Before anyone gets confused: River is a pixie, not a fairy. To those of us in the "mortal" world, that might be a distinction without a difference, but in the hierarchy of Feyspace, it's a clear line. Fairies are higher in the order. They have more magic, more power, and can do a hell of a lot more with it. They can also exert magical influence outside the realm of Feysapce. By these metrics, even the "highest" of pixies is but an idiot child compared to the least of fairies.
As a "higher pixie" River has the magic potential most pixies only dream of. They have a small realm made within Feyspace to lord over. They can make their own portals outside of Feyspace and, more importantly, conjure a return when desired. While this typically results in fun adventures and exciting romps, on occasion it has been a source of unwanted attention and trouble for the pixie.
River also has the ability to change gender and aspects of their appearance at a whim. It might seem like a small thing for creatures able to cast glamours, but there is a significance. Glamours, for all that they appear real, are simply illusions on the senses. While Cynara's feminine transformations and lack of wings at times might seem the genuine article, under the illusion Cynara is still very much a fabulously winged male. Cut off the flow of mana in any way, and the trickery will be revealed. River's ability, however, fully changes them from male to female and back, no continuous mana required.
----- And yet another character is born. River is a pixie I made up a little over a year ago. I wanted a sheep character for my herding boys to play with, and a fae seemed just the right speed. The various applications of fae magic meant that they could be in any continuity and play with any gender without issue. As much as I love Cynara, it's kind of hard to pair him with straight guys without genderbending him. And so back in *coughFebruarycough* I had
It's also helped me develop my lore around my fae a bit, as I figured it'd be somewhat hard to take a full blown fairy against their will. Not impossible, mind you, but no easy task for sure. And with my tastes, that's certainly a kink that'd come up eventually. So I decided that pixies were of a lesser kind of fae. Still having magic, but mostly the kind that'd make a transgressor's life irritating not, you know, "at risk". Who's going to violate a fairy if it means being turned into a toad at best?
Beyond what I described above, one big difference between fairies and pixies is where their wings are patterned from. From the fairies I've posted, it should be clear that fairy wings are patterned after moths: Cynara and Oleander after various hawkmoths, Carnelia after the Spiny Oakworm (wait... I still need to post her! Whoops!), and Kanzan after the Harnessed Tiger. I've also got a couple fairies I've adopted from Luthein I still need to post who aren't patterned this way, but I feel that they actually have good reason to be exceptions. What can I say, I like moths and feel they need to be represented more! Pixies, however, have wings patterned after butterflies. River here has wings based on the Blue Tailed Skipper. Coloration seemed fitting for a river themed fae, no?
Within my fae, there are also brownies, sprites, and elves, but that's a discussion for another day. I've rambled on far long enough here!
