Impossible Colors a Feywild Treatise

Written by Faeling Dontori, 354 pages

Forward

“That which paints the world we see, that we take for granted

Only when we look at it from outside the frame

That we see it truly mattered” - Alhperina Gothra

I was a painter long before I was a wizard; when I was three my gift manifested, and I was suddenly able to create beautiful images from thin air. I spent my days building upon this skill, and with time my interest in the source of it grew, and I sought the answers so many before me have sought.

But the base, primal calling of the art was always a backdrop to my studies. Chromatic patterns have always drawn my attention, and some of you might be familiar with some of my spells created from this vast interest I hold in the subject (Chromatic Orb and Prismatic Wall are two notable examples, as are the less known Chromatic Shift and Saturation).

When I have had the chance to hear stories about the feywild, what first drew my attention was the description of colors beyond anything seen before, vibrant and saturated and tuned far from what we could even conceive.

And so, while this treatise aims to take a broad look at the feywild and its existence, some of it will take extra care to look into the magical phenomena regarding the colors of this strange, beautiful world.

A little about the structure of this work - I have separated it into three complementary parts, each designed to give as much to the reader without devolving into complete disarray of hypotheses and observations, and allowing the reader to form their own assumptions and thoughts about the various matters mentioned here before being sullied by our own learned theories.

The first chapter will deal with what we have observed ourselves, and will stick to only our own, verifiable knowledge.

The second will go into what we have heard from various creatures native to the feywild, while also taking with a grain of salt their accounts (for reasons detailed in the chapter).

The third chapter will focus solely on our theories and assumptions regarding phenomena mentioned in the first two thirds of the book.

Chapter 1 - What We Can See

First accounts of the feywild were and still are in the list of my favorite reads. There was, and I say that quite literally, a unique lack of vocabulary to discuss the bizarrely beautiful landscape and quirky inhabitants. Phrases like “colorful beyond colorful, with streaks of color between” and “a woman who looked like a porcelain doll made of leaves” were abundant and varied, and while they paint some highly absurd images, they should clue us in on the absurdity of the feywild itself.

Years of expeditions and forays into this plane of existence has given us much more time to develop words to describe it, but this is not a study in Philology (see “influence of planar travel on vocabulary and grammar”, by Olof Gigon) and so we will not touch on the subject.

What we have seen in the Feywild has broadened our understanding on many subjects, though some will say it also widened the gaps in our knowledge in tandem.

For the reader’s convenience and sake of brevity and order, I will detail in the list below the most notable phenomena we have observed and what we know for sure about it.

1. Impossible Colors - the namesake of this treatise and the feywild most striking feature are its colors. Vibrant, Saturated, Burning with presence; all describe how overly tuned colors seem to be in the Feywild to our eyes. In addition, there are also literal “impossible” colors, such as stygian blue, magenta gold, octarine, ulfire, pleurigloss, irrigo and many others. Some travelers also observed symptoms of synesthesia, mainly association of colors with multiple other senses. Staying for more than a few hours in the feywild often caused these effects to persist even after going back to the prime, and we even observed some people claiming they can still see the so-called “impossible” colors in the prime.

2. Unseen Illumination - the light in the Feywild seems to be always in a state of between states, similar to our own dawn or twilight. Unlike the prime material plane (which has a sun, and day/night cycle), the feywild is without such a heavenly body. Despite that, there seems to be some source of light, one that cannot be seen clearly.

3. Emotion laid bare - Strong emotions seem to affect the landscape and denizens of the Feywild itself, and there are multiple accounts of wilting flowers in the trail of despondent or furious visitors, and of carefree animals traveling alongside chipper and cheerful individuals.

4. Senses and Emotions, intensified - Visitors to the plane found that all sensations, both sensory and emotional, are heightened. Smells are stronger, sounds are clearer, and food tastes much more intensely. But at the same time, emotions were enhanced and impulses were harder to control.

