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PROLOGUE
Man is at war. Using magic and their iron weapons, mortals fight for control of land and power over one another. Fueled by their farms, their gods, and the strength of their arsenals, they have created the Fae. Stronger, faster, immortal, and governed by the rules of magic, the Fae intermingle with their creators and foment greater conflict. The gods and goddesses, protectors of mankind for millennia, watch and interfere with disastrous results. The time has come for the Immortals to leave the humans behind. The Jade Emperor, Shangdi of the East, calls to council others of his kind. The Fae arrive, unexpectedly, in droves from all the world over. The gods come more slowly, they are wary of this conclave. Shangdi holds court, hearing grievances from the tribes and species of Fae which humanity has wrought with the knowledge of the gods and their ill-managed magic. The gods express their protests against humanity and the Fae with great magnitude and the earth shakes with their rage. Shangdi seeks the wise from this gathering to lay down judgement and justice on behalf of the Immortals, young and old, Fae and Divine. From the four corners of the Earth he creates the first High Council. He places his trust in the Chief Druidess of the Celts, the goddess Danu. She has led the Celts into rapid expansion across the west. It is from her that the humans learned to harness magic and bind their mortal forms to the Earth, creating the Fae. The blood she spilt to bind the first human bound the Fae to her. And so it is to Danu that all Fae owe their loyalty.The Druidess and the Emperor become chief arbiters of the council. Shangdi errs on the side of his fellow Immortals, deity and Fae alike, respectful of humanity, but no longer beholden to those who created him and his kind. Danu treats with mortals directly and thus gives weight to the problems of man. She nurtures humanity, but does not coddle them. Slowly the Fae and the Divine ally themselves according to their interest rather than their species. Danu and Shangdi accumulate followers amongst the Immortals.Each nominates four others to sit alongside them. Shangdi calls upon the Aesir King Odin and his wife, Frigg, to sit in judgement. Danu asks for Abassi and Atai from South of the Great Desert to serve with her. Shangdi then turns his eyes to Vishnu and Shiva, humbly asking for their support. Danu looks further West and asks for Pachamama and Atna, the mothers, to join them. Thus the High Court is formed from the High Council of Danu and Shangdi, all of the earth under the watchful eyes of its most powerful deities and fae. All are given due process before the court.The High Court exists in harmony for four millennia as the mortals’ wars rage, as their empires grow and fall. The Immortals seek the edges of magic on earth and find The Underground. This realm exists alongside the mundane mortal world, accessible through waypoints where ley lines intersect and magic is strong. The barrier between the worlds becomes known as the Mists and those mortals who cross quickly lose themselves or their memories in the realm of magic. Immortals steal entire empires, kingdoms, and cities from the mortals as they move beyond the Mists. They leave behind dull, magically weakened copies in their places. The havens of Avalon, Valhalla, Ukhu Pacha, The Golden Palace, and Vaikuntha arise as the homes of the High Court’s councilors. Abassi and Atai, as well as Atna, have no permanent homes, choosing to roam with their peoples. Soon other cities and kingdoms are established as the Immortals are delineated along the lines of power and human belief.As Immortals expand their territory underground, other creatures are discovered. The Aesir call them kobold. Danu’s people call them goblins. They are ugly in comparison to the beauty of the Immortals, but hardy creatures. The High Court seeks them out and finds them living amongst the walls of a great maze. It moves of its own will and is cared for by a lonely dwarf. He tells the court that the Labyrinth speaks for itself and leads them to the center with its permission. The High Court, led by Shangdi and Danu, come to an agreement with the Labyrinth. It will exist outside the purview of mortal and Immortal laws, subject to itself and its chosen sovereigns. The Goblin King and Queen, the Labyrinth tells them, are chosen by right of conquest. Any the Labyrinth deems worthy may run the gauntlet and take the crown. Danu’s daughter Badb Macha catches the eye of the Goblin King, Neit, a half-Fomorian, half-hobgoblin. The Labyrinth notices its King’s interest in the goddess and challenges her to run the Labyrinth for the Queenship. Badb Macha becomes only the third Goblin Queen since the Labyrinth’s inception. She rules until the birth of her youngest sister, the Faerie Queen Mab, before abdicating the throne and retiring with her husband to leave their son, Dagda as king. The Accords are laid down to protect the interests of mortal and immortal alike. The Labyrinth and its King, as neutral parties, oversee the Accords’ creation, but do not hold to them. Dagda acts as arbiter for the Accords, drawing up the tenets according to the wishes of the Immortals and their High Court. Any Immortal who holds to the Accords and breaks them is forever banished Above. Banished, but not abandoned. For magic wanes in the world of man and all Immortals are beholden to keep magic alive.
