The Court of Gloom is a faerie court in the Feywild that represents the fey of shadow and darkness. It is an Unseelie Court – many of the archfey and lesser fey in the court relish in dark desires. The Court holds sway over the region of the Feywild known as the Gloaming Wood; some tales say that the Gloaming Wood overlaps Twillin, and is responsible for the Twill curse.
Notable Members
Lady of Gloom
The Lady of Gloom, a powerful archfey of assassination, shadow, and horror, presides over the Court. Originally a noble of the Court of Stars, her unsettling predilection toward fear and dark magic led to her banishment ages past. Her natural form is that of a greenish-gray autumn eladrin wreathed in a cloak of shadow.
As the head of a fey court, the Lady of Gloom occasionally offers pacts with mortal warlocks. Such pacts often take the form of a fey pact, but she has occasionally granted the pact of a hexblade to individuals she finds particularly terrifying. One of her favorite terms of such pacts is that those bound to her must kill an intelligent creature one the night of a new moon.
Dullahan
Dullahan is sometimes known as the Headless Rider or the Scourged Knight. They patrol the shadowy glades of the Gloaming Wood atop their nightmarish steed. DMs should treat this as a nightmare, but as a fey creature, it understands Sylvan and does not understand Abyssal or Infernal. Once a proud knight, they lost their head in one of the Autumn Reapers’ pranks gone wrong. Shunned by other fey nobles for their horrific appearance, they offered their services to the Lady of Gloom.
Dullahan is powerful enough to offer pacts with mortals, though it is never a fey pact. Dullahan only confers their power in the form of hexblades. They charge those who make such pacts to find Dullahan’s head, or to wreak vengeance upon those associated with the Autumn Reapers.
Dearg-Due
Dearg-Due also bears the monikers of the Mistress of Blood and the Flayed Maiden. In a past life, she was the countess in the Summer Court. Her father married her off to a cruel count in the House of Winter. Her husband relentlessly tortured her with bloodletting and isolation. She took her own life, and the duke dumped her body at the edge of the Gloaming Wood. The Lady of Gloom brought her back in her current form, and Dearg-Due now feasts upon the blood of others to replace the blood she lost.
Dearg-Due offers fey pacts with particularly enchanting mortals, but only if her thirst for blood has been sated. A common term for such pacts is that the recipient must drink the blood of their victims as a gift to their patron.
Duke of Dark Hearts
The Duke of Dark Hearts is infamous as the archfey of murderous theft and dangerous games. He serves the Lady of Gloom by filling the court coffers with treasure extorted from other courts in treacherous games of chance. Games of cards are his particular favorite, with acts of violence and sadism as his favorite ante. However, he allows those who lose to pay their share in treasure in lieu of bloodshed. Some legends of this fey say he wears an enchanted suitcoat that grants him some measure of power over fate.
The Duke of Dark Hearts often makes fey pacts with gamblers and con-artists who need to make their next big score. Terms for his bargains typically include stealing gold during games of chance.
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