The Feywild, also known as the Plane of Faerie, is a planar echo of the Material Plane shaped by abundant life, fey magic, strong emotion, and constant change.

It exists alongside Eldareth and reflects much of the same underlying world, though the resemblance is rarely exact. Forests may become larger and older, mountains steeper, rivers broader or faster, and small natural features can become landmarks of enormous importance. Places dominated by mortal construction may leave only a faint impression, while an overlooked lake, grove, hill, or spring can become the center of an entire Feywild region.

The Feywild is the ancestral homeland of Elves, Goblins, Changelings, and Faun, as well as numerous peoples and creatures that remain within the plane. Its forests, waterways, settlements, courts, and wildernesses have histories stretching back to the earliest ages of creation.

A Living Echo

The Feywild reflects Eldareth without reproducing it.

Large features such as mountain ranges, rivers, forests, lakes, and coastlines often have recognizable counterparts, but their scale and importance can differ considerably. A modest woodland in Eldareth might correspond to an immense forest, while a large city may have no obvious counterpart beyond the land on which it was built.

The broad relationship between places usually remains recognizable. A northern range does not suddenly appear on the opposite side of the world, but travel within that geography can behave unpredictably. A path that required two days on a previous journey may take an afternoon when followed again, while a nearby hill can remain stubbornly distant for hours.

Centuries of fey influence complicate the resemblance further. Powerful Archfey can leave lasting marks upon their territories, and some regions have changed so extensively that their Material counterparts are difficult to identify.

The Feywild therefore has maps, roads, settlements, borders, and known regions, but none can be understood entirely through ordinary measurements of distance.

Life, Anima, and Magic

Life grows readily throughout the Feywild. Forests can reach extraordinary scale, flowers bloom under unusual conditions, fungi spread through enormous subterranean networks, and some plants develop magical properties rarely seen on the Material Plane.

Animals can be equally unusual. Most remain ordinary creatures adapted to the plane, but exceptionally old beasts sometimes grow far beyond their Material counterparts or develop an unusual degree of awareness. Great stags, oversized moths, ancient bears, and other creatures of remarkable size are known in the deeper wilderness. Some animals learn to speak, recognize travelers across generations, or form lasting relationships with nearby fey communities.

This abundance is closely connected to anima, the living essence that first arose from Aether at the beginning of creation.

When anima returns to the greater cycle of life, much of it passes through the Feywild's living currents. It moves through root, water, soil, fungi, and growing things before continuing into the wider flow of creation. Anima carries vitality rather than the memories or identity of those who once held it, but its constant presence has helped make the Feywild extraordinarily receptive to life and magic.

Ancient trees and other great living structures play an important role in this circulation. Their roots can extend across immense areas, gathering, stabilizing, and redistributing anima while also regulating concentrations of magic around them.

In rare circumstances, certain ancient trees condense excess anima into seed-like vessels. These reserves can remain dormant for long periods and may restore damaged groves, strengthen weakened land, or aid the recovery of powerful fey.

The abundance of anima also contributes to the Feywild's unusual magical character. Arcane magic is readily encountered in the environment itself, and living creatures develop magical traits more commonly than they do on the Material Plane. Spells cast in areas of exceptional concentration may become stronger, persist longer, or produce effects their caster did not expect.

Illusion, enchantment, transformation, movement, and magic involving plants or living environments are particularly common, though no spell can be assumed to become stronger merely because it is cast within the Feywild.

Emotion and the Environment

The Feywild is unusually responsive to emotion.

This effect is generally subtle around ordinary individuals. Strong happiness may coincide with warmer light or increased animal activity, while fear may draw fog into a clearing or leave the surrounding forest unnaturally quiet.

Larger groups can have a greater effect, particularly when the same emotion persists over time. A settlement enduring years of grief, celebration, fear, or resentment may slowly influence the character of the land around it.

Archfey can shape entire territories in this way. Their influence is deeper and more persistent than that of ordinary inhabitants, often reinforcing local seasons, weather, vegetation, or magical conditions across generations.

