Years ago, while traveling through the forest, Corlan stumbled upon the Greenmarket, and made a bargain. He asked for wisdom, and his price was the sun. He went to sleep that night and has been cloaked in night ever since. When he next returned to civilization, he learned that the sun was only gone for him. Day and night continued as they always have, but to him it was as if the sun simple didn’t exist.

Everything is dark as night to Corlan, with only the light of the moon and stars coming from above. His skin, long deprived of sunshine, is a ghostly pale color, and he constantly shivers from the cold. However, his bargain was good, and though he payed dearly for it he did gain wisdom.

With the sun no longer hanging in the sky, Corlan is able to see stars and constellations during the day which no mortal has ever laid eyes upon. With single-minded dedication, he mastered the art of astrology in but a few short years, and has hired his services out as a seer ever since.

Encounrters with The Stargazer

A cult which worships the impossible entities beyond the stars kidnaps Corlan, believing him to be a prophesied vessel for their dark masters’ birth in this realm.

An ancient ritual the PCs must perform requires knowledge of the Morning Star, a star on the other side of the sun, which only Corlan can see.

It also fills them with a deep obsession, leading them to go to extreme lengths to win their love’s affections. A few days after the mirror is installed, people all over town are going insane. Friends and siblings fight and sometimes even kill each other due to the madness.

Doing some investigation, the PCs might find out that Arnett’s uncle was killed when he was a boy in a duel for a maid’s honor, and his grandfather killed a man to win over his grandmother. Shattering the mirror will release the fae, which must then be killed or bargained with to release everyone from its glamour.

Most people are completely unaware of their muses. Indeed, the spirits are, for the most part, completely fused with their host’s soul. There are some things which can see muses, though, and even interact with them. There are even some who can make their muses manifest. Manifested muses can take on almost any form or temperament. Going back to the hypothetical warrior from the last example, his muse of swordsmanship might take the form of a floating, glowing longsword and his muse of ales might be a short, boisterous, pot-bellied caricature of himself.

Encounters with Muses

The PCs find a mirror in a treasure trove in which muses can be seen.

One day, the PCs wake to find something completely and utterly bizarre: their muses have been switched. The fighter finds himself well-versed in magic, the cleric has a silver tongue, the rogue develops a sudden case of piety, and a sword has never before felt so comfortable in the mage’s hands.

Merribeth has become the victim of a particularly malevolent fae called a “toar kil’narrin,” or a duplicant. The toar kil’narrins feed on fear and despair and have the ability to copy someone’s appearance and steal their memories. While the person’s memories are in the possession of the toar kil’narrin, the person’s life is linked to it. Thus Merribeth would never actually have died in her coffin, so long as the duplicant survived, until such time that it got bored with and abandoned her.

It’s actually quite common for the toar kil’narrin to bury their prey alive. It suits their abilities and needs very well; it keeps the person safe from harm, important because if the victim died so would the fae, and the predicament they find themselves in combined with the complete lack of memories prove cause exceptionally powerful feelings of fear and despair.

The burial also serves another purpose: it prevents the victim from overwhelming the toar kil’narrin. Being confined in the box severely limits the stimuli they’re subject to. Ever since Merribeth was released, this particular duplicant has been somewhat disoriented by the flood of additional stimuli. It’s hidden this fact, since it doesn’t want to fall under too much scrutiny, but if the PCs face it it will be caught off guard.

As soon as the toar kil’narrin is destroyed, Merribeth’s memories will return to her.

Draeac life is divided into several stages. They begin life as seedlings, rooted to the earth and no more sentient than any other tree. During this time, they must be carefully cared for. When a draea begins to form a sentience, it becomes a sapling. Saplings are still rooted to the ground, but are more hardy and can begin learning from their caretakers.

After the sapling stage, a draea becomes a dryad. This is a unique point in draeac life, as dryads are unusually capricious and love exploring. Even in this stage, however, draea seem slow and ponderous to most others. The dryad stage can left for decades or even centuries, and is ended more by a shift in attitude more than anything.

At some point, a draea’s wanderlust and curiosity die off, and they long to return to their home grove. At this point, they have become caretakers. Usually the most able-bodied in the grove, it is left to caretakers to raise the seedlings and defend the grove from incursions. While in the grove, the caretakers tend to root themselves to the ground more frequently as well.

As a result of their frequent rooting, draead grow larger and larger until they begin having trouble moving. They are now called greatwoods, and it is ultimately the last real classification of their life cycle. Greatwoods continue growing larger and larger, and speak less and less. At first, they teach and provide guidance to seedlings, but eventually it comes to a point where they are no longer able to move safely on their own at all.

At that point, the greatwoods retreat to the center of the grove, to join the collective of all their elders. The heart of a draeac grove may contain hundreds of draead each millenia old. These draead speak rarely, and usually only amongst themselves; the youngest among them is given the task communicating with petitioners. Only other draead may talk with them, however; all others will be ignored no matter how pressing the matter.

Needless to say, most people only ever meet the dryads, and thus most believe the draead are all similar to dryads. Dryads have shape changing abilities, and can root themselves to the ground and assume the appearance of any tree native to their current locale. When in their humanoid form, their bodies are sleek and, curiously, feminine in shape, covered in bark with delicate fingers.

Cascades of leaves fall behind the dryads like hair; usually these leaves are green, but when they are sad or despairing the leaves turn brown and when the dryad is angry or excited they turn the fiery colors of autumn.

