Fairy Dictionary -A

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Afreets, Alven, Ankou, Anthropophagi, Ashrays, Attorcroppe

Alven

Land of Origin: Netherlands.
Other Origins: None known.
Other Names: Ottermaaner.
Element: Water.
Appearance and Temperament:
Alvens have bodies that are so light as to make them almost invisible. They are not winged faeries, but they can travel through the air by becoming encased in a water bubble. Occasionally they will show themselves while wearing the skins of otters. Their malice towards humans extends only to those who choose to desecrate their homes and sacred plants.
Time Most Active: At night.
Lore:
Alvens are creatures of the moon under whose light they dance and play. They are water faeries who live in ponds, lakes, and rivers, but the River Elbe is sacred to them and in it they make their principal home. They cherish night-blooming plants and will harm any human who attempts to pick or destroy them. Fish is their only known enemies, and they prefer to live in water enclosures where there are none.
Where To Find Them: In the River Elbe, an easy journy on the inner plane.
How to Contact: Look for them in Faeryland and try approaching them as a friend, someone who also loves the moon and nature.
Magickal and Ritual Help: Undetermined, but they may be useful in protective and healing spells for a night- blooming garden or for the marine environment.

Ankou

Land of Origin: Brittany
Other Origins: Ankou is also part of the faery lore of Cornwall and Wales, and is deeply a part of Irish mythology.
Other Names: Death, the Grim Reaper, Father Time. A personified version of death is part of the folklore of many cultures, yet there is no evidence to suggest that any of these beings were ever worshiped as Death Gods.
Element: Ankou, like the deities, is part of all elements, including the elusive fifth element, spirit.
Appearance and Temperament:
Ankou (Ahn-koo) is the personification of death who comes to collect the souls of passed-over humans. He is male dark, and rather Dickensian with his black-robed costume pulled up high about his head. No one living has ever seen his face, for to do so would be to die. Ankou shows no interest in humans or their lives; he merely does his job.
Time Most Active: All year.
Lore: Ankou came to Ireland from the Celtic lore of Brittany in northern France, where he has largely been forgotten. The Irish term for physical death, an bas(awn bays), is rarely used to refer to the entity of Death, but rather the state of death.

Ankou drives a black cart, though some say it is really a small coach or even a hearse, drawn by four black horses in which he comes to collect the souls of those recently passed over and escort them into the Land of the Dead. In Ireland's County Roscommon there is a documented story of a mother and daughter who would hear the coach pass by their cottage each night around midnight accompanied by beautiful faery music, and though they could hear the music and the rattle of carriage wheels, they could never see a thing.

An old Irish proverb says, "When Ankou comes, he will not go away empty." In Ireland, Ankou is always classified as a faery rather than a ghost or some other type of spirit, and he is given more of a personality than he is accorded in many other lands. In this he is more like Death of modern movies such as Death Takes a Holiday and On Borrowed Time.
Where to Find Him: Unknown.
How to Contact: Contact not advised!
Magickal and Ritual Help: If you see him out on his travels, you need not fear. Stand away at a respectful distance and watch to help gain an understanding of the meaning of physical death.

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Anthropophagi

Land of Origin: England.
Other Origins: The name of this faery is Greek, but there is no extant evidence that this faery was ever part of Greek folk belief.
Other Names: None known.
Element: Air.
Appearance and Temperament:
The Anthropophagi is a headless cannibal. What little brain he has is reputed to be near his reproductive organs. His eyes rest on his shoulder, and his mouth is in the center of his chest. He has no nose, a gift of nature which enables him to eat human flesh without gagging. They have very unpleasant natures, though it is said they only kill when hungry.
Time Most Active: Unknown.
Lore:
These faeries were made popular by the famed English playwright, William Shakespeare, in Merry Wives of Windsor (1602) and Othello (1605), but they were already a part of English folklore before he brought them into the public donsciousness.
The name Anthropophagi literally translates from the Greek as "man-eating". Some folklorists believe these are not faeries at all, but a remnant of a memory of a cannibalistic race which migrated from northern Africa to Britain in the early Dark Ages.

Aside from consuming humans, these faeries are said to use human bones for tools and other daily-used items such as mugs.
Where to Find Them: Unknown.
How to Contact: Unknown. They may not fully exist except as nebulous and almost forgotten thought-forms.
Magickal and Ritual Help: None.

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Ashrays

Land of Origin: Scotland.
Other Origins: None known.
Other Names: Water Lovers, Asrais.
Element: Water.
Appearance and Temperament:
Ashrays are both male and female and appear to be about twenty years old in human time, when in fact they are quite ancient. They have whitish, almost translucent bodies, and are often mistaken for sea ghosts. They have been blamed for good deeds and bad, but not enough is known about them to judge their overall intent or temperament where people are concerned.
Time Most Active: At night.
Lore:
It is known that Ashrays cannot live on land, which has led some mythologists to speculate that they may have descended from a mythological race condemned to the water for some grievous misdeed, real or imagined.

Ashrays are completely nocturnal. If they are touched by sunlight they will melt into a rainbow pool of water.
Where to Find Them: Very few Ashrays are still seen today. If they are findable at all, it would be underwater.
How to Contact: Approach with extreme caution as their actions and intent towards humans is unknown. Call to them in their own underwater world while you are well protected.
Magickal and ritual Help: Undetermined.

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Attorcroppe

Land of Origin: Saxony.
Other Origins: None known.
Other Names: None Known.
Element: Earth. Appearance and Temperament:
The Attocroppe looks like a small serpent with arms and legs who walks upright. They are very malevolent.
Time Most Active: At night.
Lore: Attocroppe (from the same root as the word adder) literally means "little poison head", and its likeness to a venomous serpent may mean that this faery came into the faery lore of old Saxony through the wily ways of poisonous snakes.
Where to Find Them: If it is possible to find them at all it would be in woodlands, near stream beds, and among rocks.
How to Contact: May not be contractable because they may not fully exist in whole forms.
Magickal and Ritual Help: None.

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