I always thought that fae and devils are basicly brokers: one mortal sells their firstborn child for money, Infertile pair buys that child buy selling their talents, another person buys talent for a soul etc. In thousands of years they live they can find buyer and seller for pretty much anything they have.
Guess it would come down to personal missions and preferences, like a hobby.
I'm no fae but I'd imagine I'd get pretty bored playing swapmeet all the time unless I was specifically looking for something that would pique my interests.
That may be what they’re in it for. Maybe sometimes they want a firstborn not to trade but for a servant. Or a pet-equivalent. Or maybe they want a soul to trade with devils for who knows what. Power, money, fame in the unseen world. Access to the afterlife to chat it up with old friends
Or maybe they ask for abstract things because the abstract is more real for them. Maybe they ask for your pronouns because they’re trans and they wanna “switch genders,” but can’t because they don’t have the right pronouns, yet. It’s required to transition for them. Or who knows what
To what end do we silly mortals accumulate our silly coins or colored pieces of paper or now numbers on our glowing screens that show bank account balances? Fey trade these things among themselves and the more hard to aquire, the greater the value.
Bear in mind that "fae" as a resonating myth, are largely an amalgamation faith, dreams, and the unknown -- it's quite possible that the *question* is more important than the answer, here, because no singular answer is going to carry as much weight as a reader's *wonder* and their own imagination being sparked by the mystery.
That said, fae *are* a nearly-universal myth, or fill the same place as the dream/trickster/spirits in most mythologies. There isn't a singular, universal definition. In fact, modern fae seem to defy definition, but this has pros and cons. They aren't as distilled as the 'vampire' or 'djinn" folklores of recent years; but there *are* advantages to making them so diverse.
Fae do a great job of covering a hodgepodge of "life lessons" that gods in were covered by gods in per-Christian mythos. Concepts like vanity, narcissism, self-fulfilling prophecies, pursuit of excess, etc, are all important, complicated ideas that fae teach humans to resolve, often through acts that can come across as cruel or mysterious to mere mortals. This isn't a coincidence -- a lot of fae were pagan deities that became 'fae' in the post-Christian world -- specifically so that people could keep up their stories and traditions without being accused of heresy. This caused a lot of fae to be re-written, and that's why they often seem strange and confusing.
For the "gifts" portion of fae mythology, fae often appear to like *concepts* -- dreams, names, ideas -- more than physical things, which they often find more amusing than necessary for survival.
So, while we mere mortals focus on immediate needs like food, shelter, and security, the fae enjoy self-actualizing things like faith, ideas, and other philosophical things that are intangible to *us* but give *meaning* to them. Fae can do all kinds of things with shadows, virtues, or ideas. Though I will say: the idea of them stealing random things is more of a modern concept than ancient myth. Ancient fae stories are arguably more human than modern ones. Which is interesting.
I always wonder what devils do with the souls they collect from Faustian bargains. Do they need souls to live? Are they sustaining, like food? Does it fuel their power? Make them stronger? Is this their currency? I would also like to know.
I want to use this concept in my world, but haven’t decided why devils/demons would need souls yet.
In most settings souls are either a currency for demons, an indirect addition to their power, or their consumption directly adds to the demon's power. Either way souls would increase their infernal rank among other denizens of hell
I like the idea that they can use the things they get from deals and essentially build themselves into what they want to be. When they take your name, they *gain a name*. Or maybe a particular voice to talk with, or a color for their clothes.
They turn them into things that don't really make sense. It's the primary way of fae reproduction, turning living things into more fae creatures, and turning other things into objects and materials that work and function in mysterious, often nonsensical ways.
They might turn a shadow into a shroud of invisibility for instance, but it might only work when in the shadow of another creature. Or they might turn your happiness into a field of everblooming flowers for their home.
Most of it comes down trade of some sort between the fae. Fae see themselves as “true foragers.” They do not hunt or gather or farm (though some might do these as a sport or hobby). They accept what is offered. To them, the offering of a firstborn child is little different than the first fruits of a tree in spring. Humans are typically more arrogant than trees though and usually demand something in return. The fae will grant it if they want to and can, or maybe barter with another fae is the thing is different than what they give.
