What if the Fair Folk reemerged? (RAR)

[FaxModem1]

Tomorrow morning, sightings of fairies, elves, spirits, etc. skyrocket worldwide, all following the traditional lore of that region, with them kidnapping children and occasionally adults, as well as the traditional methods of dealing with such creatures, if attempted, working. How does society change? How does it adapt?

[bilateralrope]

A large part is going to depend on the details of their vulnerability to iron. If it's because of magnetism, then electricity is going to be a problem for them.

[KraytKing]

Genocide in a lot of places, de facto or de jure.

[Broomstick]

Iron horseshoes will become a new fashion statement and filled salt shakes will replace pepper spray as a defensive chemical.

[Civil War Man]

If the fae get counted in the census, Ireland and Iceland replace China and India as the two most populous countries on the planet.

A large part is going to depend on the details of their vulnerability to iron. If it's because of magnetism, then electricity is going to be a problem for them.

I'd say the question about their vulnerability to iron is more a question of purity or manufacturing. Depending on the source, just iron is not necessarily enough. Steel, for instance, is something I've usually seen depicted as not sufficient to be a bane due to the high carbon content. In some stories, the iron also has to be forged in a specific way, usually cold-forging.

[LadyTevar]

I'd say the question about their vulnerability to iron is more a question of purity or manufacturing. Depending on the source, just iron is not necessarily enough. Steel, for instance, is something I've usually seen depicted as not sufficient to be a bane due to the high carbon content. In some stories, the iron also has to be forged in a specific way, usually cold-forging.

Agreed. There's been a big discussion over what 'cold iron' means among scholars, and no clear answer whether it's a poetic term or a specific type of iron manufacturing. There is even the question of if it has to be earth-dug, or bog-metal, or 'surface-found'. Also, after the initial smelt, does it need to be cold-forged or heat-forged.

Most authors of Modern Fiction have the Fae able to touch alloys with lesser iron content, or use of gloves to protect themselves from stronger alloys. After all, how much metal around us is pure iron these days? Mercedes Lackey's "Serrated Edge" series the Fae were leading the way in composite carbon manufacturing (for race cars, mostly), but couldn't touch iron or steel without protective gloves. Dresden's Fae can't touch Iron, but seem to have no trouble with steel (iirc). In the "Mercy Thompson" series by Patricia Briggs, some Fae are even immune to Iron, but have other weaknesses.

So, it's really going to come down to this -- What do the FAE consider 'cold iron'. Because, trust me, if we modern humans have forgotten what it is and how to make it, the Fae will not be quick to remind us.

[LadyTevar]

If the fae get counted in the census, Ireland and Iceland replace China and India as the two most populous countries on the planet.

Not necessarily. Who says the Fae are Euro-centric?
China and India have their own 'faery tales' -- shapeshifters and place-spirits. African tribes have stories of trickster spirits, who may or may not be gods. American Indians have animal spirits and scarier things; Uktena, cannibalistic BigHeads, liver-eating women. Hell, every human culture we know has faery and ghost tales, which may or may not have echoes in Fae.

[Civil War Man]

If the fae get counted in the census, Ireland and Iceland replace China and India as the two most populous countries on the planet.

Not necessarily. Who says the Fae are Euro-centric?
China and India have their own 'faery tales' -- shapeshifters and place-spirits. African tribes have stories of trickster spirits, who may or may not be gods. American Indians have animal spirits and scarier things; Uktena, cannibalistic BigHeads, liver-eating women. Hell, every human culture we know has faery and ghost tales, which may or may not have echoes in Fae.

I didn't say that in order to imply that the fae are Euro-centric, but more a joke about those countries having a reputation of being absolutely lousy with faeries, since Ireland has about a million different varieties of faerie and Iceland has faeries living inside every moderately interesting rock.

Agreed. There's been a big discussion over what 'cold iron' means among scholars, and no clear answer whether it's a poetic term or a specific type of iron manufacturing. There is even the question of if it has to be earth-dug, or bog-metal, or 'surface-found'. Also, after the initial smelt, does it need to be cold-forged or heat-forged.

Most authors of Modern Fiction have the Fae able to touch alloys with lesser iron content, or use of gloves to protect themselves from stronger alloys. After all, how much metal around us is pure iron these days? Mercedes Lackey's "Serrated Edge" series the Fae were leading the way in composite carbon manufacturing (for race cars, mostly), but couldn't touch iron or steel without protective gloves. Dresden's Fae can't touch Iron, but seem to have no trouble with steel (iirc). In the "Mercy Thompson" series by Patricia Briggs, some Fae are even immune to Iron, but have other weaknesses.

So, it's really going to come down to this -- What do the FAE consider 'cold iron'. Because, trust me, if we modern humans have forgotten what it is and how to make it, the Fae will not be quick to remind us.

The lack of clarity could also mean that fae from different regions could also react differently. Bog iron might only be effective for fae from regions that have bogs, for instance.

For another variation in modern fiction, newer versions of World of Darkness have the source of the bane being an ancient fae breaking a promise they made with a really powerful iron spirit. So in order to work, the iron can be from any source, but has to be pure enough to remain under the purview of an iron spirit. However, since a lot of the setting is based around the power of belief, there is wiggle room as to what qualifies as pure enough. Basically, if the world thinks the object is iron, it is iron. As a result, steel usually doesn't work, because the process of turning iron into steel creates a steel spirit that replaces the iron spirit.

Also, the player characters are not actually Fae, but humans that escaped from Fae captivity, so they are affected differently depending on the strength of their connection to the Wyrd (of course, that changes if their connection gets too strong, since in-setting kidnapping humans is how the True Fae reproduce).

[Crazedwraith]

Dresden's Fae can't touch Iron, but seem to have no trouble with steel (iirc).