The environment still possesses its own ecology. A forest does not die because a traveler becomes angry, nor does every flower open because someone nearby is happy. Emotion influences the Feywild rather than controlling it completely.

Time

Time feels ordinary to those within the Feywild, but the plane does not remain perfectly synchronized with Eldareth.

Many journeys produce little noticeable difference. During others, a traveler may spend several days in the Feywild and return to discover that weeks, months, or even years have passed on the Material Plane. When a significant difference develops, Eldareth usually advances farther than the Feywild.

There is no known ratio between the two. Long stays, powerful Archfey domains, unstable passages, and regions with unusually strong planar influence appear more likely to produce large discrepancies, but none provide a reliable method of prediction.

This difference has affected Feywild history as well as individual travelers. During the earliest ages, when both the Material Plane and its echo were still young, conflicts that began during the Dawn War continued to unfold within the Feywild while Eldareth had already begun to recover.

Those without strong ties to the Feywild may also find parts of a long visit difficult to remember after returning home. Written records and objects carried between the planes can help preserve details that might otherwise become unclear.

Fey Crossings

Fey Crossings are places where the boundary between Eldareth and the Feywild becomes thin enough to pass through.

Some appear around ancient trees, springs, caves, pools, standing stones, waterfalls, or secluded clearings. Others form wherever the relationship between corresponding places becomes unusually strong.

A crossing does not always resemble a visible portal. A traveler may simply pass beneath an old arch, step through a curtain of water, walk between two trees, or follow a familiar path and eventually realize that the forest around them has changed.

Many crossings only function under particular conditions. Season, moonlight, weather, time of day, ritual, music, offerings, or other circumstances can determine whether a passage opens.

Some are watched by nearby fey communities, Archfey, druids, or other guardians. Permission may therefore matter as much as knowing where the crossing lies.

The Upheaval did not devastate the Feywild itself, but it disrupted the relationship between the two planes. Many established crossings collapsed, began opening irregularly, or changed where they emerged. New weak points also appeared in places where no crossing had previously been recorded.

For this reason, old maps of Fey Crossings are no longer completely reliable.

Oaths, Gifts, and Agreements

Promises carry considerable importance among many fey cultures.

A casual statement does not automatically become a magical contract, but an oath deliberately sworn, a bargain knowingly accepted, or an exchange made under recognized customs can acquire real weight. The circumstances matter, as do the intention of those involved and the place in which an agreement is made.

Certain trees, stones, court halls, springs, and other old places are traditionally used as witnesses to important agreements. Oaths made before them may be remembered long after the people who spoke them are gone.

Hospitality and gifts are treated with similar care. Accepting something explicitly offered in exchange for a service is different from receiving an ordinary present, while accepting formal hospitality may create obligations between host and guest.

These customs vary between communities, and outsiders often cause problems by assuming all fey follow the same rules.

Names also carry significance within many traditions. Formal titles, chosen names, and true names can matter in particular forms of magic or agreement, though simply introducing oneself does not surrender supernatural authority to another person.

Many customs preserved among the elves of Alven'Nathiss descend from these older traditions. On Ael'delar, important oaths are still commonly witnessed beneath living trees and standing stones, while treaties and public vows are preserved with unusual care. Syl'dareth itself has become one of the most important places associated with these traditions.

The Fey Courts

The Feywild has never belonged to a single ruler.

Two great political traditions hold influence across much of the plane: the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. Beyond them are the Courtless, a broad term covering independent Archfey, communities, spirits, and territories that recognize neither hierarchy.

Court allegiance is political rather than moral. Seelie powers are generally more willing to maintain stable relationships with mortal peoples and neighboring communities, while the Unseelie Court has a well-earned reputation for greater danger and hostility. Neither distinction is absolute.

Many lesser courts exist within these larger relationships. Some belong to a powerful Archfey, while others are alliances between neighboring communities. Large stretches of wilderness belong to no court at all.

Áine and the Seelie Court

Áine is the recognized Queen of the Seelie Court and one of the most influential Archfey in the plane.

