The Grey in more Depth

Fear is inescapable. Fear is inevitable. Heroes use fear as their sword and shield, as their drive and fuel. But some use fear as a cage within which they capture everyone, including themselves. In the hopes of total control, the Grey inspires the Locust King to cage and devour the world.

The Grey is a kidnapped infant demiurge. The grey as a reverse alien abduction. 'God' as an accidental prisoner from another story. Always an outsider to the story they infect. The Grey is an infant old one dragged into each new shadowland as an embodied hypersigil thoughtform by the desperate magick of the Locust and the Lion. The child godhead has been driven mad by fear and sensory overload in the new world. He is pain and fear and simple morality and id urges. Because demons and gods live in stories, the bootstrap Paradox is a viable option. The Lion and the Locust are faced with a Wendigo invasion. Wendigo are caused by the Locust touch and thus the Grey, but the paradox can eliminated if the Locust and Lion make the right choice in this retelling.

The Grey Locust/King and the Grey always start as Dead Gods from somebody else's story. They infect new stories. Pulled in when somebody else invokes and embodies their story as a means of power and/or survival. The Grey is anti life. It seeks silence and stillness and order. It seeks to make the world still . Because it is afraid. It is a being from the dark Era of the universe... when entropy has made everything uniform and dark and still. It can't handle the chaos and messiness of the Stellaferrous Era. And so it seeks to enforce order. It is a creature from the end of all stories. It does not understand middles.

Thus the Grey is not evil. The Grey is applying a morality that does not function in this story. It is not evil. It is alien. It is applying tools not appropriate to this world.

An expanded look at the Fair Folk

The Greater Magi of the Shadowlands - also known as the Demons

The Fair Folk are the mythic beings that wear human forms: Sheedr and Faidr and Gnomon. They are the keepers of Magick and will be teachers and patrons to human sorcerers. Often mistaken for Gods, the difference is that Fair Folk need no worship or offerings. The Fair Folk will normally trade or barter for their favor or their instruction. The Fair Folk may appear most human like, but they are not human. Like the Elders they are sympathetic to humans in the Shadowlands. But also like the Elders, their minds are alien and they do not see things as humans do.

Deal with Devils and not with Gods.

For Devils will bargain for your soul, 

while Gods will demand it for free.

The Aelfen

These fair folk look noble but are treacherous. The fair folk come from the future and feed on the present. They can provide prophecy for a price.

Sheedr

The fair folk of the Dark. Beautiful, regal, treacherous and cold. Rumor says that they come from the future and feed upon the present.

The Darkened Court

Tales of the Magus of Dark Solstice are many. Tales of his Court are told in whisperers. There is more to this solstice than stockings and gifts.

• The Magus: The Wondermaker
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Lady of Icy Waters
  • The Messenger: The Blind Dark
  • The Mediator: The Wild Huntsman
  • The Scholar: The Cold Wind
• The Fortuneteller: The Keeper of the Seed

Faidr

The fair folk of the Waning, said to be of the future. They whisper that harvesting the present is necessary to keep wheel of time whole.

The Twilight Rebels

The Court that is not. Day and night imagine themselves as a dichotomy. The changing of light rebels against such clean labels.

• The Magus: The Purifier
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Sheltering Wind
  • The Messenger: The Guardian of the Gate
  • The Mediator: The Mountain Beast
  • The Scholar: The Ascetic
• The Fortuneteller: The Summer Storm

The Kobalen

The goblin folk look vile and scary but are just and kind. The goblin folk come from the past and give to the present. They will take messages to the past for a price.

Gobn

The fair folk of summer. They defend the present, sending aid from the past. It is said they can undo past mistakes.

The Midnight Court

They guard the night during its weakest point. The Solar Solstice is their great siege. They preserve the cycle for another year.

• The Magus: Walker of the Crossroads
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Hearthkeeper
  • The Messenger: The Cryptwalker
  • The Mediator: Child of the Rainbow
  • The Scholar: Watcher on the Wind
• The Fortuneteller: Lady of Grace

Bogn

The fair folk of the Waning. Shriveled, squat, ugly, joyous and friendly. Hailing from the past, feeding past to present to bring the harvest.

The Noonday Court

Bright, shining and glorious. One would never guess the nature of these splendid arch devils. Who knows what emerges from the cocoon?

• The Magus: The Splendid Peacock
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Walking Worm
  • The Messenger: The Resurrectionist
  • The Mediator: The Giver of Libations
  • The Scholar: The Lightbringer
• The Fortuneteller: The Remover of Obstacles

The Gnomon

The Gnomon are the Fair Folk of science present moment and of science. Xaokn are researchers. Saign are Educators. The Gnomon are always willing to help but tend to be oblivious to consequences and will help Locust forces just as readily.

Saign

The Gnomon of Education. Closely aligned with the modern mind. They help, but they help everyone, tribe and city alike.

The Bone Shrine Court

The Bone Shrine Court teaches insights from the Bonelands. Remember how large is the universe. Remember how small is the human skull.

• The Magus: The Sage of Motion
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Sage of Time
  • The Messenger: The Sage of Descent
  • The Mediator: The Sage of Radiation
  • The Scholar: The Sage of Orbits
• The Fortuneteller: The Safe of Lightning

Xaokn

Gnomon of science. The Xoakn are dedicated to research, But they provide their research to the Locust just as readily as to you.

The Bonewood Court

Hidden in the Bone Forest. The court whose magick peers into the Bonelands. Magick ends and Science begins when we seek to prove ourselves wrong.

• The Magus: Eldest Teacher
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Teacher in the Library
  • The Messenger: The Teacher in the Observatory
  • The Mediator: The Teacher in Miniature
  • The Scholar: The Teacher in the Garden
• The Fortuneteller: The Teacher in the Cage

Locust Touched Fair Folk

Not all of the Fair Folk retain their independence in the face of the spreading conquest of the Hungry Empire. As it devours everything, either assimilating or destroying whatever it encounters, many of the Fair Folk who once were are no more. And many more Fair Folk now hold forms unrecognizable to what they once were.

The Sold Ones

The Hungry Empire expands across the land, spewing new gods and conquering lands and Denizens, people and stories and mind, The Sold Ones are Fair Folk corrupted by the Locust.

• Wheat Goblin
• Rice Spriggan

The Broken

The Broken are the Fair Folk, beings who were once part of the great Courts, corrupted and twisted into incomprehensible forms by the corruption of the Grey and the Locust King.

• The Grey Locust
• Falsenight

The Court of Eternal Summer

The Conquered Court. The Demon Servants to the Locust. Magick caged like a songbird

The Court of Eternal Summer is the Captive Court of the Locust King. They celebrate The Whore's Holiday (Valentine's Day), The Chimney Sweeper's Rest (May Long Weekend), The Worker's Holiday (Labor Day), And Black Market Day (Nov 1). These holidays are commercial mockeries of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. They serve the Grey and Falsenight. They are the keeper of consumption and immortality and absolute right and wrong.

• The Magus: The Lord of Lords and Builder of Cities (The Broken Bird)
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Lady of The Bloody Fountain (The Martyred Mother)
  • The Messenger: The Lord of Extermination (The Caged Huntsman)
  • The Mediator: The Lady of Unification and Conquest (Captive Citizen)
  • The Scholar: The Oracle Skull of Knowledge (The Toy in the Glass Tower)
• The Fortuneteller: The Quintuple Lords of Misfortune (The Curse of Cities)