Dave sez: “I believe the fairy chess analogy is …more a matter of ‘making ornaments / Of accidents and possibilities’…Fairy chess problems may also change other stipulations, including multiple solutions (not a bug but a feature)…

I've covered much of the ground in blogposts: http://nnyhav.blogspot.com/2005/09/nabokovs-theme.html

http://nnyhav.blogspot.com/2011/04/reversification.html

... As you noted, the Nightrider is one of the most common fairy pieces, extending Knight moves linearly. (It's fairly common for notation to use "S" for the knight and "N" for the nightrider).

The Unicorn is an established fairy chess piece, a 3-dimensional bishop. There is no piece known as the Faun...

 

Jansy Mello: Your Pale Fire blogposts and present commentary are awesome. 

It’s way beyond my abilities to follow Nabokov’s allusions related to Lepidoptery and Chess, but you set my heart at ease when you observed that the fairy chess analogy is more a matter of “making ornaments of accidents…” But then, unfortunately, I’ll have to abandon any confirmatory step towards the idea that PF offers “multiple solutions” if these belong to the accidental realm of fairy chess. 

I’m coming to the conclusion that to include of N,S, K as “main characters” in Charles Kinbote’s work (sic), abandoning G, doesn’t belong to the field of “PF truths” ( these would pertain to the hypothesis of only one solution and one intended end, despite its ornamental ramifications) . In that case, I must take a stand concerning the author issue. 

Even though I feel inclinded to the “three in one” idea, I’ll set my heart on looking for a fictional double authorship (JS and CK), until I’m convinced of my…folly? Luckily I’m all in for a fairy variant reading, too. After all, "what is truth, said jesting Pilate..."

 

John Shade mentions unicorns (found among the fairy chess figures) and fauns. I understand you, Dave, have interesting connections to fauns related to Sybil’s translations of Marvell?