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Fayrees

"The fayrees came with the city. Or the city came with the fayrees. We argue about it every Day of Flowering, and we never decide."
— Thismee Ghiéron, hostess of the Arcadia court

Small, native magical creatures of Cadwallon's groves and Realms-adjacent spaces. Not one of the eight "great peoples" but a recognized population of the Free City — counted in Ghieronburg's census alongside Elementals and magical Familiars, ceremonially protected by Baron Mardi's Truce in Arcadia, and brushed up against in any grove from The Automaton to the [[Outskirts]]. Where humans see the city, fayrees see a thinner version of it.

What They Are

Fayrees are the petite, sapient face of Cadwallon's overlap with the Garden of Desire and the Realms. They are distinct from:
- grove flora and fauna — fayrees are people, not vegetation or beasts, though they live entwined with both
- Elementals — Elementals are tied to a specific Realm (Water, Fire, etc.); fayrees are Cadwallon-born
- Familiars — Familiars are bound to a master; fayrees are free
- the animae — a singular forest spirit (like the one advising Yalin Aoue) is one being; fayrees are a population

Where They Live

  • Arcadia (Ghieronburg) — the formal "magical creatures' district"; the largest known fayree population in the city, protected (and quietly catalogued) under Baron Mardi's Truce
  • The western pastures of Gamehead — the faerie groves of the Wolfen fief; smaller, wilder population, less regulated
  • The Magical Groves across the city — most groves have at least a few, though Cadwës rarely realize it
  • The Vegetal Entrails — fayrees move freely along the strip-leaf tunnels; the Guild of Sewer Workers occasionally encounters them

In Cadwallon

  • Baron Mardi's Truce (962) regulates fayree-Cadwë contact in Ghieronburg and is the closest thing to formal recognition any non-human magical population has in the city. The fayrees keep their side scrupulously; what Mardi gets in return is the central question of Bernadil's reign.
  • Sihirs and Voyagers — Cadwallon's relations-with-magical-creatures specialists (Thismee and Ombeline Ghiéron, and the wider Voyagers network) work most closely with fayrees of any non-human population
  • The "Fairslime" goblin farm in Petropolis — name is suggestive; relationship to actual fayrees is local rumor rather than established fact

See Also

Mardi's accounting

Thismee Ghiéron's private ledger of Arcadia fayree-counts shows a quiet, decade-long decline — fewer fayrees each renewal. Nobody has asked Mardi where they go. (see Bernadil Ghiéron)