Changeling Backgrounds

Background Traits are special advantages a character gains from her environment, including her station, possessions, social network, and influences. When choosing Backgrounds, the player should always consider how her character came to possess them. How did she become the keeper of her Treasure? What did she do to earn her rank in Title?

A character can use her Backgrounds to obtain information, items, or favors. While they mostly stand alone, sometimes they’re used in combination with an Attribute. She might roll Manipulation + Mentor to assert standing in changeling society she doesn’t actually possess. Charisma + Title might inspire someone to follow her orders.

Backgrounds fluctuate as the events of the chronicle unfold. They might rise or fall as a character gains a new Dreamer or loses a chimerical item, but they cannot be raised by experience (there are some exceptions to this).

## Chimera

Chimera includes both chimerical items and chimerical companions. The player must designate one or both of these variations on the character sheet. This Background may have up to five dots in both versions.

### Chimerical Items

Every changeling’s voile, his chimerical clothing, forms to suit him upon his Chrysalis. The Chimera Background represents any chimerical items in his possession beyond this. The item’s usefulness and power determine the rating for this Background. Each dot represents one rank on the threshold chart.

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### Chimerical Companions

Companions are living chimera either born of unconscious dreams or sculpted into existence from raw dream stuff, then breathed life by a changeling. While the character has either befriended or bound the chimera, powerful ones have motivations of their own that may occasionally conflict with those of their companions. The higher a changeling’s rating in this Background, the more points the player has to build the companion.

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## Dreamers

Changelings primarily gain Glamour by inspiring Dreamers. This Background represents the number of Dreamers from whom the character draws Glamour. Cultivating a Dreamer is an intimate experience of psychological bonding, whether through trust or fear. A Dreamer is usually willing to perform services for her changeling, but isn’t as loyal or efficient as Retinue. The player should describe details such as how the changeling inspires the Dreamer and what form the Dreamer’s Glamour takes.

Because of their unique bond, the changeling already knows how to inspire her Dreamer. Each dot of the Dreamers Background provides one automatic success on the initial Perception + Kenning roll when initiating Reverie. For more unsavory changelings, this Background provides a ready pool of Dreamers on which to Ravage.

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## Holdings

Freeholds, no matter the size, are extremely rare, valuable commodities in faerie society. Though being the keeper of a freehold provides a steady supply of Glamour, responsibility for it comes with a number of obligations. He must maintain it each year to keep its balefire burning. If he’s a noble, modernist commoners might see his Holding as a symbol of oppression and seek to liberate it. If he is a commoner, traditionalist nobles might see it as an affront to the natural order and seek to restore the freehold to its proper owners. If he holds it in secret, changelings who get wind of it might jealously seek it for themselves.

The Holdings rating determines the amount of Freehold Creation Points you recieve.

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## Remembrance

A character’s current life as a changeling is not his first lifetime. All who’ve undergone the Changeling Way have experienced a multitude of lifetimes. An Arcadian sidhe new to the Autumn Realm lived an eternity as an ageless faerie before exchanging his soul with that of a mortal. The Mists normally wipe a changeling’s mind clean between lives but a character with Remembrance occasionally has a flash of insight gained from a previous life’s experience.

Any time the character interacts with changelings or other creatures and locations of the Dreaming, the player may roll Intelligence + Remembrance to recall details about the subject at hand. The difficulty varies based on the obscurity of the information. Something commonly known would require a difficulty 6, while remembering the location of a freehold lost since the Shattering would require a difficulty of 8. Additionally, the player may substitute Remembrance for an Ability on any roll involving a mundane task. This substitution may be made a number of times per story equal to the character’s Remembrance rating.

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## Retinue

Retinue are the Kinain, enchanted humans, and other retainers under a character’s sway. They answer to him due to loyalty, magical control, or mundane manipulation. They’ll follow his command to the best of their ability, though some would betray him if the opportunity presented itself, especially if he mistreats them or if they are bound to him against their will.

While those who make up a character’s Retinue are his highly-skilled honor guard or personal attendants, they are not infallible. Nor are they nameless, disposable fodder. The player should define each member of his Retinue, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they came into his service.

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## Title

Title denotes a character’s rank within Kithain society. Not all changelings possess a title, and few attain a station above esquire. Title by itself imparts little tangible power. The majority of nobles have no holdings. However, even a landless baron or duke wields tremendous social influence. Changelings are far more willing to trade favors with those in power, whether to further their own social mobility or because most titles, especially knighthood, are earned through skill and accomplishment.

Sidhe are the most common kith to be awarded titles, but since the Treaty of Concord, it is not uncommon to see members of other kiths attain rank, usually as squires and knights. Any commoner inducted into the sphere of nobility gains the Boon and Flaw of the house that takes her in.

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## Treasure

A Treasure is a mundane item imbued with Glamour. Like changelings, Treasures exist simultaneously in the Autumn Realm and the chimerical world. They are capable of specific magical abilities based on the Glamour fused within them. Usually, this is an Art bound into the Treasure, but occasionally a Treasure will form due to the overwhelming emotions connected with the object.

A changeling cannot forget herself due to Banality as long as she is holding a Treasure. Likewise, mortals become enchanted when touched by a Treasure.

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