The Council of the Feywood

For thousands of years, life in the Feywood was idyllic. Greater and Lesser Fey shared space with the Alev people that had ventured there from the Firsthome. The forests and meadows were healthy and bountiful. They Alev had their culture and organization within their enclave, but among the Fey, there was no real organization or hierarchy - there was no need for it. Then the Great Strife came, bringing with it devastation that they Fey could never have imagined. Suddenly, their home was being destroyed tree by tree, and the Fey themselves were being killed either by followers of the The Gods of Coercion, or by abominations brought into the world by those deities.

To respond to these threats, most of the Fey turned to the most powerful of their number to seek guidance and protection. Sprites, pixies, and the like thought that surely, the wise Greater Fey among them would know what to do to avoid or combat these threats. Reluctantly, the Greater Fey assumed the roles of advisers and organizers. Thus, out of necessity, the Council of the Feywood came to be.

Formation the Council

In the twentieth year of the Great Strife, the Greater Dryad Amalthea summoned all of the Greater Dryads, Naiads, and Limoniads to meet in a grove not far from where the Village of Spirit Lake is now situated. Perhaps a dozen of each responded to the summons and arrived at the grove. Since the Fey do not keep written records, there is no way to know exactly who, or even how many were in attendance, but it was certainly a majority of the Greater Fey that called the Feywood their home. The assembled group discussed the threats that were assailing their homes and their folk. They all brought stories of how the lesser Fey sought protection and guidance from them. They agreed that they would need to get a bit more organized in order to provide the leadership their folk so desperately needed.

A council of nine members would be formed, with three Dryads representing the Forests, three Naiads representing the lakes and rivers, and three Limoniads representing the meadows and groves. But other than Amalthea, whom all present immediately agreed should head the council, there was much discussion about which others of their number would serve. Most were reluctant; their Fey nature made them more concerned with their own homes than with the Feywood as a whole, but their wisdom told them this urge needed to be put aside.

Finally, after three weeks of discussions, the nine members of the Council of the Feywood were named:

Amalthea the Dryad

Rubenea the Dryad

-Syrenea the Dryad (later replaced by Betulea the Dryad)

Sagittea the Limoniad

Asterea the Limoniad

Rubea the Limoniad

Menippea the Naiad

Astylea the Naiad

Ismenea the Naiad

These nine Greater Nymphs were masters of significant primal magic - magic that all in the Feywood hoped would be sufficient to deal with the threats pressing in on the forest from all side.

During the Great Strife

The greatest assaults on the Feywood came in the far north and the far south. In the Southern regions, Amalthea marshalled the Fey to work with the Alev to repel advances made by dark forces. Despite this, much of the forest was lost to a particularly virulent and persistent form of the Wasting. To this day, little of that Forestland has been restored.

The battles in the north were much more widespread and fearsome. Syrenea, whose home was in the northern edge of the Forest, was among the casualties of the fighting, the only Council member to perish during the Great Strife. She was replaced on the Council by Betulea.

It took the combined efforts of all of the Council to hold the dark forces at bay in the north. While they were able to stop the devastation from penetrating further into the forest, they were unable to actually repel their attackers. In fact, it was only the decision by the gods directing these forces to shift the focus of their attacks to the West that saved the Feywood in the end.

After the Great Strife

By the time the god-war ended, the Feywood had suffered greatly. More than half its area had been devastated by the Wasting. Many of the Fey had perished either during conflicts to defend the land, or due to the blight caused by the curse. The deaths of so many of their numbers in a relatively short time was compounded by the fact that the curse of the Wasting prevented even the Feyflowers from growing. Surrounded by bleak devastation, and with a great toll of loss weighing on their memories, the Fey were in danger of losing their appreciation for the beauty and potential of the World. The Council's first task, therefore, was to uplift the spirits of all those that remained.

The members of the Council traveled throughout the Feywood, encouraging those that survived to do everything they could to encourage the natural world to rebound. At first, the lingering effects of the Blight made this difficult, but in time the land began to recover. It was a changed land, likely never to be same vast and wondrous forest it once was, but the land did begin to live again. In a few pockets, Feyflowers which had been dormant and hidden in the cursed soil for years actually began to bloom - raising the spirits and hopes of the Fey that survived.

For fifteen hundred years, the nymphs of the Feywood, led by the Council, labored to restore their world without interruption from outside. Except for the Alev that remained in the Feywood, the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten about the forest. But then, the Humans began to arrive from the coastlands of the Coldsea. At first, the Fey feared this new invasion would undo all the work they had done, and some even suggested that the Fey should use their magic to cause the Forest itself to repel these newcomers.

The Council convinced them, however, that as long as these new arrivals behaved themselves, they, too, had the right to appreciate Berdea's work. And while their methods may have been different from what the nymphs had been doing since their Awakening, these new Folk... these "farmers" were also working to bring forth life from the soil and using it to sustain themselves. Thus, while the truce was uneasy at first, the Council's efforts have resulted in both Folk and Fey living in harmony in the few hundred years that the settling of the Feywood has been going on.

The Council Today

Today, the Council's efforts are focused mainly on ensuring that the delicate balance between the needs of the Fey and the needs of the Folk that are becoming more numerous within the Feywood each year. The Folk are aware of the Fey, of course - pixies and sprites are everywhere, and some have even taken to helping farmers pollinate their crops. Other lesser Fey have even made homes among the Folk in their villages and towns. But for the most part, the Folk are not aware of the Council. And on the few occasions when the Council has made itself known to the rulers of a town or village to bring to light some situation that, to the Fey, is worrisome, the Folk have responded favorably. Problems have been resolved willingly. Today, thanks to the often behind-the-scenes work of the Council, Fey and Folk maintain a healthy, harmonious balance in the Feywood.