Changeling Creation

CHARACTERS WILL NOT BE APPROVED ON GAME NIGHTS
You must submit your character at least two days prior to game to be able to play that game night. The STs have a great deal of prep work on game days, on top of our day to day lives. The Lead ST also takes off the Saturday before game and so is not available for character approval. Games are every two weeks, so this still gives plenty of time for character submissions.

Base Creation

Use the base creation rules and add the following template to Lost characters during Step Five.

1. Choose a Seeming (no restrictions).
Seemings are labels for changelings who have undergone similar transformations while being held prisoner in the Faerie realm. It is largely a reflection of the experiences and environment the Lost was held in before escaping. Changelings who share a Seeming often share not only physical traits, but psychological and emotional ones as well; they have shared common experiences of Faerie, and were often captured by or drawn to their Keepers in similar ways.

Each seeming comes with a particular blessing and curse, and their respective Kiths add an additional blessing to the mix. Within each seeming there exists a variety of kiths, which are a way to more carefully define the Changeling's fae nature.

Changelings share very specific similarities beyond those of their Seeming. While their supernatural changes might be similar, however, Changelings of the same Seeming, or even the same Kith, may have radically different Miens.

2. Choose a Court
Each Court represents both a philosophy and a supernatural pact with an aspect of the world that helps Changelings bolster their existence in the mortal realm, making them less vulnerable to the attentions of the Fae. Most Courts also draw power from a specific emotion which is associated with the powers of the Court; Changelings of the Court find it easier to harvest Glamour from their Court's emotion.
Seasonal Courts (No Restrictions)
Spring Court - Focusing on hiding from the Fae by living amongst the mortals. They thrive on Desire.
Summer Court - Seeking to strike out against the Fae directly. They thrive on Wrath.
Autumn Court - Exploring the powers of faerie magic and the enigmas of the unknown. They thrive on Fear.
Winter Court - Masters of deception and keepers of mysteries. They thrive on Sorrow.
Directional Courts (Restricted)
Court of the North - Become hard, detached, and ascetic; give yourself so little to lose that you are no longer attractive to the Fae. They thrive on Suffering.
Court of the East - Accumulate wealth and power to be rooted firmly in mortal society. They thrive on Envy.
Court of the South - Seeking enlightenment and joy in the Changeling condition. They thrive on Ecstacy.
Court of the West - All life is war, and the virtuous must win. They thrive on Honor.
Diurnal Courts (Restricted)
Sun Court - Believers in morals, the rule of law, and righteousness. They thrive on Shame.
Moon Court - Valuing freedom and chaos, and reveling in what they have become. They thrive on Disgust.
Transitional Courts(Restricted)
Dawn Court - Creators of their own destinies and a better future. They thrive on Hope.
Dusk Court - Accepting of their doomed fate, but not going down without a fight. They thrive on Fatalism.

3. Choose Starting Contracts
Each character begins with 5 dots of Contracts, which can be allocated as the player chooses. At least two dots must be devoted to a character’s seeming or court contracts.

4. Determine Wyrd
All Lost characters receive the Wyrd advantage at one dot for free. Wyrd can be increased with Merit-point expenditure at a rate of three to one at character creation. That is, a player may spend three of his character’s seven Merit points for Wyrd 2, or spend six of his character’s seven Merit points for Wyrd 3. Wyrd is described on p. 83-84

5. Merits
A beginning character has seven dots worth of Merits, which may be distributed at the player’s discretion. Vampires can have additional Merits from a special list (see p. 77). Please keep in mind that some merits are not appropriate to the setting (resources, locations) and may not be allowed

6. Determine advantages
Defense = the lowest of Dexterity or Wits
Health (Stamina + Size)
Initiative (Dexterity + Composure)
Clarity (7 for starting characters, you may choose to drop this)
Size (5 for most humans)
Speed (Strength + Dexterity +5)
Willpower (Resolve + Composure)
and Virtue/Vice


Seemings

Beast

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Plural: Beasts
Pronounce: BEEST
Contracts: Fang and Talon, The Den, The Wild

Beasts are connected to the animal world. They come in many shapes and sizes, and may be tied to a particular type of animal, an animalistic concept, or even an animal that never existed in the real world.

All of them were used by their Keepers as animals in one form or another, and they all bear at least some bestial features. Many were innocents, lured into the Hedge by the tempting excitement of the wild, but regardless, they felt the pull and power of raw instinct and sensation.

Beasts are blessed with a wild nature that gives them an affinity with animals and a raw, bestial attractiveness that they may use to gain favour with humans.

