Alicornutopia

You mean a kind that starts multiple times and can also breed? I haven't actually ruled that out but they'd just be a kind of breeder with multiple *atriarchs.

Promise started in a tree that was already about seven feet in diameter and proportionally tall, and it took sorcerous help to make it noticeably bigger than that over the course of her lifetime.

I was thinking more a kind that other faries don't know how to classify, but "multiple *atriarchs" sound reasonable.

The Pumpkin Princess' Court of 335 sunshine tepals is typical in size? Are there any million-strong courts or those should be too impractical?

(*atriarchs sounds like cheating)

Not even the Queen keeps a million vassals around. If you don't count the Queen there probably even aren't extended networks of allies or satellite courts that size. 335 is a reasonably-sized breeder court and if it gets about three or four times that big somebody's going to manage to slip away, and if it's somebody with names, they'll take a chunk of court with them.

I don't have a number or even really a ballpark for the size of Serene's underground court, but the part where people might be able to slip away is much less of a concern there because there is always a finite amount of space for them to slip away into and creating more space is a nontrivial endeavour. I don't think she has a million vassals but it's likely that she has a few more than a surface-situated court could readily keep.

Alicorn wrote:Not even the Queen keeps a million vassals around. If you don't count the Queen there probably even aren't extended networks of allies or satellite courts that size. 335 is a reasonably-sized breeder court and if it gets about three or four times that big somebody's going to manage to slip away, and if it's somebody with names, they'll take a chunk of court with them.

The Queen can pick quality over quantity, but I am not contexting your point. Would you say that it is relatively common for a sensible Court ruler to make the division on purpose for management reasons? I mean, pick the overplus number of subjects, maybe even ask their input and then send them away?

Kappa wrote:I don't have a number or even really a ballpark for the size of Serene's underground court, but the part where people might be able to slip away is much less of a concern there because there is always a finite amount of space for them to slip away into and creating more space is a nontrivial endeavour. I don't think she has a million vassals but it's likely that she has a few more than a surface-situated court could readily keep.

When I saw that you posted to this thread, I totally predicted this post xD

Have you picked Serene's kind yet?

I can't understand your question at all.

If a growing court is getting to the point where a split is soon to be inevitable, might the current leader of the court try to split it in a more controlled way? For example, might one choose the specific vassals to send away, perhaps getting their opinions on the subject to ensure stability?

Yes, this sometimes happens, but it's pretty hard to keep things stable forever if you're not constantly babysitting them, and forever is how long fairies last.

Hopefully, though, that instability usually happens in the split-off court instead of the main court, right? I mean, the main court will encounter instability eventually too, but it can last for orders of magnitude longer if handled well.

I tentatively picked the name "gracewing" and a wing design that's surprisingly difficult to put into words, but I'm stuck on a kind magic.