Houselings

Full Description
The houselings are like unto man, but to a much smaller degree, they stand a bare three inches high. The wee folk wear quaint little clothing made from twigs and leaves and odd bits of cloth or fur. In their hands, houselings carry tiny tools and baskets to help them in their household tasks. Although small, houselings carry themselves in a manner more befitting giants. They strut about with their noses held high in the air and a look of unconcerned disdain on their tiny faces.

Their hair is often brown, but can be green, or, more likely in the fall, orange or red. They have large, bright eyes, though they seem to lack the shine of intelligence. Houselings often use this fact to their advantage when captured by humans.

Additional Information
Houselings are of the Kindly Folk, the faeries. Most other, more noble, faeries would say that they are simply add-ons to the court of the Faerie Queen. The houselings are the keepers of the home and hearth, they tend to household chores when neglected, and, not without a few remarks, redo some of the work.

Although they do nothing to stop from being seen by the big folk, humans, it is amazing what the mind will do to stop us from a rude awakening. The houselings are awfully small, and it is easier for you to say to yourself,
"There goes another mouse, I really must speak
with the cat more sternly".
As opposed to,
"Oh, there goes another make-believe
creature".

Even though taking care of the house when we big folk mess up is pretty important, but what they do unconsciously is even more important. Because they fraternize fairly openly with humans, houselings are seen as 'lower caste' faeries. To save themselves from inter-faerie strife, houselings learn at a very young age to project a slight feeling of well-being and happiness all around them. This is not much when you have just one houseling, at most a feeling that its not the end of the world because your plans didn't go exactly right, you can always try again. But when a family of houselings, or a large gathering is near, they can cause widespread happiness or amazing feelings of euphoria in a smaller group.

The wee folk choose the home that they are to service based on the big folk that live there. Since they prize honesty, love, and kindness such people as are like that are likely to accumulate larger quantities of houselings. It has been seen that when there is a group of houselings helping out on household, and the big folks move from that house, the houselings will follow them, unless the new owners are more to their liking.

Houselings find their homes pretty much wherever they can, as long as it isn't too far from their chosen big folk's home. They have been known to house themselves within the roots of large trees, inside bird houses, and even in the very walls of their chosen houses.

Relative of the Houselings
There are several other faeries that are very similar to the houselings, and some have even theorized that these are all related to each other. The most well known of these creatures is the Brownie. Brownies do all of the same work for big folk as the houselings do, but do not send out the euphoric feeling. However, be careful of angering the brownies, because they will change and become boggarts, hideous, cruel creatures.

A few, simple things can be done in all good intent that will anger brownies. These are all things in thanks for the work done. If clothes or food are left out for the brownie, it will become very much angered. The exception to this is warm milk. A saucer of warm milk left out will please a brownie and cause it to work more efficiently.

Plot Hooks
-A wealthy merchant has discovered a wizard who has perfected a spell to capture houselings. Now the merchant is visiting house after house, caging thousands of houselings. He has plans to sell them in their cages as pets to wealthy noblemen.
-After discovering their euphoric properties, a rich criminal has decided to build a drug den and fill it with captured houselings. The happiness put out by a couple hundred wee folk being absorbed by just a few select people could have averse affects.