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Fey History
This article covers a subject of ongoing research.
Understanding of the Fey and their society is likely to change as more records are uncovered. As such, the information in this article may change to reflect new discoveries.
Ancient Times
The history of the Fey's society is still being discovered by archaeologists and scholars studying damaged records recovered from Fey ruins. Much is still uncertain, with many key Fey records still untranslated and many more still undiscovered, which has resulted in many gaps in history in between major events as a result. In spite of this, researchers have been able to learn the broad strokes of this history.
Era of Awakening
As previously stated, much is unknown of the origin of the Fey and their society, but it is theorized that they were born from Magic in the same way that the Valean were.
The exact point of the start of their history is uncertain. From archaeological evidence and some surviving Fey script, it appears that the Fey began as a nomadic people, though the exact nature of this lifestyle is unknown. It has also been learned that this nomadic lifestyle began to shift towards permanent settlements upon the Fey discovering something known as Feyleist, which is believed to refer to magic.
Some researchers previously suggested that their first settlement in the wake of this awakening was at a site known as Lichtveil formed in central Rota, though this was disputed as several other Fey settlements are dated to have been founded at a similar time. It is currently believed that several of these settlements formed near simultaneously, and subsequently formed into a number of separate civilizations.
Era of Growth
Upon settling into more permanent villages and towns, the Fey began a period of rapid growth. Fey texts speak of an explosion of knowledge and society, as multiple civilizations formed and rose to power. These civilizations became aware of each other and as such, began to share culture and knowledge, opened trade of resources and goods, and taught each other various uses of magic.
Documents from this era describe much of the process as a centralization of Fey into several, monolithic cities with grandiose architecture. These cities held much of the influence in Fey society, with each of these cities housing members of the governing class. They are believed to have functioned as city-states, which negotiated amongst themselves to organize and facilitate the prosperity of the society as a whole.
These city-states appear to have started solely consisting of a single sub-species of Fey species and, in some cases, resembled structures akin to what their respective insect species would have crafted and lived in. However, as communication and culture began flourishing and these city-states underwent more exposure to each other, they gradually shifted to accommodate all sub-species of Fey to facilitate trade and travel. This became especially important as more sub-species of Fey were created.
Much of Fey culture sprouted from this era, as many of the key pieces of literature and art salvaged from Fey ruins have been dated to similar ages as written records of this time.
Era of Disillusion
As Fey society was reaching even newer heights, a discovery was made in one of the city-states, whose name has been scrubbed from all recovered records for unknown reasons. This lost city-state seemed to create a new use for magic, seemingly capable of destructive powers. The introduction of this class of magic created much concern and distrust between the city-states.
The majority of the populace seemed to be against this class of magic, and urged for research and experimentation with it to be banned. Whether the governments of the city-states took action on these wishes is unknown, though most scholars believe that the governments acted much in the opposite direction. A not-insignificant amount of uncovered texts detail various programs into uncovering how to use destructive class magic.
Era of Fracture
It is uncertain the exact time at which the era turned, but the cause is near unanimously agreed upon - the first war between the Fey civilizations broke out. Researchers contribute this war's incitement to the rising tensions between the city-states ever since the first demonstration of destructive class magic.
This first war appears to have been between the lost city-state who had discovered destructive class magic and Lichtveil. The inciting incident is unclear, though rough translations of Fey records indicate that it may have been a trade dispute and claim that the lost city-state launched an assault on Lichtveil in an attempt to force it to comply with a trade agreement that favored the lost city-state.
Several Fey civilizations retaliated against the lost city-state as Lichtveil's leadership pleaded for assistance. These city-states, who had funded their own destructive class magic research, quickly put an end to the war and all but wiped the lost city-state off the map. Notably, Lichtveil seemed to be one of the few civilizations which did not pursue research into destructive class magic - this is believed to be a key reason for why the lost city-state chose to launch its attack against it, seemingly assured that they would secure an easy victory.
A series of similar wars followed, as the initial war had shown the effectiveness of destructive class magic and emboldened the governments of the remaining civilizations. Power slowly consolidated into fewer and fewer hands as city-states were conquered and subsumed. This resulted in the rise of a few key empires, which began constantly warring with each other over resources and territory.
Era of Collapse
The exact cause of this era is disputed, as records are incredibly sparse and details are hard to confirm thanks to the scarcity of information. Early texts from this era describe a war known as the Grim War beginning against one of the Fey empires. These texts do not refer to any other empire and instead claim that the aggressor was a nebulous, external force. This force was given the name of the Neht.
Depictions of the Neht are conflicting and impossible to verify. Some texts describe the Neht as incorporeal beings of black smoke and fiery winds, while others give them more physicality, describing them as "remains of past wars - rubble, charred earth, broken equipment - given life and a singular will to destroy". The main feature of the Neht that Fey writing agreed on appeared to be their existence as entities purely made of magic, given nebulous physical form through some unknown means. Crucially, no research has been able to confirm the existence of the Neht.