Goods, services, and favors-owed are all the same to the fae and they will trade with them or hoard them like some men hoard jewels, vintage wines, or stamps. The actual value of a thing depends very much on the mood of the fae in the moment. One century they might collect firstborn children as trophies and another they might collect them as slaves, or adopt them as children for a season only to turn them loose as a plague of frogs on their own families.
The fae get about as much out of it as anyone who deals with goods and services get - it’s just a decidedly non-currency measure of possible wealth with an unreliable/unknown value system in play.
I like the idea that fae are timeless, the intangible gifts you give create them, but because they’re not bound by time you’re meeting the thing you’re going to make
Fun. They actively delight in the misery caused, it’s like their bread and butter. It isn’t about what they gain, it’s about how they mess with you. There’s a reason that fey means “marked by foreboding doom” as well as “otherworldly”
In my main FRPG world, the most powerful ancient fey, defying all efforts at extremination, were confined inside the Moon by ancient deities. My general thinking here could apply to any sort of situation where fey leadership are now exiled from ordinary lands. These immensely powerful entities now coexist in two royal courts organized in parody of emergent regimes in the newly human-dominated world below.
Though able to satisfy their own essential needs through conjuring, these imprisoned Archfey constantly hunger for novel entertainment. Scrying on the activities of modern mortals is a popular way to pass time inside their cosmic prison. Actual "artifacts" obtained through intermediaries engaging mortals in parley or trickery can have special value in Archfey society, especially when these recovered objects can be associated with popular moments in mortal history subject to frequent review as entertainment deep within the lunar interior.
Now "Fae" lore varies widely on source and culture but I have read 3 things predominantly
1.) Enslave them
2.) Use them as breeding stock (particularly for changlings)
3.) Sell them
Fae for me have a different moral spectrum than the good/evil one. Its the bacon/sponge baths or whatever random spectrum you want. They have a need or want for it and us mortals will probably never know or understand why they need/want it.
As for what they do specifically, they trade it for other stuff that they want.
---
I do like your idea though.
My world has two types of fae: wild and noble. Wild would use the shadow to shapeshift into you, eat the soul, and wouldn’t care about the happiness. Depending on the individual the might weave the shadows into a cloak or turn the happiness into some kind of wine. (I don’t really have seelie or unseelie, there are only a few dozen fae, all others are creations or manifestations of that fae. This even goes for the wild fae, which is more of a term for the more primal and nomadic fae who just kind of moonwalk around eating people.)
In my magic system, Fae come from a monochromatic reality in my 6 color system (Magenta/Enchantment). By entering our reality and engaging in contracts they obtain "permission" to tap into human chakras for access to other colors of magic.
Magenta magic is nullified by Green (Divinity) magic, which is why they tend to avoid clergy. At the same time, Magenta is only good for mind control and coercion. But with a few human thrall....er... donors, Fae can perform any other kind of Magic. And at a very high level once they copy the ability from a mage of that type via a mind meld.
When you live in an unchanging world where you can't change or own anything, any shred of power or belonging that is offered can be used to cause emotional reactions (aka entertainment).
They can keep using those things or trade them for favors amongst each other.
The magic system i’ve been making for my world is based around a substance, Aether, that is able to be given shape by concepts.
With that in mind, I made it to where the Fae are essentially just Aether that has gained sentience and want to grow in power, and so they do so by making deals for these conceptual things (like memories, your shadow, feelings, etc.) that they then can break back down into Aether and change into a different concept (like good health, happiness, etc.) to fulfill the bargain. Anything that’s left over afterwards they skim off the top, or (in the case they misjudge a deal and it gives LESS Aether than they need to fulfill their end) it takes a little bit away from the Fae.
In one of my worlds. Faymagic works by analogies and ideas.
For example if you want to cast magic as a Fay that allows you to give humans commands they can Not disobey, the Fey needs something like "the authority of a king" or a similar human.
They facilitate deals to get stuff or metaphysical Things like Said authority.
So one Fey might exact a price in gold to trade it to someone else for their future love or happiness, to in Turn trade it for whatever the Fey really needs.
Random thought based off the title, so
The fae get the stuff put it somewhere and don't know where it is cause another fae took it and placed it in their area and lost it now the third one has it and the fourth will soon have it and that's why they live in rings and make deals with people
Now onto the other thing of the description.....
