My view on fairies

Recently, I noticed that many makes the mistake of fairies being able to shrink something 80' tall to merely 3". The thing is that the wiki clearly states that if the target is initially too big, or has strong magic resistance, it won't work.

Another misconception I noticed is that people thinks that when a fairy grows bigger, so is their magic. If it was true, logically, they'd be able to grow indefinitely as their magic increases with size. And if it was true, then they would be the actual dominant specie and have eaten every other species by this point.

So I was just wondering, did anybody read that entry in the wiki? Also, I think that there abilities at size-shifting is not entirely magical, about self size-shifting at least.

In my opinion, their ability to alter their own size isn't really magic, not entirely, but more of a specie's innate skill. It runs on mana, or their magic energy or something, but it's not affected by initial size or magic resistance, but more on their genes, thus why their size ranging varies on the individual.

As for targetting someone, it's purely on magic. And it's affected by magic resistance and initial size. Thus it's trickier for them to shrink someone else, and why most giants are unaffected under normal conditions.

The fact that when a fairy size-shift itself and it becomes her new normal size implies that it's more than just magic, as if it was, then it would also applies on targets. Or maybe fairies have a particular metabolism that makes them easily affected by size-shifting.


NOTE: Yes I know I've been rambling on not caring about the lack of language barrier and I'm aware of the irony of me trying to explain something in Felarya with actual logic. But that common mistake was really bugging me and I just want to correct that.

I like most of what you say here - it does make sense.

It's an interesting point of view

Well, first, we'd have to address why the size-change occurs. My theory is actually an expansion of molecular structure due to the addition of "cloned atoms", or atoms created by energy (yes, it would require quite a bit of energy according to e=mc^2), to grow. Shrinking would be the opposite: the removal of redundant atoms from a structure that are only there for size, and leaving less, down to the minimal number of atoms required for the structure to retain its identity.

This, however, runs into a problem... which would be that the shrinking would actually be a reaction which gives off energy, rather than absorbing it...

Well, first of all, we have to address how they do it. Here's my personal theory.

An eighty foot high human can't exist. Period. Prettymuch every bodily function imaginable would collapse and/or fail.

My theory is that fairies play on the dimensional instability of Felarya. They literally alter the laws of physics around their own body in a skintight aura that dictates that anything within that aura behaves exactly as it does at a normal human size, but is huge in relation to its surroundings.

In other words, they increase their size relative to their surroundings, but tap into some sort of dimensional frequency that dictates that they're still human sized, even if they no longer are.

It's VERY difficult to put into words, but... I dunno, am I getting this through properly?

ZionAtriedes wrote:

Well, first, we'd have to address why the size-change occurs. My theory is actually an expansion of molecular structure due to the addition of "cloned atoms", or atoms created by energy (yes, it would require quite a bit of energy according to e=mc^2), to grow. Shrinking would be the opposite: the removal of redundant atoms from a structure that are only there for size, and leaving less, down to the minimal number of atoms required for the structure to retain its identity.

This, however, runs into a problem... which would be that the shrinking would actually be a reaction which gives off energy, rather than absorbing it...

You could say the mana used to shrink down the prey absorb the energy they give off, thus it would explain why big targets don't shrink: they don't possess enough mana to absorb all the given energy.

You have a very good point there, Sean. I agree that fairies would be a broken race if people made such inconsistencies with their powers.

Though I always did have a solution for how they were able to shrink and grow people;

Magic!

I think the problem it's not how they alter their size and shrink people, we can developp many interesting theories about that. I know science and magic share a common point which is the fact everything require some conditions in order to work correctly. In clear a fairy can not change the size of someone as she change her own size.

What we need is more definition on fairies in the wiki. We know they're skilled in size-changing magic and and are born with the ability to alter their own size. However, they enjoy shrinking people. So, in theory, could fairies also enlarge people if they wanted? Seeing as how the victim would have to be enlarged inside their stomach if a fairy were to become human sized, shrink a human, eat them, then become giant again, it makes sense that they could indeed increase the size of others, even though nothing's mentioned on it in the wiki.

Another issue is what exactly counts as "too big"? At what point can a fairy not shrink a victim/opponent?

Very interesting issues raised here ^_^

I never thought about the size-changing being a sort of dimensional magic but this is a great idea !

Fairies also have the ability to enlarge other creatures but past a point it become difficult. For the same reasons that they can't shrink a too large target.
It also must be mentionned that fairies don't possess more magic by being big than by being small.

