Fae

Fae, also known as Sidhe or Elves, are genetic descendants of Neutral Angels, cast out of Heaven. Fae are divided into two courts; Summer and Winter, and then the scattered Solitary Fae. Fae are regarded by most races as creepy at best, since normal moral concepts often cannot be applied to Fae. The Fae live in a parallel plane to the mortal realm, known most often as Faerie (also refered to as Underhill in some texts). Generally, Solitary Fae are the ones that interact most often with mortals, although most cannot tell the difference, and attribute their actions to all Fae.

Fae are immortal creatures, having no real end to their natural lifespan. Every Fae is born with an aspect/type, and the ability to use Glamour. They can interbreed with humans easily, and their children are fertile, allowing for glamour to pop up in odd places. Fae are generally ammoral, as they generally don't have much concept of 'good' or 'evil' besides what is relevant to them and the people close to them. Fae view lesser immortals, undead, and mortal creatures as lesser creatures, as a general rule, and the way they treat them depends on the Court the Fae belongs to.

Fae are killable, although it's generally hard for creatures not on the same power rung as fae to do so. They are extremely susceptible to 'cold' (unforged) iron, which acts as a poison to them, and burns them to touch. Normal iron can make them somewhat queasy if it is pure, and in large amounts. The traces of iron in food does them no harm. Other than that, Fae are fairly resistant to damage, but are still quite killable by traditional mortal wounds.

The fae immune system is a curious thing, as while they tend not to catch major diseases like STDs and cancer, they can catch other illnesses. No extensive study of fae immune systems has been made, mostly because they don't care.

Courts
There were two major courts, Summer Court and Winter Court, with smaller courts inside those. Summer Court tends to represent what is seen as the 'good' side of Fae-they are generally more polite and tolerant of those they view as lessers, seeing them as a form of amusement in many cases. Despite this, they rarely view lower races as anything more than amusing little creatures at best, and are still capable of cruelty, albeit much more subtly. The Winter Court, by contrast, represents a much darker side of the Fae. They tend to look upon mortals with disdain, and avoid contact with them. They are much more open in their cruelty, which leads people to lable Winter Court fae as 'evil'. Outside the courts, there are the Solitary Fae. There is a wide range in these fae, and generally, they are seen as a nuetral ground between the courts, pledging permanent allegiance to neither. These fae tend to interact with mortals a little more, but are often only intermediarys for one of the Courts. Solitary fae are unpredictable at best, as most value their freedom above anything else. For the most part, Fae tend to stay in the realms of Faerie, which run parallel to the mortal world. Solitary Fae often live at the edges of the two worlds, being paid to keep track of those who enter.

Glamour
Glamour is the inherent Fae ability to change the world around them in small ways. It is not simply illusion, as illusion merely changes perception of something, and can only disguise. Fae glamour can make one thing have the properties of something else entirely, be it changing someone's appearance, turning leaves into money, or enchanting items. Fae glamour can also be used to affect people's minds, although this use is fairly limited.

Fae Types
Every fae has a type, sorta like elementals have an element. It controls what sort of magic they're inherently good at...sometimes to the point wherein they can't even use another type. However, such focus is rare without the individual actually trying for it. Some types are more rare than others; one of the rarest types is Time, closely followed by Death magic. The most common types usually deal with changing people's perceptions, be it through charms and hypnosis, or illusions. Some fae do indeed have elemental types, and in truth, the number of different types is unknown, since every time someone tries to catalog all of them, a few more seem to crop up out of nowhere. There are, of course, superstitions and prejudices against many of the fae types, some more severe than others.

Twins/Triplets
Fae, like every bloody other society, have their own little superstitions and whatnot. Twins are usually seen as a sign of misfortune, since they're so rarely born, and twins working together can be devastatingly powerful. Imagine casting a spell with someone who knows exactly what you're doing and how to augment it without even asking. Twins are usually born with the same type, which usually doesn't help their case any. Now, the other major superstition I'm going to mention is time magic. Time magic makes people nervous, naturally...controlling a natural force that powerful is scary, after all. Fae typically shun those with time magic at best, and attack and harrass, if not outright kill those unfortunate souls at worse. As you might imagine, being born as twins with time magic? Not so good. Both twins and time fae have fairly low chances of surviving to even adolescence, and those that do tend to be rather bitter about the whole affair.

Triplets, however, while being even rarer, are regarded as a good omen, since good things come in threes. Thus, triplets are generally treated extremely well.

Subraces
The fae, much like any ancient species, have developed subraces, types of fae that aren't quite fae, but aren't something entirely different, either. Simple genetic mutations, recurring over generations and generations, are to blame, which has allowed them to use their glamour in different ways. For example, one subrace, the pixie, have channeled the magic to alter their size.

Known Subraces
Pixie

Selkie

Lifestyle
No man-made or modern conviences of man are used in the Fae realm.

When light is needed, it is provided by oil lamps, torches, candles or mage-light (a ball of light created by magic). When they travel, it is done either via gating to the location, via walking on foot, by carriage/coach or a mount of some kind. There are roads, but they are usually dirt roads and if paved, are usually paved with stone. Clothes are washed by hand if the owner decides not to waste his time in spelling the dirt to leave the clothing.