The Blessed War

3

In a faraway land... nah, too cliche...
Amongst the dark and murky forests... oh, forget it.
Humph.
Fairies used to be just as you imagine them: tiny, sparkly, fluttering around meadows and woods. The Fairies were much like nymphs, being incredibly in tune with nature and each other. It is thought they came from the very beauty of nature and itself.
Though no beauty could compare to their magic.
Their magic was an enigma. No other realm, Divine or ordinary, had this property. What it came from, no one knew, but everyone did know how miraculous it was.
The life force of everything in the realm was shared between every creature and plant, in a network they named the Web. It gave the Fairies their extraordinary power of spell-casting. The art focuses on each individual Fairy's life force, and it being 'spent' each time they cast a spell. If they had no way of regaining it, the more they spent the more detrimental it would be, but there was no concern for this since life force was recuperable through the Web.

Their society was remarkably like a fairytale, with these Fairies making themselves and nature look beautiful and pleasant, in honour of their origin being nature itself. The methods used to cast spells were very much gentle and never used for anything malicious. One particular spell was widely used by each Fairy: shapeshifting. You can imagine how impractical it is to be the size of an insect in a world of gigantic wonders, so every Fairy knew how to grant themselves a larger form.

No Fairy was very concerned with the Centric realm, since visiting it would mean being disconnected from the Web. Although, there was no ranking system among them so any Fairy was permitted to pay a visit. Indeed, occasionally a Fairy would find their way to the Centric realm, but nowhere near as many Fairies could be found there as Angels or Unicorns.

Fairies were always good to each other. Generous, loyal and convivial, they would gift each other material possessions and would cast spells for another who couldn't. It was a near perfect system, built on pure codependency and benevolence.

That is, until the Revolt.

As you probably expect, the Fairies underwent horrible changes. The most horrific was probably the decay of the Web. Slowly, slowly, the strength of the Web's connection fizzled out, and soon enough the art of spell-casting became a real hindrance to Fairies' collective wellbeing.
Not that they cared about a 'collective' anything anymore.
Taking after the cruel scenario between two of the Angels in the Centric realm, Fairies began testing out ways of stealing life force from other organisms, to recover what was lost by casting spells. They started out in mere plants and indigenous life, but this escalated dramatically as Fairies began turning against each other and stealing each other's life force.
And soon, they became barbarians, casting hurtful spells and killing to restore their health: a selfish cycle.

As much as their magic changed, nothing was quite as extreme as the transformation of their society.
Fairies used to repay to nature in the form of spells, but once they started using this skill only for themselves, the meadows, woods and placid wildlife sprung out of a connected harmony and became as savage as the Fairies themselves. Animals became predators, from wolves right down to hornets, and plantlife grew oversized, rotten and unsightly. Thanks to the obscurity of evolution, there are some plant species who even try to steal the life force of other plants...
The whole realm is in a state of disorder where nothing was protected or protectable.

However, despite their secluded stance from the Centric realm and the workings of its inhabitants, War soon broke through and entangled the Fairies within it.
Luckily they knew how to fight.
They barge into the Warzone with no intention but to kill and steal, kill and steal... enmity is their way of life.
Their fighting style is relatively simplistic, but they make spell-casting tremendously versatile. They can transform, disappear, create illusions, conjure weapons... the only reason they're standing a fight in the War at all is because they're innovative and resourceful. Spells do the rest.

They're too barbaric to be Blessed.