Since I was young, I've always been interested in traditional faerie stories. I think modern day tales tend to paint faeries as benevolent beings - blessing those down on their luck or providing magical items to the deserving. This kind of sanitation happened throughout the years to make these tales more palatable towards children. Did you know the original ending of "Snow White" involved the evil queen being forced to dance at Snow White's wedding while wearing red hot iron shoes? Most children nowadays would probably be more familiar with the Disney version of the tale.
Though to be honest, I think a lot of kids would be more than ok with the original gruesome tale too.
I've put together some information for those interested in knowing more about the faerie tales and superstition that inspired Rusted Moss and to pass the time before the exciting final major content update we have in store!
IRON AND THE WORLD OF RUSTED MOSS
Iron is a metal long steeped in superstition, being said to keep evil at bay. It is the reason why iron horseshoes were hung upon doors as protective charms. In many superstitions, faeries hate the touch of iron.
The setting of Rusted Moss takes place far into the future where humanity is on its last legs and fae-kind have started to return to the world. An unspecified catastrophic event that took place long before the game starts resulted in a world where humans are no longer as populous as they are now. With the population in decline, they have been unable to maintain infrastructure like iron railways. The rusting of iron in the world is what eventually lets the faeries back in.
Iron hurting fae is a popular superstition that can still be found in modern media! I found it amusing that in Pokemon, steel-type moves are super effective against fairy-types.
CHANGELINGS
The main character of Rusted Moss, Fern, is a changeling.
Traditionally, changelings are a type of faerie left in the place of a baby that had been stolen by faeries. Depending on the tradition, some say that faeries kidnapped babies to make them into servants while others say the child is meant as a sacrifice - a tithe to hell that faeries must pay every seven years.
Changelings themselves are portrayed to be like very unpleasant children. In some tales they are so ravenous that parents struggle to keep them fed and the household afloat. In other tales, they would be fretful babies that won't stop crying much to the despair of parents at the end of their rope. They would also often be portrayed as sickly, often dying before they grew older.
Many solutions to these changeling children were cruel. One solution was to throw these children into the oven or treat the changeling cruelly like whipping them. In doing so, they believed the faeries would return their real child to them.
Nowadays, it is easy to speculate that these folktales were invented to explain children that were neurodivergent or unexpected in some way. Either way, it was a way to find something else to blame when a child was not what was "expected" or "wanted" and to justify the way these children were treated - themes that the Rusted Moss story explores.
With Fern, feedback on her character has ranged from people finding her annoying and evil to those that find her relatable and sympathetic. Due to the nature and interpretation of changeling stories, I suppose it is rather fitting to see her be polarising!
MORALITY OF FAE
The morality of faeries changes a lot from story to story. Many don't have them as necessarily "evil" but more along the lines of amoral to the extreme. They're just as likely to do good or evil depending on their mood or whatever would amuse them. Faerie morality is just very different from humans that their values are not comparable.
There's different variations told about a story called "The Elves and the Shoemaker". A poor shoemaker discovered beautiful shoes being made overnight when he went to bed. He sold them and became very successful. One night, he stayed up to discover that it was tiny elves that were making these shoes. Noticing the elves were dressed in rags, he gifted them with clothes. The next day, they were never seen again and never again did they make shoes for the shoemaker. Some stories explain that the elves were offended by the gift while others claim the elves danced away joyfully and just never returned.
Though elves also possess amazing magic, many are appeased with an offering of milk by the hearth.
Dealing with faeries feels very much like dealing with nature - they're unpredictable and powerful, able to give great blessings and despair without understanding the good or malice behind their actions. They aren't a force reasoned with.
Faerie tales change a lot with time and have resulted in so many different variations of the same tale. It's fun seeing the inventions and embellishments that get added over time carried over to the present. It's common nowadays to see "Titania, queen of the faeries" as an addition to modern tales though Titania herself appears in no faerie tales - she's an invention of Shakespeare and first appears in A Midsummer's Night Dream.
It's been fun putting together a post-apocalyptic modern spin on faerie folklore for Rusted Moss. Though we kept the story minimal, hope everybody enjoyed (or hated) their time with our faeries.
I'm planning on putting together a grappling hook guide next so feel free to let us know of anything you'd like us to cover (or just your favourite faerie tales too!).
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