Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
Say, could that lass be I?
Merry of soul she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye
Billow and breeze, islands and seas
Mountains of rain and sun
All that was good, all that was fair
All that was me is gone
– Bear McCreary, “The Skye Boat Song”
During the Mythic Age, everything dreamed.
Waterfalls had the ability to speak, mountains opened up and shielded early humans from the Fomorians, winds brought sound, and fire laughed as it consumed what it desired. Though the Sundering and Shattering weakened them, these elemental faerie souls — the inanimae— never left the Autumn world. Instead, the Dreaming cast them into places of natural rest, where they slept until stirred by events in the surrounding world.
Kithain often refer to them as nature fae, or the Sessile Ones, but their contact was sporadic until the Evanescence, when nightmares and minions of the Elder Dark once again roamed the landscapes of the Dreaming and Autumn world. Though they fear that changelings will come to their Anchors and consume the Glamour within, due to the diminishing number of balefires, the inanimae know that they need to find common ground with the Kithain both to prevent the Fomorians from returning and avoid the Long Winter. Los Angeles, home to Caer Angeles of the Kingdom of Pacifica? Is on the verge of becoming ground zero for the Long Winter.
Phyla are the great Inanimae Courts, groups of specific Inanimae centered around a certain element that is reflected in their Anchor. The phyla are as follows:
- Glomes, Inanimae of Earth and members of the Empire of Stones
- Kuberas, Inanimae of Wood and members of the Empire of Seeds
- Mannikins, Inanimae of human-shaped elements and members of the Empire of Dolls
- Ondines, Inanimae of Water and members of the Empire of Tears
- Parosemes, Inanimae of Air and members of the Empire of Skies
- Solimonds, Inanimae of Fire and former members of the Empire of Flames