Succession at Seventeen

Prologue

In the old days Fae was one world ruled by the beloved Oberon and the wise Mab.

Now fae is a large world, at least half the size of your mortal realm, so Oberon and Mab ruled from different capitals, Oberon's Tir Na Nog in the West, and Mab's Mag Mell in the east.

All was well aside from the occasional Solitary uprisings for millenia, until the day that king Oberon's court got a new Jongoleur. Her name was Titania and, to Oberon, beauty incarnate. Oberon was smitten and they began a love affair.

One Midwinter's night Mab decided to go to her husband for a romantic surprise visit. Instead of an adoring husband she found the pair writhing in bed like common farmstock.

Mab was furious with Oberon for his adultery, and Oberon livid with Mab for dictating what he could and could not do, he was of course king. Oberon declared Titania queen and tried to strip Mab of her immortal powers, normally a simple task for the king of the fae, but Mab was as powerful as she was wise and warded his attempts.

She fled to Mag Mell.

So began a civil war that lasted centuries. As the war raged on, Mab, with her wisdom, seemed to be getting the upper hand on her adulterous husband. The end seemed to be upon Oberon and his warriors. Mab and her fae were legendary for their mastery of magic and the warriors of Tir Na Nog were no match for their treachery. Until a hobgoblin came to the king with news. In the mortal world a race had come from the east wielding weapons made of a metal they called iron and wiped out the natives of Ireland. The natives had wielded Mab's magics, having been taught by her to keep Oberons forces from Slipping through the Dolmens, portals between Fae and the mortal realm, and gaining a foothold behind Mab's advancing forces.

Cold iron rendered their magic useless. The perfect weapon against his spurned wife.

He made contact with these humans and made a pact. If they would go to war for Oberon and his "Seelie", meaning sacred and good, fae against Mab and her "Unseelie", unsacred, evil and wicked, fae then Oberon would give them the gift of magic.

The war turned sour for Mab, Cold iron devastated her war effort. The Seeile and Humans pushed their way all the way back to the border of her lands.

Knowing she and her beloved people would be destroyed if the war kept up this way, Mab erected a barrier of magic, splitting Fae in two, to regroup, Oberon and Titania had an idea and leapt at their chance.

Through a ritual performed in Fae, by the Seelie, and the mortal world, by the newly formed druids, Oberon split Fae along Mab's Wall.

Infuriated at her husband's trickery Mab ordered the the "Unseelie" become exactly what the humans had been told they were. To play malicious pranks, lead astray, kidnap, and rob the souls of men as only we, the Banshee, could.

Mankind's suffering at the hands of the Unseelie has always been their own doing, though few remember why.

-Eire Fiosa, Banshee talekeeper of the Unseelie court, June 9th 2006