Her authority is strongest among fey associated with flourishing life, summer, abundance, established settlements, and the more formal traditions of the Feywild. The Seelie Court includes numerous Archfey and lesser rulers who retain considerable authority over their own territories.

Agreement with Áine is not automatic. Seelie nobles compete for influence, disagree over borders and obligations, and have fought among themselves during periods of instability.

Beira, the Winter Queen

Beira is one of the greatest powers associated with the Seelie Court.

Her domain reflects winter as dormancy and preservation rather than simple cold or death. Great forests grow beneath deep blue and violet light, luminous vegetation spreads beneath enormous canopies, and still pools lie among ancient roots. Frost and snow occur in parts of the region, but much of the land remains green, dark, and intensely alive.

Growth slows within Beira's lands without disappearing. Animals enter long periods of rest, plants conserve their strength, and damaged groves are sometimes brought into her territory to recover.

Lerathae has long been treated with particular respect within parts of Beira's domain. Traditions surrounding moonlight, guidance, prophecy, and the changing night were already well established among some of the ancient elven communities that lived there.

Mab and the Unseelie Court

Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, rules the Unseelie Court.

Her influence is associated with night, powerful winds, secrecy, dangerous magic, and the more predatory traditions of the Feywild. Many of the plane's most hostile fey powers have served or bargained with her, though the Unseelie Court contains a wide range of peoples and motives.

Mab and Áine have opposed one another repeatedly across Feywild history. Their conflicts have drawn in lesser Archfey, displaced communities, and altered borders across wide regions.

Other Archfey

Several other Archfey hold influence comparable to rulers of mortal kingdoms.

Herne, the Green Lord, is associated with untamed forest, beasts, hunting, migration, and wilderness that exists beyond cultivation. The Wild Hunt, an ancient gathering called to pursue particularly dangerous quarry or answer extraordinary threats, is closely associated with him.

Midir is tied to ancient groves, great trees, stewardship, and the forms of living magic that develop where communities and the land remain closely connected. His history is particularly important to the Sera'drin and Ilyr'dor.

Olwen is associated with spring, new growth, thaw, courtship, and beginnings. Edern, Lord of Autumn, is associated with harvest, migration, preparation, and the natural decline that precedes winter.

Among the Courtless, Hyrsam is associated with revelry, music, satire, and personal freedom. Niamh is closely connected to crossings, boundaries, and the strange routes linking distant places. Nicnevin is an ancient hag whose knowledge and influence have earned caution from both great courts. Melusine holds considerable influence over rivers, lakes, springs, and the fey communities that inhabit them.

These are only the most widely known powers. Numerous other Archfey rule smaller territories or avoid the politics of the great courts altogether.

Feonar and the Feywild

Feonar holds no place within the hierarchy of the Fey Courts, but he is encountered in the Feywild more often than most gods.

Stories place him among Archfey, travelers, wandering fey, and the keepers of unusual crossings. He is particularly associated with routes that change unexpectedly, bargains that take an unforeseen turn, and opportunities discovered only after an original plan has failed.

Some Archfey regard him as an old friend, while others find his presence considerably less welcome. Feonar himself has never shown much interest in explaining the distinction.

Isyl'norin

Isyl'norin, the Lake of Sorrows, is one of the most important known sites in the Feywild.

Magic gathers strongly beneath its waters and throughout the surrounding land. At the lake's center rises an island dominated by Ilyr'dor, the Heartwood Tree, one of the great living structures through which anima and magic move across the plane.

Ilyr'dor does more than absorb the power around it. Its roots and surrounding ecosystem regulate the extraordinary concentration beneath Isyl'norin, distributing what gathers there through soil, water, and the deeper rootways below.

The region has therefore been contested repeatedly throughout its history.

In the centuries following the earliest Feywild conflicts, forces aligned with the Seelie Court reclaimed Isyl'norin from Mab's influence. Áine entrusted its defense to a community of elves who settled around Ilyr'dor and gradually became its principal guardians.

Generations of study followed. The elves observed the magical currents surrounding the tree and lake, recorded their findings, compared techniques, and learned how arcane workings could be deliberately reproduced and taught.