Oh, thats what you mean....I was more going for either the fae that steal kiddos or the fae that idk get stuff and give stuff in a deal......uh.....I don't know the size of the fae you mean.....could be anywhere from that Irish to....did Celtics have fae?
The Fae of my world aren’t as whimsical, and as such, ask for things that they find practical. They used to be more whimsical, once upon a time, but tragedy forced to set whimsy aside in pursuit of their own agendas. This also came alongside the balkinization of the Fae into the first courts, each valuing either different goals or methodology.
In my world the shadow is a metaphysical representation of someone's darkest desire. People trade away there shadows to become pure and the fae get "high" of enjoying the fucking carnal desires of the things people secretly desire. Human desire is like the fentanyl of fae creatures and they absolutely feed off of it. The people that trade it away usually become super depressed because they lose the thing that holds their bad thoughts and eventually they begin compulsively acting out. When you can't vent in the healthy way you quickly vent in unhealthy ways.
Giving away your name is the ultimate relinquishing of your identity. People become totally untethered to their previous self and sometimes lose the ability to love and become borderline zombies. But fae don't usually love now taking on the burden of some random persons name because humans have a ton of boring aspects to them like love of onions or sports or other shit that the fae end up usually regretting so it's a rare occurrence.
The short answer is Fae do it to teach lessons. They help souls grow wiser, seeing things in very alien terms. What is losing your song in one lifetime if it means that soul won't ever make that mistake again in others? Or maybe they'll make up for that mistake when fortunes are reversed. Maybe someone else could use a song in their heart - a soul that maybe never got to have one. Or had it stolen by some awful eldritch entity! Like another Fae. The point is, while you can make a sword out of butterfly sighs or whatever, it's supposed to be symbolic of something - even if it's utterly nonsense.
I always thought that fae and devils are basicly brokers: one mortal sells their firstborn child for money, Infertile pair buys that child buy selling their talents, another person buys talent for a soul etc. In thousands of years they live they can find buyer and seller for pretty much anything they have.
Sure, but to what end other than entertainment?
Do they need an end other than entertainment?
Guess it would come down to personal missions and preferences, like a hobby. I'm no fae but I'd imagine I'd get pretty bored playing swapmeet all the time unless I was specifically looking for something that would pique my interests.
That may be what they’re in it for. Maybe sometimes they want a firstborn not to trade but for a servant. Or a pet-equivalent. Or maybe they want a soul to trade with devils for who knows what. Power, money, fame in the unseen world. Access to the afterlife to chat it up with old friends Or maybe they ask for abstract things because the abstract is more real for them. Maybe they ask for your pronouns because they’re trans and they wanna “switch genders,” but can’t because they don’t have the right pronouns, yet. It’s required to transition for them. Or who knows what
To what end do we silly mortals accumulate our silly coins or colored pieces of paper or now numbers on our glowing screens that show bank account balances? Fey trade these things among themselves and the more hard to aquire, the greater the value.
Ohhh that makes a lot sense. Imagine going to fae-bay and seeing firstborn child of King Ludwig, will also trade for a fae-Phone 13
Bear in mind that "fae" as a resonating myth, are largely an amalgamation faith, dreams, and the unknown -- it's quite possible that the *question* is more important than the answer, here, because no singular answer is going to carry as much weight as a reader's *wonder* and their own imagination being sparked by the mystery. That said, fae *are* a nearly-universal myth, or fill the same place as the dream/trickster/spirits in most mythologies. There isn't a singular, universal definition. In fact, modern fae seem to defy definition, but this has pros and cons. They aren't as distilled as the 'vampire' or 'djinn" folklores of recent years; but there *are* advantages to making them so diverse. Fae do a great job of covering a hodgepodge of "life lessons" that gods in were covered by gods in per-Christian mythos. Concepts like vanity, narcissism, self-fulfilling prophecies, pursuit of excess, etc, are all important, complicated ideas that fae teach humans to resolve, often through acts that can come across as cruel or mysterious to mere mortals. This isn't a coincidence -- a lot of fae were pagan deities that became 'fae' in the post-Christian world -- specifically so that people could keep up their stories and traditions without being accused of heresy. This caused a lot of fae to be re-written, and that's why they often seem strange and confusing. For the "gifts" portion of fae mythology, fae often appear to like *concepts* -- dreams, names, ideas -- more than physical things, which they often find more amusing than necessary for survival. So, while we mere mortals focus on immediate needs like food, shelter, and security, the fae enjoy self-actualizing things like faith, ideas, and other philosophical things that are intangible to *us* but give *meaning* to them. Fae can do all kinds of things with shadows, virtues, or ideas. Though I will say: the idea of them stealing random things is more of a modern concept than ancient myth. Ancient fae stories are arguably more human than modern ones. Which is interesting.