Kiths

  • Broadback- beasts of burden. Blessing: Stoic Forbearance.
  • Chimera- culture-themed kith with parts from many creatures.
  • Cleareyes - Beasts who retain an animal's heightened senses. Blessing: Primal Senses. (WM 67)
  • Coldscales - kin to reptiles of all kinds. Blessing: Reptilian Blood. (WM 67)
  • Coyote - culture-themed kith of coyote-headed tricksters. Blessing: The Trickster's Truth. (WM 107)
  • Hunterheart - predators and hunters. Blessing: Tooth and Claw. (CtL 102, WM 63)
  • Nix - culture-themed kith of river mermaids. Blessing: Consumptive Voice. (WM 107)
  • Riddleseeker - Beasts of wisdom, cunning and curiosity. Blessing: Inquisitive Instinct. (NH:GF 102)
  • Roteater - scavengers and eaters of the dead. Blessing: Scavenger's Nature. (WM 67)
  • Runnerswift - beasts of great speed. Blessing: Runs Like the Wind. (CtL 102, WM 63)
  • Skitterskulk - creepy-crawlies, spiders and insects. Blessing: Impossible Counterpoise. (CtL 102, WM 64)
  • Steepscrambler - climbers and tree-dwellers. Blessing: Gifted Climber. (Ctl 102, WM 64)
  • Swimmerskin - aquatic beasts of all kinds. Blessing: Natural Swimmer. (CtL 102, WM 65)
  • Truefriend - faithful and loyal pets. Blessing: Companion's Boon. (WM 67)
  • Venombite - poisonous creatures, from snakes to scorpions. Blessing: Poisonous Bite. (CtL 102, WM 65)
  • Windwing - flying beasts. Blessing: Gift of the Sky. (CtL 103, WM 66)

Darkling

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Plural: Darklings
Pronounce: DARK-ling
Contracts: Darkness, Shade and Spirit

Darklings are forever tainted by shadow and darkness. As they often resemble folk tale creatures of the night or underground: grave-wights, banshees, kobolds, and weirder things. Every one of them is unsettling in appearance, with many gaunt, tall and thin.

Whether experimented upon, chained in a factory as slave labor or simply tossed in a dungeon and forgotten by their Keepers, all Darklings were kept from the light of Faerie. Their memories of their durance are usually filled with foreboding; fears sensed and ever-present but never revealed. Many Darklings share a sense of curiosity. Most crossed some kind of line that brought them to Faerie, whether they are aware of the nature of their transgression or not.

Kiths

  • Antiquarian - keepers of ancient lore and artefacts. Blessing: Keys to Knowledge. (CtL 106, WM 68)
  • Gravewight - creatures who feel more at home among the dead than the living. Blessing: Charnel Sight. (CtL 106, WM 69)
  • Illes - culture-themed kith of troll-like under-folk. Blessing: Shadow Beauty. (WM 107)
  • Leechfinger - faeries who steal the life from mortal folk. Blessing: Sap the Vital Spark. (CtL 106, WM 69)
  • Lurker - Victorian-era kith of master thieves and pickpockets. Blessing: Larcenous Fingers. (VL 22)
  • Lurkglider - winged creatures of the night. Blessing: Gargoyle's Grace. (WM 71)
  • Mirrorskin - masters of disguise whose real forms are malleable as clay. Blessing: The Mercurial Visage. (CtL 106, WM 70)
  • Moonborn - deranged madmen touched by the moon. Blessing: Lunatic's Kiss. (WM 71)
  • Nightsinger - dark musicians who conjure up hypnotic tunes. Blessing: Haunting Nocturne. (WM 72)
  • Palewraith - near-transparent beings that lurk in the shadows. Blessing: Light's Aversion. (WM 72)
  • Pishacha - culture-themed kith of demonic haunters. Blessing: Taste of Madness. (WM 107)
  • Razorhand - shadowy stalkers and slashers with blades for hands. Blessing: Ripper's Gift. (WM 73)
  • Skogsra - culture-themed kith of woodland trolls: Blessing: Keepers of the Feral Heart. (WM 107)
  • Tunnelgrub - dwellers in the tight spaces and darkness underneath. Blessing: Slither and Squirm. (CtL 106, WM 71)
  • Whisperwisp - secretive whisperers that gather information. Blessing: Turncoat's Tongue. (WM 73)

Elemental

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Plural: Elementals
Pronounce: ehl'-uh-mehn'-tuhl
Contracts: Elements, Communion, The Wild

While most other Lost became the way they did through simply living in a faerie's home and eating faerie food and doing faerie work, the Elementals were often deliberately changed, transformed into slaves of some kind or another, or features of the land until one day, they awoke to themselves and realized they had to escape.

Their memories of Faerie are often difficult to understand. Some know that once, they understood what it was to be a tree, or a stone, or a mound of earth. Some remember being lost to enchantment, becoming a clockwork doll or a lover made of ice. Others recall being lost in an environment now alien to them: perhaps the changeling served as a manservant in a flying city of glass or a blazing city made all of brass.

The Elementals were often those whom the Fae desired in some way, those whom they sought out and went to some effort to kidnap. Most were already exceptional in some way. Perhaps the changeling was beautiful enough to excite a faerie's desire. Perhaps they needed a guard or a servant of some kind. A musician or dancer could become the prize of a Fae who fancied himself a doyen of the arts. When they come back, they still possess those talents that attracted the Fae to them in the first place, but now their element alters it in many ways, some subtle, some less so. Some, however, wandered into the Hedge on their own, in some ways bearing the marks of whatever thorny wasteland they wandered in before being taken to Faerie.

