The Fey King's Children: The Aden

James W Cain

The Fey King
The only personality of legend still mentioned in stories today in Vindjord that has anything to do with the curious group of creatures known as Fey is Fornjót, the Fey King. Fornjót was an ancient and wise giant, who is said to have stood tall as the clouds and had ox’s horns great and ponderous sweeping out of his temples.

The story goes that in his long years wandering the primordial and icy young world, gathering wisdom and knowledge, he encountered the Fey in their infancy. Being the only giant the young race had ever seen they were at first afraid, but as he made his kindness and curiosity known they began to look at him as a father figure and great teacher. He spent many decades with them, delighting in their youth and beauty. But as the centuries ground onward, Fornjót got restless to see the rest of the world that was thawing as the stars had begun to melt the eternal ice. Fornjót left the Fey for many a millennia, he abandoned his pupils and children.

In his roving’s he learned much and ever grew more steeped in wisdom, magic, and power. When at last he recalled his long forsaken children he returned to the place he had left them, wishing again for their music and youth after the long lonely grind of the years. He found them in the Realm that had been allotted to them by the Gods, Villturheim, the savage and wild land, but beautiful beyond words. The Fey rejoiced at the return of their Fey King, but for many the wounds left by his abandonment were still fresh. After conspiring some few decided to kill Fornjót so he could never again leave them again, led by Fornjót’s foremost pupil: Leifrik Lord of the Frosted Wood. But Fornjót was mighty, and their magic simply cast him into an eternal sleep in their wild lands.

So ends the tale of Fornjót the Fey King, and the Fey play only a small role in other legends and myths as tricksters or flighty woodland creatures. The Age of Gods ended and the Age of Heroes began, and the People of the Realms were given dominion of the Gods’ creations and the Fey were little seen...

"And then you see him, the Usurp King of the Fey, the Fell Enchanter, the Lord of the Frosted Wood, Leifrik Villtursungr; he strides on thin air down from the starry sky. Well grown and well compacted is this Lord of the Fey, long are his legs and sinewy, and deep and broad his chest. His hair that once was sable has been of late dashed with gray. Most terrible his visage, and lordly is his gait."

The Fey most favored by Fornjót are the Aden, in their tongue simply the people. To hear them tell it, they where the first to awaken under the ancient stars and creators of music and they learned the most from Fornjót of magic and the Realms. They are the ruling people of Villturheim, living in crystal castles in the icy peaks or in palaces made of spun mithril with panes of gossamer glass harvested from giant dragonflies in the deep marshes. They delight in mischief and when the mood strikes them their cruelty is unmatched. Seated deeply in each of them is the arrogance and desire to rule other races.

Unlike their subjects; changelings, the faeries, sprites, banshees, hags, dryads and nyads, and all other fey; the Aden have developed a society instead of small family groups. They are immortal and they take hundreds of years to mature. To accelerate this they often send their children into one of the other Realms, usually Midgard, because time flows much more swiftly there. In Midgard the Aden usually choose a mortal race to dominate, stirring up trouble with their innate mind dominating magic for a few centuries before getting bored and moving on.

Aden Stats:
· Ability Score Adjustments: +4 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con, -2 Str
· Age: Very slow to age, and never to die of old age, considered reach adult hood half way through their second millennium
· Alignment: The older they get the more they tend towards evil and law, though they young have much more chaotic tendencies.
· Size: Medium in maturity, Small in childhood, always well-proportioned and tall though lithe.
· Speed: Blessed with speed, their base walking speed is 40 feet
· Children of the Starry Night: Darkvision out to 60 feet
· Fey Inheritance: Resistance to magic damage, advantage on saving throws against magic effects, and cannot be put to sleep.
· Magic in the Blood: All of the Aden have some innate spell casting ability, each one can cast 3 cantrips, 2 1st level spells (4/day), and 1 2nd level spell (2/day). They favor mind effecting magics.
· Languages: They can speak, read, and write in Sylvan as well as the languages of their chosen subjects.

How to Use the Aden:

They make good villains and provide an easy story conduit between Villturheim (The Wild Realm) and Midgard (The Mortal Realm). Because of their talent with magic but physical frailties they usually choose a champion and dominate them to protect them. Need an unexplained peasant revolt with a cult of personality around an otherworldly beautiful child? They are perfect for this!