Feywild

The Feywild, also known as the Plane of Faerie or the Fey Realm, is one of the Planes of Existence. It is a near plane, overlapping and mirroring the Material Plane.

Description
The Feywild is described as a more wild and chaotic version of the Material Plane, in which nature is unchecked, many creatures and forces within the plane wish to trick travelers, and time and space are more mutable and strange. When Vox Machina traveled to the Feywild, they were repeatedly warned to be aware of deceit and trickery.

Time runs strangely between the Material Plane and the Feywild. A creature that leaves the Feywild must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw. Fey creatures automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures with fey ancestry such as elves or half-elves. Creatures who make the save retain their memories of the Feywild, though those memories may be somewhat dreamlike; creatures who fail their save forget their time in the Feywild entirely, though their memories can be restored by spells that remove curses. There are two ways to avoid it: being granted exit by an archfey or by another individual of significant enough power and "personal life force tether" to the Fey Realm.

Catha appears in the sky of the Fey Realm due to the plane's proximity to the Material Plane and the influence of the Moonweaver, where she is frequently found.

Geography
The Fey Realm uses a different system of cardinal directions than Exandria; rather than north, east, south, and west, the directions there are respectively duskward, seaward, nightward, and tangleward.


 * Evershifting Grasses: A field nearby the Moonbrush forest covered with tall, thick grass that true to its name, shifts back into its initial place after being trampled, leaves no trail behind.
 * The Gilded Run: Refers to a series of enchanted rivers that surround the Shademurk Forest, some of which feed into the Green Sea.
 * The Gnarlrock: A large rock deep within the Feywild that mutates its surroundings into a nightmarish thicket.
 * The Green Sea: A body of water that curves around the outside of the Shademurk, connecting with one of the Gilded Run tributaries.
 * The Moonbrush: A dense and foggy forest in the Feywild.
 * The Sablecast Grounds: A bramble-filled region on the border of the Unseelie territory, and the location of the Shiver Keep.
 * Syngorn: An elven city within the realm of Tal'Dorei that can transport itself into the Feywild via threshold crests as a defensive response until danger passes. This was done in response to the Chroma Conclave attacks.
 * The Tangled Peaks: A mountain range adjacent to the Evershifting Grasses.

Domains
A domain is a territory within the Feywild ruled by an Archfey, their traditional settlement, where they are more powerful. The portal in the Frostweald leads to multiple forest domains of various Archfey, and is guarded by the nymph Arethusa.

Known domains include:
 * Burning Vale: The domain of Lady Elmenore, High Warqueen.
 * Harrowcall Fens: The domain of Morrigan the Fatestitcher, who lives at Ligament Manor. It borders the Sablecast Grounds.
 * Moontides: The Archfey has the title of Keeper of the Moontides.
 * Shademurk Forest, the ruling Archfey was Lord Saundor, whose title was Master of the domain. These thick woods divided from the Moonbrush with the rapid flows of the Gilded Run. Previously, it was known as the Shademurk Bog, but after the source of the corruption was destroyed, it blossomed.
 * Sun's Shadow: The domain of Potentate Sammanar, Keeper of the Sun's Shadow.

Notable portals to Exandria
There are many portals from Exandria to the Feywild. The boundaries between the two planes becomes thinner with the moon cycle, and portals are often marked and guarded by druids. Some known portals are:
 * A portal within the Frostweald, frequently used by Vox Machina. Connects to a forest nightward from the Evershifting Grasses.
 * Artagan's Gate, built by Vox Machina for Artagan. It was later used by Fearne Calloway to travel from the Feywild to the Verdant Expanse and then to Syngorn.

Society
The Feywild's politics are presided over by archfey, most of whom are organized into :
 * Seelie Court: The Seelie Court had an ancient pact with the Lord of the Hells which permitted them opportunity to call back members of her court to the Feywild shortly before the onset of the Calamity. Their leader is Elmenore.
 * Unseelie Court: Sometimes known as the Shadow Court, it is one of the leading courts of the Feywild, along with the Seelie Court. They use their theater, which several members of Vox Machina visited, to entrap unsuspecting mortals.
 * Summer Court: The court of Queen Titania. In D&D: Dungeon Master's Guide, 5th ed., the Summer Court is said to be a name for the Seelie Court, but it is unclear if this is true in Critical Role lore.

