Fairyland
General Information
Fairyland, also known as the Fairy realm,The Fae Wilds, The Realms Between, or Fairie, is a plane separate from our own, filled with Fae creatures of all time. If you find yourself in the Realm of the Fae, it is important to keep your wits about you. If you can, retrace your steps back the way you came. Do not speak to any creature you see, regardless of how human they may seem. If you are lucky, you will be able to escape through the same way you came in.
Entrances
There have been many known entrances to Fairie, though very few have been used more than once. Fairie entrances are known to shift in location, or even disappear completely at random. As such, it is very difficult to find an entrance that is reliable.
Entrances to the Realms Between can take many different forms, though the most common have been circles of mushrooms or naturally forming archways of tree or stone. Other notable examples are bridges, caves, wardrobes, and spider webs. The vast majority of people who manage to enter the Realms Between do so by accident. After returning, they often report Fairyland feeling like a dream, leaving them unsure if anything they experienced in the realm was even real. If they ever try to retrace their steps and return to Fairie, they often find the entrance to have vanished.
Due to survivor bias, It is impossible to tell how many people stumble into Fairie and never return, though there have been stories throughout all of history of people wandering into forests, never to return.
There are permanent gateways to faerie, though they must be maintained by the Fae Courts to stay that way. As a result, they are often guarded by a gatekeeper who is entrusted with its protection. Using these gateways without fae permission would be very difficult, if not impossible.
Landscape
In Fairie, time is less stable than otherwise. Specifically, it seems to be tied to physical location. For instance, no matter how long you wait in one place, the sun will not begin to rise or set, it will stay locked in the same position. However, you can walk for only a few minutes and end up in a different season.
Each area is ruled by a different Fae Courts, so what you can expect from the locals varies wildly from location to location. The flow of time is not slower or faster in Fairyland, just different. For example, if you entered through a ring of mushrooms, spend several years there, then existed through that same ring of mushrooms, you would find yourself returning only moments after you left in the first place. However, even if you are only in Fairie for a few moments, before exiting through a different entrance, you could find yourself hundreds of years in the future.
Fae of all types seem to have an innate, almost instinctual understanding of the workings of their realm. This allows them to guide (or trick) others into Fairie, which they have been known to do on many occasions. It does not appear that they can control the shifting of entrances, simply that they understand them in a way that others cannot. Any attempt to teach this understanding to a non-fae has ended in failure.
The wilds of Fairie vary just as greatly as those outside of Fairie, with sprawling plains, leading to lush forests and dense rain forests. The only difference is, these different biomes are much closer together than would otherwise be possible.
Geographically, the Realms between can be split into five large areas. To the North, East, South, and West are the lands controlled by the Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall courts respectively. At the center is the land that is home to both the Seely and Unseelie courts. Broadly speaking, The Seelie control the South East half, meaning they share borders with both the Spring and Summer courts, while the Unseelie control the North West half, sharing borders with the Fall and Winter courts.
There is a common misconception among those who study fairykind that the seasonal courts are contained within the Seelie and Unseelie courts. While this is untrue, it is not a baseless assumption. Courts that share boarders often have influence with one another. For instance, the Spring and Summer courts influence the Seelie and vice versa. Similarly, the Unseelie influences and is influences by both Autumn and Winter courts. Although they are not one and the same, the courts all tend to influence each other, which is how the myth came to be.
Survival Guide
If you enter the Fae realm, whether purposefully or not, you must play by their rules, which are quite different from our own. The first thing you must do is retrace your steps, try to find the entrance you came in on. If it is still there, this minimizes the chance that you will be sent adrift in time. Avoid speaking to anything else you meet, no matter how friendly they may seem. While many fae are benevolent and will seek to help you, it is not worth the risk.
Never give away your name. In Fairie, your name is your identity. By giving it away, you are essentially giving away everything that you are.
Do not eat the food of Fairie. Doing so means becoming indebted to the realm itself. You will become trapped in the realms between until you can pay that debt off, which is unlikely to happen in your lifetime.
Do not leave anything or take anything from Fairyland.
Never go anywhere alone. If possible, keep someone else within your eyesight at all times.
Rhymes can be used as currency. Be sure to come prepared with a poem or two, preferably your own, original work, since no Fae will have heard it before.
If you are forced to speak, Be courteous. Speak only when spoken to