The Fey-Touched
Fey-touched is a term used throughout Warlderia for mortals who possess some lingering connection to the Fey World. It is not a race, nor does it necessarily indicate that an individual is themselves a fey creature. Rather, something of Faerie has entered their blood, spirit or very nature and never entirely departed.
There are many ways in which a person might become fey-touched. Some possess distant fey ancestry, perhaps inherited from a dryad, nymph, sidhe or other fey ancestor many generations before. Others were born close to powerful crossings between the mortal and Fey Worlds, spent part of their childhood amongst the fey, received the blessing of a powerful fey creature or were exposed to particularly potent fey magic. Occasionally there is no obvious explanation at all.
Signs of the Fey
There is no single means of identifying someone who is fey-touched. In some the inheritance is physical. They may possess unusually vivid eyes, slightly pointed ears despite having no known Elven ancestry, hair of an uncommon colour, an ageless quality to their features or a peculiar grace that is difficult to explain. Others look entirely ordinary.
The signs may instead appear in their behaviour or supernatural sensitivities. Animals may respond unusually well to them. They may instinctively recognise places touched by fey magic, occasionally glimpse creatures concealed from ordinary mortals or experience strange dreams when sleeping close to a crossing into the Fey World.
Some possess an uncanny sense for paths.
A fey-touched traveller might notice a woodland trail that nobody else remembers seeing, know instinctively which fork to take despite having never travelled the road before, or realise that a particular ring of trees leads somewhere that it quite obviously should not. Such instincts should not necessarily be trusted. The fey themselves frequently find this amusing.
Degrees of the Fey Touch
The strength of the connection varies enormously. For most fey-touched people it amounts to little more than an oddity: a mortal with a distant fey ancestor who occasionally dreams of unfamiliar forests or has always been exceptionally comfortable amongst woodland creatures. In others the inheritance is considerably stronger.
Such individuals may perceive things hidden by fey magic, resist certain enchantments, communicate unusually easily with sylvan creatures or even instinctively sense places where the Veil between worlds has grown thin.
Very rarely, a fey-touched mortal learns to cross that Veil. This is not generally a spell or consciously learned ability. The traveller simply recognises a path that others cannot see and somehow knows that following it will lead somewhere else. Where somewhere else happens to be is another matter.
The Fey and the Fey-Touched
Fey creatures themselves generally recognise the fey-touched more readily than mortals do. A dryad, pixie or powerful Sidhe may immediately sense that there is something unusual about an individual without necessarily knowing its origin. Reactions vary considerably. Some regard the fey-touched affectionately as distant kin. Others regard them as curiosities.
A few consider mortal descendants of the fey to be unfortunate mongrels who belong properly to neither world. Powerful fey may take a particular interest in someone whose connection is unusually strong, especially where that individual appears capable of abilities their ancestry alone should not entirely explain. Being noticed by the fey is therefore not necessarily a blessing.
The distinction becomes particularly important upon the ancient Queen's Roads. It is said that those who are fey-touched may travel these paths with a modicum of success, for the roads seem to recognise something familiar within them. A fey-touched traveller may instinctively perceive turns hidden from ordinary eyes or understand that a path should be taken only beneath moonlight. Even they cannot entirely rely upon the Queen's Roads. For ordinary mortals, however, deliberately travelling them is considered exceedingly unwise. The roads belong to Faerie, and they possess little regard for mortal expectations concerning distance, direction or time.