Basic Outline of the Changeling World
Changeling: A human that was stolen from Earth and taken to Faerie, where the skies, waters, foods transformed into something more than human and less than Fey. Life in Fey was brutal, since the True Faerie that rule it have no concept of consequence, empathy, or mercy. While Changeling’s had different lives, they were all horrible in some way in Faerie. . .they escaped and returned to Earth, to a world that is no longer completely their own.
Harvest: Not as dependent on the substance like a vampire with Vitae, Changelings must use an emotional energy known as Glamour to power their Contracts and use their supernatural abilities. It can be harvested from fulfilling oaths, found in the borderlands between Faerie and Earth, and leeching it from dreams and inspiration. . .nothing tastes as good as raw Glamour harvested by intense emotion, though.
Courts: In Faerie, Changelings lost the ability to make choices for themselves. Creating the Changeling Courts was a way of giving them a sense of friends, allies, and politics. . .but more than anything it gave them a choice to affiliate with whom they wanted to. Joining a court gives a Changeling several advantage, including the natural ability to Harvest a certain type of intense emotion Glamour.
Winter Court: The Court of Sorrow, they are the rogues, information gatherers, secret keepers, and assassins. Harvest: Depression and Spite
Spring Court: The Court of Desire, they are the hedonists, humanists, dilettantes, and diplomats. Harvest: Want and Sexual Lust.
Summer Court: The Court of Anger, they are the warriors, defenders, strategists, and militants. Harvest: Rage and Violence.
Autumn Court: The Court of Fear, they are the sages, occultists, explorers, and scientists. Harvest: Terror and Anxiety.
Important Lexicon: Freehold: A place of power and energy for Changelings. The Freehold in Tucson is called Martinez House, it is a home for runaways with a gateway to Faerie inside, known as a Trod.
Hedge: The border between Faerie and Earth, few True Fey live there but it is populated by minor fey called Hobgoblins that stalk it for food. The Hedge is alive and it can take years or seconds to cross depending on it capricious nature.
Contracts: Changeling magic, every contract has a price to use it. Seeming: All Changelings fit into one of six broad groups known as Seemings as a result of appearance and activity in Faerie. Changelings of the same Seeming feel a familiar connection, but they don’t necessary like each other. It’s like belonging to an extended family. . .like it or not, they’re one of you.
Beasts: Transformed into animals in both body and soul for various reasons, Beasts returned to earth as a hybrid between the humans they once were and the animals they became, still trusting bestial instinct of logic.
Blessing: The Beast gains an 8-again pull when using the Animal Ken skill, and she receives a free specialty in the animal that reflects the Beast’s Seeming. In addition, she can spend Glamour to any pull involving Presence and Composure.
Curse: As a result of their feral nature, all Beasts suffer a -4 penalty when trying to use a Mental Skill that they have no points in, and they do not get the 10 again role for any Intelligence based pull.Darklings: Making bargains with the Living Shadows and Night of Faerie, Darklings were able to survive in the places where light never touches. The resulting Contract turned them into nightmarish bogeys and abyssal creatures.
Blessing: Darklings as ephemeral as the Living Shadows they communed with in Faerie, allowing them to spend Glamour to increase pulls that involve Wits, Subterfuge, and Stealth. They also get the 9-again rule on Stealth checks.
Curse: Darklings are at -1 when trying to use their Contracts during Sunlight. -2 if they are under direct sunlight.Elementals: The most diverse and alien of Changelings, Elementals lost their Humanity to become living forces of nature such as fire, earth, or water. They have only recently regained their humanoid appearance and semblance of human behavior.
Blessing: Once per day, an Elemental can spend one point of Glamour to add a normal of Health levels equal to their level of Wyrd for a scene.
Curse: As a result of being removed so far from Humanity, Elementals do not get the 10-again rule on Manipulation, Empathy, Expression, Persuasion, or Socialize.Fairest: Twisted by the whim of their Masters and Mistresses into a standard of inhuman beauty, the Fairest had to reject a life of untold pleasure and intolerable torture to regain some semblance of themselves.
Blessing: Truly the Fairest of them all, they may spend Glamour to improve pulls involving Presence, Manipulation, and Persuasion. Likewise, they suffer no trait penalty with Social Abilities they do not have.
Curse: Suffers a -1 penalty on all roles involving Clarity (the Changeling equivalent of Humanity, reflecting a balance between human and Fey sides).Ogres: As much monsters as their brutal Masters and Mistresses, Ogres evolves into hags, cannibals, oni, and giants due to the endless torture, violence, pain, and hard living they suffered in Faerie.
Blessing: As a reflection of an Ogre’s physical prowess, the Ogre can spend points of Glamour to improve pulls involving Strength, Brawl, or Intimidation.
Curse: Ogres are prone to impulse, and many are a little gullible. Ogres do not gain the 10-again rule on pulls involving Composure, except Perception. Likewise, they suffer a -1 penalty on Social Defense.Wizened: Dissected, deformed, and experimented on, the Wizened were once the labor force of Faerie and even after their return to Earth can only find solace from performing a specific task.
Blessing: The Wizened have had to move swiftly and nimbly to avoid punishment by their True Fey masters. As a result, Wizened may spend a Glamour to gain the 9-again rule for all challenges involving dexterity for the rest of the scene. Likewise, they may spend Glamour to increase their Dodge total.
Curse: The Wizened don’t benefit from the 10 again rule from pulls involving Presence. For the same reason, while they are not restricted from learning social abilities, they suffer a -4 for untrained Social Skills.Other Lexicon:
Kith: Within each Seeming, there are specific kith, with added abilities and an even closer familiar relations and appearance. Seeming: Beast and Kith: Broadback, is the same as saying Class: Reptile and Order Ophidian (snake). Note: Your kith might be your siblings, but not all siblings all like each other.
Wyrd: How connected the Changeling is to their Fey self, and their Fey magic.
Willpower: How grounded the Changeling is to Earth, by sheer force of will.
Clarity: Changelings know long have human morality, they have a stat known as Clarity. . .how balanced they are between their human side and changeling side. The higher the Clarity, the more human the Changeling is, and vice versa.
Mask: A changeling’s human appearance.
Mien: A changeling’s true appearance, only visible to Changelings, Fetches, and certain supernatural creatures.
Fetch: A construct of the True Fey made to look like the human the Changeling was, so that they are never missed on Earth.
Ensorcelled: A human that is imbued by Changeling magic, either accidentally or on purpose and bound by an oath that ends anywhere from an hour to eternity.
