You have always known yourself to be human-born, abandoned to the elements as a child by your birth parents and saved by the grace of the [Court] Queen. You were given by the Queen to your Fey parents as a sign of her favor, honoring them with the chance to raise a future knight of the court.
You have always known you would one day become a knight of the court, would one day swear fealty to the [Court] Queen with the full weight of an adult’s freely given oath, an affirmation of your same child’s oath.
You were saved from death by the Queen’s grace, and given a new life by her further grace. You owe her both life-debt and life, and as her knight you will the both finally requite.
Your Fey parents have taught you well the ways of both the Feywilds and the Courts. They have taught you how to both avoid and give insult, and recognize it when given. They have taught you how to walk the knife’s edge of truth and how to wield it with the sharpness and precision of a razor. They have taught you the art of bargaining, how to get and give fair value - or the opposite, if necessary; how to lay a noose of words and let the other party spring the trap. They have taught you the rules that govern the Fey, the ones which not even the Queens themselves can break.
As you reached adulthood, you found yourself both looking forward to and dreading the day you swear fealty - on that day, you would be granted power and freedoms few members of the Courts ever possess... at the cost of your eternal fealty and subservience to the Queen in all things. All you own would be hers, just as you would be hers, and there will be no take backs. Once that compact is sealed, it is sealed until death, and under that compact, your life is not your own to take, whether by your own hands or at the hands of any other. You can die in battle and be freed from your vow, but only if it is a true fight. Suicide by adventurer is still suicide, under the oath, and your spirit would be forever forfeit.
What choice did you make? Fealty or freedom? Hunter or hunted?
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Recommended classes are warlock or fighter, but sorcerers, rogues, and paladins may also make good options! A lot depends on how you decide to characterize the Court and the Queen, and your decision to swear - or not swear - fealty.
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Note: This background is designed to work with the homebrew Human variant/subrace Human Changeling, but this is by no means required.
- Skill Proficiencies: Choose two of the following: Arcana, Athletics, Insight, Deception, Persuasion
- Tool Proficiencies: N/A
- Languages: You are fluent in both Sylvan and Common. You have some knowledge of Elvish but cannot count as proficient in the language for game purposes. You may, however, roll a translation check (DC determined by the DM) for any attempt to use or understand Elvish (written or spoken).
- Equipment: If a Knight of the Court: A set of well-made and well-fitting traveler’s clothes, a tool-kit or instrument of your choice, your queen’s signet ring, and a coin purse carrying no more than 20 gold.
If a Traitor to the Court: A set of worn traveler’s clothes, a tool-kit or instrument of your choice, a memento trinket of your choice, and a coin purse carrying no more than 20 gold.
Choose one of the Fey Courts listed below as the court you were raised to serve - and whether you chose to serve them.
| d8 | Relationship to the Fey Courts |
|---|---|
| 1 | Knight of the Spring Court |
| 2 | Knight of the Summer Court |
| 3 | Knight of the Autumn Court |
| 4 | Knight of the Winter Court |
| 5 | Traitor to the Spring Court |
| 6 | Traitor to the Summer Court |
| 7 | Traitor to the Autumn Court |
| 8 | Traitor to the Winter Court |
You have chosen, for better or for worse, the path of fealty. You wear your Queen's colors, bear her sigil, and all you do you do in her name. Those with no familiarity with the Fey Courts will probably be able to identify you as a knight of some kind, with a distant authority you've sworn loyalty to, and may find common ground with you because of it or see your presence as a threat of some kind, but the effect is likely minimal.
Those who are familiar with the Fey Courts will recognize you by your title and possibly even your name, depending on how long and infamous your career as one of the Queen's knights has been. Even if they do not recognize you as a knight specifically, they will be able to identify that you are associated with a Fey Court and to which Court you have sworn allegiance, and will respond to you accordingly - as enemy, as ally, or something in between.
You have chosen, for better or for worse, the path of freedom. You are marked by this choice somehow - a scar of some kind, a jagged edge to your aura - and any of the Fey can tell you were once asked to fulfill an oath and repay a debt and you said no. Some familiar with the Fey Courts might be able to tell this as well, or guess it. They might have sympathy for you and even some grudging respect, knowing how Fey bargains go and the difficulty of breaking them, or they might be disdainful of someone stupid enough to make a deal and not strong enough to keep it.
Anyone specifically of the your adopted Court will recognize you and be compelled to both interfere in whatever you are attempting to do and keep you from leaving; either they will try to take you to the Queen themselves or they will contact the Queen's soldiers and throw you to their and the Queen's tender mercies.
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