GREGOLE wrote:

Another issue is what exactly counts as "too big"? At what point can a fairy not shrink a victim/opponent?

This varies a lot... Nemyra would have no problem to reduce Crisis to human size of course, but most fairies's magic don't work very well if the target is 12 feet or more.

Well, of course a fairy's system must be different from a human's, to allow for easier size-changes. Dimensional warp is actually a very plausible idea, as well. It certainly fits. (Get the pun? We're talking about size... come on: "fits".)

But the concept of fairies having limits to this could play into my idea: past a certain point, the structure becomes unstable, when shrinking or growing.

The only real problems I find are conservation of mass (Which, while easy enough to explain in shrinking [Vaporization?], doesn't work so well in growth), and what happens with the now inefficient blood cells.

Well, according to e=mc^2, mass can be converted into energy, and vice-versa.

So, conservation of energy and mass aren't really a problem, since the two can be interchanged. Hmmm, perhaps a better idea would be the shrinking/growth of cells, which could be added onto my idea of atomic replication... I mean, it's not entirely a sound argument, but then again, I doubt we'll ever get one. As long as it's close enough, it'll count as psuedo-science.

hurray for sudo-science. i tend to think of it as a dimensional magic as well... though to be honest i haven't given this one as much thought as others. the question about fairies that still gets me though is the natural born size of a fairy. i tend to think of it as variable, but then the equation of a fairy's ability to shrink large opponents becomes variable!

ie, a fairy born at a small size, say 5 in, would only be able to shrink something the size of a human; despite however big they make them selves (though interestingly i think their ability to grow is proportional to age so there might be some comical moments where she cant grow big enough to eat them XD )

where as a fairy born human size would be able to shrink anything up to 50ft tall (long) not near crisis size but getting most of the mid level preds and preys (think kensha snakes XD).

thus bringing us too my theory that Nemyra was born a giant.... >.> but that's a theory for latter.

regaurdleess ita s bit vauge but as i understand it the vast majority of fairies live in a small state.... perhaps indicating that that's the natural size..... i am thinking out loud now as a sort of question to Karbo ^^;

Well, as to that, wouldn't it make more sense that a mother fairy would have to become a certain size during the development/birth of the child? A possible weakness during pregnancy, perhaps...

I think some fairies are more powerful than others based on sheer ability, just like some humans are smarter or faster or stronger. However, as we know, ability can be surpassed by hard work and effort... so perhaps a fairy who has perfected the art, or has discovered new methods of amplifying the power could bring the size-changing skill to a whole new level.

Cypress : Well wrong actually it's hard to explain but any fairy who can change size wil not have a "real" size between the two.. Her current one is her real. Simply, most prefer to go around small to have more room to fly ^^

ahh ok Xp

guess my mind ran away with me ^^;

Kinda like asking what the real look of a shapeshifter is, right? Perhaps the trait has been part of their bloodline for so long, it now is more of a definition of the species, rather than an extra.

Well, I'm certainly glad to know my thread has caught a lot of attention while I was gone.

Well, it was something that I had intended to discuss, myself, if I ever got to it. I'm sure that goes for others, too.

Karbo wrote:

Cypress : Well wrong actually it's hard to explain but any fairy who can change size wil not have a "real" size between the two.. Her current one is her real. Simply, most prefer to go around small to have more room to fly ^^

So basicly, if someone were to "turn off magic" on a fairy, then that wouldn't cause it to change to some default size, I get that.

What I wonder is, if some one were to dispell a fairy's magic, could they still shift sizes with it being a natural ability? Or would they be stuck in the size they were in when they get de-magic'd?

Personally, I subscribe to the dimensional magic theory, like Gregole and Cypress. It just makes the most sense, and is internally consistent with what we've seen and been told so far. Heck, even Karbo said:

Karbo wrote:

Cypress : Well wrong actually it's hard to explain but any fairy who can change size wil not have a "real" size between the two.. Her current one is her real. Simply, most prefer to go around small to have more room to fly ^^

This in no way contradicts the dimensional magic theory, and in fact is evidence to support it. I think I understand what Karbo means- If I get this wrong, please let me know, Karbo! - If I am correct, then the concept of "size" simply does not exist for Fairies the way we recognize it. A fairy does not actually change their physical size, ever. As Gregole said, they simply have the ability to change their size in relation to everything else. I'll call this ability "Dimensional Scaling" for now.

