Post by Ilcario on Apr 25, 2006 14:58:32 GMT -5
Fairies are perhaps the most magically potent of all Lazreth's creatures, excluding some other creatures and the Gods themselves. Small though they might be, they pack quite a punch in battle, and are privy to many of the earth's most guarded secrets.
Like elves, to whom they are somewhat related, they possess the mixed blessing of immortality. They also possess a strange, and often dangerous power: the ability to grant wishes.
This power is greatly loathed by all fay, yet lusted after by nearly all other races, with the exception of the elves, who rarely need such things. Men are the most easily seduced by dreams of power, riches, or immortality. However, there are natural laws about the craft of wish-making, set down by the Gods when the fairies were cursed with their "gift".
Because of Man's tendency to search out fay to use them for avaricious means, nearly all fay have a natural loathing of them, and hide in secret. To catch a fairy is all but impossible, yet should you find one, or save its life, they must, by the order of the Gods, grant you a wish.
Not all fay bear Men such hatred, however. There are some sects who are allied with Men, in exchange for not having to grant wishes. Some fairy men and women have, in the past, actually fallen in love with and married Men.
When a fay falls in love with any race besides its own, they magically grow to fit that loved one's height, so as to make possible the act of procreation; otherwise, half-fay people would be an impossibility. When a fay (or elf) weds another immortal, they keep their immortality and are none the worse for it. In elf-fairy couples, the fairy can even assume their original form at times, unlike mortal couplings, which leave the fay trapped in a "big" body. This is why fairy-elf halfbreeds are somewhat common, at least in the immortal circles. However, when a fay (or elf) weds a mortal, they lose their immortality. This is why many elves and fay reject mortal society, and choose to live away from the rest of the world.
One would assume that the children of men and fairies would possess great powers or have different features than normal. In reality, fairy lineage is almost impossible to trace. For there is a strange quirk in the offspring of fairy-mortal couples. The fairy genes that alter appearance as well as magical and physical body chemistry only appear once every seven generations.
The actual recessive traits include lengthened ears, possible wings (rare), and greatly heightened magical power. Oddly enough, man-fairy halfbreeds of the seventh generation possess twice as much magical power than fairy-elf halfbreeds of any generation. This is a greatly mysterious phenomenon, and hardly any progress has been made as to understanding why it happens.
The greatest and most astonishing of all the gifts of the half-fay is the one trait that has caused seventh generation halfbreeds to be called Blessed: an inborn wish. This wish cannot be "made", however; at least, not in the normal sense. Regular wishes can be unwise or not what the wisher actually wanted. But an inborn wish is made by the heart itself, and grants the person their heart's true desire. Love, wealth, power, fame- although they are incredibly few in number, those who are Blessed are always successful and happy. This is probably why the majority of those in Lazreth bear the Blessed an overwhelmingly passionate grudge against them, borne of pure envy.
Violent crimes and loathing follow those who openly proclaim themselves to be Blessed, so most keep it secret. Many don't even know they are, usually due to incomplete family histories. The phenomena of Blessedness is so poorly understood, that most information on it is purely folklore. If the fairies understand why it occurs, they refuse to speak up, so for now all people can hope for is that somewhere down the line, one of their ancestors was a fairy.
Like elves, to whom they are somewhat related, they possess the mixed blessing of immortality. They also possess a strange, and often dangerous power: the ability to grant wishes.
This power is greatly loathed by all fay, yet lusted after by nearly all other races, with the exception of the elves, who rarely need such things. Men are the most easily seduced by dreams of power, riches, or immortality. However, there are natural laws about the craft of wish-making, set down by the Gods when the fairies were cursed with their "gift".
Because of Man's tendency to search out fay to use them for avaricious means, nearly all fay have a natural loathing of them, and hide in secret. To catch a fairy is all but impossible, yet should you find one, or save its life, they must, by the order of the Gods, grant you a wish.
Not all fay bear Men such hatred, however. There are some sects who are allied with Men, in exchange for not having to grant wishes. Some fairy men and women have, in the past, actually fallen in love with and married Men.
When a fay falls in love with any race besides its own, they magically grow to fit that loved one's height, so as to make possible the act of procreation; otherwise, half-fay people would be an impossibility. When a fay (or elf) weds another immortal, they keep their immortality and are none the worse for it. In elf-fairy couples, the fairy can even assume their original form at times, unlike mortal couplings, which leave the fay trapped in a "big" body. This is why fairy-elf halfbreeds are somewhat common, at least in the immortal circles. However, when a fay (or elf) weds a mortal, they lose their immortality. This is why many elves and fay reject mortal society, and choose to live away from the rest of the world.
One would assume that the children of men and fairies would possess great powers or have different features than normal. In reality, fairy lineage is almost impossible to trace. For there is a strange quirk in the offspring of fairy-mortal couples. The fairy genes that alter appearance as well as magical and physical body chemistry only appear once every seven generations.
The actual recessive traits include lengthened ears, possible wings (rare), and greatly heightened magical power. Oddly enough, man-fairy halfbreeds of the seventh generation possess twice as much magical power than fairy-elf halfbreeds of any generation. This is a greatly mysterious phenomenon, and hardly any progress has been made as to understanding why it happens.
The greatest and most astonishing of all the gifts of the half-fay is the one trait that has caused seventh generation halfbreeds to be called Blessed: an inborn wish. This wish cannot be "made", however; at least, not in the normal sense. Regular wishes can be unwise or not what the wisher actually wanted. But an inborn wish is made by the heart itself, and grants the person their heart's true desire. Love, wealth, power, fame- although they are incredibly few in number, those who are Blessed are always successful and happy. This is probably why the majority of those in Lazreth bear the Blessed an overwhelmingly passionate grudge against them, borne of pure envy.
Violent crimes and loathing follow those who openly proclaim themselves to be Blessed, so most keep it secret. Many don't even know they are, usually due to incomplete family histories. The phenomena of Blessedness is so poorly understood, that most information on it is purely folklore. If the fairies understand why it occurs, they refuse to speak up, so for now all people can hope for is that somewhere down the line, one of their ancestors was a fairy.
