The Accords
The Fey Accords represent a powerful, primal magic woven between the faerie realms and the dreams and hopes of humanity. The Accords represent the world the way humanity imagines it to be, and so blind most of humanity to the presence of magic by masking it as legend, shadow and mystery. Should a magic-wielder cast a bolt of arcane power at a foe, The Veil masks the casting as all but a gesture, and masks the harm done to the target as a strange seizure, unexpected heart-attack, or stroke. While it is possible to tear The Veil by doing the utterly impossible, the power of the Accords makes that difficult, and violent.
All those who are protected by The Veil are bound by the Accords, and by their rules:
The Accords are relatively simple:
- Secrecy: We are legends. Dreams and nightmares. Remain hidden.
- Honor: Obey the laws of your faction. All are accountable. Our word is our bond.
- Culling: Humanity is a Resource. Do not waste. Mark what is yours. Do not cull what is not.
- Kinship: Outsiders are foul. Resist and destroy those from beyond the pale.
- No Mercy: There shall be no mercy for those who violate these Accords.
Any member of one of the Great Factions who originally signed the Fey Accords is bound by the Accords through their blood, bones and power.
The Great Factions
The Fey: The realms of Arcadia, of imagination, primal forces, inspiration, imagination, legend and magic are all bound by the Fey Accords. The Sidhe, magical archetypes born of Gaia and human imagination, set the magic of The Veil in motion. With each Great Faction that has signed The Fey Accords the power of The Veil has grown. The Fey Courts are divided into Seelie, the sun-wise, and Unseelie, the night-wise. The Sidhe imagined the Accords at the dawn of human civilization to preserve their most valued resources; humanity’s dreams and nightmares. The Fey faction also includes those humans who are Changelings, humans who awaken to find they have inherited Fey Blood
The Council: Even among the earliest humans, there were those who could pierce The Veil; some have always been born with The Sight. Those wise ones awakened to The Sight challenged The Fey millennia past and started the ancient fey wars. After a bloody conflict that destroyed legendary and ancient civilizations, the Council, as they came to call themselves, signed the Accords to carve a place for themselves in the expanding world. The Council was the second faction to sign onto the Accords. All Shepherds and Wise awakened to The Sight must abide the Accords and adhere to the governance of The Council or they are hunted and eliminated by their peers.
Brethren: The vampires and their ageless lineages were the fourth Great Faction to sign the Accords. Their control of the Roman Empire ended in the third Fey War, and as their empire fell, The Brethren (sometimes called just “The Family”) signed onto the Accords, lending their power to The Veil. As they have since the days of Rome, Brethren feed upon the blood of humanity; it was they who clarified the Culling agreement among the Accords to protect their food supply. Now, The Brethren extend their reach through the criminal underworld all across the globe, building wealth and trafficking in humanity.
Tribes of the Moon: The Moon-Bound, shape changers of all forms, are also bound by the Accords. The tribal elders signed the Accords shortly after The Sanguine for two reasons; first to avoid further war over their hunting grounds and second to gain access to the Ways of Arcadia, the Fey realms. Through the Accords the Tribes of the Moon can pass in and out of the Far Wilds, the forests of Faerie, and use the many pathways to and from the Other Worlds to hunt, gather and control humanity. When seers of the Wise approached the Moon-Bound with a vision of the vast human civilization that would dwarf falling Rome, they were eager to sign onto the Accords to open new hunting grounds in the Other Worlds.
The Host: The powers that humanity imagines as Demonic and Angelic hosts, and their human children, the Nephilim were the last Great Faction to sign onto the Accords. The Accords are a uniquely earth-bound invention, tied inexorably to humanity and the realms of existence that serve humanity. The Host were assigned to creation by some outside force to look after humanity. Their signing of the Accords provided a great burst of power in the agreements; the Host represent humanity’s hidden purpose, the origin of the human soul. The Host signed onto the Accords to protect whatever it is in the human soul that interests them; the Angels and Demons that work behind the scenes of humanity and lead people into goodness and hope or despair and evil have a vested interest in keeping the supernatural world secret from humanity so they can continue to manipulate and harvest souls for some unknown purpose.
Enemies of the Accords
The Panopticon: The Illuminati, secret leaders behind human society, and their New World Order, sit in opposition to the magic and power of the Accords. Such purists still hold that mundane humanity is a resource to be harvested, spent and leveraged, but they believe humanity is a resource for humans alone. The people of the world are an asset that humans should harvest, not some primal supernatural predator or fey spirit. The Panopticon has eyes everywhere, and wields powerful magic-negating abilities. They move on a global scale, in a secret war of espionage and financial manipulation, always avoiding open conflict, but stealing from the Factions, killing their members, and undermining authority. Someday, the Panopticon hopes, humanity will be prey only to them…
Outsiders: Occasionally members of the Accords encounter an “Outsider” or their agents. Outsiders date from a time and space before Gaia was born; they are the shadow between the stars, the space between moments, the event-horizon at the edge of creation. Outsiders are not bound by reality in any way a member of the Accords can begin to comprehend; time and space warp and bend as if unimportant in their presence. Among humanity, cults that serve the Outsiders operate in secrete, and wield power that is corruption incarnate against the magic of the Accords. Their agents are incredibly dangerous to faction members.