Happily Never After

The Land

The Land is a patchwork realm where fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and legends coexist. Though it appears whimsical at first glance, the Land hides deep dangers and cruel twists, for magic is unpredictable and often perilous. Heroes summoned into the Land are strangers, outsiders tasked with navigating its wonders and horrors alike.

The Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest is the heart of the Land. It is vast, dark, and shifting, with paths that refuse to stay straight and clearings that appear where none were before. Nearly every trail eventually leads to something strange, whether a witch’s cottage, a giant’s castle, or a meadow where time runs differently. The Forest is home to beasts, witches, tricksters, and things that cannot easily be named.

• Unpredictable Geography – Roads twist back on themselves; rivers vanish underground only to surface elsewhere. Maps are useless, save to those born of the Forest.
• Home of Fables – Classic stories take shape here, from Red Riding Hood’s path to Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs.
• Peril and Wonder – Treasure and terror are never far apart; mortals who wander too deep seldom return unchanged.

The People of the Land

The inhabitants of the Land resemble those of other worlds, yet carry fairy-tale qualities that set them apart. They live in villages, towns, and castles, and are often drawn into the web of stories that shapes the Land itself.

Humans

Humans are the most numerous people of the Land. Some have dwelt in the Land for ages beyond count, while others are the descendants of Wanderers from other worlds. They are as varied as the tales that describe them: noble kings, cruel stepmothers, valiant knights, or humble peasants. In the Land, destiny often clings to humans more tightly than to others, and many of the greatest heroes and villains are of human stock.

• Appearance: Humans can have a variety of skin and hair colors, and vary in height from five feet or less to over six feet tall.
• Strengths: Adaptability, resilience, the ability to cross between roles and rise above station.
• Weaknesses: Vulnerable to trickery, often entangled in curses or enchantments.

Elves

Elves of the Land are beings of grace and longevity. They embody beauty, artistry, and connection to the magical essence of the Land. Cousins to the Fae, elves carry an air of otherness, and mortals sometimes view them with suspicion.

• Appearance: Tall, fair, with pointed ears, luminous eyes, and delicate antennae. Their hair can be any number of odd colors.
• Culture: Fond of song, craftsmanship, and subtle magics.
• Disposition: Often aloof, but some integrate into mortal courts as advisors, sorcerers, or wanderers.

Fauna

Fauna are people who carry the traits of animals—humanlike in form, yet marked with ears, tails, eyes, or other features that reveal their beastly kinship. They are fully people, recognized as such, though many mortals view them as liminal beings poised between humanity and the wild. Fauna come in many species, often with personalities and physical traits related to the animals they resemble.

• Appearance: Humanoid with distinct animal traits, usually including ears, tails, eyes, and sometimes paws.
• Examples: Fox-eared tricksters, wolf-blooded hunters, catlike courtiers.
• Role in Tales: Often cast as clever guides, loyal companions, or deceptive rogues.

Other Creatures

Beyond the ordinary people of the Land dwell stranger beings—forces of story and legend that embody magic, mystery, and peril.

The Fae

The fae are a diverse and ancient people native to the Land. Though they share a humanoid form, every fae bears some trace of insectlike features—slender antennae, compound eyes, chitinous skin, or delicate wings. They are bound by curious rules of their nature: iron is anathema to them, and while they may twist words, speak in riddles, or omit truths, they cannot—or will not—tell a direct lie.

All fae possess some measure of magic, often tied to illusions or subtle enchantments. Their abilities vary as widely as their forms, and their power is not measured by appearance alone. The smallest pixies and sprites are nearly feral, living more as wild creatures than thinking folk. Brownies, redcaps, and elves stand closer to humans in intelligence, culture, and craft. At the highest tier are the Lords and Ladies, towering figures of strange beauty and terrible majesty, who command magics that lesser fae can scarcely comprehend.

The fae are whimsical, capricious, and dangerous, but they are also woven into the very fabric of the Land, shaping its forests, its paths, and its secret rules.

Talking Beasts

Talking Beasts are animals touched by magic or fate, born with the gift of speech and humanlike thought. They appear outwardly identical to mundane animals of their kind, but possess intelligence, memory, and often cunning beyond their mortal kin. Some are unique individuals—one talking wolf among a pack of ordinary wolves—while others form entire lineages of enchanted creatures who pass their gift to their young.