Not every archfey and fey belongs to a court, and according to Ollie, individuals who live outside of the courts know each other most of the time.

Archfey
Archfey are powerful fey individuals with the ability to influence the Feywild itself. Unlike the rest of the fey, Archfey are immortal and immutable.

Vox Machina Origins Series II
Grog Strongjaw entered a portal alone to retrieve "The Heart of a Nymph". Nahla was on the other side protecting it. Instead of attacking him, she liked what she saw. After a while, Grog returned looking quite satisfied with himself while holding the item that Vox Machina needed.

Campaign 1: Vox Machina
Vox Machina went into the Feywild to retrieve Fenthras, a Vestige of Divergence that was lost in a forest, transformed into a corrupted, Shademurk Bog, during the Calamity. On their way to the Shademurk Bog, the group visited Syngorn, and became involved in a conflict between the wisher pixies colony and the Fendir, a tribe of lycanthropes. Vox Machina's assistance helped the Fendir win over the pixies, and in turn, the Fendir aided them later in retrieving Fenthras and defeating Saundor. They also, along the way, met a satyr named Garmelie, who turned out to actually be the Archfey Artagan in disguise. After retrieving the bow, the party Plane Shifted back to Whitestone.

During Vox Machina's one-year break, Keyleth, Vax'ildan, Vex'ahlia, Pike, and Tary visited the Feywild and secretly watched a performance of the Royal Troupe of the Unseelie Court at the Theater; at the end they apparently saw an "entity" step back into a doorway. Only later did they learn from Percy just how dangerous their trip could have been, as the Unseelie Court often takes patrons of the theater for unknown purposes.

Keyleth transported Vox Machina to the Shademurk in the Feywild to escape a losing battle against Vecna and his forces. They stayed there for the night to recover. In the middle of the night, Vax emerged, living, from the trees, having made a deal with his patron The Raven Queen to return as a revenant.

Keyleth again transported Vox Machina to the Feywild, this time to Nahla's pool, to escape the Briarwoods as they prepared for the final battle with Vecna. They contacted Artagan in the hopes that he could ensure they could take a long rest in the Feywild prior to that battle without risking any time warp effects back on the Material Plane. He agreed to ensure their long rest in the Feywild would only take an hour in Exandria, on two conditions: that Vox Machina build him a gate back to the Material Plane; and that he be permitted to strangle the "unkillable" Vax to death. They agreed; he killed Vax and the rest of the party rested and made plans as they waited for him to return. After they had all rested and planned, Artagan sent them back to the Material Plane as promised.

Exandria Unlimited
Fearne Calloway led her adventuring party to the gate in the Verdant Expanse through which she had passed to the Material Plane.

Campaign 3: Bells Hells
Imogen came into possession of two rocks typically found in the Feywild: a shard of gnarlrock, and a Feywild shard. The gnarlrock was later destroyed by Delilah Briarwood, acting through Laudna.

In Bassuras, Bells Hells met Dusk, an elf warlock who had recently been in the Feywild and who had lost many of their memories. It was later revealed that Dusk was a changeling in service to the Unseelie Court, and was tracking the Calloways in order to take back the Moontide Crown which they had stolen.

When the party met Birdie, she explained that the reason she and Ollie had stolen the crown was because Fearne had been born on the Material Plane during a Ruidus flare. Ollie later had visions of Ruidus encroaching on the Feywild and destroying it, and a year following those visions, saw Ruidus's light within the Feywild. They went to the courts for help, but received none, and in the process learned that the Unseelie Court was hiding Ruidus's presence, as well as working on an unknown device with collaborators from the Material Plane. The Calloways then stole the Moontide Crown from the device and fled back to Exandria in the hopes of learning more about Ruidus.

Cerberus Assembly and Otohan Thull were building machines delving into the powers of the Apogee Solstice in both the Fey Realm and the Shadowfell at the same exact place where the planes overlap to the leyline nexus.

After their encounter with Ludinus Da'leth, Bells Hells decided to leave for the Feywild, and Planerider Ryn opened a portal so they could travel there. Led by Fearne, they made their way through the Harrowcall Fens to Morri's home at Ligament Manor, where she greeted them and offered them drinks.