Kiths

  • Airtouched - the Elementals of wind, cloud, smoke, and sky, who can be as healthy as a fresh breeze or as pestilent as the miasma that surrounds the dead. (CtL 109, WM 74)
  • Apsaras - culture-themed kith of cloud and fog elementals. Blessing: Enthralling Mist. (WM 108)
  • Ask-wee-da-eed - culture-themed kith of meteoric elementals. Blessing: Taste of Ill Luck. (WM 108)
  • Blightbent - Elementals of pollution. (WM 78)
  • Di-cang - culture-themed kith of jewel elementals. Blessing: Peace of Suffering. (WM 108)
  • Earthbones - Changelings who have the mark of earth and stone: lumpen Paracelsian Gnomes, sand spirits, dour men of peat and dwarfs made of mountain granite. (CtL 109, WM 74)
  • Fireheart - Elementals marked with fire, heat or electricity. (CtL 109, WM 75)
  • Levinquick - Elementals of lightning and electricity. (WM 79)
  • Manikin - Changelings who have the character of man-made objects, such as caryatids, mannequins, and other, stranger things, such as enchanted beings powered by clockwork or steam or living bodies made of mercury or glass. (CtL 109, WM 75)
  • Metalflesh - Metal elementals. (WM 79)
  • Sandharrowed - Changelings of sand. (WM 79)
  • Snowskin - The Children of the cold, who can be as powerful as the Arctic ice or as delicate as a snowflake. (CtL 110, WM 76)
  • Waterborn - Changelings who are imbued with the nature of the waters, soft and brutal, gentle and mighty: undines and nymphs, man-eating river demons, water babies, ladies of the lake. (CtL 110, WM 76)
  • Woodblood - The children of the plants: Green Men, flower faeries, spirits of mandrake, rose, thorns and all manner of medicinal herbs fair and foul. (CtL 110, WM 77)

Fairest

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Plural: Fairest
Pronounce: FARE-est
Contracts: Vainglory, Separation, Reflections

The Fairest are changelings for whom Faerie should have been - and in some sense was - bright and wonderful. They embody the wonder and beauty ever-present in folklore: the elves, the Shining Ones, the fairy maidens and dashing fairy knights. But theirs is a beauty not of this world; they are wondrous to look on, but they're too perfect. Their faces may be too symmetrical, or their features impossibly angular or chiseled; perhaps they literally glow with a warm light. They are still changelings, and their true forms are still inhuman.

The Fairest are frequently taken for their beauty, but usually this is not the only reason. Each has some other quality or talent that attracted their Keeper, most often artistic skill or the ability to play music or perform. Since this skill becomes their sole reason for their existence in Faerie, Fairest sometimes become obsessed with it, desperate to prove their worth. They are, however, almost without exception supremely social creatures, used to admiration and hungry for approval.

Kiths

  • Bright One - the shining Changelings who embody the beauty of light in all its forms. Blessing: Goblin Illumination. (CtL 113, WM 80)
  • Dancer - creatures possessed of unearthly grace, always moving. Blessing: Fae Grace. (CtL 114, WM 81)
  • Draconic - inheritors of the blood of Faerie's "great beasts", from dragons to demons. Blessing: Dragon's Talon. (CtL 114, WM 81)
  • Flamesiren - living incarnations of the allure of flame. Blessing: Burning Hypnotism. (WM 83)
  • Flowering - the epitome of nature's beauty. Blessing: Seductive Fragrance. (CtL 114, WM 82)
  • Gandharva - culture-themed kith of androgynous messengers. Blessing: Heavenly Articulation. (WM 108)
  • Larcenist - graceful and elegant thieves. Blessing: Thievery's Grace. (NH:GF 63)
  • Minstrel - entertainers and serenaders, with or without an instrument. Blessing: Perfect Pitch. (NH:GF 43)
  • Muse - beauties who inspire great art by their presence alone. Blessing: The Tyranny of Ideas. (CtL 114, WM 83)
  • Playmate - friend and companion. Blessing: The Circle of Friends. (NH:GF 122)
  • Polychromatic - ever-shifting kaleidoscopes of color. Blessing: Prismatic Heart.(WM 84)
  • Romancer - visions of the ideal nature, for anyone's eyes. Blessing: Narcissus' Blessing. (NH:GF 46)
  • Shadowsoul - enthralling, terrifying creatures, shaped by darkness and the night. Blessing: Unnatural Chill. (WM 84)
  • Succubus / Incubus - culture-themed kith of demonic seduction. Blessing: Vice to Vice. (WM 109)
  • Telluric - those imbued with the nature and essence of the celestial bodies. Blessing: Music of the Spheres. (WM 84)
  • Treasured - ornaments and adornments of the True Fae. Blessing: Alabaster Fortitude. (WM 85)
  • Weisse Frau - culture-themed kith of weeping protectors. Blessing: Kiss of Life. (WM 109)

Ogre

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Plural: Ogres
Pronounce: oh'-gur
Contracts: Oath and Punishment, Stone

Ogres resemble the big, brutish figures of folklore, like the troll under the bridge or the Cyclops of Greek myth. Ogres serve as guards, gladiators, and heavy laborers in Arcadia because of their outstanding strength.