This means that at any and every given moment, if you asked a fairy (we will assume that she will actually try to answer the question instead of eating you) the question, "What is your real size?", the response would always be the same. She might be a bit confused, and not quite sure what you mean at first, but once she got the gist of what you were asking... her answer would be, "This is my real size."

Now, if she suddenly went from 6 inches tall to 60 feet tall right before your eyes one second later, and you asked the question again... the answer would still be "This is my real size." Despite the fact that from your perspective she obviously changed size, from her perspective, the assertion that her current size is her "real size" indicates that from her perspective, no physical change of size occured.

I believe that the concept of physical size as we understand it is not only completely alien to fairies, but totally irrelevant to them. I believe that when a fairy "changes size", they do not think in terms of, "I want to be 80 feet tall.", they think in terms of "I want to be bigger/smaller than that thing there."

As far as the external world is concerned, it treats the fairy as though she has not changed size at all, which is why a fairy will never collapse under her own weight as a result of "growing", and can fly regardless of how tremendous she grows. As far as gravity and aerodynamics are concerned, the fairy is still her "original" diminutive size. It would be very interesting to observe a 95-foot tall fairy out flying on a windy day.

So far, what we do know (as directly stated by Karbo) about fairies works as evidence to support this "dimensional magic" theory:

1) The magical capacity of a fairy's body does not increase when she "gets bigger".
2) A fairy's "real" size is whatever her current size is.
3) Most fairies are small only because they like having more space, not because "small" is their default size!
4) (Not 100% certain on this one) A fairy's ability to shrink another creature has limits; (I don't believe Karbo ever definitively stated what those limits are, but I do remember him saying to that effect. Can anyone verify?)

What really clenches it for me is if a fairy can "change size" after eating someone, or while pregnant; so far, all signs point to the answer being "Yes", but I would really like Karbo to confirm that. If a fairy can swallow someone, and then "shrink" to 3 inches tall, and there is still no size discrepancy at all between the inside of the fairy's stomach and the person inside of it... then logically, one of two things is happening.

A) Either the fairy automatically changes the size of her meal while it is in her stomach so that it is always consistent with her external size (Example: If a fairy gets bigger, the inside of her stomach doesn't suddenly become a giant cavern to the person in it. If she get smaller, you don't suddenly see a "way too big" human exploding out of a "way too small" fairy.), which defies rational explanation to the point that the best explanation would be "It's magic!".

B) The fairy is never actually physically changing size. Therefore, the size of her stomach always remains the same in relation to the size of anything inside her stomach. If she eats until she gets full, and then gets bigger... she is still full. She does not become less full, because the amount of space the food in her stomach occupies never actually decreases (at least, not until it has been digested). If she is full and gets smaller, then her stomach does not burst because it is suddenly "too small to hold the amount of food inside of it". A fairy never changes her physical size, only her size in relation to the world around her.

At least, that seems to be the theory that best explains what we can "observe" (in a fictional context, anyways), and the one I prefer. I hope I did a decent job explaining it, someone else can feel free to hop in and clarify parts I might have been vague on.

Karbo wrote:

This varies a lot... Nemyra would have no problem to reduce Crisis to human size of course, but most fairies's magic don't work very well if the target is 12 feet or more.

The most we'll likely get on a Faerie power limit at the moment.

Thanks, Malahite! Hmm... Yeah, taken out of context, that is vague enough that you can't really extrapolate limits from it. There are just too many ways you could take that.

But still...

You know, I never gave fairies all that much thought up until now. Just another magic giant (sometimes) predator, on a world full of them, right? After reading over what has been discussed in this topic, as well as things Karbo has said in other threads and the wiki, and really considering the implications, I realized something.

Regardless of their power, (Felaryan) Fairies are potentially the most dangerous species on Felarya, hands down. Seriously. Forget demons, dridders, nagas, and anything else living on the surface of Felarya; the only thing keeping Fairies from being the alpha species on Felarya is their mindset.

Destroy the Scaries- er, Fairies!

Thing is, eventually they likely will drive away a good deal of species. Unlike a good bunch of other 'Predators', they take to literature and recording of history. This doesn't sound like much, until one realizes that this means that they will be a 'Predator' species that likely will begin to develop technologically as well. And if so, nothing will be scarier than if they can begin to steal and reverse engineer others tech and will have the production capabilities to mass-produce it.

Their hedonistic lifestyle is likely what keeps us safe, as you said. That goes away, shit hits the fan and people of all species better hope their mages are up to the challenge.