Chapter 106: Book 2 Act 5 special lore chapter.

So, I have been keeping a pattern of having a side-chapter or lore chapter between every act. I had not actually prepared a side or lore chapter for the break between the 5th and 6th acts of this arc, mostly because as I was writing I did not actually know where I was even going to put the break. I actually only decided after getting 3 chapters into what has now been labeled the 6th act. In other words, right before posting the last chapter.

So, not to break tradition, I have gone ahead and thrown together a quick lore chapter to stick into this break space. It is on a subject that has been coming up quite frequently lately in story, an explanation on the duties of the committees of the fey court.

(Note: This is from a historical perspective, and all in accordance with what their roles would have been under normal circumstances before Aerien showed up, triggering the Heaven's Fall on her way in. Things are rather messed up now.)

Also, since it didn't take that long to explain all the committees, I decided to also add a short little real-world lore base on what my inspirations were for the blue-jade dragons.

Special lore chapter: Civics of the Fey court.

The fey court has what is likely one of the more curious forms of government in the world. As the fey (other than elves) largely do not have children in the same way humans do, succession among fey noble lines is determined entirely by adoption. In addition, the standards held by the fey are such that they often do not adopt children. Rather, adoption by a fey noble functions less like being taken into a family and more like an apprenticeship, with the adopted son or daughter usually being well into the fey equivalent of their adult years. It is normally the case that one is not even a candidate for adoption until they are over 100 years in age and have proven their worthiness to be adopted into the family.

The fey of the great northern forest are ruled by a single queen, a great fairy dragon named Oren. It is said her eye was damaged when she was young in her previous life as a normal dragon, and the memory of that life-long injury was carried over into her rebirth as a member of the fey. She had once been a colossal greater dragon who fell when the demons drove the great land devourer to the surface. She is said to have done battle with the beast, but was no match for it as she met her end. She died with resentment against the beast, vowing revenge, and thus when she was reborn as a fey she immediately took up residence in the great north where the creature was said to reside. Soon, her power alone transformed the great north into the sprawling forest it has become today.

The court which serves under the blue-jade fey dragon queen Oren is divided into committees, gatherings of fey who have tasked themselves with one aspect of the governing needs of the fey or another. Each committee is then headed up by one of the fey-dragon dukes and dutchesses. Each duke or dutchess are among the peak of what is considered a true dragon and are bordering on the territory of greater dragonhood.

There are six committees in the fey court. The Arbor committee, which is responsible for managing the dryads throughout the great northern forest. The Justice committee, responsible for the prosecution and punishment of those who violate the law of the fey. The Civics committee, responsible for handling relations with and management of the elves and other fey creatures of the forest. The Defense committee, a warrior committee responsible for defending the northern forest, and the capital city in particular, against any form of attack. The War committee, a warrior committee responsible for pressing the attack primarily on the demon lands. And, finally, the Diplomacy committee, responsible for handling relations with the governments of nations ruled by other sentient races.

The Arbor committee, headed by dragon duke Baltair, is primarily considered to be the most important among the six committees, and is the only committee with the right to freely request members be surrendered from other committees in order to serve under him. The control of the dryads is considered to be the top and most important role of the fey nobles, and the reason why the rest of the fey subject themselves to the rule of the fey court. As such, the Arbor committee is held in very high regard among the court. As this is a subject so frequently on the fey court's mind though, the queen often winds up speaking on the Arbor committee's behalf, relegating lord Baltair to a secretarial position of carrying out the queen's edicts rather than properly leading the committee. (Essentially, the committee's role is so important the queen winds up hijacking it.)

The Justice committee, headed by dragon duke Faranti, holds the role of enforcing the law and has the power of jurisdiction over all members of the fey court should they violate the laws of the court or the nation in any way. The justice committee is comparatively small in terms of total member count compared to other committees, but Faranti and his direct subordinates are equal to the strongest members of other committees, and also have the direct ear of the queen should any attempt at enforcement be resisted.

The Civics committee, headed by dragon dutchess Frent, is the committee concerned with the actual day-to-day management of all the political processes within the court. It is their job to organize events, and act as go-betweens for all five of the other committees. Dutchess Frent also acts as a personal advisor to the queen Oren, updating her on the goings on within the court and the latest news on the villages. They share the job of regularly checking the villages with the Arbor committee, except that the Arbor committee is only really concerned with villages that already have or may soon have a dryad, where as the civics committee must remain apprised of the events in every village in the great northern forest. There are several small duties assigned to the civics committee, and no specific large role. However, their management of the small stuff is ultimately what allows the fey court to continue running as a governing body.