Due to their hardiness, Ogres endure particularly vicious and bloody Durances. Once back in the real world, Ogres are stereotyped as universally dumb, but are feared for their prowess nonetheless.

Ogres are big and imposing figures. Some are kidnapped because of their size and strength and are honed to frightening proportions in Arcadia. Some are taken because they were already cruel and intimidating in the mortal world, and could be used as weapons by the Fae.

Kiths

  • Bloodbrutes - brawlers and gladiators. Blessing: Improvised Mayhem. (WM 90)
  • Corpsegrinders - fed on carrion. Blessing: Sepulchral Hunger. (WM 90)
  • Cyclopeans - monstrous hunters and guardians. Blessing: Smell the Blood. (CtL 118, WM 86)
  • Daitya - giants of Hindu myths. Blessing: Cutting Might. (WM 109)
  • Farwalkers - hairy and stealthy wild men. Blessing: The Elusive Gift. (CtL 118, WM 86)
  • Gargantuans - can grow to a gigantic size. Blessing: Spurious Stature. (CtL 118, WM 87)
  • Gristlegrinders - possessed of voracious appetites. Blessing: Terrible Teeth. (CtL 118, WM 88)
  • Oni - red-skinned ogres that feed on blood. Blessing: A Mouthful of Sin. (WM 110)
  • Renders - used to break down objects. Blessing: Sundering Talons. (WM 91)
  • Stonebones - rock-like troll folk. Blessing: Obdurate Skin. (CtL 118, WM 88)
  • Troll - manipulative grotesqueries. Blessing: Unyielding Voice. (WM 110)
  • Water-Dwellers - appear as water demons of folklore. Blessing: Lie Under the Waves. (CtL 119, WM 89)
  • Witchtooth - hags and twisted witches. Blessing: Black Hex (WM 91)

Wizened

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Plural: Wizened
Pronounce: wizz-END
Contracts: Artifice, Animation, Forge

Wizened are those changelings who embody the "little people" and "wise men" of fairy myth. They are unmatched artisans and tinkerers, and generally excel at a particular skill or occupation, whether butler or artisan, clerk or fortune teller.

While they always seem like "little people", the Wizened are not necessarily small in size: some may be tall and thin, but walk with a stoop, while others may be normally proportioned yet give the feeling that there's somehow less of them.

The Wizened often seem to have less in common than other Seemings - they come from a diverse number of backgrounds. Many were taken on a whim or stumbled into the Hedge through bad luck. They may have served any number of functions for their Keepers or merely been the butt of cruel "jokes", but they are without exception known for their cunning and nimbleness - traits necessary to escape the clutches of the true Little People.

Kiths

  • Artist - master craftsmen, artisans or artists; gnomes, elves and goblin-smiths. Blessing: Impeccable Craftsmanship. (CtL 121, WM 92)
  • Author - writers, poets and archivists of superb skill. Blessing: Polyglot’s Riddle. (WM 96)
  • Brewer - possessors of secret faerie recipes. Blessing: The Inebriating Elixir. (CtL 121, WM 92)
  • Chatelaine - the perfect butlers, manservants without peer; in formal circumstances their social skills are second to none. Blessing: Perfect Protocol. (CtL 121, WM 93)
  • Chirurgeon - Changelings able to work magic with blade and scalpel. Blessing: The Analeptic Charm. (CtL 122, WM 93)
  • Drudge - fast menial workers who take after boggans and house-elves. Blessing: Unseen Labor. (WM 96)
  • Fatemaker - shapers of fate's patterns. Blessing: Turn of the Tale. (SaD 64)
  • Gameplayer - riddle-makers and gamblers who love puzzles and games. Blessing: Grandmaster’s Stratagem.
  • Gremlin - culture-themed kith of malevolent tinkerers. Blessing: Gremlinizing Touch. (WM 110)
  • Inventor - Victorian-era kith adept with gadgets and devices. Blessing: Inventive Genius. (VL 22)
  • Miner - Kobolds and other tunneling sorts. Blessing: Tappingspeak. (WM 96)
  • Oracle - Changelings with the ability to tell fortunes. Blessing: Panomancy. (CtL 122, WM 94)
  • Pamarindo - culture-themed kith of pot-bellied butchers. Blessing: Gourmand's Grotesquerie. (WM 110)
  • Smith - forgers of Faerie weapons and superb equipment. Blessing: Steel Mastery. (CtL 122, WM 94)
  • Soldier - drafted into Faerie armies, these Wizened find battle is second nature to them. Blessing: Blade Lore. (CtL 122, WM 95)
  • Thusser - culture-themed kith of compelling musicians. Blessing: Fiddler's Delight. (WM 110)
  • Woodwalker - nature's allies and protectors. Blessing: Wildcraft. (CtL 123, WM 95)

Courts

Seasonal Courts

Spring Court

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Nicknames: The Antler Crown, the Emerald Court, the Court of Desire
Emotion: Desire
Colors: Bright blue and green

The members of the Spring Court seek to not only forget their past, but to also add grace and beauty to everything they do. To become a full-fledged member of the court means one must live a literally beautiful life, and members that cannot do so are made to feel outcast. Members are not only allowed to fulfill their own desires, but must help other Spring Court members in their pursuit of desire.

