Nah, its not a must. Fae realms in fiction is based on the celtic otherworld, which explains with its such popular of a concept to add into their works. And then, Some works just kinda state they belong in the forest without any mention of a realm they originated from.
There is no actual must to include a whole ass realm if it there isnt space for it in your work. Forcing it in wouldnt be fun for you or your audience either.
The great part is, do it.
Your fey just happen to generate their powers naturally, instead of environment making them.
Where they live is their realm, but it doesn't have to be innately magical.
"You're lucky, fey, that we met in your realm, you have the advantage of your environment."
"Silliest of humans. Stupid as always! I can do this anywhere, I just happen to like this tree and the way it sighs I'm the breeze. I've named it Kevin, and I've decided Kevin doesn't like you very much."
Anyways. Do it.
Definitely not a requirement. My original idea for elves in my dnd worlds is that elves were looking to settle lands outside of the fey, their open portals lead to other creatures coming over without their hand in it. As an ex: hybrid creatures like chimera, owl bears, blink dogs, displaced beasts, and Griffons came over from the fey either intentionally or as an accident.
There is no rule say that you have to have a fey realm if you put fey in your world. Technically I don't have a fey realm in my world as Fey are interdimentional invaders.
I always thought the “realm” framing kinda disrupted the magic for me. Like, idk it feels kinda sci fi or comic bookish to treat fey as if they have a sorta homeworld.
I get this is for some a distinction without a difference but I always thought of the fantastical fey “realm” as just an aspect of the world we have a hard time seeing. They live in the shadows behind trees. You can go “there” and even be trapped “there”, but it can’t be mapped, especially as a destination in relation to your location.
Look at the historical sources that first described fey like creatures before Tolkin.
A lot just existed or Had No realms or never meantioned their realms at all. (Fairytales of Brother Grimm got a Lot of fey precurser creatures, try finding the original ones and not the Ines made kidfriendly)
Nordic folklore has lots of fey creatures. Some are bound to an underworld (underjordiske) and will try to lure humans down there, but others are just chilling in hills, cliffs rivers and mountains, of varying power and alignment (mostly evil though). The common trait being that their power is enigmatic and their motives are always hidden (even when luring humans in to stay with them for ever, it’s never clear what they want to do with them).
My suggestion would be to link them to nature itself and not a "fey realm".
That also allows you to pretty much use them anywhere if you really want.
Fairy born from a desert oasis for example.
for me, they're manifestations of Pure Mana that somehow condensed within a Magic-dense environment.
This allows them to be born into any Mana-rich Realm, with evolutions adapted to the Realms they were born into, while not having one specifically of their own.
You could have your faerie/fey creatures just be associated with the natural world; they could be faded lesser gods from a previous pantheon; they could just be from an alternate version of the world (making the "real" world people into faeries if they stepped over to the faerie's homeworld); they could be manifested forces of concepts or of binary concepts (creation/destruction; order and stagnation v. chaos and progression; light/dark; growth/death) with both sides being necessary for balance.
They could just be literally the spirits of places and things. Leave something undisturbed long enough and it develops a personality and maybe that manifests as a person of sorts.
I always felt like this world IS their realm. They are just hard to spot. I went walking in the forest once and I swear I saw things... these fluttering translucent things like huge moths fluttering angrily over a bush, two or three of them, they were pissed and I felt this angry dangerous sense from them. I got away from that bush. They were clear as glass, or maybe just a movement in the air... you can't really see them. But they're there. In all the old legends, the original legends from historical sources, the fey are out there... living in dark corners, they are under houses, in creepy hard to reach forests, in places that humans don't go or can't go. Things you can't explain, that people see and sometimes get a picture of on their phone and it freaks them out. They are as much a part of this world as the trees and the grass.
Nah, its not a must. Fae realms in fiction is based on the celtic otherworld, which explains with its such popular of a concept to add into their works. And then, Some works just kinda state they belong in the forest without any mention of a realm they originated from. There is no actual must to include a whole ass realm if it there isnt space for it in your work. Forcing it in wouldnt be fun for you or your audience either.
The great part is, do it. Your fey just happen to generate their powers naturally, instead of environment making them. Where they live is their realm, but it doesn't have to be innately magical. "You're lucky, fey, that we met in your realm, you have the advantage of your environment." "Silliest of humans. Stupid as always! I can do this anywhere, I just happen to like this tree and the way it sighs I'm the breeze. I've named it Kevin, and I've decided Kevin doesn't like you very much." Anyways. Do it.
Definitely not a requirement. My original idea for elves in my dnd worlds is that elves were looking to settle lands outside of the fey, their open portals lead to other creatures coming over without their hand in it. As an ex: hybrid creatures like chimera, owl bears, blink dogs, displaced beasts, and Griffons came over from the fey either intentionally or as an accident.
There is no rule say that you have to have a fey realm if you put fey in your world. Technically I don't have a fey realm in my world as Fey are interdimentional invaders.
I always thought the “realm” framing kinda disrupted the magic for me. Like, idk it feels kinda sci fi or comic bookish to treat fey as if they have a sorta homeworld. I get this is for some a distinction without a difference but I always thought of the fantastical fey “realm” as just an aspect of the world we have a hard time seeing. They live in the shadows behind trees. You can go “there” and even be trapped “there”, but it can’t be mapped, especially as a destination in relation to your location.
I see that, that's kinda why I was asking because I have other realms and even a whole other dimension.
Look at the historical sources that first described fey like creatures before Tolkin. A lot just existed or Had No realms or never meantioned their realms at all. (Fairytales of Brother Grimm got a Lot of fey precurser creatures, try finding the original ones and not the Ines made kidfriendly)
Not required, but if you still want that mysterious, alien feel, do stick them deep inside forests or other hard to reach places.
Nordic folklore has lots of fey creatures. Some are bound to an underworld (underjordiske) and will try to lure humans down there, but others are just chilling in hills, cliffs rivers and mountains, of varying power and alignment (mostly evil though). The common trait being that their power is enigmatic and their motives are always hidden (even when luring humans in to stay with them for ever, it’s never clear what they want to do with them).
My suggestion would be to link them to nature itself and not a "fey realm". That also allows you to pretty much use them anywhere if you really want. Fairy born from a desert oasis for example.
for me, they're manifestations of Pure Mana that somehow condensed within a Magic-dense environment. This allows them to be born into any Mana-rich Realm, with evolutions adapted to the Realms they were born into, while not having one specifically of their own.
Do what you want lmao
You could have your faerie/fey creatures just be associated with the natural world; they could be faded lesser gods from a previous pantheon; they could just be from an alternate version of the world (making the "real" world people into faeries if they stepped over to the faerie's homeworld); they could be manifested forces of concepts or of binary concepts (creation/destruction; order and stagnation v. chaos and progression; light/dark; growth/death) with both sides being necessary for balance. They could just be literally the spirits of places and things. Leave something undisturbed long enough and it develops a personality and maybe that manifests as a person of sorts.
I always felt like this world IS their realm. They are just hard to spot. I went walking in the forest once and I swear I saw things... these fluttering translucent things like huge moths fluttering angrily over a bush, two or three of them, they were pissed and I felt this angry dangerous sense from them. I got away from that bush. They were clear as glass, or maybe just a movement in the air... you can't really see them. But they're there. In all the old legends, the original legends from historical sources, the fey are out there... living in dark corners, they are under houses, in creepy hard to reach forests, in places that humans don't go or can't go. Things you can't explain, that people see and sometimes get a picture of on their phone and it freaks them out. They are as much a part of this world as the trees and the grass.