Encounters with the Draead

It should be needless to say that greatwoods can provide an invaluable source of information on ages past. Securing their aid, however, can prove to be exceedingly difficult. It would be necessary for the characters to first ingratiate themselves with a dryad or caretaker and get it to ask on their behalf; even then, it may still prove difficult to get an answer.

Most draead are basically good creatures; their entire society is based on the concepts of community, extended family, and dependence on others. As a result, dryads are quite willing allies when it comes to helping and protecting people. In addition, their knowledge and skills could prove very valuable, particular in wilderness settings.

Note: My apologies if this post is not up to my usual par. Didn’t have a chance to write this until 11 PM, knocked it out in half an hour, and don’t have time at the moment to re-read it for spelling and grammar. In particular, I’m sure I messed up the draea/draead thing a couple times. Damn me and my affinity for non-standard pluralizations! If I can, I’ll try to go back tomorrow and fix it up.

What people do not realize is that the children are no longer their children… Haven’t really been their children ever, really. They are a race of fae called the Twice-Born, for each of them must be born again from a mortal child.

The boys run off into the surrounding wilderness, climbing into trees or hiding in caves, and there they begin to cocoon themselves. In a week’s time, they will emerge, completely different and insect-like in appearance. Inscrutable compound eyes, chitinous emerald skin and opalescent, dragonfly-like wings are their new trappings.

Those who know of them believe that all Twice-Born are male, as they all come from male children. They are, however, incorrect, for there are a very few number of queens amongst their number. These do not go through a metamorphosis like the boys; they appear to be the same race throughout their lives. However, they do know from an early age what they are and what they must do. The boys, on the other hand, know nothing until one day an irresistible urge spirits them away forever.

The Twice-Born queens infiltrate the unsuspecting society perfectly. They are masters of deception and no one would ever have any reason to believe that the little girl who grew up across the street from them was anything besides a cute little girl. The queens immediately take a liking to children, becoming babysitters, nannies, story-tellers and midwives.

They use their position to change the children, however. The Twice-Born queens have a magical ability to plant a metaphorical seed inside an infant, which will cause it to become a Twice-Born when it grows up. They use this ability sparingly, though, so as to avoid detection or suspicion. Almost always they do it to male children; they create new queens only when they near the end of their life, or otherwise feel that they may not be around much longer.

What the male Twice-Born do after emerging from the cocoons is anyone’s guess. Most immediately seek out a way to the faerie world, to live the rest of their life among their own kind. A few, however, stick around. The mortal child’s conscience was never fully displaced, and so these Twice-Born are in the unusual mindset of having two minds, each utterly alien and distinct from the other and yet also dependent on the other in a sort of symbiotic relationship.

Encounters with the Twice-Born

You could make a great encounter from any point of the Twice-Born’s life cycle. The players could discover a queen performing some bizarre ritual on an infant. They could catch a hysterical young boy running as far and as fast as he could. They might even catch him in the act of weaving the cocoon, sure to be a disturbing sight, find a cocoon, or perhaps see a Twice-Born emerging from one. Above all, you should make sure the encounter is bizarre and perhaps even slightly sinister.

Although they usually need not fear theft by other Lieperkin, most are intensely distrustful of outsiders and believe them to always be after the Lieperkin’s pot of gold. Lieperkin tunnels are always filled with traps to deter would-be raiders, and even a single Lieperkin can be a formidable threat when he’s got the home-field advantage or time to prepare.

Lieperkin stand just over two feet tall and have curly red hair. Their clothing is all but universally green, and they speak with a very distinctive accent. It is unknown whether Lieperkin have their own language, but most suspect they do not. In fact, Lieperkin seem devoid of any sort of culture as a whole; there are no known Lieperkin artworks, no Lieperkin recipes or delicacies, and no Lieperkin stories or myths.

Encounters with the Lieperkin

The players find a pot of gold out in the middle of nowhere. A Lieperkin lost it the night before after too much drinking, and the little fellow is frantically looking everywhere for it. When he discovers the PCs have it, he’ll start trying to sabotage them to get it back, laying traps in their way and doing whatever he can to be a nuisance and distract them. He tries to stay hidden until an opportunity to take back the pot of gold presents itself.

The Greenmarket is a place of succor and wonders, appearing to weary travelers to give them much-needed respite and offer them fantastic goods. Those wandering in the wilderness first hear the sounds of music and merrymaking, and following them quickly discover the lights of the Greenmarket.

The Greenmarket appears to be a small, but very busy, marketplace, and changes nature depending on where it is found. In the desert, for example, it appears to be a bazaar centered around an oasis, while on a mountain pass it might appear to be a dwarven caravan which has made camp for the night. There are only two constants; the Greenmarket is only found at night and disappears at dawn, and it is never found in the same place twice.

The people in the Greenmarket are friendly and jubilant. Musicians play festive music, colored lights illuminate everything in a romantic haze, and vendors hawk their bizarre wares. Coin is not accepted in the Greenmarket, however; the goods you might purchase there have an altogether different price. That pretty flower which changes colors based on your mood may cost you all your memories before you were three, while the cat-sized, two-headed elephant may cost you your ability to whistle.

The Greenmarket always has some kind of hospitality, such as an inn, which is free to travelers. However, when they awake in the morning, everything has disappeared.

Image taken from Stardust, which is copyright of Paramount Pictures and used without permission. Please don’t sue me.