#faeirie

Most of their weaknesses are only weaknesses because they see them as making things fair. Fae are physically capable of lying, but they consider it cheating to lie to someone who isn't familiar with the fae. Likewise, fae can create unbreakable curses or unsolvable puzzles, but it's considered improper to do so. Even their material weakness works this way, if a fae is cut by an iron sword they'll but hurt by it because it was the polite thing to do.

They'll also always match the power level of any human who wanders into the fae realms, so the human in question never meets a challenge they can't overcome. When a knight of the Holy Roman Empire and his men tried to conquer part of the fae realms in 1126 the fae fought like medieval soldiers, using tactics and strategies that would be clever and strange but understandable to him and his men, the numbers of warriors never being too much for him to defeat, even when he could. And when the D.T.L paranormal containment organization sent in modern soldiers with firearms and gas masks to assassinate the fae Queen of Winter Dawn in 2004, the fae responded accordingly, with ranged weapons, and hit and run tactics, that a modern commander could play off of. And, in 1873, when three children got lost in the fae realms, deeper then any human who had been lost there before or after, the fae filled their path of peril with puzzles and traps that the children could solve. One of the children ended up having her eyes turned into spiders, and all of them were traumatized, but it's the fairness the counts to the fae. When you're billions of years old you just care about different things.

And of course. There are some fae that break the rules, fae who will truly do everything in their power to affect the world. These fae are useally exiled from the fae realms, to far off and desolate planes, where they wander and seek power. They are truly terrifying creatures, though in the places they are sent they can rarely use their power. Few who encounter them who aren't their loyal servents escape with both their lives and their humanity.

Against all reason and past experience, you might have started 2025 thinking "new year, new me" and began looking for fresh employment opportunities.

First of all, congratulations on sustaining such a high level of blind optimism in the face of *gestures broadly at everything*. A refusal to accept reality is essential for getting ahead in the modern world.

A new job can be fantastic. New challenges, new things to learn, new colleagues that haven't seen you ugly cry. But it can also be a trap.

With the reduction in humans falling asleep on Fairie Mounds, the Fae have had to come up with new ways of enticing people into their court. Setting up an office has been a very successful new strategy.

So, if you've had an offer that seems too good to be true, here are our Top Tips for Avoiding Being Trapped as an Unwilling Subject of a Faerie Queen.

Ask yourself:

1 - are your new colleagues all flawlessly beautiful but unable to express appropriate human emotion?

2 - is the front desk manned by a troll in a poorly fitting fluorescent jacket?

3 - do your colleagues ever leave on a "coffee run" and return with a deer carcass and carafes of elderberry wine?

4 - have you encountered woodland animals in the corridors?

5 - does the company's mission statement include the destruction of the Seelie Court and enslavement of the mundane realm?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions, you may have signed away your soul to a beautiful but cruel Fae Queen. But don’t worry! The job market is tough right now and we all make mistakes.

Even if the HR department is unwilling to accept your resignation and give you back your soul, you still have options.

Try besting the Fae Queen at a game of wits, or seducing her and asking for your freedom as a wedding gift. If you have a first born you could exchange it for redundancy pay and a glowing reference.

If these methods fail then report your employer to your local council. If your contract falls foul of best employment practices the local authority can nominate a champion to engage in trial by combat. This will either result in your freedom, or the ritual disembowelment of the municipal employee.