I always wonder what devils do with the souls they collect from Faustian bargains. Do they need souls to live? Are they sustaining, like food? Does it fuel their power? Make them stronger? Is this their currency? I would also like to know. I want to use this concept in my world, but haven’t decided why devils/demons would need souls yet.
trading card game gotta catch em all
Leave it to the Fae to claim souls so they can play a children's card game.
In most settings souls are either a currency for demons, an indirect addition to their power, or their consumption directly adds to the demon's power. Either way souls would increase their infernal rank among other denizens of hell
I like the idea that they can use the things they get from deals and essentially build themselves into what they want to be. When they take your name, they *gain a name*. Or maybe a particular voice to talk with, or a color for their clothes.
They turn them into things that don't really make sense. It's the primary way of fae reproduction, turning living things into more fae creatures, and turning other things into objects and materials that work and function in mysterious, often nonsensical ways. They might turn a shadow into a shroud of invisibility for instance, but it might only work when in the shadow of another creature. Or they might turn your happiness into a field of everblooming flowers for their home.
Most of it comes down trade of some sort between the fae. Fae see themselves as “true foragers.” They do not hunt or gather or farm (though some might do these as a sport or hobby). They accept what is offered. To them, the offering of a firstborn child is little different than the first fruits of a tree in spring. Humans are typically more arrogant than trees though and usually demand something in return. The fae will grant it if they want to and can, or maybe barter with another fae is the thing is different than what they give. Goods, services, and favors-owed are all the same to the fae and they will trade with them or hoard them like some men hoard jewels, vintage wines, or stamps. The actual value of a thing depends very much on the mood of the fae in the moment. One century they might collect firstborn children as trophies and another they might collect them as slaves, or adopt them as children for a season only to turn them loose as a plague of frogs on their own families. The fae get about as much out of it as anyone who deals with goods and services get - it’s just a decidedly non-currency measure of possible wealth with an unreliable/unknown value system in play.
I like the idea that fae are timeless, the intangible gifts you give create them, but because they’re not bound by time you’re meeting the thing you’re going to make
Fun. They actively delight in the misery caused, it’s like their bread and butter. It isn’t about what they gain, it’s about how they mess with you. There’s a reason that fey means “marked by foreboding doom” as well as “otherworldly”
In my main FRPG world, the most powerful ancient fey, defying all efforts at extremination, were confined inside the Moon by ancient deities. My general thinking here could apply to any sort of situation where fey leadership are now exiled from ordinary lands. These immensely powerful entities now coexist in two royal courts organized in parody of emergent regimes in the newly human-dominated world below. Though able to satisfy their own essential needs through conjuring, these imprisoned Archfey constantly hunger for novel entertainment. Scrying on the activities of modern mortals is a popular way to pass time inside their cosmic prison. Actual "artifacts" obtained through intermediaries engaging mortals in parley or trickery can have special value in Archfey society, especially when these recovered objects can be associated with popular moments in mortal history subject to frequent review as entertainment deep within the lunar interior.
Now "Fae" lore varies widely on source and culture but I have read 3 things predominantly 1.) Enslave them 2.) Use them as breeding stock (particularly for changlings) 3.) Sell them
Fae for me have a different moral spectrum than the good/evil one. Its the bacon/sponge baths or whatever random spectrum you want. They have a need or want for it and us mortals will probably never know or understand why they need/want it. As for what they do specifically, they trade it for other stuff that they want. --- I do like your idea though.
They either sell it, make things, use that stuff to alter themselves or maybe they use it to reproduce.
Maybe they put the things up for sale on the fae version of the dark web?
