Faerie
Worlds

Creatures and entities bound to the magic of the ancient world. Some dwell in Mirthielle; others remain in the human world or are tied to places where the boundaries between both worlds are weaker.

Nymphs

Female nature spirits bound to specific places such as forests, springs, or grottoes. They are older and more elemental than courtly fairies. Eilunara, Thirielle’s mother, belongs to this lineage.

Undines

Nymphs specifically bound to the waters of rivers, lakes, and streams. Maereth, the Undine of the Black Wells, belongs to this lineage.

Dûrvan

The “children of burning stone.” They are not dwarves, but smiths of thresholds and locks who dwell beneath hollow mountains. Their magic combines stone, metal, and blood. Caerun belongs to this lineage.

Spirits of Punished Waters

Melancholy and vengeful beings born from waters that have been mistreated or imprisoned.

Scions of the Forest

Ancient fairies twisted by centuries and abandonment. They are taller than humans, with long limbs bent like dry branches. Their skin mingles wood and flesh, while vines climb across their torsos like living veins. Their purposes are enigmatic.

Nixies / Näcken / Nøkken

Water spirits bound to rivers, ponds, and abandoned mills. They often lure humans through music.

Asrai

Fragile, almost transparent aquatic creatures unable to endure sunlight. They dissolve like frost if they remain out of the water for too long.

Gwragedd Annwn

Maidens of lakes and deep waters. They may form bonds with humans under strict conditions and are associated with ancient tales of broken pacts and impossible loves.

Selkies

Beings capable of taking either seal or human form through a magical skin. They inhabit cold coasts and other waters, and the loss or theft of their skin means the loss of their freedom.

Merrows / Faerie Mermaids

Inhabitants of seas, grottoes, and deep currents, associated with shipwrecks, drowned memories, and names swallowed by the water.

Kelpie

A water horse that lures travellers before dragging them beneath the surface.

Each-Uisge

An especially dangerous water horse associated with lakes and deep waters.

Shadow Waters

Spirits born from wells, cisterns, or canals marked by a death or an ancient crime. They do not always seek to kill; some seem to demand that whatever happened there be remembered.

Havsrå

A female spirit of the sea and guardian of rocky coasts.

Skogsrå

A female forest spirit who watches over and protects her domain from among the trees.

Dísir

Female tutelary spirits connected to families, ancient bloodlines, fate, and death.

Dryads

Spirits bound to individual trees. If the tree dies, they die or go mad. They are kin to nymphs, but more still, ancient, and difficult to understand.

Hamadryads

Dryads wholly bound to a single tree. They do not inhabit the tree: they are the tree. Their perception of time differs greatly from that of humans.

Huldra

Forest women of great beauty and unsettling nature. They may seduce, protect, or punish those who enter their domains.

Mossfolk / People of the Moss

Small, silent creatures covered in moss, lichen, and bark. They dwell in fallen trunks and ruins devoured by the forest. They steal buttons, small objects, and seemingly insignificant memories.

Spriggans

Spirits of forests and ruins, small in appearance but capable of assuming gigantic forms. They guard ancient places and treasures.

Leshy

A wild lord of the forest, capable of changing size and confusing paths.

Green Men

Plant-like entities whose faces appear in stone, bark, or ancient walls. They are connected to places of power, gateways, and old forest cults.

Green Bocán

A spirit that imitates familiar voices among the trees. It does not kill out of hunger, but for sport or in obedience to ancient commands.

Brownies

Household spirits that help in homes, farms, and kitchens if treated with respect. If offended, they may leave or make the home uninhabitable.

Tomte / Nisse

Guardians of farms and stables. They protect animals and crops but punish ingratitude.

Hobgoblins

Household spirits more mischievous than brownies. They may be protective, but can also become chaotic if treated with contempt.

Trasgos

Noisy, mocking household or stable goblins fond of hiding tools and other objects.

Kobolds

Spirits bound to houses, mines, or ships. They may protect a place or turn it into a source of misfortune.

Faerie Lares

Small guardians of thresholds who dwell beneath entrance stones, hearths, or lintels. They remember promises spoken when entering a home.

Dökkálfar

Dark elves associated with the underground world and buried memories.

Svartálfar

Subterranean beings associated with craftsmanship, metal, and oaths of iron.

