The Myeri built a great castle on the cliffs overlooking the
sea at Chulaine where they first came to land. This was their capital and court
and clans came to Chulaine to resolve differences and settle disputes. Chulaine
was also the seat of their magic which was drawn from a great piece of coral at
its heart. This coral they had brought with them from their watery realm and it
was sacred to the Myeri as the source of their power. Yet it was also a beacon
to others from beyond that world, and so it came to the attention of the Fae.
Called the ‘World Dancers’ by those who know them, the Fae had learnt to use
the natural portals in trees and rock to cross between worlds, gathering wealth
and followers from all realms. The Fae were tall, beautiful to look upon and
delicate in their manners yet they were cruel and vain and proud and consumed
all they found. The things they judged fair and attractive they nurtured for
their own delight. That which offended their sensibilities were cast out,
exiled to the desolate corners of the worlds they conquered. The coral’s power
called across the divides to the Fae and so they came.
Whilst the Myeri were yet unaware of the Fae, the World
Dancers encircled the castle with an enchantment of sleep. Entering the castle
unopposed they made their way to the coral, yearning for its power foremost in
their minds. Once at the chamber they discovered a wonder beyond anything they
had imagined. Vain desire gripped them and they fought each other for possession
of the artefact. As they grabbed at the vibrant purple tendrils bits of the
coral began to crack off in their hands. Soon it had been reduced to fragments,
scattered among the Fae who later had their artisans fashion them into
jewellery and intricate carvings. The castle they cast into the sea, sheering
it from the rock on which it stood. The Fae then set turned their gaze inland
and saw the lush, fertile fields and forests around them. They set about
claiming the land as their own. Gates to other worlds they opened in the woods
and hills, beings from other realms they brought in to work the rich seams of
gold and silver they discovered in the mountains and the remaining Myeri they
drove into the swamps and fens along with all other sentient beings, or almost
all. In one species did they recognise the seeds of their own race, for
humanity, despite its primitive nature, displayed the same qualities as
themselves; arrogance, covetousness, selfishness and the creativity to
manipulate others and their environment to achieve their own ends. These
characteristics the Fae nurtured, adopting the humans as children. Together
they built great cities, towering palaces and lived a life of luxury, whilst on
the borders of their realm the lands fell, abandoned, into ruin and the
creatures brought by the Fae from other worlds were left to scratch a living as
best they could, or else undertake harsh toil for the benefit of their
self-indulgent masters and their human pets.
The discovery deep in their hearts of an affection for
beings besides themselves caught the Fae unawares and so they were trapped and
their doom sealed, for the humans exceeded even the expectations of the Fae in
their creative cruelty and began to aspire to supremacy. Fearing that the
humans had learnt too much, the Fae withdrew from the centre of the
civilisation they had created. Some departed the world entirely, others took up
residence in remote parts of the woods and hills, guarding the gates to other
realms lest the humans should discover them and learn how to walk to other
places and expand their empire beyond the confines of one world. Overnight the
Fae vanished entirely from human sight, and within generations they were just a
memory, then a myth, almost forgotten. Still
the Fae watched, waiting for the human race to settle back into primitivism,
and without their mentors the human settlements fell into ruin. Surely the
humans would have perished if not for the other beings, “Faeries” as the humans
called them; confusing them with their former masters in ignorance and
forgetfulness. These beings were more simple, humble and kind than those that
had brought them there. They taught the humans how to respect the nature of
their world and work with it rather than exploit it for their sustenance. But
the ‘Faeries’ knew why the Fae had picked humanity as their pet project, they
knew the spark of pride and desire which sat at the heart of the human spirit
and so they stayed apart from the humans for the most part.
Human society settled largely into small rural communities.
Children worked the land with their parents and learned the family trades. As
they to grew to adulthood their parents would tell them the stories of the
Faerie Folk who lived the other side of the fields, in the woods and beyond them
where the mountains and hills stretched for miles or the wetlands ran down to
the shimmering sea. When the time came for them to leave the home and start
their own lives they would be given enough supplies in dried food for a year’s
travel and sent out into the world to seek their fortune. Upon returning with
the marks of adulthood upon them; courage, luck, wisdom, love, freedom, loyalty
and family, they would be welcomed back into the community as fully fledged
members and given their own lands to farm and livestock to tend. Only when they
were able to recount tales of their adventures which proved to the village
elders they had achieved these qualities were they accepted as responsible
adults and given permission to marry and raise children. Thus the grains of
cruelty and malice were slowly eradicated from the human race.
Of course, not all the creatures the questing youths would
encounter on their travels were kind to them. Many had suffered greatly at the
hands of the humans and the Fae and their lives and memories are longer than
those of mortal folk. Yet these dangers proved just as valuable in learning the
traits of maturity as the more benign encounters. The Fae had a name for those who would not
follow them, they called them ‘Unseelie’ and banished them to walk in darkness
and on the margins of Fae society. They became nocturnal by habit. Those Fae
which remained to watch the humans generally acted amiably when met by human
folk, desiring to keep their trust, afraid of the capacity they had seen in the
mortals or touched by a compassionate affection for humanity they themselves
would never affirm. Some of the young mortals who ventured from home into the
dark unknown of the woods never returned. Of these, many perished, especially
those who have ventured out too early, unprepared or during the wrong season,
victims of violence, mishap or the enchantments woven by the Faeries to keep
their settlements secret. Several, though, found their home in the ways of the
Faerie Folk and became adopted into the lives of the otherworldly creatures
they met, preferring to remain rather than to return home to more mundane
lives.
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