LIFE IN THE FAIRY KINGDOM
The seas in the Kingdom are teeming with weird and wonderful wildlife but are largely an unexplored world. It is felt best to leave this world to the merpeople, an attitude they themselves have done much to encourage. Whilst some sailing is done to get between certain regions, merpeople here have a nasty habit of watching ships and boats and giving those on board a knowing stare, enough to disconcert all those whose blood isn’t made of ice. Mysterious sinkings are blamed on the merpeople too. Fairies don’t see the need to sail, they’ll use the direct transportation spell or the cherry trees. Witches use broomsticks (as will wizards) so it is mainly trolls, orcs, dwarves, sprites and, occasionally elves, that sail.
Jenny wants nothing to do with Kingdom life though there are many aspects of it she’d like. She’d love the Palace grounds, she’d get on well with most villagers and the landscapes in many regions are truly amazing. The Kingdom is slowly coming round to the idea of Jenny being part magical. Alas she has not come around to the idea of the Kingdom taking an interest in her. FNN and Roherum especially has a good sense for which way the wind is blowing and has effectively taken the Queen’s hint that Jenny is to be “sold” as a potential asset to the realm. Most in the Kingdom can see right through this but they can see Jenny’s usefulness, if only in reining in Eileen a bit, something to salute the girl for as nobody else has been able to do this.
The magic in the realm’s atmosphere, which everybody breathes in (and their bodies use in different ways, hence the species’ varying magical gifts) is strengthened by the major species’ development of new spells and the planting of certain plants, trees and herbs in huge clumps. These latter items contribute most of the ingredients for spells. The larger the clump, the bigger the concentration of magic. In the heart of the Palace is a machine (developed by various Chief Wizards) which monitors the amount of magic in the air (similar to our pollen counting systems). If the levels go too high (usually due to war), land becomes barren, crops are destroyed and the wars are brought to a close as nobody wants to see the realm destroyed and magic has to be taken out of the system until levels are back to an acceptable reading. FNN report on the magic count as part of the weather bulletins every night. People get twitchy if the readings go up more than three days in a row. It means trouble literally is brewing.
Roherum wanted FNN to produce a Eurovision contest - after all everybody loves a good sing he thinks - but this idea floundered. The mockery from his colleagues led by the weatherman took him aback as it was far more ferocious than usual, when FNN sounded folk from different species out they were all derisory, nobody wanted to hear an orc sing and the Queen eventually sent a memo saying this was not to go ahead as she feared it would lead to rioting. There was no chance of dwarves voting for elves or vice versa so the species with the greatest number of contenders would win such a contest as their kind got behind their “man”. The Queen could not see the other species just sticking to a peaceful “it’s not fair” protest, especially if a pixie won. The imps would be creating mayhem within the hour of the result being announced. Even if you had one contender from each species, there would be arguments between the Kingdom’s regions as to which of their dwarves, elves, trolls etc took part. Roherum is disappointed but accepts he can’t go against the royal whim.
Jenny wants nothing to do with Kingdom life though there are many aspects of it she’d like. She’d love the Palace grounds, she’d get on well with most villagers and the landscapes in many regions are truly amazing. The Kingdom is slowly coming round to the idea of Jenny being part magical. Alas she has not come around to the idea of the Kingdom taking an interest in her. FNN and Roherum especially has a good sense for which way the wind is blowing and has effectively taken the Queen’s hint that Jenny is to be “sold” as a potential asset to the realm. Most in the Kingdom can see right through this but they can see Jenny’s usefulness, if only in reining in Eileen a bit, something to salute the girl for as nobody else has been able to do this.
The magic in the realm’s atmosphere, which everybody breathes in (and their bodies use in different ways, hence the species’ varying magical gifts) is strengthened by the major species’ development of new spells and the planting of certain plants, trees and herbs in huge clumps. These latter items contribute most of the ingredients for spells. The larger the clump, the bigger the concentration of magic. In the heart of the Palace is a machine (developed by various Chief Wizards) which monitors the amount of magic in the air (similar to our pollen counting systems). If the levels go too high (usually due to war), land becomes barren, crops are destroyed and the wars are brought to a close as nobody wants to see the realm destroyed and magic has to be taken out of the system until levels are back to an acceptable reading. FNN report on the magic count as part of the weather bulletins every night. People get twitchy if the readings go up more than three days in a row. It means trouble literally is brewing.
Roherum wanted FNN to produce a Eurovision contest - after all everybody loves a good sing he thinks - but this idea floundered. The mockery from his colleagues led by the weatherman took him aback as it was far more ferocious than usual, when FNN sounded folk from different species out they were all derisory, nobody wanted to hear an orc sing and the Queen eventually sent a memo saying this was not to go ahead as she feared it would lead to rioting. There was no chance of dwarves voting for elves or vice versa so the species with the greatest number of contenders would win such a contest as their kind got behind their “man”. The Queen could not see the other species just sticking to a peaceful “it’s not fair” protest, especially if a pixie won. The imps would be creating mayhem within the hour of the result being announced. Even if you had one contender from each species, there would be arguments between the Kingdom’s regions as to which of their dwarves, elves, trolls etc took part. Roherum is disappointed but accepts he can’t go against the royal whim.