Dvergar

Ancient mythical dwarves and smiths of extraordinary objects.

Gnomes

Spirits of earth, roots, minerals, and underground chambers. Reserved by nature and closely tied to alchemical knowledge.

Knockers

Mine spirits that strike walls to warn of cave-ins or danger. It is not always clear whether their knocking foretells disaster or causes it.

Trows

Creatures related to trolls and other subterranean beings. They dwell in barrows, hollow hills, and coastal ruins.

Children of the Vein

Beings born when a mine bleeds metal beneath a starless moon. They do not speak with words; they communicate by striking stone.

Sylphs

Spirits of air, breezes, and high currents. They are difficult to see except at dawn or during storms.

Aurelians

Spirits of golden wind that appear in wheat fields, bells, and weather vanes. They can carry messages but never remain long in one place.

Fylgjur

Companion spirits bound to the fate of a person or family. They may assume animal form or manifest as protective figures.

Faerie Valkyries

Beings associated with ancient battlefields and oaths spoken before death.

Ladies of Frost

Winter spirits associated with blizzards, ice crystals, and frozen lakes.

Mara

A nightmare spirit that presses upon sleepers’ chests and steals their breath.

Banshees

Faerie women associated with lamentation and approaching death. They do not cause death; they announce it.

Bean Nighe

A spectral washerwoman who washes the bloodstained clothes of those destined to die.

Sluagh

A host of restless dead or corrupted faerie beings that cross the night sky.

White Nightmares

Creatures that enter the dreams of sick children and show them paths that may lead them away from their bodies.

Name Eaters

Nocturnal beings that feed upon forgotten names. Their victims gradually lose whatever binds them to their own identity.

Púca / Pooka

A mischievous or dangerous shapeshifter that may take the form of a horse, goat, dog, black rabbit, or other creature. It may help, deceive, or lead travellers astray.

Leprechauns

Cunning faerie shoemakers associated with hidden gold and deceptive bargains.

Fir Darrig

Red fairies fond of cruel jokes, trials, and scares.

Redcaps

Violent goblins associated with ruined fortresses and places marked by ancient wars.

Pixies

Small faerie creatures of roads, hills, and thickets. They disorient travellers, steal shiny objects, and laugh in invisible groups.

Will-o’-the-Wisps

Wandering lights associated with marshes, lost roads, and enchanted places. Their true nature is uncertain.

Threshold Merchants

Faerie traders who deal in impossible objects within markets that appear only under certain conditions.

Sidhe / Aos Sí

A faerie people of hills, barrows, and hidden realms. They are ancient, beautiful, and dangerous beings, closely bound to pacts and laws.

Ljósálfar

Light elves associated with light, beauty, and elevated places.

High Fae

Beings of ancient blood governed by strict laws. They rarely lie outright, but are capable of twisting the truth until it becomes a trap.

Courts of Thorn

Noble fairies associated with roses, thorns, and blood oaths. They are especially strict regarding promises.

Court of Ice

A faerie lineage associated with frozen lakes, mist, memory, and silence.

Court of Ash

Faerie beings associated with burned forests, ruins, cold furnaces, and lands destroyed by fire.

Trolls

Ancient beings of great strength associated with mountains, bridges, caves, and wild places.

Lesser Jötnar

Giants or descendants of ancient giants. Not all are violent; some possess knowledge connected to forces far older than humankind.

Faerie Ogres

Brutal creatures that retain certain traits and customs of ancient courts.

Changelings

Beings associated with old tales of children exchanged by the fairies.

Tylwyth Teg

A faerie people associated with music, dance, pacts, and distortions of time.

Korrigans

Small fairies associated with springs, stones, and nocturnal dances. They may be benevolent as long as their rules are respected.

Entities and orders that fulfil specific roles within the political and mystical structure of Mirthielle.

Guardians of the Edges

An order of women, some faerie and others of mixed blood, charged with guarding the boundaries where the human world touches other worlds. They swear to preserve the balance and prevent the awakening of forces that should remain asleep.

The Council of the Root Halls

Governing body of the faerie beings, responsible for issuing laws and punishments. Its members include ancient entities such as Veyra of the White Bark and Skorun of the Ancient Winter.

Nároth the Mute

Guardian of stolen voices and executor of the Council’s punishments. He has no mouth and uses the fish of his lagoon to speak through borrowed voices.

