[UA]: Faeries

[Michael Daisey]

I like Ian's theory for starters, but how about this:

The Fae are an unknown.  Most lerned folks subscribe to the theory
stated
below by Ian, but the truth is just not known.  And never will be.

Fae are fae.  They say whatever you want, don't clarify anything...ever.
They could be dead babies, they could be creatures from Neptune,
they could be angels.  Most don't think they are demons, unless
they are demons that act differently than most, and many of them
say that they are that as well.

Without rigorous testing (and who in the Occult Underground is going
to do that!) no one will ever know.  Wiser heads don't bother, and just
try to cope with the Fae, never understand them.

As for what form (material, immaterial) and what nature, I leave
that for others to work out.





Ian Young wrote:
> 
> Michael Daisey posits...
> 
> > Faeries in UA.
> >
> > Debate.  Discuss.  Dissect.
> 
> I had been wondering about the fae myself.  I think the first, most
> important thing to bear in mind when introducing a new element of the
> paranormal or unnatural to the world of UA is to take a skim back through
> the rulesbook.  Notice that virtually every element of strangness in the
> book has its basis in humanity.
> 
> Vampires?  Humans.
> Werewolves?  Humans, animal souls and demons.
> Demons?  Unruly human souls.
> Revenants?  Restless human souls.
> The Invisible Clergy?  Ascended humans.
> 
> This is probably the thing I appreciate most about UA -- almost every
> element of the game makes humanity somehow responsible for its own actions.
>  There is no explanation for the unnatural outside of the domain of the
> human soul (well, okay, there's astral parasites and entropics, but I'm
> even a little suspicious of them).
> 
> So, back to the issue at hand, I'd have to say that faeries are somehow an
> extension of the human soul.  Particularly, I'd be inclined to make them
> something akin to demons, in that you have the soul of a dead human that
> refuses to depart, and has some malicious/frivolous/curious reason for
> hanging on.  Hmm...I have a thought...forming in my head...
> 
> How does this sound?  Faeries are the souls of children who died as
> infants, but possess some kind of drive to hang on and not depart to
> wherever dead souls go.  Deprived of human culturation, they create their
> own wild, crazy, unprincipled, impish lifestyle.  Now, while they don't
> depart for places unknown, neither do they actually hang on in this world.
> Rather, these souls of dead infants have created, through some kind of
> collective consciousness, a nether world for themselves, reflecting their
> own impish sensibilities of livability, but also reflecting a great many
> archetypal human ideas "the most wonderful place".
> 
> Periodically, living humans lose consciousness and are able to "visit" this
> place.  Maybe they fall asleep under a tree, maybe they trip over a rock
> and get knocked out.  Most importantly, it takes a person of a particular
> mind set to mentally or spiritually travel to these faerie lands -- perhaps
> they're mentally ill, or just in the right suggestive mood.  Likewise, on
> rare occasions, such a person of the right mind set can invite these
> faeries into our world for brief periods.
> 
> As for the Seelie/Unseelie division, that's probably a human attribution,
> and like the demons, faeries might be willing to go along with anything
> humans think or say, just for the opportunity to visit on this side for a
> while.  Or, possibly, there really is some kind of schism among the souls
> of dead infants -- the mere fact that they were never learned the ways of
> adult humans doesn't necessarily mean that they couldn't independently
> develop their own moral codes and political behaviors.  Also bear in mind
> that, just because they died as infants, that doesn't mean that they
> necessarily mean that they will always be child-like -- as the years or
> centuries pass, they may become very sophisticated, indeed.
> 
> So, how's that for starters?  Mind you, I just rattled this off the cuff,
> and I'm not convinced that it necessarily captures the tone of UA well, but
> it does address the whole faerie issue in some reasonable fashion.
> Besides, I've been chomping at the bit to come up with a new element of the
> unnatural to add to the game.  Any and all commentary will be welcomed.
> 
> Gone,
> Ian
> 
> (P.S.  Michael -- I understand *entirely* about the need to vent the
> spleen.  Oh, mama, do I ever!)

-- 
Michael Daisey
----
"It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the
oath." Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.), Greek dramatist. Fragments, no. 385.