The Mad Queen

Chapter Nine

Creature: Fae
Grouping:  Landfolk
Gender: Male and Female
Breeds: There are three different breeds of Fae. The Fae who watch the past. The Fae who guide the present. The Fae who see the future.
Physical Appearance: The three breeds have both similarities and differences in their appearance. They all have ears with pointed tips. They are also tall and very elegant looking. However, each breed has different looks. The Past Fae have skin tones in light shades of purples, pinks and creams. They keep their hair long and always completely braided intricately. Their hair will also come in pale pastel colours along with their eyes. The Present Fae have richer skin in shades of blues and greens. They keep their hair short and cropped neatly. Their hair and eyes will usually be dark shades of reds, browns, blues, greens and purples. The Future Fae have either pale cream, white, black or dark brown skin. Their hair and eyes will be in shades of white, black, silver or gold.  Their hair they keep long and only partially styled.
Magic: The Fae are able to see visions of either the past, present or future. It is stronger in some than in others. The more powerful will receive more visions than those who are weaker. However, it is the ruler of each breed who has the most power as they will see everything that their people see. It isn't simple to understand the visions. The Fae will spend years documenting and learning how to understand what they see and the meaning behind them. Not all visions appear clearly. It is believed that their sight was a gift from the gods who made their race the Keepers of Time.
Physical abilities:  The Fae are very precise creatures, even in their movements. They are fast, powerful and graceful. They can jump to great heights and are very flexible. Often, they are very skilled in combat. They always fight with skill and precision and great intelligence, often predicting and tricking their opponent's next move.
Weaknesses: The Fae who don't learn how to understand and connect with their visions are prone to madness.
Other Facts: The Fae are expert makes of silks and materials. Their clothes are the best in Vivelle. During the time of the First War, the Fae would often be sold into slave labour making clothes for the rich humans. They would be made to work and sew all day every day under harsh conditions. Though the First Queen outlawed this slavery, it is rumoured that it is still going on today.

~The Creatures of Vivelle. Written by Scholar Dominic Frey, Head of Creature and Magical studies during the reign of the Mad Queen Orianna and her successor King Niklaus

All of us are back in our own rooms now. We cannot see each other until we all have our marks. I sit on my bed nervously, watching as the sun rises higher and higher in the sky from my window. My room is pretty out of the way at the top of one of the towers. I have two windows cut out of the stone walls. One looks over the city. The other looks over the lands on the other side. Our palace is built at the top of a large cliff which slowly rises up from the ground on one side, yet drops over a mile down on the other. The side which gradually inclines up to the castle is full of thousands of buildings that make up the capital of Vivelle. A great wall surrounds all the buildings. It is impenetrable. The stone is thick and high and the only way in or out is through guarded entrances or stone doors. The city within the wall is huge. It is mostly made of a brown sandy coloured stone and the buildings are all squeezed together in whatever shapes fit. In the centre, is a large arena. It is round with thousands of archways making up the walls and statues of kings and lords. It stands in line with our castle. Some of our trials will take place there. I turn away from the city and go to the window on the opposite side of my circular room. I look down. The brick stone of my tower and the walls bellow, slowly mould into the jagged natural stone that is the cliff face our castle sits on top of. A waterfall tumbles out of the rock, landing in a large lake right at the bottom. The lake turns into a raging river which cuts a swirling line into the horizon. A horizon of farmland where crops and colourful fruits grow and where I can see little dots of workers slaving away in the blazing heat. However, today, they are allowed to finish when the sun is at its highest in the sky. That is when the first test will begin and all will flood the streets to watch.