Fairies

Fairies are winged humanoids creatures, found on many magic-rich worlds. It's no surprise a large population of them exist in Felarya, divided into a myriad of different species and tribes. The biggest concentration of them live in the fairy kingdom. Fairies are usually playful, curious and mischievous beings, who love to have fun more than anything else. They tend to be fickle, free-spirited and made of raw emotions. Their frame is usually rather lithe and slender , not really tailored for physical combat and most fairies rely more on speed and magic than on strength in order to deal with potential threats. On Felarya, fairies are widely feared and considered dangerous predators. They are voracious, they can fly, and they are often efficient spell casters. They love to snack on adventurers in the jungle, usually after shrinking them. They pose such a threat that a popular -but erroneous- belief is that being eaten by a fairy is the primary cause of death for humans on Felarya.

Size Shifting

Main article: Fairy Size-Shifting

A fairy's most feared ability is their size-shifting magic. It enables them to change their size at will, from 3 inches to about 100 feet within mere seconds, although this range varies from one fairy to another, and some can't change size at all. Moreover, almost all fairies possess the innate ability to temporarily alter the size of another creature in a similar fashion. It depends a lot on the original size of the target and its magic resistance though. For instance if the target is too big to start with, the fairy might be unable to change its size at all. Furthermore, a fairy needs to be close to the creature in order to change its size effectively. While possible to affect more than one creature at once, most fairies find it far easier to simply concentrate on one at a time.

In most cases, that size alteration is only temporary and a creature who has had its size changed by a fairy usually returns to its normal size within a time lapse varying from about a dozen minutes to a few hours, depending on the fairy. It's interesting to note that the duration of that effect is shorter if the target, say an adventurer that has been shrunken, manages to get far enough from the fairy. In that case they will eventually pop back to their original size without having to wait for the effect to wear off. That range can varies widely from one fairy to another. In opposite, if the adventurer has been eaten and is inside the fairy, their size won't revert back at all. Some items such has fairy glass have been crafted specially to keep preys shrunk indefinitely. Lastly, shrinking or enlarging an inanimate object is a much easier thing to do for a fairy than on a living being, and it's quite possible to keep altered objects at their new size for a relatively long period of time or even indefinitely if the fairy is strong enough.

Weakness

A fairy's power is stored in their wings, meaning that, if their wings are hurt, their magical ability is decreased dramatically. It can prevent them from using even their most basic of abilities, making for a surprisingly crippling weakness. For example, fairies with damaged wings are unable to size-shift, and are stuck at their current size until their wings have healed. Although healing occurs quickly on Felarya, a disabled fairy can quickly get in a world of trouble and, while they are fearsome predators, they are also preyed upon by a large number of creatures on Felarya.

Contrary to popular belief, not all fairies are light-hearted. In their population you can find a wide range of attitudes that vary from the usual fun loving and carefree pranksters to solemn watchmen, serious scholars, mystic sages, and even dark brooding warriors. The way they view good and evil is rather special and very different from the way humans view it.

Fairies get along pretty well with most other species, and especially with elementals. For some reason, many fairies chose to mate with them instead of other fairies. This results in a great number of crossbreeds, who are often much more dangerous than their parent species. On the other hand, fairies see insects as a great threat. Indeed, a lot of Felaryan insects have a high resistance to magic, are aggressive, and some of them are huge. Fairies find themselves pretty powerless against them.