a bit more like Elementals.

Think of the Material plane thus as swiss cheese and the Fey come from the holes in the cheese.

That is generally how I do it?

[Mith]

From a cosmology point of view, here's how I would work it out:

The Upper and Lower Planes define Alignment (They are the Alignment manifested in infinite forms, sort of like Plato's* idea of Ideal Forms). The Elementals are the same thing for physical manifestations, and are without alignment. The current model uses Aristotle's 4 element theory (Fire, Earth, Water, and Air), because that is the extent of the understanding of the mortals on the Prime Material, but if you were to search through the various infinite demi-planes of the elements from the various physical elementals (think of Redcloak using Titanium and Chlorine Elementals) to the Colours themselves (Though these planes tend to hide large colour pools. (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Astral_Plane)) The reality of the situation is that the 4 elements are actually the 4 stages of Matter (Plasma, Solids, Liquids, and Gas). You'll have to run society through a few paradigm shifts to get to that point though.

Anyways the Fey occupy a blend between the two axes, as defining the natural elements imprinted with the influences of the morality of the Outer Planes, so are closer to elementals in some respects, and closer to the celestials and fiends in others.


*I believe it was Plato

[Dusk Raven]

In response to the above, I generally treat the Fey as being the Outsiders of the Material Plane: and the only thing they have to draw essence from is nature, so they embody that.

I could talk quite a bit about my own versions of Fey, but in my setting, deities fall into a number of different categories. I don't know how Archfey work in 5e but in my own setting the "Old Gods" are collectively worshiped. They don't have Clerics (with rare exceptions in the civilized lands), they have Druids, and worshiping only one of them would be seen as bizarre.

[RossN]

In response to the above, I generally treat the Fey as being the Outsiders of the Material Plane: and the only thing they have to draw essence from is nature, so they embody that.

I could talk quite a bit about my own versions of Fey, but in my setting, deities fall into a number of different categories. I don't know how Archfey work in 5e but in my own setting the "Old Gods" are collectively worshiped. They don't have Clerics (with rare exceptions in the civilized lands), they have Druids, and worshiping only one of them would be seen as bizarre.

In 5e Warlocks are arcane magicians who make pacts with powerful outside forces in return for their powers. These can be with Fiends, Great Old Ones (Lovecraftian 'gods') or the Archfey. At least in the case with Fiends and the Archfey the assumption is that the pact is one to one - the Warlock signs a contract with an individual demon or catches the eye of the Queen of Air and Darkness or so on.

[Inspector Valin]

I kinda like the Archfey as being worshipped, but operating in a different way to traditional gods. More local tradition, isolated temples instead of larger churches. Their power doesn't just come from belief, so if they've got mortal worshippers in an area, they're probably there for a reason. Might have specific rituals they perform that do something.

As to if people can tell the difference... traditions aside, the old D&D classic is 'can you get spells for worshipping it'? :smallwink: I'd say a Warlock who enters into a Fey Pact as an extention of worshipping one of the Archfey is...doable, and potentially rather interesting. :smallwink:

[Mith]

Isn't the joke that Warlocks feel like some Clerics made the wrong deal with a different Outsider?

[Edenbeast]

I see the archfey as a powerful nature spirit. There are multiple nature spirits or ancestors, and these are commonly revered as gods. Animism is often regarded as primitive religion, but it's probably more complex and without a proper guide they can be quite vague to a newcomer. Take for example Madagascar. There you have certain Fady's (taboos), places you cannot visit, some you can, but you're not allowed to eat in the place. You're certainly not allowed to point your finger at holy places, you can with your elbow.
But these spirits are not simply guardians of certain places, they are worshipped, and people bring offerings for good luck. I've visited waterfalls, where on the side there would be a small shrine with pots of honey, beer, money, or waterever else was deemed valuable as offering (and hope the spirit considers the same).
Your warlock may have struck a pact with such spirits, granting you the powers of the feywild.