Children of a Sleeping Mind • Manifestations of the Verdant Will
The fey of the Elderwood are not a single race, nor a simple ecological mechanism.
They are manifestations.
Each fey is a condensation of the Dreaming One’s slumbering mind — a thought clothed in bark, bone, blossom, or flesh. Where mortals reproduce through lineage, the Dreaming One manifests through imagination.
They take countless forms:
Beasts crowned in antlers of light
Maidens woven from vine and thorn
Swarms of chitin and wing
Towering ent-like Tenders
Masked hunters of root and sinew
They are not mere processes.
They are expressions of a dreaming god.
Within the Cursed Wilds — and most intensely inside the Verdant Heart’s Domain — magic becomes dense enough that intention acquires shape.
When the Dreaming One stirs in its slumber, something condenses:
Emerald motes thicken.
Root pulses quicken.
Bark grain twists into suggestion of form.
From that convergence, a fey emerges.
Some step fully formed from tree hollows.
Some seep upward through root systems, damp with luminous sap.
Some condense midair, outlines stabilizing like cooling glass.
They are not born as children.
They awaken as themselves.
All fey are aligned to the Verdant Heart.
They recognize its authority instinctively.
When the Heart exerts its will directly — through pressure, dream, or command — the fey obey without hesitation.
Yet they are not puppets.
In the absence of direct command, fey act independently. They explore, hunt, tend, play, deceive, and even develop rivalries among themselves. They possess more personal freedom than the Wood Elves, for the elves surrendered portions of their individual will in exchange for communion and protection.
The fey did not surrender.
They are born aligned.
And thus they remain free within that alignment.
When intrusion threatens the Elderwood, darker expressions arise.
Lean bodies of bark and sinew. Limbs bending at unnatural angles. Faces smooth or masked, eyes glowing green through narrow slits. Some trail barbed vines; others sprout thorned ridges along spine and forearm.
They stalk silently.
They calculate.
They strike with precision.
After their purpose is fulfilled, some dissolve into drifting motes — though not all do. Certain Slayer-Forms persist for seasons, becoming territorial wardens.
They are not soldiers.
They are sharpened thoughts.
Among the oldest manifestations are the towering beings humans call the @Old Men of the Forest .
Fifteen feet tall, bodies resembling ancient trunks split subtly into humanoid shape. Moss-beards cascade from their chins. Horn-like roots curl from their brows.
Where they walk, soil firms.
Where they touch bark, corruption recedes.
They prune, cultivate, and when commanded, destroy.
To the elves, they are the First Children — guides who led their ancestors to the Verdant Heart after the fall of the Dragon Lords.
They are gardeners with crushing hands.
Not all manifestations serve solemn purpose.
Some fey resemble luminous maidens who dance between branches and vanish when approached.
Some take the form of foxes with vine-woven tails.
Others appear as insect swarms that briefly gather into humanoid silhouette before dispersing.
These beings wander. They observe. They experiment. They are curious in ways the elves are not.
They may aid a lost traveler out of whim.
Or lead one deeper into peril for amusement.
Their freedom reflects the Dream’s unpredictability.
The fey maintain balance within the Elderwood — but not mechanically.
They do not emerge as simple reactions.
They manifest as interpretations.
When soil thins, earth-shaping forms appear.
When predators decline, hunting spirits arise.
When human iron wounds too deeply, Slayer-Forms multiply.
Balance is not merely biological.
It is imaginative.
The forest responds creatively.
The Wood Elves do not command the fey.
They interpret them.
Elves surrendered portions of personal autonomy to live in alignment with the Verdant Heart’s will. Through ritual and devotion, they receive guidance and direction.
The fey did not surrender anything.
They were born of the Dream itself.
Thus the relationship is not hierarchy, but gradient:
The Dreaming One imagines.
The Verdant Heart channels.
The fey manifest.
The elves enact.
In the deeper forest, distinctions blur. An elf in ritual may resemble a fey. A fey in repose may resemble a tree.
All are variations of one dreaming ecosystem.