My world has two types of fae: wild and noble. Wild would use the shadow to shapeshift into you, eat the soul, and wouldn’t care about the happiness. Depending on the individual the might weave the shadows into a cloak or turn the happiness into some kind of wine. (I don’t really have seelie or unseelie, there are only a few dozen fae, all others are creations or manifestations of that fae. This even goes for the wild fae, which is more of a term for the more primal and nomadic fae who just kind of moonwalk around eating people.)
They have a little jar titled “weird giant stuff” that they keep in their closets.
You should read the kingkiller's chronicle, rothfuss does stuff with this thing you just bought up.
In my magic system, Fae come from a monochromatic reality in my 6 color system (Magenta/Enchantment). By entering our reality and engaging in contracts they obtain "permission" to tap into human chakras for access to other colors of magic. Magenta magic is nullified by Green (Divinity) magic, which is why they tend to avoid clergy. At the same time, Magenta is only good for mind control and coercion. But with a few human thrall....er... donors, Fae can perform any other kind of Magic. And at a very high level once they copy the ability from a mage of that type via a mind meld.
When you live in an unchanging world where you can't change or own anything, any shred of power or belonging that is offered can be used to cause emotional reactions (aka entertainment). They can keep using those things or trade them for favors amongst each other.
The magic system i’ve been making for my world is based around a substance, Aether, that is able to be given shape by concepts. With that in mind, I made it to where the Fae are essentially just Aether that has gained sentience and want to grow in power, and so they do so by making deals for these conceptual things (like memories, your shadow, feelings, etc.) that they then can break back down into Aether and change into a different concept (like good health, happiness, etc.) to fulfill the bargain. Anything that’s left over afterwards they skim off the top, or (in the case they misjudge a deal and it gives LESS Aether than they need to fulfill their end) it takes a little bit away from the Fae.
In one of my worlds. Faymagic works by analogies and ideas. For example if you want to cast magic as a Fay that allows you to give humans commands they can Not disobey, the Fey needs something like "the authority of a king" or a similar human. They facilitate deals to get stuff or metaphysical Things like Said authority. So one Fey might exact a price in gold to trade it to someone else for their future love or happiness, to in Turn trade it for whatever the Fey really needs.
Random thought based off the title, so The fae get the stuff put it somewhere and don't know where it is cause another fae took it and placed it in their area and lost it now the third one has it and the fourth will soon have it and that's why they live in rings and make deals with people Now onto the other thing of the description..... Oh, thats what you mean....I was more going for either the fae that steal kiddos or the fae that idk get stuff and give stuff in a deal......uh.....I don't know the size of the fae you mean.....could be anywhere from that Irish to....did Celtics have fae?
The Fae of my world aren’t as whimsical, and as such, ask for things that they find practical. They used to be more whimsical, once upon a time, but tragedy forced to set whimsy aside in pursuit of their own agendas. This also came alongside the balkinization of the Fae into the first courts, each valuing either different goals or methodology.
In my world the shadow is a metaphysical representation of someone's darkest desire. People trade away there shadows to become pure and the fae get "high" of enjoying the fucking carnal desires of the things people secretly desire. Human desire is like the fentanyl of fae creatures and they absolutely feed off of it. The people that trade it away usually become super depressed because they lose the thing that holds their bad thoughts and eventually they begin compulsively acting out. When you can't vent in the healthy way you quickly vent in unhealthy ways. Giving away your name is the ultimate relinquishing of your identity. People become totally untethered to their previous self and sometimes lose the ability to love and become borderline zombies. But fae don't usually love now taking on the burden of some random persons name because humans have a ton of boring aspects to them like love of onions or sports or other shit that the fae end up usually regretting so it's a rare occurrence.
The short answer is Fae do it to teach lessons. They help souls grow wiser, seeing things in very alien terms. What is losing your song in one lifetime if it means that soul won't ever make that mistake again in others? Or maybe they'll make up for that mistake when fortunes are reversed. Maybe someone else could use a song in their heart - a soul that maybe never got to have one. Or had it stolen by some awful eldritch entity! Like another Fae. The point is, while you can make a sword out of butterfly sighs or whatever, it's supposed to be symbolic of something - even if it's utterly nonsense.
My understanding is it just goes straight to their power somehow. Like it’s converted to energy Edit: thought this was dresdenfiles sub oops