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The fae must have gotten a lot smarter, or maybe softer, in recent centuries -- either they've gotten more canny about public relations, or they've lost their edge. The modern fantasy take on fairies often sees them as playful, childlike, perhaps mischievous at worst.

If you're running an authentic medieval or medieval-style fantasy campaign, this is way off the mark. To the medieval mind, fairies are powerful, ruthless, alien, vicious bastards. If you're smart, you don't set foot on their turf. You don't talk about them. You don't speak to them.

And what could be more fun to spring on players expecting the happy harmless Smurfs?

Terminology

I make some assumptions based on how I'd do things in my Fudge games. If I refer to "beautiful appearance" as a gift, and your game has an Appearance attribute, just make that mental adjustment, of course. I use the term "fairy" and "fae" interchangeably, and medieval Britons would also have used the term "elf" for the same beings ("elf" comes from Old English, and "fairy" is a French loan-word). There are many, many other names for the fae.

Encountering the Fae

Fairies exist on the edges of mortal society. This is both a literal statement and a figurative one. Literally speaking, they can be encountered outside the bounds of civilized spaces, like the wilderness. They're often encountered by hapless travelers whose road takes them through woods removed from the safety of civilization.

In more general terms, fairies appear at times and places outside normal routine. Liminal situations -- transitional states, borders between one thing and another -- attract them like flies to honey. Something as simple as a crossroads or doorway may draw their attention under the right circumstances; sunset and sunrise are fae times, as are seasonal transitions. They love to interfere with mortals at times of personal transition, though: birth, copulation, marriage and death are favorites, and you certainly don't want to wander into a fairy wood while drunk, or fall asleep once there.

The fae are closely allied with natural forces. Aside from their natural predilection for woods ("no man's land" to a medieval villager), they are blamed for such things as whirlwinds (invisible fairies chasing each other in circles). In a fantasy world that includes witchcraft or hedge magic, practitioners of these sorts of natural folk magic may have an affinity for the fae.

Speech also attracts the attention of fairies. Euphemisms for fairies abound, since naming them directly (especially when on or near their territory) catches their notice.

Appearance

Fairies can broadly be grouped into two classes, appearance-wise: "stunningly beautiful" and "ugly as a week-old dead monkey." There's no such thing as an average-looking fae; fairies will always be either far more attractive than the norm or inhumanly ugly.

The beautiful sort are often indistinguishable from humans. A popular motif in medieval fairy stories involves the knight who meets a beautiful lady in the woods, only to have her steal him away to fairyland. These fae are usually female; since the fairies often represented a perversion of the natural order, it's easy to speculate about medieval fears of powerful dangerous women. On the other hand, young unwed mothers were sometimes known to blame their pregnancies on the comely "king of the fairies," apparently a tireless womanizer.

The ugly fae are far easier to spot as non-human, when they choose to make themselves seen at all. They're often small creatures, possibly with one or more animal-like or other unnatural features. A wide variety of shapes is possible, though this sort of fairy often looks like an old man or woman.

Fairies of all sorts are fond of the color green, and a superstition held that an unbaptized infant shouldn't be dressed in green lest it attract the attention of the fae.

Psychology

So what is it fairies want, exactly? This is a hard question for mortals to understand. The fae value many of the same things that mortals do: good food and drink, music, sex, gold and jewels -- though what they would do with tangible valuables is anybody's guess, and it seems likely that the beauty of these items is more precious to them than monetary value.

Perhaps the best way for a GM to play a fae adversary is with the emotions of a very cunning, very greedy small child -- hungry for many of the things that anyone might want, like food, wealth and companionship, but with few social restraints on how it will go about acquiring its desires. Fairies are notorious for engaging in theft, kidnapping, and deceit to get what they want, and if balked they show no hesitation about using their powers to get the object of their desire.

They have a particular interest in human children. Fae will either steal a child outright, or exchange it for one of their own. It is sometimes possible for the mother of a stolen child to petition the fairies for its return, but doing so involves venturing to the borders of the fairy realm and is a risky enterprise.

Fae Magic

Much fae magic can most simply be represented as Gifts. Most fae will have one or more of the following Gifts, usable at will:

Shapechanging,

particularly to animal forms. A particular fae may have a single animal shape it can assume (i.e, "Gift: Rabbit Form"), or may be able to take on the shape of any animal.

Invisibility.

This is why it is wise to be cautious about naming the fae -- there could be one listening right now. Even fairies who cannot actually become invisible probably have high Camouflage skill.

Magic Resistance.

Fairies may receive +1 or more to resist spells cast by mortals.

Charm Mortal

The beautiful fairy maidens often encountered by errant knights are known for their ability to bind men to their will. Represent this with a magic skill.

In a medieval-like world fairy magic resists, and is resisted by, divine magic and the power of the Church. This is one reason the Church associates the fae with Satanic forces. Fae magic is made less effective on holy ground, ranging from -1 for a common village church to (rarely) -3 for a specially consecrated site. For a fairy to use a Gift like invisibility or shapechanging in such a consecrated space may require a Willpower or similar roll. The reverse is true as well; in a fairy wood, stone circle or other site associated with fae magic, priestly blessings and the like will function at a penalty of -1 (in a fairy wood) to -3 (in the Fae Queen's court itself).

Weaknesses

The origin of fairies' dislike for iron is lost to history, but their susceptibility to it is well known. Whatever the reason, fae magic is ineffective when cast on iron objects of any sort, and they will avoid its touch. A fairy trapped in restraints of iron cannot use any magical abilities. Weapons of iron are potent against them and get a +1 bonus.damage factor. Naturally, fae are painfully aware of this weakness and will apply all their cunning to avoid direct combat with an opponent armed with iron.

In Welsh tradition, the fae are called the Tylwyth Teg, the "Fair Tribe." "Fair" here retains its meaning both in the sense of "beautiful" and of "just," as in "fairness." This latter meaning suggests a common Fault among the fae -- they always keep a bargain once they have agreed to it (remember Rumplestiltskin?). Canny mortals will bear in mind that a fairy will find the smallest loophole in a promise, however, and this may be why speaking to a fairy is considered bad luck.

Scale of -2 or smaller is common. Shapeshifting fae may or may not be able to change Scale when they change forms.

Fudge Gramarye Spell: Fairy Ward

Protect with Magic, Good effect (+5), small area (+2), lasts 1 hour (+4), takes two minutes (-4). Total mana: 7.

This spell protects a room, campsite or small cottage from fae magic. It resists the use of fairy magic within, or cast into, the protected area (treat attempts at such magic as Opposed actions). Fairies sense the presence of the ward and dislike entering the area.

Sample prop: an iron horseshoe (+1).

Bibliography

Briggs, Katharine. An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York: Pantheon Books, 1976.

Lindahl, Carl, John McNamara and John Lindow (eds.). Medieval Folklore: an Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs and Customs. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2000.

Purkiss, Diane. At the Bottom of the Garden: a Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins, and Other Troublesome Things. New York: New York University Press, 2001.

Simpson, Jacqueline, and Stephen Roud. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.