I've been DMing a pirate campaign for about 6 years. We play once a month. I recently added a new player who's playing a faun/satyr warlock with a fey patron. The player is pretty new to ttrpg. He's not sure how involved he wants the patron to be in the story, what kind of patron he wants.
I told him patrons can be like bosses or investors : some are very controlling and prone to micromanagement, some will be helpful and teach their warlock how to grow that power, others are just esoteric investors that give a fraction of their power away, leave you to make it grow and will get it back with interest once their warlock dies. Some patrons have a precise agenda involving their warlock, others not at all. So far, his patron mainly encourages him to defend nature, punish polluters and generally spread chaos. I thought maybe his patron could be Hyrsam or a heavily inspired satyr and the PC's grandfather (though the PC doesn't know that yet).
The main storyline has nothing fey in it. We're talking religious zealots (pirate worshipping Umberlee) looking to free her from power bounds put onto her by other gods, which would establish a kind of savage theocracry on earth. There's a ritual to do that and a macguffin race, all the while managing with capitalistic rhum barons that are the established power. there are still unexplored islets in the archipelago, so there could be fey portals or fey "zones", but I'm worrying addind a separate fey storyline, npcs and agendas will overcomplicate the plot. But I also don't see how to integrate a fey subplot in the main storyline.
So how do I answer when my player asks what his patron expects from him and what goals he pursues ? I only managed a weird and vague fey ask, "take a branch from that holy tree and plant it somewhere, you'll know the place when you see it". I like the idea of the PC being his patrons intermediate, helping others get/ask some favours of his patron. If a grand objective is needed, I thought about the patron wanting to establish some kind of fey domain of the islands, but nothing more precise.
I guess my main question is : do you have any ideas how to integrate a fey patron within my campaign without overcomplicating it and how would this kind of fey patron (neither too benevolent nor too unseelie) interact with their warlock ?