What are F.A.E.?
I've had a lot of people ask at conventions, "How are your Fae different?"
I explain that it's F.A.E. This stands for:
Fallen
Angel
Errant
Of course, this leads to many Googling the word, errant, to find this:
er·rant
ˈerənt/
adjective
Erring or straying from the proper course or standards.
Example: "He could never forgive his daughter's errant ways."
Synonyms:offending, guilty, culpable, misbehaving, delinquent, lawbreaking;
troublesome, unruly, wayward, disobedient.
Example: "The errant officers were suspended."
This definition fits our FAE quite well.
For the sake of our fictional story, below is what I wrote up for our concept of who the FAE are back when we first sat down to develop who would be the "enemy" of the Vampires. - Tamsin
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When God created man in His image, Lucifer became angry, for he did not understand or agree with the idea that a lower being, who sinned and fell short of the glory of God, could still be loved by the Almighty Father. Lucifer wasn't the only angel to feel this way, and so their jealousy grew until they could take it no longer. Lucifer challenged God and a war broke out in heaven. Some angels were on Lucifer’s side, some were on God’s, and some fell in the middle; afraid/unable to choose a side.
When Lucifer lost and fell into Hell, God sent all of those who fought by his side with him. He then cast out those who did not take a side to the earth. For though they did not fight with Lucifer, they had not chosen Him either. Once this was done, He shut the doors to both Heaven and Hell, trapping those were were cast out to be stuck on Earth. These angels were stripped of their wings and became known as the FAE. Yet, like in heaven, the fallen angels took sides. Those who had leaned more toward God's side became known as The Seelie and those who leaned more toward Lucifer became known as The Unseelie. The two courts quickly became rivals, taking out their anger on one another, many dying off before they could even begin to heal.
One an truce was reached, no matter how unstable it was, God looked down and took pity on them. For He had created them and thus still loved them. Because of this, God granted/gifted them human bodies so they could have the ability of the senses and be seen by humans. He even allowed some attributes from their former selves to remain with them in their new body. They remained inhumanly strong and fast, as well as smart and cunning, with an elegant beauty and limited power over the elements. However, because they had also hurt Him greatly, he still had to punish them.
First, he took away their immortality. He did, however, give them ten times the lifespan of humans, so they would have a longer amount of time on Earth to atone for their jealousy and lack of conviction. Secondly, even though they would have the bodies of humans, their ability to reproduce would be slim, unless they mated with humans. Thirdly, after death, they were to be damned to eternity in Purgatory, where they would work off their sins, both Earthly and Heavenly…with little chance of going to Heaven. However, the less sin they accrued in their life on Earth and the more they helped humans, the larger their chance of redemption.
Many didn’t care what happened to them after they died and some thought there would be no forgiveness and didn’t care how they lived. Because of this, and the power they possessed, like petulant children they reaked havoc on the world and humankind, taking out their anger on whoever they chose. So God had to find a way to keep them in line, and so he created the Vampire.
© Tamsin L. Silver