From this work developed the earliest elven traditions of wizardry.

Over time, their scholars became known throughout parts of the Feywild, and their increasing independence created growing tension with portions of the Seelie nobility. When renewed conflict among the Archfey eventually threatened Isyl'norin itself, Midir helped those who chose to leave open a passage into Eldareth.

Their descendants became the Sera'drin, the Sun Elves.

The passage brought them to Ael'delar beneath Syl'dareth, a great tree whose unusual connection to Ilyr'dor remains the subject of elven study. Some scholars believe Syl'dareth may be an offshoot or echo of the same living magic, though no explanation has been universally accepted.

Vael'dareth and Falha'neir

Long before the Sera'drin left the Feywild, two other elven communities lived within the wider lands associated with Beira.

Vael'dareth, the Moonlit Grove, was home to the people whose descendants became the Vaela'drin, the Moon Elves. It lay among cool silvered forests, clear pools, and open glades where moonlight reached easily through the canopy.

Falha'neir, the Midnight Glade, was home to the ancestors of the Falha'drin, the Shadow Elves. It stood farther toward the contested reaches of the region, where older and denser woodland left much of the land beneath long periods of twilight.

Both communities were caught in conflicts that spread through the young Feywild during the age of the Dawn War. As borders shifted and routes became increasingly difficult to hold, Lerathae guided the inhabitants of both settlements toward a passage into Eldareth.

Vael'dareth survived their departure. Beira's followers preserved much of the old settlement, and later fey communities gradually returned to the surrounding woodland. Many elven structures and sacred sites remain among the newer inhabitants.

Falha'neir suffered more heavily during the fighting. The territory was eventually reclaimed, but the old settlement was never restored completely. Ruined foundations, paths, and other remnants of elven habitation remain throughout a forest that has long since developed a different character.

Fómhar

Fómhar is a broad region associated with Edern and the autumnal cycle of the Feywild.

Forests of red, gold, brown, and deep green spread between orchards, open fields, wetlands, and mushroom-rich woodland. Animals migrate through the region in great numbers, while communities gather and preserve food before the colder part of the year.

Decay is as important to Fómhar as harvest. Fallen fruit, dead leaves, wood, and other organic matter are broken down by insects, fungi, scavengers, and the soil beneath them.

Nothing about this process is inherently corrupt.

The region demonstrates one of the most important distinctions between the Feywild and places shaped by death or blight. Growth cannot continue indefinitely. What has reached its end feeds what comes after.

The Feydark

Beneath the forests and hills of the Feywild lies the Feydark, an immense network of caverns, buried waterways, root systems, fungal forests, and subterranean settlements.

It is not a shadowed or corrupted reflection of the surface. The Feydark is part of the same living plane.

Roots from ancient trees descend for great distances through the stone, sometimes forming bridges, walls, or entire environments around themselves. Luminous fungi, mosses, underground lakes, insects, and strange plants support ecosystems that never experience the open sky.

Anima continues to circulate through these depths. Root networks and enormous fungal systems break down dead matter, carry anima through the subterranean ecosystem, and help return that vitality to the wider living cycle.

Myconid communities occupy many of the fungal regions. They are neither fey nor servants of the Archfey, and their societies have developed around the immense living networks they tend.

Fomorians are another major power of the Feydark. Their kingdoms contain fortified roads, bridges, underground waterways, cultivated fungi, and enormous settlements built through natural caverns. They have fought Seelie, Unseelie, and Courtless powers at different points in their history, particularly over important rootways and magically rich territory.

Bres, one of the most prominent fomorian rulers, holds authority within the Deep Court, though no single fomorian kingdom controls the whole Feydark.

Inhabitants

The Feywild contains an enormous range of peoples, spirits, magical animals, and other creatures.

The Ela'drin, the Faeborne Elves, are the descendants of elven communities that remained in the Feywild when the Vaela'drin, Falha'drin, and later Sera'drin departed. Their long association with the plane and its courts is reflected in their seasonal physiology, customs, and magic.