Auraleth the Seer

Dweller of the White Tower and interpreter of memories and futures. She uses white moths to glimpse what has yet to happen.

Veyra of the White Bark

An entity whose pale skin is cracked like the wood of an old birch. Her eyes contain golden rings like those of a felled trunk, connected to years and the memory of the forest. She guards Eilunara’s “body name.”

Skorun of the Ancient Winter

A being wrapped in frost and white wolf pelts, capable of creating ice crystals with his breath. His power is bound to cold and the closing of roads. He guards the “water key.”

Nároth the Mute

Ancient guardian of stolen voices. His robe is made from dried scales, and his hands have fine webbing between the fingers.

Eirwen of the White Stags

A young woman with moss-covered antlers. Her hands are often stained with earth, and the flowers growing from her antlers react to conflict and uncomfortable truths.

Sílvara of the Drowned Veil

A faceless figure hidden behind a veil of constantly moving water. Her voice resembles rain falling upon gravestones.

The Spirit of the Ash Tree

An entity whose roots sustain the place where the Council gathers. Its voice is slow and immense, bound to past, present, and future.

White Stags

Majestic animals of Mirthielle with antlers of light. They are treated with reverence by the immortals.

Hrimfaxi

Thirielle’s white steed, born from sea foam, salt, and the breath of storms. It obeys no human reins and can run across water.

The Ash Tree of Three Shadows

An ancient arboreal entity associated with the vision of time. Its three shadows represent what has been lived, what is possible, and what no one should ever behold.

A primordial language spoken by “the first ones who awakened in the mist,” older even than the word fairy. According to tradition, it is not learned: it is remembered through the blood.

Thalanth nôr síel

“What sleeps, remembers.” A phrase associated with the latent memory of things and of the earth.

Nôrlenna fáevaran

“What you remember... calls.” It expresses the belief that remembering can summon or awaken that which remains hidden.

Fáevaran lin thûr. Nolennath anûr

“It is not yours to call. It is not yours to awaken.” A warning or sealing formula used to silence whispers from the other side.

Eluneth

“Luminous Forest.” The ancient name of Eldermere.

The medicine practised by bloodlines such as Althar’s combines knowledge of plants with a particular sensitivity to forces that are difficult to perceive.

Tithrael Sap / Blood of the Forest

A reddish-glowing liquid extracted from ancient trees that refuse to die. A minute amount possesses healing properties; an excessive dose can be lethal.

Shadowsun

An extremely rare and potent purple powder. It is forbidden by ducal decree because of its historical use as a poison, although in minute doses it has medicinal properties.

Hart’s Tongue

Dried leaves with reddish veins used in certain remedies against deep fevers of mystical or toxic origin.

Moonroot

A substance that, once ground, produces a sky-blue powder with an ethereal texture. It is used in preparations intended to “calm the patient’s essence.”

Glast Root

A pale herb with a sweet scent that grows in wounded soil. It is dangerous and can slowly steal a person’s breath if ingested.

Tharnil and Orlan

Plants used to cool the blood and help the body resist certain mystical poisons.

The Eye of the Guardians

A closed eye surrounded by intertwined roots. It is the seal of those who guard the Edges between the human and faerie worlds. It represents silent vigilance and the memory of the earth.

The Spiral Sun / Caelum’s Banner

A pale sun surrounded by curved lines. Emblem of the ancient Ice King and symbol of a kingdom that time attempted to erase.

The Ice King / Caelum

An ancient human monarch punished for his pride and ambition. He was condemned to become winter itself until he recovered what he had lost.

Queen of the Forest / Lady of the Lake

An ancient being associated with the forest and the waters. Different versions of her legend disagree over the origin of her enmity with humankind and over her true identity.

Thirielle

One of the Guardians of the Edges. Her story is closely connected to the Breaking and to the ancient prohibitions governing relations between humans and faerie beings.

The Threshold Bell

A silver bell without a clapper, given by Thirielle to Edrion. It does not respond to ordinary sound, but to certain promises and bonds.

The Silver Locket

A locket containing a lock of Thirielle’s golden hair and preserving a bond with her.

The Kaval

A long wooden flute with brass rings that Rufus learns to play instinctively and which seems to awaken memories in him that he did not know he possessed.