Fair Folk discussion

<Lord_Gareth> Exelixi: What would you say to the following statement: Faeries do not recognize or even understand conventional morality. The phrase 'should I' is understood to them only in its practical applications, in referring to one's well-being. The morals they adhere to do not recognize 'should' - they recognize 'must' and 'must not'
<Exelixi> Ehhh... It's kind of a minefield, there. Lots of times it's easy to reduce the very strict honour codes of the Folk as being some sort of biological necessity, but it's a chicken-and-egg problem, really- which came first, the Folk believing that oathbreaking is the greatest sin, or the Folk being /unable/ to break a promise?
<Lord_Gareth> Ah, but it goes beyond oathbreaking, doesn't it? Do kelpies drown people because lulz or because they have to?
<Exelixi> Oh yeah, there are lots of things there. Ultimately, the Folk aren't a united entity, and that's an important distinction to make. There are lots of sub-orders they an be divided into, each of which has its own identity, its own attitudes, its own laws. Overall I think it'd be more accurate to state that they don't recognise "should" or "should not" more because they're too weak than anything. If something should not be done, then it can't be; there's no effective difference. If something should be done, it will be. The ultimate thing there is the absence of the human trait of knowing something is wrong and doing it anyway
<Lord_Gareth> Implying that fey oathbreakers were either all tricked, or legitimately tried and then failed?
<Exelixi> Fey can't break oaths. They simply can't. Their world is a lot more mutable than ours. It's too....slippery for the kind of cause-and-effect pattern you need to be able to break a geis.
<Lord_Gareth> Aye, but they wander into the World of Iron, where their mastery of time is, shall we say...weaker.
<Exelixi> I suppose if you somehow managed to lock one into our world completely, then it would work, but that would almost certainly insta-kill them.
<Lord_Gareth> A fey who promises to water a mortal's garden that is then imprisoned or delayed would be in violation of their oath, yes? Circumstance is a thing.
<Exelixi> If it's at a certain time and they can't, yeah. Of course, that also means they won't give up easily for that. You've got ot deal with teleportation, using magic to blow up their prison... Shapeshifting... Just generally manipulating people.
— Lord_Gareth pauses for a moment
<Exelixi> But on the off-chance that the oath fails, it'll certainly kill the creature
— Lord_Gareth imagines an epic duel fought between a pair of mighty fey sorcerers, one which wracks the firmament and scorches the earth with the taint of their spells, in which souls shrivel and nature itself cries out in agony. And then the victor, wiping his hands upon the shape-locked form of his enemy, walks to a potted plant, waters it, and walks away
10:50:55 PM <Exelixi> Yeah. Mythology is full of that kind of shit. The great hero Cu Chulainn was felled when his nemesis invited him into a house and then fed him dog meat. He only died later, but that was very explicitly what got him killed. Remember this is a culture that deals heavily in a more abstract kind of cause-effect pattern, and lots of prophecy.
<Lord_Gareth> Shit, isn't that rainbow laser-sword guy?
<Exelixi> No, it's bishonen Incredible Hulk guy. Rainbow laser sword guy was his foster father, who was tricked out of his kingship, then fell in love with Cu Chulainn's nemesis. (She wasn't his nemesis at the time. Royal conspiracies are some fucked-up shit, basically, so that's how Fergus and his foster-son Cu Chulainn ended up fighting. They both had loyalty to opposing rulers, both of whom were evil, evil sonsabitches. Also Fergus Mac Roich, when interpreted properly, basically means Fucksalot, Son Of Horsecock (Fergus- virility, sexual prowess. Mac is son, of course- Roich is "great horse"). Also he did some stuff as a ghost.)
<Exelixi> ....You know, it really explains a /lot/ to consider that Cu Chulainn was raised by a bloodthirsty fuckmachine.
<Lord_Gareth> Oh, Celts. You so gloriously fucked up.
<Exelixi> And this, my dear chat, is why Irish people are so fucking crazy. LOOK WHO OUR ROLE MODELS ARE.
<Exelixi> I still think the best story of all time is one few remember, about the Dark One and how humans came to Erin.
<Exelixi> The Dark One, the forefather of the Celts, steps off a boat which has just arrived in Ireland. He pisses off a high fairy, and gets killed for it. Rather than take this without comment, he, as a spirit, finds the fairy who killed him, kills it back, steals its house, invites all his descendants to come stay at his new house when they die, and in doing so, becomes a god.
<Exelixi> tl;dr Don't Fuck With Humans