The Defense committee, headed by dragon duke Havarall, is an arm of the fey military. This arm of their military does not deploy or launch any exploratory ventures, and specializes in tactics to neutralize a threat quickly without causing collateral damage. It is their job to protect against invasion. They are often stationed at the capital, patrolling the perimeter around the great tree.

The War committee, headed by dragon duke Ter, is the other arm of the fey military. The war committee represents the sword to the defense committee’s shield. This arm is responsible for scouting and exploratory strikes against enemies to the fey, primarily against the demons. Lord Ter has been tasked by queen Oren specifically with the long-term objective of finding out where the demons have corralled the great land eater to, a task which has proven incredibly difficult as it has only been discovered twice in the millennia since he was charged with this duty, and by the time they could begin work on crafting a ritual spell grand enough to even hope at damaging it the demons would find out about this and cause the beast to wake up, forcing the fey to retreat.

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The Diplomacy committee, headed by dragon duke Kavir, is responsible for all communication with nations outside the great northern forest. Lord Kavir is said to be especially wise and talented, and has repeatedly earned enough of queen Oren’s trust that she has granted him authority to speak in her name, promising to stand by any decision which he makes in the name of foreign relations. His subordinates are all highly skilled negotiators as well, and it is said there is no mortal man capable of deceiving or taking the better of any member of the diplomacy committee of the blue-jade dragon clan. The diplomacy committee will still defer to the queen in terms of final declarations of alliances or war, but matters of trade or the granting of access to the northern forest for diplomatic envoys is left entirely in the hands of Kavir and his subordinates.

Special real-world inspirations section.

Blue-jade dragons.

The blue-jade dragon clan is a somewhat convoluted reference to the original lore behind Qinglong, the bluegreen dragon of the east. Most may know this figure more commonly as Seiryu, the blue dragon, in more common modern Japanese pop-culture sources.

The reason for the name “bluegreen dragon” is an artifact of the older form of the Chinese and other Eastern languages. Up until a few hundred years ago, none of the East-Asian languages differentiated between the colors “blue” and “green” in their language. They all used a single character which referenced both colors. In the more modern Japanese language, they invented the word “Midori” to mean “green,” and kept the word “ao,” which used to mean both blue and green, and changed it to only mean blue now.

Because Seiryu was called the “ao” dragon in all the lore, pop-culture writers would frequently confuse the historical context and just take the term “ao” to mean only blue. Few looked into the more historical context about Seiryu/Qinglong to realize he was said to have immense power over nature, and wherever he would go the land would become more fertile and become over-abundant with greenery. Had they known, they would likely have realized that “green” is the more appropriate color to be attributed to Seiryu, rather than blue. And plant-related powers the more lore-accurate power rather than the ice more commonly given in the modern pop-culture sources such as Yu-yu Hakusho.

The reason they are called blue-jade dragons in the story, rather than blue-green, (aside from just sounding cooler,) is also in reference to Qinglong’s Chinese origin. Jade as a precious stone has been historically regarded very highly in the Chinese culture, and has held an important place in their religious lore.

Those familiar with Dungeons and Dragons lore might also recognize a similarity between the legend of Quinlong and the powers attributed to green dragons. Both are said to cause a sprouting of greenery wherever they go, with the only major difference between Qinglong and the D&D green dragons being that the plants that grow near D&D green dragons are all deadly poisonous. D&D green dragons also have a very strong connection with the fey, as it is said their power over greenery comes from a natural link their bodies have to the fey-wilds, to the extent that the body of a recently slain green dragon actually becomes a portal to the fey-wilds.

It is worth mention that the specific combination between the blue-jade dragon’s natural ability to promote the fertility of plant-life combined with the corrupting influence of arcane magic in creating demons would make the forests near where a blue-jade fey-dragon is active more similar to the forest of a D&D green dragon than it would the dwelling grounds of Qinglong who they are more closely based on.

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Special bonus Easter egg hunt for lore buffs. I actually have not told all of the inspirational basis for the members of the fey court. However, the little hidden extra I have worked into it ought to be a little easier to figure out for anyone interested using the info in this chapter.

Hint:

The names are important in figuring out this Easter egg

Final note: (Yes, I DO realize it is slightly confusing having south-american winged serpents take most of their inspirational basises from the most famous among the Eastern dragons, and then to have a final result of them fitting the power set of a D&D western dragon.)

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