Despite their voices and wits, Talking Beasts remain bound to their instincts. A fox still favors slyness, a bear still values strength, and a cat still stalks with predatory grace. Many possess minor magical powers, though rarely to the extent of the fae. They are as varied in temperament as humans: loyal companions, clever tricksters, selfish cowards, or cruel predators.

Fairies

The Fairies are not a people but a sisterhood of unique, singular beings. Unlike the myriad fae races, there are only ever a handful of Fairies in the Land at one time, each embodying a distinct nature and wielding power that even the Lords and Ladies respect.

Fairies are immortal in spirit but fragile in body, their magic tied to balance and the stories of the Land itself. They are not bound by the usual fae rules—though iron still wounds them deeply, and most dislike falsehoods. Each Fairy is a force of personality and archetype: some kind and gentle, others stern and implacable, still others whimsical or cryptic.

They do not rule kingdoms or armies, but their influence runs deep, and the fate of mortals and fae alike often bends around their choices. To encounter a Fairy is to brush against the raw essence of the Land, for better or worse.

Riding Hood Guild

The Riding Hood Guild is one of the most respected—and feared—organizations in the Land. Neither kingdom nor court holds their loyalty; instead, they answer only to their oaths and to their leader, the mysterious woman known as Red.

Role in the Land

The Riding Hoods are professional couriers who will deliver nearly anything: messages, goods, or even people. They are famed for their reliability, and for the claim that they can travel anywhere in the Land—even through the perilous paths of the Enchanted Forest.

To betray a Riding Hood, or to attack one on duty, is to invite the wrath of the Guild. Even kings tread carefully, for the Riding Hoods hold the secrets of correspondence, trade, and diplomacy in their hands.

The Cloak System

Every Riding Hood wears a hooded cloak whose color denotes rank within the Guild. Advancement is earned through merit and trial, not birth or favor.

• Yellow Hood – Novices and new initiates, learning the trade and tested for reliability.
• Green Hood – Proven couriers who can be trusted with common deliveries.
• Blue Hood – Experienced messengers skilled at navigating dangerous roads.
• Indigo Hood – Elites who take the most perilous and vital assignments.
• Red Hood – A rank held only by the Guild’s leader.

There are whispered rumors of a secret order of Violet Hoods, who take on missions so strange and esoteric that even most members of the Guild do not know of their existence.

Red

The Guild is led by the woman known only as Red. A wanderer from another world, she is middle-aged, gray-haired, and utterly without patience for nonsense. Despite her age, she remains one of the most capable figures in the Land: clever, relentless, and unyielding.

Red holds many secrets, and many powerful beings owe her favors. She is, in her way, a queen of a kingdom without borders—her couriers are its people, its roads are its lands, and its strength lies in trust and reputation.

The Kingdoms of the Land

Beyond the Forest lie several Kingdoms, each with its own nature and ruler. These kingdoms border one another but are separated by stretches of the Forest, ensuring they remain distinct and isolated.

Kingdom of Roses

A realm of beauty and enchantment, where palaces rise like crystalline blossoms and every garden blooms year-round. Yet its splendor hides vanity, decadence, and cruel courtly intrigues.

• Ruler: The Rose Queen, both radiant and ruthless.
• Themes: Beauty, vanity, hidden cruelty.

Kingdom of Beasts

A wild and primal land where animal-lords rule in tangled forests and vast plains. Civilization here is fragile, survival harsh, and the line between man and beast blurred.

• Ruler: The Beast-King, a predator in regal guise.
• Themes: Strength, survival, untamed nature.

Kingdom of Shadows

A brooding realm of twilight and gloom, where cobblestone streets wind beneath crooked towers. Superstitions reign, monsters stalk the night, and bargains with darker powers are commonplace.

• Ruler: The Shadow Duke, a figure of dread authority.
• Themes: Fear, secrecy, forbidden knowledge.

Kingdom of Crowns

A more traditional fairy-tale kingdom, with knights, castles, and fields of golden wheat. Outwardly the most “normal,” but it is riddled with ambitious princes, scheming nobles, and fragile peace.

• Ruler: The High King, though his authority is often contested.
• Themes: Tradition, ambition, fragile order.