5. Familiar yet alien - this work will not deal with the ways the geography and layout reflects or resembles that of the Prime Material. This is a much bigger topic better covered by others (See ‘Mirror or Looking Glass, a foray into the vibrant world’ by Ornok Denil, one of the best researchers of the feywild in my humble opinion)

6. Time Dilation - time does not flow the same in the Feywild as on the Prime. While any visitor on record felt time flowing as normal, it was often the case that more time was passing in the Prime, sometimes on the order of weeks, months, or years longer than expected, although it was also possible for little or no time to have passed instead. There are even records of Lost time suddenly “catching up” to a mortal after they leave the feywild, sending them into fits of exhaustion or hunger, or even killing them instantly if many years had passed

7. Arcane Empowerment - Arcane magic runs more freely and powerfully in the Feywild than it does on the Prime (though not as strongly as it did back in the old days of The Empire), and many of its inhabitants and landmarks are suffused with magic. Additionally, arcane spells tend to be amplified in power or duration when cast in the Feywild, and other times manifest in entirely unexpected ways.

8. Inhabitants - The inhabitants of the Feywild are numerous and many, just like those on the Prime. There are animals, plants, and mortals of various sizes and types. Focusing on the mortals, they vary in temperament from kind to malicious, but almost all have traits that we would consider “mischievous”, and all seem to find travelers from the Prime as much of an oddity as we them.

9. Seelie and Unseelie Fey - Most fey (as we call the mortals of the feywild) serve one of two godlike archfey queens - Titania the Summer Queen or Mab the Queen of Winter, who share an ancient and bitter rivalry. Those who belong to Titiana’s Seelie Court call themselves the seelie fey, and tend to be more benign. They tend to be honorable toward visitors to the Feywild, if a bit mischievous, but do not welcome non-fey to join their Court. Those who belong to the Mab’s Unseelie Court call themselves unseelie fey, and are generally more malicious, favoring the macabre aspects of the natural world. They tend to be dangerous and untrustworthy in their dealings with visitors, however they welcome non-fey into their Court. The Courts’ rivalry seems to be carried through games, acts of mischief and general plotting, though violence does emerge from time to time.
   Those inhabitants not ascribing to any court hold no allegiances except at their own whims, or serve another of the archfey, such as Oberon, Hyrsam, or the Prince of Frost. It seems that some of the “Uglier” (as they are described by both seelie and unseelie fey) inhabitants of the Feywild, such as fomorians and hags, are generally not welcome among either of the Courts, though more on that will be elaborated in the next chapter.

Chapter 2 - What We Have Heard

“Hearing is different from seeing, for seeing is knowing and hearing is thinking” - this old Jaknian adage holds true for many purposes, but in our study of the feywild it holds special meaning and intricacies. This chapter will deal with information gained by talking with feywild creatures - fey, as they are called - and is special in the sense that, while still scholarly in nature, verifying the information gained in this form is harder than ever. Fey might look similar to us mortals, at least some of them; but their minds, their very nature and souls, are different beyond measure. There are unbreachable gaps between our realities, gaps that cause our communication to be shrouded with doubt.

Readers more familiar with the subject matter might find it strange that I chose not to include the special nature of sylvan, the fey tongue, in the previous chapter. And while it is indeed a most peculiar subject, there are two main reasons I chose to forgo doing so:

1. This subject is better addressed by others, more trained in the fields of Philology (I would recommend Say What You Mean, by Gilles Fauconnier)

2. There is a certain ambiguity when looking at statements saied in sylvan, regarding whether to regard them as objective fact (since lying in sylvan is nigh impossible) or as subjective views (since fey perceive truth and fact differently from us, at times)

Regardless, this was a choice I stand firmly behind. Let us focus on what we have learned from accounts given to us by the fey.

1. The few fey who we interacted with in our own world seem to agree that while our own world is “dull and muted” compared to the feywild, they can still see the impossible colors, adding more weight to ideas that will be presented in the next chapter.

2. The fey seem to be puzzled by our day-night cycle, with some refusing to stay once the sun went down, and others insisting on going out and investigating the strange phenomena. Most found it beyond their understanding, though we did hear from one powerful archfey (Oberon) that it is “as things should be”. He mentioned the mysterious “Worldpact”, on which I will talk extensively.

