Fairies, Elementers and Elementaries

We have already discussed that all beings and entities that remain in the In-Between for a long time are forced to live as predators because the Great Flow of Power is absent. In particular, this causes the faerie too — especially of the Unseelie Court — who have not found their place in the Elemental cities or the castles of the sidhe, acquire the traits of elementers and elementaries, joining them in a common front of energy-feeding beings. In doing so, the faerie lose stable forms, their consciousness disintegrates, they increasingly absorb energy and traits from surrounding entities, and lose the remnants of former wisdom and strategies, becoming primitive energy-devourers.

The faerie may ultimately lose their nature and turn into elementaries, either if their energy sources are completely exhausted, or if they consciously become energy parasites. Such transformations include banshees, who were originally faerie-protectors but became harbingers of calamity and feed on fear.

While some faeries of the Seelie Court, closely interacting with nature, gradually become indistinguishable from elemental spirits and even truly move into their category, many faeries of the Unseelie Court, adopting the predatory strategies of the elementaries, in fact become indistinguishable from them. Thus, both groups cease to be faerie in the classical sense, although the paths of their development are radically different.

At the same time, the transition of the faerie of the Seelie Court into elemental spirits is usually irreversible, since it is a natural process of merging with the energies of nature. The transformation of the faerie of the Unseelie Court into elementaries can be reversible if they somehow find an alternative power source — for example, restore a connection with the natural rhythms of the world.

In exactly the same way, as noted above, many elementers too, “getting stuck” in the Interworld for a long time, going mad and unable to “attach” themselves to the living through the mechanisms of dybbuk or ibbur, in fact, become part of the elementaries.

At the same time, some faerie and elementers do not degrade into elementaries but adapt to the conditions of the In-Between. To do this, they develop strategies that allow them to sustain themselves without losing their sanity — for example, they learn manipulation techniques from demons or develop effective hunting strategies. Such beings become dangerous but rational players in the In-Between. They bargain, make deals, and scheme because they understand that degrading is not in their interest, and they seek strategies for long-term survival.

The reverse is also possible, when elementers or even elementaries join the faerie of the Unseelie Court and, with their help, become more independent and more skilled in their hunting abilities.

This process occurs less often; however, it leads to the development of more complex and organized predators that are capable of acting deliberately, adapting, and forming hierarchies and food chains.

While ordinary elementers are a heterogeneous group of disembodied beings, many of whom have already lost a distinct individuality, if they meet the faerie of the Unseelie Court, they can gain a structured existence by learning strategies of manipulation and hunting. In doing so, they also acquire the ability to act collectively, which makes their attacks on energy carriers more effective.

An example of such a phenomenon can be slua and similar predatory hunters of the energy of the living. They learn from the ussids and form a separate caste of predators; at the same time, although their strategy is close to vampirism, they act together as a swarm or a pack. Thanks to more effective feeding strategies, unlike “ordinary” elementaries, slua retain remnants of personality, although this personality is extremely distorted and is reduced to hunting and its rituals.

Developing new ways of absorbing energy that go beyond primitive parasitism, such elementers cease to be “scavengers” and move into the category of organized predators capable of complex interactions with their prey. These “advanced” hunters are not as chaotic as elementaries, although not as autonomous as the faeries themselves. They no longer merely feed on energy, for example fear, but are also able to provoke their prey into needed emotional states. Moreover, they sometimes even disguise themselves as benevolent entities; however, their goal is to lure a younger, more energetic elementer or a living person into an energy trap. They become a separate “caste” of hunters of the Interworld — neither faerie nor merely disembodied.

Accordingly, the faerie of the Unseelie Court, as “mentors,” help “lost elementers” find ways to exist better: they teach manipulation, deception, and the use of magical techniques. At the same time, the faeries do not fully accept the dead into their hierarchies — elementers remain the “lower tier” of this system.

One could say that this process initiates an alternative branch of the development of beings in the In-Between. One process that takes place at the same time is the degradation of faerie and elementers into more primitive elementaries. A completely different path is their evolution into rational hunters who form packs.

The faerie of the Unseelie Court, despite their generally chaotic nature, nevertheless give structure to those who might simply disappear. They build hierarchies and alliances, complex traps for victims. Thus, in the In-Between, whole complex and multi-level communities of beings develop, which feed on the living — and they do this consciously, systematically, and cunningly.

In such communities, ussids usually act as strategists, organizers, and manipulators — that is, they form the top tier of the system. Elementers form an “intermediate” layer, being executors and intermediaries. And elementaries are the “lowest caste,” chaotic predators that serve as the “fuel” of the entire system. Such symbiotic interaction provides these beings with stability in the In-Between, creating groups like predatory coalitions or “armies” feeding on the energy of the living.

For example, breaking into manifested worlds through constructed portals, the faerie impose an illusion or create events that evoke emotions in the victim; then predatory elementers “latch onto” the person, provoking certain reactions (possession, sleep paralysis, mounting anxiety), and elementaries then clean up residual energy, collecting the emitted fear and other kinds of energy. Faerie-strategists create events and situations leading to emotional exhaustion of victims; elementers weaken the energy field, disrupting the person’s connection with their body or the world; and elementaries and lower parasites carry out a mass finishing-off of victims. In addition, some elementers can act as scouts, latching onto a person and “marking” them for a future attack, while small parasites associated with nightmares and disruption of mind (for example, ahkhazu) act stealthily, preparing the ground for the attack.

Such collective formations are often used for attacks on places of power, human settlements, individual Magi. Sometimes entire “hunting grounds” are even created, where energy slowly leaks out and is redistributed (for example, so-called “cursed places,” where stable channels of energy outflow form and victims who get there suffer for a long time). At the same time, nothing is dissipated in vain: all captured energy is redistributed throughout the system of predators and parasites.

At the same time, alliances as well as wars are possible between various such communities. Thus, some groups of ussids have long competed with each other, creating different “clans,” and warlike faeries of the Seelie Court sometimes intervene, destroying the systems of predators. From time to time, even different elementers and elementaries can “devour” each other.

At the same time, protection against such gangs and “armies” is extremely difficult because these are not solitary parasites, but entire networks of interacting predators.