One of the most famous rituals the Spring Court holds is the Spring Revel, performed when winter officially passes into spring. The ritual is famous not only among members of the Antler Crown, but among all changeling courts; all secretly desire an invitation because they also know that the members of the Spring Court will attempt, in the course of the Revel, to make one of their desires come true. Another popular gathering is the Homecoming, a hedonistic festival celebrating the anniversary of the current Monarch of Spring's escape from Faerie; occasionally, other Spring Court members can be honored as well.

Variants

  • Growing Season - Also known as Short Spring, this variant on the Spring Court represents a particular shade of desire: lust. The fickle and indecisive changelings of this Court follow the animal instincts that precipitate the rapid growth. These courtiers' Mantles are wild and untamed; bright, different-colored eyes are common, as is the growth of greenery or fur from the body and the spreading of pheromones from the pores.
  • Tornado Season - Also known as Whirlwind Spring, this Court focuses on the darker side of desire. The courtiers, little different than the tornado that leaves a swathe of destruction in its wake, eagerly use others and themselves without a thought to the consequences. Often denied a place in freeholds' seasonal cycle, these Lost rarely have a firm grip on Clarity. The Mantles of such changelings are tense and unpredictable — at times eerily still, placid, and other times bearing flesh that ripples and whips away from them in gale-torn ribbons, with eyes gunmetal gray like the sky before a tornado strikes.

Summer Court

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Nicknames: The Iron Spear, the Crimson Court, the Court of Wrath
Emotion: Wrath
Colors: Green, red, orange, yellow

The changelings of the Summer Court are those most willing to fight; some toy with foes before going in for the kill, while others favor a more direct and brutal approach. A few among the Summer Court are specialized in fighting other supernatural creatures to protect changeling interests. Potential members are tested through a series of arduous physical tasks that must be passed before they are allowed to enter.

The most common and frequent rituals of the Summer Court are simple contests of physical skill between two or more changelings, mostly to burn off energy and anger, but also to create an unofficial court pecking order when it comes to certain talents. The Summer Court has also taken to creating similar skill competitions for other courts to compete in during their appropriate seasons; these may not always involve physical skill, but intellectual pursuits, magic, and so on, so long as the element of competition is involved.

Variants

  • Dry Season - Also known as Foresummer or Dry Summer, this variant of the Summer Court represents the emotion of rage, a twist on wrath that takes after the sparking of dry vegetation into a conflagration. The Mantle of such changelings bears features such as skin fractured like desiccated earth; a Mantle of clay, sandstone, desert sands, and brittle brush.
  • Monsoon Season - Also known as Hurricane Season, the Wet Season, or Wet Summer, this variant represents a more personal wrath: the wrath of vengeance. Much as the rains of this season run long, so too does this anger fester. The changelings of Monsoon Season are stormy, featuring sodden Mantles — hair wet and tangled, eyes sobbing tears that will not cease, voices like the dull roar of rain or the booming break of thunder.

Autumn Court

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Nicknames: The Leaden Mirror, the Ashen Court, the Court of Fear
Emotion: Fear
Colors: Red, orange, yellow, gray, brown

The Autumn changelings tend to be the most scholarly and well-traveled, especially when it comes to seeking out and learning new Contracts to use against their enemies. Leaden Mirrors also tend to favor trickery and guile over outright displays of power, exerting as little force as possible to achieve a big result. They are also much more prone to dipping into the Hedge than other changelings, seeking lost powers, as well as watching and learning from other supernatural creatures.

The most probable way a changeling can join the Autumn court is to share some lore or power that the court was not aware of before, be it through hazy memory or demonstration of some arcane Contract lore. Those who trick their way in can also earn the court's respect, as it shows the creativity and ingenuity the court prizes.

The rituals of the Ashen Court tend to be the least showy of the four main courts. Best known of their rituals is the Fallen Fair, a chance for changelings of all courts to show off the supernatural skills they have acquired over the past year, as well as barter and trade magical services. A hunt, usually known as the Hunt of Leaves but also by other names, is sponsored the Ashen Courts of many freeholds, allowing any interested changeling a chance to hunt down, capture, and destroy an enemy, such as a Fae, fetch, or even human, with the full assistance and resources of the Autumn Court at their disposal.

