The Paere [modern fairies] are one of many closely related beings that live in the relatively isolated south east, known as sprightes. Almost all as diminutive as the Paere, we have the wingless Piske [mixture of folkloric fairies and pixies], who fly with the stems of plants or on the backs of birds instead, though some use magic to propel themselves. The Albe [folkloric elves] are similarly wingless, but are more acrobatic than its fellow sprightes, swinging from branch to branch. They are also slightly taller. The Horte [like tomte, brownies, hobs, etc] prefer land over tree and air, shorter than its relatives but just as eager. The Fegme [like gnomes, pygmies, etc] are in some ways comparable to the Horte, but while some may choose the surface, they majorly prefer the underground, resulting in their uniquely paler skin. The largest of them all are the Kobeline [akin to goblins], the furthest relative of the sprightes to boot. If you were to stack a paere, a piske, an albe, a horte and a fegme on top one another, you would have the height of a kobeline. Coupled with its sheer size in terms of height, width and girth in comparison, it is very lanky as well, in many ways much dumber to the rest, and has several differences in appearance, to the point where it may be seen as more of a beast than a sprighte. While they may raid their relatives for essentials such as food, such raids are at most ineffectual in terms of affecting civilized life. Those are the only sprightes currently known of, whether there are more is unknown at this time.

To the sprightes of the south east, the land around them is the whole world to them. Filled with beings comparable in size to those outrageously larger than them, and with sea all around except north where the cold doesn't approach, what to a normal sized human is a minor archipelago and an island in the south, is everything and more to the sprightes. They name the world "Mer".

In accordance to the rakau (arboric) [hierarchal] system, the paeres are on top, closely followed by the piskes, who are often seen as "wingless paere," along with the albes shortly after. Under the main three, the land-dwelling hortes are next, and it is finished off with the fegmes, who are so rarely seen by the paeres that they wonder whether they actually exist or not, mostly trusting the hortes to be truthful in their existence. The kobelines are not accounted for, as their size and appearance has them considered to be more beast than sprighte.

The home island of the Paere, named Meridol, is almost exclusively inhabited by them, with the other sprightes being minorities, except for the kobelines, of whom there are none on the island. The neighboring islands [Pandawa to the southwest, Janda to the west, and Kalinda in the northeast], part of what one would call the "Sullow Archipelago," for the waters are naturally of a darker color, contain a balanced amount of all sprightes. The mainland's demographics aren't as known to the Paere, though there is an assumed peninsula [Undar] to the east which is believed to have more hortes, fegmes and kobelines in comparison. North-west of Meridol lies the island of Miragon, which also contains sprightes, but contact had grown limited in the recent centuries.

The realm of Meridol is one of an elective monarchy, which elects its leader, the Aliki [comparable to king; he is also automatically the rangatira ((comparable to phylarch)) of the Paere], through an aristocratic political organ, known as the Fono, comparable to the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Great Council of Venice.

Magic is an aspect of civilized sprighte life which can be seen all over. The paeres and piskes use it the most, followed by the albes who use it in some occasions, to the hortes who barely use it, and finally the fegmes, who can use it but opt not to. As uncivilized beings, the kobelines have no perception of how to use magic to the extent that the rest do.

To simplify the philosophies being developed, Piske philosophy could be compared with pre-Socratean philosophy, with its exploration of nature and *arche* among other things, while Albe philosophy continues onwards with the Greek parallels and could be compared to Socratean philosophy, with elements of Platonist philosophy (most of all the abstraction of the physical and the concentration on the ideal); Paere philosophy builds on the foundation built by the former two, but heads in a different direction, criticizing the abstraction of the physical, comparable to Aristotelianism, though there are a few smaller groups which had developed their own views, comparable to Cynicism, Epicureanism and, to a lesser degree, Eclecticism.

While Aristotelian-esque philosophy would form the basis for all future mainstream philosophy within Paere-dominated society, the philosophies of the Hortes and Fegmes would develop in a separate direction from Piske philosophy, resembling something more in the fashion of Ancient Chinese philosophy, with an overarching Tao-esque philosophy permeating both, as the Hortes are more Confucius-like while the Fegmes are more Mohist. The Kobelines are suspected not to have developed their own philosophy yet, due to their questionable intelligence, but worries are slowly rising over the idea of them achieving it.