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I'm looking for the structure of the Fairy (Fae) courts which are defined by Seelie or Unseelie alignments. There is a lot of fiction written but the problem is that they twist it to their own purposes and add things not in the original mythologies. Can anyone point to a definitive taxonomy (Scottish, Welsh, Irish) that covers this? Regards

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    There isn't much. Indeed, Katherine Briggs discussed the possibility that it was all a literary trope that sometimes contaminated the folklore.
    – Mary
    Commented Dec 9, 2021 at 3:55
  • I was looking for info because I am writing fantasy and wanted to include a fae court scene in it. I had a scenario and wanted to play it through based on what I could determine from their rules and how to get around them. I guess I'll have to color between the lines a bit more than I wanted. Thanks.
    – EvilJinious1
    Commented Dec 9, 2021 at 23:14

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Sanderson, Stewart F (December 1957). "The Present State of Folklore Studies in Scotland", may answer your question. The one thing I believe is universal in the two courts is matriarchal leaders, Banrionacha, or “Queens”. Otherwise. I can only think of fictional literary works referencing any structure of their “courts”, if any exist at all in scholarly works.

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