Winter Court

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Nicknames: The Silent Arrow, the Onyx Court, the Court of Sorrow
Emotion: Sorrow
Colors: White, black, gray

The members of the Silent Arrow continue his traditions, remaining steeped in codes, safehouses, and other means of living that limit their exposure to the world at large. They are especially skilled among all the changelings at blending in with the mundane, able to effectively hide themselves out in the open. They keep an eye on the enemies of the changelings, and from time to time have been known to kill to keep their secrets or the secrets of another. It is not uncommon for a changeling freshly escaped to turn to the Winter Court for their first shelter. A fair number remain; the rest are gently steered towards other, more appropriate courts.

The most famous of the Winter Court's rituals is the Winter Market, where a changeling can sell or buy almost anything among other changelings, partially to sell off the Onyx Court's spoils of war, and partially to keep the Goblin Market from receiving business from desperate changelings. The court also sponsors the Winter Formal, an opulent masquerade ball, and Radio Free Fae, a broadcast network that tells changelings the important info without exposing the bearer.

Variants

  • Dead Season - Also known as the Long Winter, this variant of the Winter Court represents the barren tundra's winter, during which the landscape becomes a bleak hellscape, devoid of life. The sorrow felt by changelings who follow this Court is less the dramatic sorrow of a lost lover and more the empty, apathetic despair of those afflicted by depression. The mantle of such courtiers is often reflected by dry, dead skin, empty eyes, and a mouth as deep and dark as an abyss.

Directional Courts

Court of the North

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Nicknames: The Armor Court, the Stupa, the Court of Constants
Emotion: Suffering
Colors: Black and White

The Court of the North follows, to a point, the Buddhist "truth" that all of life is suffering. Human beings are imperfect, and changelings even less so. The Lost are made in the image of the Fair Folk, and this, too, is imperfect. All imperfection leads to suffering; it's simply the nature of things.

This is what the Armor Court claims to see most often: A changeling escapes his Keeper, and flees the Hedge back to his home. Once home, he embraces life too easily. He seeks comfort away from the horrors of his durance. He exhibits great emotion, connects himself with the material world of money, the mental world of love and attachment, the physical world of pleasure. He shies away from the suffering he experienced, and in once again claiming a kind of happiness in this world, as wide or as meager as the changeling can manage it, he once again knows fear. The fear is of losing what he has regained. His life. His money. His loves. His pleasures. The Fair Folk can come out of nowhere — descending out of a bleak fog or crawling out through a broken mirror — and take it all away again with but a snap of their spidery fingers.

The Court of the North refuses to become that fearful thing. Therefore, they practice suffering, and in suffering, detachment. One's attachments lead to fear of losing those attachments and so, by and large, they deny themselves such pleasures. Money? No. Love? Not in a romantic sense, at least. Physical pleasures? Denied. If they do not have these things, the Fair Folk cannot take them away. And since the True Fae seem to take some pleasure in plundering one's life and stealing all that the poor fool has, this makes the Lost of the Northern Court undesirable to the Fae. While some Fae may endeavor to bring these courtiers harm just to see if they might break, many Fae are lazy and indolent, and prefer to go after easier targets. Targets with more to pillage.

Court of the East

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Nicknames: The Serpent Court, the Trident, the Court of Wealth
Emotion: Envy
Colors: Blue, Green, Yellow

The changelings of the Serpent Court make no bones about it: Yes, they are greedy. Why shouldn't they be? They come back from a harrowing imprisonment deep in the middle of some madman's nightmare, and they return to this world as something unique, something no longer human. They possess strange and fickle magic that, when harnessed properly, can grant them all the wishes in the world. And that is what this Court does.

It's a twist on the seasonal Spring Court, but with a different shade of desire. The Court of the East ties power with wealth. One cannot have the first if he does not have the latter. By possessing great wealth, the Court of the East believes that all becomes possible if the money is kept in savvy hands. Want to own the temple in which waits a forever-open door to the Hedge? Purchase it. Or secure the employ of someone who can clear it out, take it over. Or have it destroyed. With a sack of gold and a no-limit credit card, what cannot be achieved?

It's all the more interesting that many changelings seem somehow destitute. They seem unable to reconnect with the human world and so they exist away from it, grasping at resources but letting them slip through their fingers like slippery eels. Not so with those of the Serpent Court. They reconnect with the human sphere as best as they can, often gaining quite a bit of temporal power in the process (for that is nominally where the money comes from). Many become experts at navigating that world, often with far greater aplomb than what they possessed before being snatched up and dragged into Faerie by unforgiving Keepers.

Court of the South

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Nicknames: The Vermilion Court, the Ink Brush, the Court of Song
Emotion: Ecstasy
Colors: Red and Black

Life is chaos and passion. Life is also art, and art needn't be comfortable. The Lost of the Vermilion Court do not try to connect with humanity, but instead exult in being changelings. They do not deny any emotion, whether it be love or hate, hope or despair. Instead, they endeavor to feel it so keenly that it nearly destroys them. Love is felt so strongly that it might elevate one to the uttermost heights of bliss or the lowest pits of gloom. Anger is just as pure, and a changeling of the Vermilion Court might let his anger burn off swiftly in a sudden conflagration of violence, or he may instead let it simmer for years, even decades, nursing on his fury like a bottomless bottle of rice wine.