In absence of proof of the Neht's existence, many scholars believe that they are metaphorical and represent sheer forces of destructive class magic that are impossible to parse; this is largely due to the lack of any ability to recreate this magic, despite having recovered documents detailing methods for using it.
Regardless of these uncertainties, it remains an observable truth that the Grim War caused a complete collapse of Fey society, and possibly led to their extinction. It is unknown what happened to the Neht after the conclusion of the Grim War, but no remains have been discovered.
Modern Times
No further Fey records have been uncovered past those documenting the escalation of the Grim War. The currently prevailing belief among researchers is that the Fey were driven to extinction by this war, based on the lack of any documentation of its end and the complete absence of any living Fey. Some archaeologists, however, believe that there are some remaining Fey existing in complete isolation, choosing to shun the idea of a coherent society after their losses in the Grim War. These archaeologists commonly point to unexplained tampering at Fey ruins and other sites of interest to Fey research. Whether this tampering is the work of remaining Fey is unproven.
There have been reported sightings of what are believed to be Fey in current times; however these sightings are few and far between, and definitive proof of the veracity of these claims has never been provided. All of these reported sightings of Fey have described creatures that do line up with currently understood knowledge of the Fey, though this could simply be chalked up to those claiming to have sighted Fey referencing this knowledge to inform their descriptions. Investigations into these claims are still ongoing, though many believe they are simply hoaxes created to draw attention to those reporting the sightings.
...I hate reading this article.
Sorry. You're more than welcome to try to get back to sleep if you'd prefer.
Don't mind if I do.
Hey, no, you get back here.
Ughhhh fiiiiiiiine.
Also, come on, don't act like that at me.
...I'm sorry. Didn't mean to get snippy... Bleh.
Are you okay? You sound... well, tired, but more than just from sleep deprivation.
...sigh. It's that, yeah, but also this history is just... I dunno. It's getting in my head.
Why's that?
It's because of the stuff about the Neht, isn't it?
...Yeah. That bit about them being made of magic still just gets to me.
You know I've told you so many times that you're nothing like the Neht were.
I know you have. But it's still the only other thing I've ever seen referred to in this manner. There has to be some kind of connection--
No, there doesn't. I promise you. That's literally the only thing you have in common with the Neht.
brief, tense silence...
I just wish I could know for sure.
Kayde...
Y'know, I'm sure there's some other reason you're made of magic and all that. I don't believe for a second that you're some distant descendant of those nasty things. For one, you have a brain and can think! ...most of the time, anyways.
Ha ha, very funny.
Ok, but it got a smirk out of you. My job is done~
You are such a bonehead.
Not true! Not a single bone in this body~ Yours either!
You know it's just a metaphor. In any case... they're right. Every story that we've had passed down to us about the Grim War and the Neht depicts them as this brainless, lifeless force bent on destruction of our species. You look nothing like them, act nothing like them. Not to mention they had no known way to even reproduce.
I know... I know. Logically, it's obvious that you're right. It's just hard to remember that when faced with what's written here, and having... nothing else for a lead.
And you two told me I was wrong when I said reading sucks. Yet here you both are, feeling like crap after reading.
Now is really, really not a good time for that.
Maybe we should take a break. The atmosphere is getting way too tense in here.
...probably.
a longer silence, intermittently pierced by the clicking noises of a fidget toy...
...hey, uhm... You said you hated reading this article too, right? I don't think you've ever mentioned that before.
I do. It's not very comfortable to recall the near eradication of our species, you know.
That... yeah, I guess that was pretty obvious.
What was this article again? It's that one about our history and stuff, right?
...yes, it is.
Right, yeah, that shit sucks to remember.
Were you two... there, during the end of it?
Oh, no no, that was long before our time.
Yeah we're not that old. We live long lives, but not that long.
But we've been told stories, ones passed down to us before we left our commune. Really, it was less like a war and more like... a purging. Bordering on genocide. None of the destructive feyleist weapons those dipshits in charge made did a thing to protect anyone, so the Neht just... swept through entire cities almost fully unopposed.
Mmm... those government big shots were just so wrapped up in the power fantasies those weapons gave them. The Neht really were inevitable.
I don't think so. Most of our kind were so clearly against this use of feyleist. The Arcane Source could have easily just punished the ones in charge instead of making the Neht and going scorched earth on our entire species.
Wait, the Arcane Source as in like, Magic? It made the Neht?
I always forget you guys use a different term for it. But yeah, it did.
According to the stories at least. Nobody actually knows for sure, so it could well just be an assumption to try to attribute reason to a senseless horror.
I... you never told me that part of it.
Never thought it'd be relevant for you. We can tell you more of those stories if you'd like, though.
I would, yeah.
In the morning though. I'm not lookin' to stay up all night having storytime.
Right, right. Let's wrap up this """content emergency""" then. There wasn't any vandalism on this page so it's gotta be on the culture page... as usual. Let's just confirm it and roll back the damage, and then we can get some more damn sleep.
click