THE ACCORDS
As laid down by the High Court of Immortals
The Dagda, The Goblin King, Arbiter of the Accords
Shangdi of the East, The Jade Emperor
Danu Ban-túathaid, Chief Druidess of the Celts
Odin the Wanderer, King of the Aesir
Frigg the Weaver, Queen of the Aesir
Vishnu the Absolute
Shiva, Destroyer of Evil and the Transformer
Abassi the Supreme Creator
Atai the Mediator
Pachamama the Earth Mother
Atna, Mother Corn
1) The Right of Neutrality. The Labyrinth existed before any Immortal. It, and its denizens, are granted neutrality in all matters. No oath-sworn or blood-born citizen of the Labyrinth and the Goblin Kingdom is beholden to the Accords or the High Court. 2) The Right to Sovereignty. No Immortal may enter another’s domain without permission. To do so is an act of war. Immortals may claim domain over lands Above and Below. 3) The Right of Domain. Rulers are granted dominion over their lands and people. They are beholden to the will of the people, and the people to the will of their ruler. If any oath-sworn or blood-born citizen defies their sovereign, they are subject to the laws of their sovereign. If a sovereign defies the will of the citizens, the people may replace the sovereign. Any citizen, royal or not, is subject to banishment. 4) The Right of Protection. Mortality is forbidden in the Underground. No mortal may live Below. To remain Underground is to sacrifice mortality or memory. Mortals bound to the Labyrinth must become Goblin or Fae. Those who Wish, should they be mortal, must return Above with no memory of their time Below. 5) The Right of Obligation. Immortals are beholden to humanity. Human belief and magic created all Immortals, gods and fae alike. Humanity must be respected. No Immortal may interfere in a mortal’s life without due cause or invitation. 6) The Right of Bond. No Immortal may interfere with the bonding of another. To break an Immortal’s bond with magic is a declaration of war on that Immortal’s kith and kin. 7) The Right of Mundanity. Mortals are not subject to the laws of the Underground unless they pledge allegiance to an Immortal. All children born to the intermingling of mortal and Immortal blood will be subject to a mundane existence unless the Immortal brings the child across the Mists. Immortals may choose to live Above in the mundane world. The Accords served as guidelines for rule for a time. But, as humanity grew and dreamed new Immortals into being, fractures splintered ties both Above and Below. No longer were the Accords upheld to the letter by those who believed themselves superior to humanity. No longer were the Accords respected by those who felt it was their duty to foster humanity’s future.Humanity formed its own permanent civilizations and imagined newer gods into existence. Amongst them was the goddess Inanna, daughter of the god Anu. In her city, Uruk, she led the Mesopotamian peoples to glory until the birth of her son, Gilgamesh. The boy drew the ire of her brother, Enlil, and he led a rebellion from his fortress Underground, Nippur, against his sister and her children. Their war broke the Accords as mortals crossed the Mists in droves to fight for their goddess. Soon all were drawn into the conflict as mortals and their inelegant magic damaged the very foundations of The Underground. The Immortals took sides, and soon the High Court itself was torn asunder. Innana, newly christened Ishtar by the Babylonians, made peace with her brother and assailed the Golden Palace of Shangdi. The Jade Emperor, leader of the High Court, slaughtered Ishtar’s people in an attempt to kill her and her brother by breaking their bond. Though he called for help, Danu and the High Court did not answer. Danu, weakened by the mass slaughter of Celts by the new Greek armies, gifted her youngest daughter with all her power and faded away. Queen Mab, alongside her Fae husband, refused to help Shangdi as he promoted the slaughter of mortals by the thousands. His attempt to break Ishtar and Enlil’s bond cemented this decision. Shangdi had broken the very Accords he claimed to uphold. Pachamama and Atna, insulated from the wars respected their new Queen’s decision and ignored the call. Abassi and Atai, besieged by the Egyptian gods and their mortal Pharaohs, could not come, nor would they. The Aesir, learning of Shangdi’s attempt to sever Ishtar and Enlil’s bond with magic, turned away. Vishnu and Shiva, outraged, joined the brother and sister in their rebellion. Enlil and Ishtar routed the Emperor’s armies and, with the Aesir’s blessing, Vishnu and Shiva crowned Ishtar Empress of the new Unseelie Court. This new court did not hold to the Accords and viewed humanity as a necessity but not worthy of respect. All those who shared this belief payed tribute to Ishtar in Uruk, newly moved Below. United by the Empress, the Unseelie Immortals sought to rule the whole of The Underground. They laid siege to Queen Mab and her allies, beginning the Great Wars. For centuries, Seelie and Unseelie fought for control of the Underground and the magical places Above. They used the magically inclined humans and their leaders as proxies, leaving the Underground in peace as mortals died by the thousands. Mab, with her husband, Oberon, waged war with ruthless efficiency through her proxies. She never placed her trust or power behind any single monarch or empire. Instead she eroded the Unseelie through the use of magic itself. The witches, wizards, warlocks, and mages of the mortal world were recruited to the Seelie cause. They cast spells and enchantments to dismantle the Unseelie’s mortal armies before they were created. The death blow came when the Romans sacked Carthage. Qin, a powerful sorcerer, took power in China and created his fledgling empire under the tutelage of the Faerie Queen. But in Rome, where the Unseelie ruled directly over the Empire in the guise of senators and the wealthy for centuries the death blow came swiftly. The Second Punic War raged for years, drawing the whole of the Mediterranean into conflict.The Romans made promises to Ishtar and her people. They would sacrifice thousands in honor of the Unseelie gods, giving them the power to attack Avalon head on, in exchange for support sacking Carthage. Ishtar agreed. The Romans reneged and named no sacrifices. Without the boost of power, the Unseelie, drawn into open war Underground against a renewed Mab, found their armies routed. Against her brother’s wishes, Ishtar approached the Seelie for peace. TThe peace was bought with life. Ishtar and Oberon would have a child. This child would be the bridge between Seelie and Unseelie, educated and raised by both sides to act as arbiter of their disputes. Mab, now Titania as she shed the warrior, and Enlil agreed to the terms of peace begrudgingly. Both sides would lose swaths of territory Above and relinquish their hold over the mortals. This child would uphold the peace through its long life. As ever, Fate had other plans. Twins were born to Ishtar and Oberon.