The Lost are a part of that emotional world, hewing far closer to it than humans ever could — changelings experience it, feed from it, and the Court of the South rewards them for doing so.

How does this help them thwart the Fae? Because emotion can give the Lost power. It is tied intimately to Glamour, and a changeling who knows how to emote and orchestrate the emotions of others can be quite powerful, indeed. Each changeling of this Court considers himself an artist. While many embrace various means to express that artistic desire (calligraphy, song, sculpture, theater), all believe that a changeling's innate abilities represent a true art. They all practice it, learning new Contracts, clauses, and catches, finding new ways to bond humans with Byzantine pledges, seeking out the rarest and most delectable fruits in the Hedge.

Court of the West

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Nicknames: The White Tiger Court, the Sword, the Court of War
Emotion: Honor
Colors: White and Black

The reality is, the world is at war. Humans fight with humans. Humans fight with the natural land and the beasts that walk within it. The changelings fight the encroachment of the Fair Folk, and worst of all, the Lost might often battle their own. The changelings of this Court believe themselves to be the true guardians of the freehold, warriors who know that permanent peace is impossible and that war must be managed and fought by the virtuous. They, of course, claim that they're the virtuous ones.

The Lost that comprise the Court of the West obsess over martial prowess. Many carry assault rifles slung over their shoulders and knifes or swords sheathed in hip-hung scabbards. Some know how to fight with only their hands, learning close combat techniques honorable and dirty (a gentle disarm followed by a kneecap-shattering heel kick). These courtiers know that they're the first and last line of defense against the humans, against the Fae, and against other changelings.
It's the latter group that concerns them most. Changelings, it seems, have taken from their imprisonment some of the callousness from their Fae tormentors. Every one of the Lost seems capable in even the best of times to exhibit some of that pitiless cunning, and it comes out unexpectedly. In this way, changelings are their own worst enemies, and the Court of War knows that. Its members strive to tamp down such manipulations.

Diurnal Courts

Sun Court

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Nicknames: Court of the Day, the Found Path, the White Hill
Emotion: Shame
Colors: White

When the sun rises, the Court of the Day gladly resumes its control of the freehold. And what does it do with its 12 hours in power? The Court seeks to undermine the efforts of the Moon Court in whatever way the Court of the Day can manage.

Some say the best way to do this is not necessarily to undo the work of the adversaries, but merely to do moral, virtuous things and this righteousness helps to tip the scales. Such righteousness might be expressed in a number of ways: One changeling might work at a homeless shelter, while another motley will go into the Hedge to try to rescue lost travelers (that's one of the Sun Court's big ideals, helping others find their way — hence the alternative name, "the Found Path”). Some endeavor to close rogue doorways into the Hedge, bring lost Clarity back to one's allies, or provide healing for those who might've been hurt the night before. The King might himself go out with a pack of huntsmen to roust the wicked from their holes and put arrows, bullets, and blades into them.

Others say that the only way to truly counteract the iniquitous ways of the Wayward Road is to be proactive and literally unmake their efforts. This might mean going out to find any pledges they've made and help the tricked humans into breaking those pledges (though the Sun Court changelings might not be so clear as to the true ramifications of breaking such a pledge), or it may involve tracking down the Moon Court's secret Hollows and closing them off or even burning them down. The allies of the Court of the Night are easy targets — pawnbrokers, sex workers, mammonite businessmen, whoever — and some within the Sun Court are glad to put the torch to such malefactors. Part of the deal is simply trying to uncover all the Moon Court's dirty little deeds — they do a fine job at obscuring their works so that the Sun Court cannot undermine them.

Thing is, while the changelings play at being moral, it doesn't mean that they're free from sin. Some within the Sun Court believe that it is sometimes necessary to do the immoral thing to make a wrong situation right. If they go out to hunt criminals, be it some jackbooted neo-Nazi thug on the streets of Prague or just the wormy ringleader of a local gambling ring in Vilnius, they don't give that criminal a trial. Sometimes the Sun Court changelings hurt the criminals, breaking fingers or foot bones; other times, the changelings just kill them. Is that justice? Or wrath? In thinking themselves better, they give themselves over handily to the vice of pride, and this pride often gives them false license to do what they want and take what they desire. While not every Sun Court member is so consumed with his own righteousness, some certainly are — a "golden boy” courtier might believe that it's perfectly acceptable to take whatever pleasure he wants from some street trash from a Moon Court operated whore's den. It's not universal, but many within the Court of the Day see those of lesser morals to be lesser in all ways (and the irony of this is that it only confirms their own fragile morality, but few are willing to turn the light on such a shadowy realization). Many genuinely try to walk the straight and narrow — broad-shouldered knights, honest maidens, upstanding merchants. But it's all too easy to become convinced of one's moral authority, which is a slippery slope indeed.

