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| Species | Tylwyth Teg |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Kindly |
| Sphere | Order |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; the tylwyth teg have just Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Shallow caves or groves near fresh water |
| Food | Toadstools, milk, fairy butter (made from fungus), other light fare |
| Description | Fair-haired folk or stunted and supernaturally ugly |
| Procreation | Tywlyth teg reproduce by writing a poem about a child together. The one who will give birth carries the poem for a year; after three months, they are truly carrying a child, nine months later they give birth. With other fey, this process is similar if the birthing parent is the tylwyth teg, otherwise, it follows the other fey nation. With mortals, it varies by mortal but usually is sexual. |
| Esoterica | Tylwyth teg are beings of vonzot, light of justice, dream energy, and poioumenon. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use heavenly light, hegnh, light of truth, euphotonia, long path, euergasia, shavev mashkhalran, Foundation, the Law, nommos, various ordinal energies, mystery, gebvel, many forms of aether, spirits, faith, yahas, kor, and fate. |
| The Tradition | Tylwyth teg have the following basic fey powers:
Tylwyth teg can sense what faerie animals are feeling and thinking through touch. They can take fey materials (like oneirium, faeriewood, etc.) and fashion it into objects by tying them together. Anything they make through tying they can summon at will by snapping their fingers. The tylwyth teg can summon mist to confuse strangers within a twelfth of a mile radius by scattering sand or dust. When a tylwyth teg meets a mortal or another fey, they can tell what crimes, sins, or other violations that mortal is guilty of if the mortal tells them their name (common or True). If a tylwyth teg senses that a mortal or another fey has committed one of a handful of dire crimes (murder, rape/sexual assault, child abuse, kidnapping, torture, or consorting with demons, undead, or abominations), they will invoke one of several forms of justice: taking their children from them and replacing them with a crimbil (plural crimbilon), making them lost in the mists forever, or being forgetting their True Name. If a mortal or other fey is a good or kindly person, the tylwyth teg reward them with riches (fairy gold), but if they are prideful and boast of the reward, they will lose it. A tylwyth teg can create a fairy ring out of toadstools if they dance in a circle under the full moon. The fairy ring will transport anyone who sleeps within it to the lands of the fey. |
| Glamour | Tylwyth teg can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. The fair ones can make themselves look like anything; the stunted ones can make themselves more unpleasant appearing. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, tylwyth teg lose their True Names. They have a fortnight to recover it or they become targets of the Wild Hunt, corrupted into another kind of fey, or turn into a hag or boggin. Iron or steel will bind a tylwyth teg into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a tylwyth teg from entering a house. Most tylwyth teg detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Entropy is especially harmful to them. |
| National Culture | The fair family, or tylwyth teg, are led by Ellyll, their ancient Manifest (guarded by her ellyllon guards), and her council, the Bendith y Mamau (blessings of the mothers). These elders come from each of the clans of the tylwyth teg, who are split between the ones who live by the water and those who live in the caves. Those who live in the caves are stunted and seem unpleasant to mortals, for they represent the harshness of justice. Those who live by the water and are pleasant and usually considered pretty, and they represent the positive side of justice. The tylwyth teg clans are very fair and ordered. Their elders on the Bendith y Mamau bring down the rules from the council, and the clan councils (cyngor) make their own specific rulings based on what comes down to govern the clans locally; the cyngor controls the clan's communal property. Clans are made up of extended families, going back many generations. Children are raised by the entire extended family; when a child is about seven, they are sent to the clan school to learn. They go through four tests by the time they are 25. Each test is designed to help them understand what they are best at. At the age of 25, they are adults and can choose their careers or roles. There are many different jobs in each clan, but some are part of a national network: teachers, warriors, legal professionals, healers, mystics, and dancers. All other roles/jobs are localized to the clans. If someone chooses one of these jobs, they are invited to train in special national schools. How well they do determines how they are placed after school: on a national, clan, or family level. Teachers (athrawon) can be placed as professors in the national schools, teachers at clan schools, or tutors among the families. Warriors (rhyfelwyr) can be ellyllon (the most elite), national guard, clan warriors, or family protectors. Legal professionals can be cyfreithiwr (lawyers) or barnwr (judges); lawyers can represent at a national, clan, or family level; judges are always at a national or clan level and answer to the Bendith y Mamau or the cyngor. Healers (iachawr) are the only ones who do not come out ranked; they serve where they are called. Mystics (cyfrinwyr) use their tying, glamour, vanish, mist, salt, whistling, and judgment powers to serve either on a national, clan, or family level. And dancers (dawnswyr) lead community festivals at each level. The ellyllon wear digitalis bell flowers as glows. Every year, the tylwyth teg summon faeriesteeds and lead a fairy rade, a procession, throughout their lands as a celebration. Thisprocession is said to be the counter-balance to the Wild Hunt. Courtship among the tylwyth teg is led by individuals and never enforced, arranged, or influenced by anyone but those involved. Love is given freely or not at all; the only rules are ones to avoid inappropriate age differences or familial relationships. There is a plurality of genders and all are respected. The tylwyth teg believe it is their duty to protect children especially, hence their focus on replacing abused children with crimbilon. Their cyfrinwyr and rhyfelwyr are most commonly sent to do this, but any tylwyth teg can do so and will be backed by their family, clan, and/or nation. |
| Kindly Culture | The tylwyth teg national culture is highly respected by the Kindly Court. They are considered among the most revered in the court. Their representative on the Court Council is the Marshal Maradir, who has been elected to it every over and over every 100 years. They are respected as court administrators and judges. They serve alongside the kith as one of the major, most influential nations in the court. |
| Other Courts | The tylwyth teg are unwelcome in most other courts because of their judgment powers, though the Summer Court is less likely to exclude them. They sometimes find a place in the Seelie Court, but they are met with distrust and fear. The Unkindly Court kills them on sight, as they do many other fey. The Unseelie and Winter Courts usually enslave them and try to use their powers against others. |
| Mortal Interactions | Some mortals or other fey will leave a bowl of milk out for the tylwyth teg at night to let them know someone in the community needs to be dealt with or to show interest in a fairy wife. Tylwyth teg maidens may become wives of humans sometimes, but only the kindest, most just of men. If these men fail them or if they touch iron, they will be whisked back to their homelands. Sometimes, a tylwyth teg takes a child from a mortal whose other parent wants the child back and has good intentions. If they do, they may follow a process to replace the crimbol:
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| Notables | Maradir, Marshal of the Tylwyth Teg; Thaegwyl, Champion of the Dreamer God; Ellyll, Tylwyth Teg Manifest, Mother of the Fair Family, Queen of the Blessed |
| Special Classes | Ellyllon, Fairguard; Rade Rider (procession riders); Athrawon, Rhyfelwyr, Cyfreithiwr, Barnwr, Iachawr, Cyfrinwyr, Dawnswyr |
| Sample Stats | PRO 9 ATH 8 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 10 ROG 8 Glamour 9 Vanish (30 seconds) Whistle 9 Mist 9 Judgment 12 Dance 11 |
GrandGuignol
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