3. Deals and Truth - as mentioned before, sylvan carries with it the peculiar attribute that those who speak it cannot lie. While fey certainly corroborate this fact, they often say words in manners that, given careful inspection, will contain clear misdirection. They all claim that “talking false is perversion of purpose” and would not do so outright even speaking in common, though they do claim that one of the reason hags were outcasted was because they devised means to lie using sylvan.

The fey’s tendency towards truth seems to be enhanced when agreements and deals are involved. Oftentimes, when an agreement is proposed, they seem highly interested. They claim that deals are binding “beyond nowhood”, though when asked about the meaning they seem confused and never elaborate. Suffice it to say that fey claim to never break a deal, but would also expect as much from those they deal with.

4. Hierarchy - The fey have clear hierarchies, though their function is often not explained by them. Sadly, this matter is one that we know very little about besides what I wrote in the first chapter.

5. The Worldpact - this was mentioned many times, though only by fey of high stations (“archfeys”). They refer to it often as “The Queens’ deal” and “The Equilibrium”, and it is said to be something both courts agreed on, a rare occurrence it seems. Whatever it was, the fey who mentioned it always declined giving any more details, claiming it was forbidden. Mentioning it they claim is okay, but only in vague terms that they believe give no information that will lead to deciphering its meaning or purpose.

Chapter 3 - What We Conclude

In my opinion, every scholarly work that discusses a subject as alien and diverse as the feywild needs to contain not just facts, but assumptions as well. This serves to show the reader that the subject is far from decided and cemented in scholarly circles, and there is still a universe of possibilities to explore..

1. Impossible colors - I believe that the fact that both us mortals and fey who leave the feywild seem to keep perceiving the colors suggests that the feywild carries with it an effect of ‘enhancing’ our natural perception. The colors always exist, it is just that the feywild alters our perception of light and colors and allows us to see them. This is further supported by the fact that the synesthesia effects also last beyond staying in the feywild, meaning that it does indeed alter our brain in some form.

2. Origin shrouded in mystery - there are many theories on where the feywild came from. I did not touch on the subject in previous chapters since what I have to say is merely speculatory, but I ascribe to the notion that neither explanation holds much water. The school of thought that believes in prior existence will point to the long existence of the archfeys and their hierarchies; but I will remind them that the feywild is time dilated, and that any record from within it should be taken with it in mind. To those who believe in mirroring existence, I will raise the following question - if it is so, then why does it only mirror places, and not people, items or events? Why do they have a different language and different gods?

I believe the answer to the questions is more complex than both schools of thought suggest, and that we should investigate it more thoroughly.

3. The Worldpact - This mystery is by far the most puzzling of the things we see from the feywild. Most scholars would agree it has to do with our gods protecting us from the feywild in some form or others, making a pact with the courts to prevent all out war. I could not find any source or explanation as to where this dogma rose from, and would encourage my readers to throw aside such strong ideas that stand on no base at all. Remember - sometimes, it is better to know nothing at all and bask in ignorance than to hold false notions with utmost certainty.

Afterward

I set out to document and organize all we knew of the vibrant world beyond our own. I have found the task to be an insurmountable challenge, one better attempted by large groups of researchers with funding of large institutions behind them.

Despite that, I kept on. The last 20 years of my life have been dedicated to the strange and bizarre world that we have found, and I am both sad and delighted to report that, given 20 more, I would have not even scratched the surface. This has been a great undertaking that I am grateful to have taken, and I hope it has brought you, the reader, as much joy and usefulness as I had hoped.

There are many questions left unanswered, many subjects I haven’t even touched on briefly (I never even mentioned the shadowfell, the feywilds dark twin!).

I tried adding direction to other scholarly work I felt did a better job than me, and would like to remark again that if you haven’t found the answers you were looking for here, dear reader, don’t be discouraged! Many more works and answers lay in waiting, and it is up to you to make use of that fact!