Moon Court

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Nicknames: Court of the Night, the Wayward Road, the Black Rock
Emotion: Disgust
Colors: Black

At night, the monsters howl and play. They hunt the innocent. They leap over fires. They drink and smoke themselves into languid stupors. They invite peril, taunt the Gentry, and become masters of Goblin Markets. Beneath the full moon, all manner of strangeness and depravity may bask in the bare light — all the better to serve the darkness and to snub one's nose at the fools of the Sun Court.

It's odd, in a way, that the Moon Court is ultimately less concerned with the Sun Court than the Sun Court is with the Moon Court. Members of the Moon Court don't really seek to undo what the Court of the Day does, instead doing their own thing with great glee and abandon, knowing full well that it invites the revulsion of those supposedly virtuous upstarts.

So, what is it that they do? Whatever they want, for one. The Moon Court doesn't care to give its members many boundaries. They don't view this is as sin, but instead see it as freedom. Want to shoot up Afghani heroin in a vet curtained jazz bar in Kiev? Want to sell Afghani heroin in Budapest? Want to stalk the lonely women of Warsaw, haunting them night after night until they cannot sleep for fear of the nightmares they'll have? Want to pierce your face with slivers of bone and lengths of chain, brand your body in a spider web network of puffy scars, or play a game of Russian roulette with your nearest and dearest? The Moon Court asks only that you do as you desire, worrying about the consequences later. The stranger and more grotesque the urge, the better it is.

Simply put, the Moon Court is composed of changelings who know that they are monsters and relish in the fact. Does this make them evil? Perhaps some of them. Because they are allowed, even encouraged, to embrace their monstrousness, this leads some to be particularly horrendous. It's amazing, though, how few of them are truly malicious. Many are tricksters, yes. Con men, sure. Some flaunt their ugliness and deformity like a strictest of senses. Most are just gleefully selfish, glad to give into whatever so-called wickedness demands their attention at any given moment.

At night, they own the surface, and during the day, they dwell beneath the ground in sewers and subbasements and caves. But even when they retreat to the world below, they still leave their mark on the world even as the sun shines high in the sky — they leave behind allies, networks of criminals and human monsters who are as bad as or worse than they are. They like to think of it as "leaving a present or two" behind for the Sun Court. Just enough to keep the righteous fools busy and out of real trouble.

Transitional Courts

Dawn Court

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Nicknames: The Bloody Rose, the Auroral Court, the Court of Salvations
Emotion: Hope
Colors: Gold and Rose

Changelings are survivors. During their durances, they have been the playthings of an inhuman godling, endured that which would destroy most humans — and survived. They have traversed the Hedge, suffered soul-rending injuries and spiritual transformation — and survived. They have returned to a world that no longer holds a place for them, found themselves denied the comfort of their former friends and families — and survived. They have built a society of outcasts and refugees, bonding together with a sole common purpose — to survive at all costs. And yet…

Survival cannot be the be-all and end-all of a group's long-term goals. There must be something more to keep them going. A degree of selflessness, compassion and generosity (or at least enlightened self-interest) is vital to any group's continued health. A group where each individual is solely motivated by their own personal survival quickly degenerates into utter selfish chaos. In such an environment, resources and information are hoarded. Trust is never extended. Others are valued only as tools and resources, expendable in the face of even the smallest potential risk. Only the utterly ruthless survive, and in the end, they too become vulnerable as the rest of the group is thrown to the proverbial or literal wolves at the first signs of danger. By focusing solely on the immediate battle for survival, the long-term war, both for survival and for any hope of betterment, is sacrificed. At some point, individuals and groups who wish to survive long term must be willing to look beyond the immediate, to grasp the big picture, and to work towards a better future. It can be difficult, especially for those who have survived a horrific past, to believe that the future can ever be better than the present. But some Lost believe that it is possible. They have faith that, with effort and sacrifice, the night will not go on forever and bringing about the dawn is a task that rests firmly in their own hands. While the odds seem stacked against them and the road is certainly not an easy one, the Court of Dawn dedicates itself to the ideal that, with hard work — and sometimes painful sacrifice — creating a better future is possible.

Dusk Court

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Nicknames: The Glacial Axe, The Umbral Court, The Court of Dooms
Emotion: Fatalism
Colors: White, Black, Red, Dark Blue

For some Lost, all that keeps them going forward is the cherished (and perhaps futile) hope that today may be a little better than yesterday or that in the end all of their suffering, fear, and pain will be relieved. They see escape, driven by the same hope for freedom and release that pushed them back through the Thorns and into the human world once more. To them, the idea that one's existence is nothing but an inescapable path to destruction would take away all motivations. The burden of such knowledge would weigh them down until they could no longer function, let alone make an effort to accomplish anything. Not so for the Court of Dusk.

These intrepid changelings accept that their Fate is sealed, that slowly but surely danger is building to a cataclysmic level, and that nothing they can do will change that. But this belief also tells them that they have carte blanche to shine in the growing darkness. There are no happy endings, they believe, so all that matters is the epic story that is told along the way.


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