Nah, Dresden makes the point even though steel isn't literal cold iron, anything with enough iron content will work. Even steel swords and chainmail and such.

[Zaune]

Also, a horseshoe makes a pretty good improvised knuckleduster if it's all you have to hand, weakness to "cold iron" or not.

[Broomstick]

With horseshoes it's not just the iron - there's also the bit as to whether you need to hang them points up or down, whether they need to have been actually worn by a horse or not worn, and so on.

[SpottedKitty]

Most authors of Modern Fiction have the Fae able to touch alloys with lesser iron content, or use of gloves to protect themselves from stronger alloys. After all, how much metal around us is pure iron these days? Mercedes Lackey's "Serrated Edge" series the Fae were leading the way in composite carbon manufacturing (for race cars, mostly), but couldn't touch iron or steel without protective gloves.

Can't remember now which of Misty's books it was, but there's one really spectacular scene where a retired aerospace engineer (I think) got ready for a fight with a group of "bad" Fae by loading up one of those old CO2 soda syphon bottles, mixing iron filings into the water, then he got a priest to bless it, turning it into holy water...



"Never p*** off an engineer."

[Majin Gojira]

In the Broadest archeological sense, Fair Folk on a global scale can be defined as "The People Who Are Not People" as many stories of the fae have their roots in archeology (IE; Medieval folk finding stone arrowheads from the paleolithic considered them to be of fairy make).

In Folklore there are some repeated motifs. The "Little People" Fairies/Goblins, the "High" Fairies, and the Ogres among them.

In Europe, you know who the fairfolk are. Pretty straight forward beings, might have a few other monsters related to them (like dragons and things) along for the ride. Scary times, given how ... temperamental they are.

In Polytheistic cultures, there isn't as much a divide between lower spirits and full on celestial ones, especially in the east. The Yokai of Japan, the Vanara and Naga (among many others) of India, and lord knows how many demons in China all come barreling out. Massive chaos ensues. Africa too.

The Arabian peninsula is beset by Djinn of all sorts.

And the Americas? While there are 'forest spirits', ogres, giant, and so on, the nearest to high fae (at least on the east coast) are the Thunderers.

But, man, pray to every god you know that the darker creatures don't come along as part of this package. The Horned Serpents, the Long Legged Bears, the Chenoo, and the SKinwalkers.

The most dangerous places in this outbreak, I think, would be the Americas, the Philipines, The Middle East, Japan, China, Africa, and the Celtic world. Little else, as near as I can recall offhand, don't quire register as badly.

Unless Rakshasa are included in India's fae.

[mr friendly guy]

Do Asian legends of shape shifting animal spirits count as fey? Because east Asia gets a lot of them. Moreover in modern shows (South Korea and China) they get a more sympathetic potrayal, and since they can reproduce with humans, science will tell us they are just another subspecies like we are. No doubt the military will find a use for some of their abilities in special forces.

[LadyTevar]

Most authors of Modern Fiction have the Fae able to touch alloys with lesser iron content, or use of gloves to protect themselves from stronger alloys. After all, how much metal around us is pure iron these days? Mercedes Lackey's "Serrated Edge" series the Fae were leading the way in composite carbon manufacturing (for race cars, mostly), but couldn't touch iron or steel without protective gloves.

Can't remember now which of Misty's books it was, but there's one really spectacular scene where a retired aerospace engineer (I think) got ready for a fight with a group of "bad" Fae by loading up one of those old CO2 soda syphon bottles, mixing iron filings into the water, then he got a priest to bless it, turning it into holy water...



"Never p*** off an engineer."

It was the very first one -- "Born to Run". And the blessing came not from a Christian priest, but one who followed the Fae's Goddess.
And it worked. Hit the femme fatale's face like acid.

[LadyTevar]

In the Broadest archeological sense, Fair Folk on a global scale can be defined as "The People Who Are Not People" as many stories of the fae have their roots in archeology (IE; Medieval folk finding stone arrowheads from the paleolithic considered them to be of fairy make).

In Folklore there are some repeated motifs. The "Little People" Fairies/Goblins, the "High" Fairies, and the Ogres among them.

In Europe, you know who the fairfolk are. Pretty straight forward beings, might have a few other monsters related to them (like dragons and things) along for the ride. Scary times, given how ... temperamental they are.

In Polytheistic cultures, there isn't as much a divide between lower spirits and full on celestial ones, especially in the east. The Yokai of Japan, the Vanara and Naga (among many others) of India, and lord knows how many demons in China all come barreling out. Massive chaos ensues. Africa too.

The Arabian peninsula is beset by Djinn of all sorts.

And the Americas? While there are 'forest spirits', ogres, giant, and so on, the nearest to high fae (at least on the east coast) are the Thunderers.

But, man, pray to every god you know that the darker creatures don't come along as part of this package. The Horned Serpents, the Long Legged Bears, the Chenoo, and the SKinwalkers.

The most dangerous places in this outbreak, I think, would be the Americas, the Philipines, The Middle East, Japan, China, Africa, and the Celtic world. Little else, as near as I can recall offhand, don't quire register as badly.

Unless Rakshasa are included in India's fae.

In the Americas, The Three Sisters could be High Fae, because of their symbolic importance. Unless you count them and The Great Creator as Gods, not Fae.
There's the rub, where does the line break between God, Demi-God, and High Fae? Consider the Tuatha de Danan, who are worshipped as Gods, but were the 'First Born' of the Fae, according to some legends.

[Zixinus]

What's interesting is that the more superstitious countries (or at least those that retained their traditions more) actually have a (temporary) advantage, in that they'd more likely retain lore and traditions that would help appease the Fair Folk.

The problem is also going to depend heavily on the Fair Folk, because some readings about them have them being very, very nasty while others are not and then others have them with their large share of complications.