I'll be honest, when I first read the title, I thought of faeries of the old tales and spren do actually have some similarities to them if you think about it. Different natures from humans but (at least some) seem to be incredibly curious about humans and what makes them tick. They come from a different realm with different rules and have their own agendas. They have deals with humans, though of a different nature than the kind of general idea of faeries we have now.