The History of Picty Wode

In a world within our world, a world defined by the relative sizes of things dwell a secret people – pixies. No one in our human world knows they exist, although there are stories about them as well as misconceptions that stem from the human imagination, ideas such as that they have gossamer wings and flit and frolic at the bottom of gardens and that children see them all the time. These are untrue, to the pixies it is all important that humans do not truly believe they exist for if they did then pixies would cease to be, probably hunted out of existence to be put in freak shows or on television, anyway their way of life would be destroyed and they would soon pine away, as do polar bears, in captivity. Being no taller than six inches has its own problems. Pixies are long lived, not immortal, as accidents do happen, and they are not the highest in the food chain; owls, and stoats and foxes are above them and all these creatures sometimes eat pixies. Over many centuries, through a long vigil, pixies have disappeared from human perception, they have even vanished from the awareness of many of the other hidden folk, many of the fairies and elves that exist intermingled and disguised amongst human society, those that, but for a faint appearance of strangeness around the edges, can pass for human. This suits the pixies for they have always considered themselves to be the secret people.

In Yorkshire, in an area of sprawling farmland and villages there is an ancient wood. As it is ancient, it is protected by the National Trust. At its centre is an old Celtic stone circle that may even have been put up before Stonehenge. To the locals it is known as Picty Wode. Why? According to local folklore the name means ‘the pixie wood’. The Picty Wode covers some ten acres, which may not appear large but seems like a wide world to the pixies that live there. The local villagers had long believed pixies dwelt in the Wode, but no-one truly knew it (other than the pixies themselves, of course). Still, the villagers nearby thought of the Picty Wode as a rather strange place with ancient gnarly trees and at least one old pagan stone circle that the locals thought was haunted. Anything strange that happens to folks that visit the Wode is put down either to the pixies or to ghosts, depending on whether the person involved is a local or not.
Pixies have lived in Picty Wode as long as they can remember, and, as a pixie is a kind of fairy, that is an extremely long time indeed. Most of the pixies live around the stone circle known as the Crannock, in a kind of gully at the heart of the Wode. They dwell in a village which they call Faern. Pixie houses are not particularly noticeable. They are concealed at the base, the top, or the centre of trees. Not all pixies live in Faern, some live in various parts of the Wode, either in small groups or all alone.
Picty Wode stands on Waddies Farm and around it lay four magog villages; Brambleweed, Waddleberry, Stumptmountain and Meerich. Pixies call humans magogs as Magog was a giant who lived in Britain a long time ago and to pixies all humans are giants.
How do pixies look? Well, they are between four and six inches tall when fully grown. They have pointy ears and large noses. Unlike the pictures drawn in books in our world, pixies do not have wings. Their skin colour tends to be one shade of nut brown or another, the older the pixie the darker the shade. They come in all shapes, some are thin and tall, some fat and tall, some small and thin or fat and small. Much like humans really. Their hair is of numerous shades and various lengths, some are even bald. The simple truth is that they are simply people but on a much smaller scale. They do not wear clothes as we know them, but rather dress in dried leaves that they treat with a mixture of various flower juices to make their outfits comfortable and durable. Pixies like to blend in to their surroundings.
Pixies use flower magic, by this I mean they make potions, tinctures, oils and powders from all sorts of flowers, grasses, herbs and fungus which, when treated correctly, can have an effect upon the world around and about. Powders can be used to cause sleep or forgetfulness; tinctures can be used to allow heightened hearing; to show only three examples. Pixies know many uses of herb and flower lore that the pixies know which are now lost to mankind.
On a day-to-day basis, pixies are much like everyone else. They must eat and sleep and drink. They gather food from nearby fields in season. They eat berries and flowers and honey. They make mead and beer and wine from various substances. They purify water for drinking and many centuries of trial and tribulation has taught them to keep their toilets far from water sources. They have children – though not often. They can suffer injury and have accidents, they can die, eventually. Pixies are not immortal but they live to a great age, which is as near to immortality as makes no difference really.