Faerie Lords
I have been working on a number of Faerie Lords for the Basic Bestiaries and the High Witch book. These lords provide a number of interesting background NPCs and are also the various Powers that both Faerie Tradition Witches and Fey Pact Warlocks can honor/serve. I have already detailed a few here, Titania, Queen of Faerie, Nicnevin, Faerie Queen of Witches, the Queen of Lies, and the Prince of Beasts.
My focus lately has been building the court of Nicnevin (also known as Nic an Neachneohain). Hers is not a court of deep intrigues like Mab's or Titania's, but a powerful court all the same. Since those Courts are typically (if somewhat incorrectly) described as the Dark and Light courts (more properly Winter and Summer) I need a few independent "Shadow" Courts. Nicnevin is the Queen of the Autumn Court. Not a major court to be sure, but still powerful.
Shadow Elves
There are more than one "Shadow Courts." Last year I did a big series on Shadow Elves and various other shadow fey. I was trying to come up with a good idea for Shadow Elves in my world and I looked to the Shadow Elves of Mystara and the Shadow Fey from Kobold Press and even into the ideas of the Shadowfell from D&D 4th Edition. This lead me to do an adaptation of Kobold Press' The Dusk Queen. But she is PI so I won't be using her in my books, save for maybe as a special guest in my home games.
While reading more about the Shadowfell, the mortal world, and the Feywild for D&D 4 and 5 I came up with an idea of my own.
Just as the Mortal World (the Prime Material) intersects with the Shadow World (Shadowfell) and the World of Faerie (Feywild) they also intersect with each other.
So less this:
And more this:
Excuse my lack of artistic ability here.
All three worlds intersect. The intersection point of the Mortal and the Faerie is already detailed in many D&D books as the Feywild. The intersection of the Mortal and Shadow is the Shadowfell. The Shadowfey is the intersection of the Realms of Shadow and the Faerie Realms independent of the mortal world. This is the area I am working on. This is the home of the Umbral Elves.
Last Bits
Among other things I also needed a Faerie Lord, or at the very least a high level Faerie/Elf to be the father of a particular character. I needed to have that character spend 13 years "stuck" in the faerie realms while she was getting instruction by her "faerie godmother" (Nicnevin). And finally, I needed to develop a group of Elven Cavaliers for various reasons. This particular group of Cavaliers is linked to witches and witchcraft. Essentially they are the Elven Cavaliers from Dragon Magazine #114 tied more closely to the witch class that appears in the same issue.
I also wanted a character that recalled the B/X Elf class that used sword and spell with equal proficiencies.
Putting all of this together a new Faerie Lord emerges.
Scáthaithe, The Umbral Lord
Faerie Lord
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Neutral [Chaotic Neutral]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
Fly: 240' (80') [24"]
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 13d8+52*** (111 hp)
To Hit AC0: 6 (+13)
Attacks: Sword +2 x3 or by spell
Damage: 1d8 +2 x3 or by spell
Special: Attacks three times per round, darkvision, harmed only by cold iron and magic weapons, 30% magic resistance, Wizard spells (12th level)
Languages: Common, Elven, Sylvan, Giant, Abyssal
Size: Medium
Save: Magic-user 13
Morale: 12 (NA)
Treasure Hoard Class: U (VI) x10, See below
XP: 5,150 (OSE) 5,300 (LL)
Str: 16 (+2) Dex: 18 (+3) Con: 20 (+4) Int: 20 (+4) Wis: 16 (+2) Cha: 24 (+5)
The Faerie Court of Autumn is ruled very loosely by Nicnevin the Faerie Queen of Witches. Her sometimes consort and Cowan is a being known in court as the Knight of Swords. He is also known as Scáthaithe ("skaw-he"), the Umbral Lord. He is the melancholy lord of the Shadow Elves.
Scáthaithe appears as a tall (7') tall elf-lord. His skin is pale with an almost bluish tint to it. His hair is long and black and often tied back. His eyes are bright green and his pupils are slitted like that of a cat's. He wears the armor of a knight and carries a long darkened sword he calls "Moonblade." He is often astride a black warhorse with large black wings. The barding of this warhorse makes it at first appear to be some dark unicorn but is more akin to the pegasus.
When not in the court of the Witch Queen he will be found with his six sons, the Umbral Knights, patrolling the lands of the Shadowfey. His sons act as 8-10 HD versions of their father. Their role is to patrol the Shadowfey and keep intruders out. This includes mortals and creatures of the outer planes. Elementals can be found here if they have the leave of the local lords or ladies.
Scáthaithe will attack intruders to the Shadowfey with both sword and spell. He will use a long-range spell, such as magic missile to start with and then switch to his sword which he can attack three times per round. He can cast spells as a 12th level magic-user.
The Umbral Lord has a keep deep in the Shadowfey, Scáthchoimeád where he resides with his sons. He had a Lady, his sons' mother, but that was long ago and he never speaks of her. Presently he has taken up with a young human witch. It is also rumored that he is the son of a great lord of the Summer Court and a great lady of the Winter Court, possibly even Oberon and Mab.
Scáthaithe as a Witch/Warlock Patron: By agreement with his Queen Nicnevin, Scáthaithe does not take on witches as part of the Faerie Tradition. Though he can be invoked by these witches through Nicnevin. He does however work as a Patron for warlocks. He can be used as a Fey Pact Patron and is particularly well suited as a Pact of the Blade warlock. His warlock can manifest a dark sword similar to his one Moonblade. He is also favored by half-elf warlocks who see themselves as being a member of two different worlds and also being of neither; like a shadow.
.png "Scáthaithe, The Umbral Lord")
.png "Scáthaithe and an impressionable young witch")
