 |
| "Hm? Why do you approach us? Do you seek audience with us?" Even amongst the smallest of Fae communities, there is a leader. Whether that be the small shaman of a flowery patch of earth, or the goddess-like queen of the greatest of forests. While not all fae are so dependent on the benefits and burdens of such communal leadership, they, just like humans, have their city-folk and their nomads. These leaders, Queens, Druids, Shamans, or simple unnamed sprites, are usually easily discerned as 'different' from the rest of their kind, at least when considering them as a whole. Sometimes, their appearance, personality, and all around function is the same as any normal fae one might meet, but almost all of them hold some difference within them that seems to beckon them towards the position of governing their kind. Some are just slightly more blatant. Alcyone is one of the latter, so fate has ordained. From the day of her birth, it was known that she would be 'special', having emerged from a single, crimson rose amidst a field of daffodils and tulips. Numerous beings watched, especially those fae that so frequented the particular patch of flowery delight. Foreign and Native alike, the rumor of the misplaced rose had attracted quite some attention among them, leading the more adventurous to exploit the oddity in numerous ways, such as tricking a few adventurers into thinking the patch was poisonous, and therefore gaining some trinkets, as well as a few here and there selling tickets to what later became a free showing. Even so, the day the golden one came, all watched as she slowly awoke, stood, and spoke. "I... We are Alcyone." While most were puzzled at her use of the plural, they received her as one of their own, though, for a fae, they all noticed she was... slightly taller than most, if not all of themselves; She was also very beautiful, having been blessed with a lithe, mature figure that may have been less than common for her kind, as well, accented by long, flowing golden strands of hair, and strange, multi-colored bodily markings that wrapped around her at asymmetrical points. Truly, for one so new and innocent to the world, she certainly looked the part, so far as one can compare to a gift that's newly presented, so shiny, and so clean. Unlike such a gift, however, Alcyone only continued to shine brighter. At a very young age, even though already an adult, Alcyone began her ascension to the highest order of Fae council, gaining the love and adoration of her tribe, as well as the respect and regard of her seniors among the councilmen. Due to her ingenuity when it came to solving disputes among the fae, and her innate leadership qualities when supplies ran low, and the neighboring tribes began to threaten war from territorial stress, she continued to rise to power, eventually even uniting all the tribes in the local area, including the great forest to the west, and even planned out the new capital, in terms of a Fae tree city, within it's more elusive and secretive borders. With such command of her people, leaving even the council in awe of her powerful wisdom and command, she was easily pushed to quickly become Queen, allowing her all powers of the council. The millennium that passed after her ascension was a good many years, frequented mostly by peace, and prosperity. As fate would so deem it necessary to mark her further, however, the small fae would find that their queen would not remain so small, forever. Each year, she grew, slowly. Inch, by graceful inch. It was an unnoticeable thing, at first, but a few bumps of the head against doors and archways soon gave notice and suspicion their outlets. The trend would continue, and the city would, among the trees that surrounded them, grow along with its Queen, eventually taking the form of a large, unoccupied grove with a shrine-like palace at its center. Fae flit around the place endlessly, while the now human-size Queen resides in her palace, leaving its boundaries daily and settling among her tiny people. Alcyone, as it would have it, is gifted with a strange affinity to other beings of her kind; They find a compulsion to serve her, as well as revere her, which is possibly the reason her little colony functions so well. They've essentially developed into a sort of hive-mind, all seeking her happiness and a continued existence with their queen. It just so happens that Alcyone manages to handle such devotion rather well, instead of becoming drunk with power, like so many others. While little is known about their Queen's origin or planar nature, the small Fae surrounding her, understandably, eventually came to consider their lovely leader their goddess, protector and guardian of their kind, as well as an entity that they serve religiously, rather than only as a governing power. The exchange, while flattering, does not go unnoticed by Alcyone, who regularly protects and guards the little ones of her people, actively soaring above the treetops, watching over the lands that she surveys. Rumor has it that she can also grow much larger, at whim, when she has to; Though, whether that is a part of the mythology surrounding her status as a goddess, or something more, no-one knows. So, if you find yourself treading among such a clearing, one with the faint lights and giggles of Fae-kind, and seemingly devoid of any beast that would normally reside in such an area, watch your step. After all, you may be in the presence of a Queen... Or perhaps something more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  |