On the Fae Accords Being a compendium of random wandering ideas on the topic
There is no spirit of the law, only the letter of the law
Any signatories may negotiate on any topic with any other signatory under these Accords by notifying one of the clerics of Mab and Titania at a Temple. The clerics will notify as many of the other parties as possible in three days and choose a meeting place that is equally agreeable to all parties. (Note - that can also mean everyone is equally unhappy). The place becomes Accorded Neutral Ground for the duration of the meeting.
And now Jim and I are discussing how quickly the Queens respond to any given request.
Accorded Neutral Ground. No signatory or member thereof may start a conflict. Any fight must be taken elsewhere. Temples of Mab and Titania are always Accorded Neutral Ground.
Duly appointed messengers - Accorded Messengers - are under the protection of the Fae Queen's protection as long as they do not instigate violence. Such messengers are indicated by A Special Magic Tabard™ bearing the tokens of both Mab (snowflake) and Titania (oak leaf). Signatories appoint these messengers at a Temple of either Mab or Titania. (Note: Faking a tabard is false representation, and since that falls directly under their dominion of contracts, the Fae Queens will catch that quickly).
We might also add Guest and Host Laws to the Accords
On the Incursions Society
- Each signatory must contribute resources to the Society equaling some percent of the, I dunno, GDP of that signatory. Qualifying resources include
- Money, which is always welcome. Smaller signatories usually simply give money
- Materials
- People who can do the various jobs required by the Society.
- Land. Every country is expected to assign land and buildings for Incursion Society offices. All lands assigned to the Incursion Society, including the embassies in every capital city, are under the protection of the country in which they reside. Should harm come to those lands or the duly appointed Incursion Society members on those lands, the country is responsible for dealing with it. If the signatory country does not deal with it, they will draw the negative attention of the Fae Queens.
- The clerics of the Fae Queens appoint the entities responsible for the day to day running of the Incursion Society as well as negotiating with the various signatories as to who gives what when.
- If an incursion reaches the point where a certain number of countries have lost either a certain percentage of territory or their capital to that incursion, the mutual defense pact goes into action. The exact workings of that need to be worked out. I suspect IMPs are drawn into the area first to at least keep track of the incursion, then armies from the neighboring areas, with other resources coming in from places further away. When an incursion emergency is declared, the person in charge of the Incursion Society is in charge of the overall response. (The planet bristles)
If one signatory injures another, the injured party has the option to challenge their enemy to single combat. The logistics resemble those of Code Duello. What the winner gets is written into the challenge.
- The organizations that represent the duelers pick a neutral emissary from an agreed-upon list. In this case, often a cleric of one of the Fae Queens
- The challenged may choose a champion at this point. It is assumed that the challenger's champion has issued the actual challenge
- The chosen emissary decides on a list of available weapons, such as magic or will, as well as a list of times and locations for the duel. The challenged picks the weapon, while the challenger picks the time and location.
- The available weapons are not necessarily restricted to those usable by both parties. If the challenger can't use the weapon the challenged chose, they can force the challenged to take their second choice.
- Each party must have a second, who collaborates with the emissary to work out the terms of the duel
The penalty for breaking these Accords is the Fae Queens' curse on the signatory (individual, guild, country, whatever)
Once signed on, you're a signatory until you clearly withdraw. However, if there's a serious change of governance (a coup for a country, a split of a noble family) that political entity may no longer be a signatory. This makes the Queens uncomfortable, and they send the clerics in to say "You have three weeks to either sign the Accords or not. If you choose not to sign, you may not sign while this ruler is in charge"
Allocation of resources for the Incursion Society - now I can see political entities not wanting to put that under the authority of the Fae Queens'. Unless there is a solid, objective way of determining who sends how much of what and when. Because there is no spirit of the law. Quite possibly this is negotiated every N years where N is a small number.
What happens if a non-signatory nukes a meeting? Well, they were under the protection of the Fae Queens, so they get a curse anyway. That's how the Queens think, because otherwise there's no respect for their protection. And that might be ALL that triggers the curse - directly dissing the Queens' protection.
Who were the first signatories besides the two Fae kingdoms? The Seelie Court, the Dominion of Brers, and that country between the two Courts. The Unseelie Court signed soon after.
Signatories include countries, tribes, noble families, merchant guilds, other guilds, banks (if such things exist), mercenary companies, and a pirate fleet. Smaller political entities are only expected to pay money.
The Forest is not a signatory to the Accords. They have a separate treaty with the Fae regarding the Incursions Society. In fact, the Fae manage the patrols for the Forest.
The first breach of the Accords took place only five years after they were created. On the First Breach of the Fae Accords
Perhaps there's Accords and Accords Lite, where Lite excludes the Incursion element. That would make more sense for merchant guilds and noble families.
The capital of the Incursions Society is in a small island in the lake between the two Fae Courts
Fae Queens are (among other things) goddesses of contracts.
Notice that the Accords do not prevent signatories from going to war with each other.
I think the Forest is one of the few things the Fae Queens respect, as in "Let's not piss this off". Which means the Forest is more powerful than the Fae Queens? Hmmm.....perhaps, in which case the Queens would just rather not find out. The Forest might have been more powerful during the Fae Wars, and may not be anymore, especially with the Queens being worshipped by at least some humans. Still - let's play it safe and not piss off the Forest. Life's just easier that way.
#staging #fae #accords