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“We are Fey. We are all Fey. And we all are of the Fey. Although we are different as individuals, fractured even into the eight separate Fey races of Alfheim, we all still are of the Fey– children of the all-powerful, all-knowing, Allfather Odin.”
—Ferri von Aquae
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Before any further reading into this bestiary should happen, it is important to bring everyone to the same page as there are those who, even in this day and age, are unaware of the greater world out there. This introduction will serve to educate those who do not know any better and be a light reminder to those who are already well versed into this matter.
To begin with, there are nine great realms in existence, and to list them all:
—Asgard, of the Aesirs, the home of the gods.
—Vanaheim, of the Vanirs, the rival tribe of gods to the Aesirs.
—Jotunheim, of the Jotnar, the originators of all life.
—Svartalfar, home of the Dwarves, the shapers of creation.
—Alfheim, of the Fey, our home.
—Midgard, where the Humans dwell, blessed children of the Vanirs.
—Muspelheim, the primordial realm of fire: Shattered into the red stars that dot the sky.
—Niflheim, the primordial realm of ice: Fractured into the white stars that paint the heavens.
—Hel, the final frontier, where all things find their end.
We of the Fey are denizens of Alfheim and within this realm that nurtures us, we have spread our roots to every corner in existence— especially in the most bountiful regions, but even in the most desolate wastelands. That is because while life thrives where the gifts of nature are aplenty, it is also tenacious and where there is a will there will be a way, and life always manages to find a way.
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The Fey Blood
Blood. To us Fey, our blood is our most important thing. From time immemorial, our blood has dictated our everything. Whether we were destined to be strong, or whether we were doomed to be forever weak, it was all written in our blood from the moment we were born— the same way an ant may never challenge a dragon, those with a weak bloodline will never have the means to challenge those with the stronger bloodline. The reason is simple— and we of the Fey live with very simple rules.
As Fey, we are not the descendents of the Jotunn and their blood flows not within us. Instead, as the brainchildren of the Allfather Odin, mana is the blood that flows through our veins. For us, mana is life and life is mana. Without mana, we would be without life. And conversely, those with great amounts of mana have great amounts of life and are able to even live beyond the tens of thousands of years. So to us mere subjects, our great emperors may as well have eternal life.
Those with more mana are stronger. When the strong mixes with the strong, a stronger lineage with more mana will be produced, whereas the weak will forever stagnate and remain weak. While individual variables such as skill or genetic variations may help bridge this gap to some extent, this was how order came of chaos and this was how the ruling class of Alfheim came to be. To us Fey, even if we are not aware of it, this fact is as simple and engrained as it is that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. This is why we are attracted to strength and why we look up to the strong.
(With a slight caveat. While this is all true, Fey of two different races cannot copulate and give birth to fertile offspring. And neither can Valkyries give birth to a man’s child. Therefore to go with either of these two choices, it would effectively end a bloodline at that generation. However, Valkyries are immensely strong and immensely beautiful, so there have been more than a handful of historical cases among royals taking a Valkyrie’s hand in marriage and being so enchanted that they never pick up a mistress to leave behind an heir.)
To explain further the stratification of Alfheim in layman’s terms, a knight is a vassal of his lord, who attends his king’s royal court. However, a king rules but a single kingdom, whereas an empire is formed of multiple kingdoms.
Across the world, they may be known by different names, such as Emperors, Khagans, Kaisers, Tsars, Hegemons, etc. but one thing remains true— it is that these great people and their imperial bloodline are the ones who stand at the peak, no matter where on Alfheim they may be.
One step below them, with a significant gap in power, are those of a king’s royal blood. These include: Kings, Khans, Pharaohs, Jarls, and any other kind of non-crown royalty and their equivalents.
And one more step down, with yet another significant chasm in power, are those who hold lordly ranks, such as Marquesses, Landgraves, Counts, Earls, Viscounts, Barons, and so on and so forth.
And last are the ones who are considered the lowest rank of nobility, the knights as well as unranked nobles. While weak compared to their noble superiors, they still have enough mana flowing through their veins to be considered a part of that upper class. That is, even if a hundred of commoners were to combine their strengths, they would still not be able to match the prowess of a singular knight.
A more generalized version of this list, where each line represents a difference in rank:
- Crown Imperials
- Non-crown Imperials
- ———
- Crown Royals
- Non-crown Royals
- ———
- High Nobility
- Intermediate Nobility
- Low Nobility
- Unranked Nobility
- ———
- Commoners
—Addendum: While the previous section describes the structure of alfheim that has been set in stone since time immemorial, there has been something uncovered that may suggest a great upset. In fact, there may exist a special category of Fey whom even the emperors whose rule extends across continents bow down to. However, no one can say for sure, as there have not been many physical records discovered for these ancient Autarchs, and any such records date back hundreds of millennia at the barest minimum. Perhaps only those of the ruling hegemony know for certain, as their bloodlines go back farther than any records.
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An Observation on Blood Inheritance
It is common knowledge that the potential strength of a child is heavily biased towards the strength of the mother and how many children she has had in the past. The father plays a much lesser role in determining the future prospects of children, however that is not to say he plays no part in it.
If a man and woman of similar strength (within the same rank) marry and have a child, they will have an exceptionally strong chance at producing a child who will end up becoming stronger than the mother, even if only marginally. To visualize, take for instance a father and mother with these arbitrary numbers that denominate their strength:
Father: 100
Mother: 90
Child: 92
Father: 90
Mother: 100
Child: 102
In both cases, the child ended up being stronger than the mother, although in the first case, where the mother was weaker than the father, the child similarly ended up being weaker than the father.
In the event where the two parties are of differing ranks of strength, one of two outcomes may occur. The first: if the two parties are of still relative strength, within two rank of each other, then pregnancy will proceed as normal:
Father: 10,000
Mother: 100
Child: 102
Father: 100
Mother: 10,000
Child: 10,200
The second: if the difference in strength is too vast, i.e. greater than two ranks, then childbirth would be impossible, however pregnancy may still occur.
If the father is the significantly stronger party, then pregnancy will proceed as normal until the point where the mother ultimately dies of mana depletion, as the fetus would have drawn in more mana than the mother has available:
Father: 10,000
Mother: 10
Outcome: The mother will wither away and perish from mana depletion.
However, if the mother is the significantly stronger side of the equation, then nothing will happen. The egg would simply never be fertilized as the inside of her body would be a far too hostile environment for any sperm from the father to survive:
Father: 10
Mother: 10,000
Outcome: Pregnancy is impossible.
Lastly, only the firstborn will carry the potential to surpass the mother and inherit the bloodline. The second child will be roughly equivalent to the parents, whereas the third child will always be weaker, and so on and so forth. Nobody can say why this is the case, as the mother does not become weaker herself after childbirth. Perhaps it is by the will of the Allfather himself, but some believe it is because a portion of the mother’s soul is split with the child, therefore each successive child will get less simply because there is less of the mother’s soul remaining:
Father: 5,000
Mother: 5,000
Child 1: 5,100
Child 2: 4,950
Child 3: 4,500
Child 4: 3,900
Child 5: 3,500
Child 6: 3,100
Even though the capabilities of successive children drop sharply after the third child, and even if it becomes impossible for those latter children to inherit the bloodline, they are still able to hold lesser ranks of nobility or split off as branch families and eventually bring their branch of the bloodline back to prominence.
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Fairy Song 