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In the beginning, the universe existed as one, where humans and their gods lived among each other and existed within the same realm. Due to an ancient war, dubbed " The War in Heaven", circumstances forced the universe to separate, creating 2 dimensions. This was done to prevent the universe from being utterly destroyed, and led to the creation of two planes of existence: The mortal realm in which humans inhabit, and the Aether, where the gods reside. However, the separation of the realms was not perfect. Due to shoddy work by the gods or some ancient attack, certain energies of the original universe became trapped between the two planes, creating an "in-between" realm that exists between both dimensions. These energies became corrupted, creating strange creatures called the fey.

The fey realm exists as an open door to both planes, allowing them to travel freely between them. The fey themselves prey on the mortal races for sustenance. They invade the mortal realm in small invasions called " Wild Hunts" with the intent to kidnap humans to bring back to their slave pens for torture. The agony of the slaves feeds the fey and sustains them until the next invasion. The mortal realm is very advanced and are capable of fighting off the fey. Therefore, the fey must operate on a culture of piracy, hitting when least expected or after a tragedy, such as a natural disaster or a war.

The fey can travel to and from the mortal realm through their doorway plane. However, even though the humans are more advanced technologically, they are unable to pass into this realm. This is despite knowing where it is and how to find it. How could this be made possible?

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  • $\begingroup$ It can't. I suggest you use magic rather than science $\endgroup$
    – Slarty
    Nov 27, 2019 at 13:41
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    $\begingroup$ To pass the portal you need a RFID fey badge. We have this at work; we who have badges can pass through doors, visitors need to be escorted or they will starve in the lobby. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Nov 27, 2019 at 13:42
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    $\begingroup$ Humans know where the door physically appears, but if the fey realm is a metaphysical concept, so too is the door $\endgroup$
    – nzaman
    Nov 27, 2019 at 13:43

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Every fae being who participates in the Wild Hunts carries a "key" that opens the portal. Any mortal with such a key could pass as well -- but the fae guard the keys, literally, with their lives.

Mortal tradition has it that certain items from nature -- "Oak, ash, and thorn" can serve as a key. This is true enough, but it is not natural items from the mortal world; it is items from the faery realm. Natural plants, common enough in that realm, in the correct combination, can open the portal.

Of course, if a fae Hunter loses his key, or destroys it to prevent its capture and himself survives or escapes afterward, he will be trapped in the mortal plane -- until the next Wild Hunt, or even longer if he can't locate the activity in time to "hitch along" with another fae returning to the realm. Hopefully, he kept up his skills of illusion, because he may have to pass for human for a rather long time...

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The fae realm is one made of ideas, whereas the mortal realm is one of matter. Prior to the War in Heaven, these two energies could co-exist, but now ideas and matter interact with one another like matter and anti-matter, annihilating both. (For plot purposes it's a slow burn as shown in the 2012 movie Upside Down)

Fae protect their capitives in cages, chains, or cloth of faery silver. It would be great if human technology could copy it, but fae silver is made of ideas - faery stuff.

Men do enter the world of the fae when they dream, becoming momentarily themselves the stuff of ideas.

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The laws that separate the mortal world from the Æther are imperfect, but they’re not that imperfect.

Imagine a wall. It separates the two realms. It’s perfectly smooth and so tall that neither mortals nor gods can climb to the other side. In a perfect world that would be it. But when the wall was ‘raised’ some creatures got trapped on the top.

These are the Fey. They can descend into the mortal realms, snatch up prey, and then re-ascend to their native realm with their captives, using the energy lent to them by their descent to pull them back home. Mortals, on the other hand, would have to ‘climb the wall’ to get to the Fey lands. And the wall was designed to prevent exactly that from happening. The wall is flawed enough to allow the Fey to jump in and out of the mortal realm, but still sufficiently good at it’s job to stop mortals from following them unaided.

At such a doorway this appears as an endless elongation. While the Fey and their prisoners recede into the distance any mortal trying to follow will find their path stretching endlessly onward.

Interestingly: this opens up the possibility that mortals could talk to the Gods, but only with Fey assistance...

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  • $\begingroup$ As an addition to this, the fey may need to bring additional mass to allow them to return with the prisoners. Perhaps fey gold is heavy enough to hold the path open, and gives enough return momentum to bring the prisoners. The left behind fey gold shortly degrades (or maybe its degradation is what closes the portal) and it turns into dried leaves. $\endgroup$
    – Michael Richardson
    Jun 1, 2021 at 19:25
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If humans have technology which can detect the presence of fey energy then it would be possible to generate similar kinds of energy to that which they can detect. Like a radio transmitter and a receiver. With such technology, humans could transmit a fey energy signature which would allow them to pass through the barriers meant to seal the doors. Concealing human energy signatures is another matter. Perhaps some kind of cloak? It depends on how the barriers work. If the doorways allow fey to pass, but prevent humans from passing then a human must be hidden as well as emitting a fey signature to pass through such a door.

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