Gods and Mortals

From Zanecorpwiki

"Inversion of power" is a common trope in mythology and modern fairy tale. In the classical form, the gods, though immortal and powerful, are out done or reliant on mortals for some task. In the subtler, it a question of activity. The mortals do while the gods watch.

In the modern form, as found in Gaiman and DeLint novels... and that lady who's name I can't remember... there's the idea of the mortals as story tellers and the faerie as stories. Though possessing powers and age beyond our ability, they are constrained by arbitrary rules. They are "but tales", and the human steps in and shakes things up. Kinetics.