Significant numbers of Ela'drin have only begun settling permanently in Eldareth within the last several generations. Their communities in the Feywild remain numerous, however, and belong to a wide range of Seelie, Unseelie, and Courtless traditions.

Goblins also originated within the Feywild. While the ancestors of Eldareth's Goblins departed long ago and eventually developed the Murrkin and Giznat traditions, other Goblins remained. Their descendants are commonly known as Brownies and retain a much stronger connection to the plane's fey environment.

Faun, also commonly called satyrs, likewise trace their ancestry to the Feywild. Communities remain widespread throughout the plane, while many others have lived in Eldareth for generations and developed traditions of their own. Hybsils, deer-bodied fey with humanoid upper forms, are particularly common within the older wildernesses associated with Herne.

Changelings descend from communities among the Courtless Fey, where changing one's physical appearance was accepted as an ordinary part of life.

Dryads and other spirits tied to trees, groves, flowers, rivers, and living places are found throughout the plane. Hags maintain covens and solitary territories of their own, sometimes serving one of the great courts and sometimes recognizing no authority beyond their own agreements. 

Luminous wisps are also common throughout the plane, many of them the continuing spirits of Fey who once lived in embodied form.

Numerous kinds of diminutive fey are also known. Pixies and sprites are among the most familiar, though many other varieties inhabit particular forests, waterways, gardens, and courts.

The plane is home to redcaps, boggles, quicklings, meenlocks, blink dogs, displacer beasts, faerie dragons, wood woads, yeth hounds, and many other creatures rarely encountered in Eldareth.

Not all of these beings are hostile, and even members of the same kind may differ considerably between territories.

Fey Death and Renewal

Fey possess a particularly close relationship with the Feywild.

When an embodied Fey dies, its anima returns to the wider cycle of life while its soul returns directly to the Feywild. These souls persist as individual Fey spirits, commonly taking the form of luminous wisps. They can also manifest a recognizable, visibly spectral reflection of the form they possessed while alive.

Fey spirits can remain distinct for immense spans of time, and some gradually develop stronger relationships with particular places, traditions, seasons, or other aspects of the plane. Others eventually choose to merge with the Feywild itself.

Archfey possess a much deeper connection to the plane. Their souls are often strongly anchored to a domain or other enduring aspect of the Feywild, allowing them to recover from bodily destruction and eventually form a new living embodiment.

Anima-rich places and the rare seeds formed by ancient trees can aid this recovery, though they provide living essence rather than preserving the Archfey's identity. Permanently destroying an Archfey generally requires more than destroying its current physical form.

Natural Hazards

The Feywild supports mortal life easily compared with many other planes, but this does not make it safe.

Changing distance is one of the most common dangers. Travelers can become lost even when following a known road, and a path that once led safely through a forest may no longer take the same course.

Time presents a quieter danger. A safe visit can still end with the traveler returning to discover that considerably more time has passed in Eldareth.

Many plants, foods, waters, animals, and apparently ordinary objects carry magical properties. Some are beneficial. Others are dangerous only because an outsider does not understand how they should be handled.

Fey agreements pose another risk. A promise made carelessly, a gift accepted under the wrong circumstances, or hospitality abused can have consequences far beyond a simple social offense.

Predators are common as well. The Feywild contains wilderness on a scale rarely found in Eldareth, and not every creature capable of speech or magic has any interest in peaceful interaction.

Travel and Survival

Food, water, breathable air, and natural shelter are available throughout much of the Feywild. The greatest difficulties are navigation, irregular time, unfamiliar customs, magical environments, and knowing whose territory a traveler has entered.

Local guides are extremely valuable. Fey inhabitants often know paths that cannot be identified from maps, including routes that function only under particular conditions.

Travelers are generally advised to keep records of their journey, avoid making agreements they do not understand, and ask about local customs before accepting gifts or hospitality.

They should also avoid assuming that beauty indicates safety.

A quiet winter grove, a brilliant Seelie court, a mushroom forest beneath the Feydark, and an abandoned path through an ancient woodland can all be healthy expressions of the Feywild.

None are required to be kind.