Tale-Craft (Art)

Once the exclusive purview of the eshu kith, this rare Art encompasses perhaps the most primal magic there is: the power of storytelling itself. Anyone who’s ever cried at a movie, gotten lost in a good book, sang along to a Broadway hit, or felt their pulse racing at the climax of a video game already knows the power this Art taps into. Kithain who master these cantrips go one step further and use stories to transform the world around them.

Tale-Craft is nominally considered a Seelie Art, though it is freely used by members of both Courts. Eshu are still the most common practitioners of Tale-Craft, though it is enjoying increasing popularity with other garrulous fae. In particular, clurichauns, piskies, pooka, satyrs, and even some performance-minded Fiona and Leanhaun sidhe have also taken to it.

## Unleashing Tale-Craft

Tale-Craft magic expresses eloquence, passion, creativity, wit, and sincerity. Unleashing Tale-Craft makes the character the center of attention (“listen up, everyone!”), causes others to get lost in fantasy (“remember the first time you read about the Boy Who Lived”), compels others to share stories and gossip (“you ever hear about that one time…”), or even inspire those nearby to get caught up in acting out roles from a tale being told. Tale-Craft magic unfettered by a cantrip inspires and thrills, though it can also leave targets wondering what is real.

## Tale-Craft Bunks

Unsurprisingly, this Art almost always involves displays of talent and wordplay, whether through telling stories, singing songs, reading poetry, writing tales, or other narrative expressions. It’s also common for Bunks to help set a proper ambiance for the tale being told, whether that means passing around a flashlight for a spooky story or warming up the crowd with an old favorite before launching into new material.

## Tale-Craft Cantrips

### Twice-Told Tales

A sluagh runs her slender fingers across an antique mirror that witnessed a grand old romance, watching those love scenes flicker past in its depths like a reel from an old film. A sidhe glares across the table at a political rival, locker room stories of his enemy’s prowess in the dueling ring echoing in his ears.

Twice-Told Tales grants the changeling access to rumors, folktales, war stories, urban legends, gossip, tall tales, family histories, and other “unofficial truths” regarding the subject of her cantrip. The caster may name a general area of interest, such as romance or scandal, or simply let the most (in)famous or essential stories about a target surface first. Subsequent uses of this cantrips reveal increasingly obscure information, or simply fail if no applicable stories exist. Stories a changeling already knows are skipped over, however, unless there’s a substantially different version she might find interesting. This cantrip also requires that stories have been told in some sort of public venue; an actual secret that no one else knows or a subject that no one ever talks about won’t come up with this cantrip.

Although this cantrip might seem similar to the Backward Glance cantrip, that power reveals what actually happened in the past, while this cantrip imparts stories associated with a target — even those based on facts are still likely distorted or exaggerated compared to the actual reality of the situation. Wise changelings thus take care before acting as if what they’ve learned is cold hard fact, but even entertaining lies can still have some utility too.

**System:** The Realm used determines what subject the changeling learns stories about. Actor would reveal stories about a particular mortal or Prodigal, for example, while Nature could provide tales of local wildlife. One story is learned per success gained, though the Storyteller may rule that a particular topic is exhausted after a certain point, in which case the changeling is aware there are no more tales to learn.

### Work the Room

An eshu jumps atop the barricades and delivers a raw, heartfelt speech to renew the fighting spirit of the wavering rebels. A pooka bites her lip and finds the exact tone to apologize to her parents and promise not to stay out all night (again). A redcap tells a joke so dirty and so funny that it breaks the ice and lets rival prison gangs sit down and settle their feud.

Work the Room allows the changeling to send out magical pulses that infuse her targets with a chosen emotion or impart a simple idea, typically in order to augment her performance. The emotion or idea imparted with this cantrip must be simple enough to express in no more than a couple of words. The changeling could inspire feelings of “rebellion,” for example, but not implant the specific idea of “rebel against Duke Manchester and burn his holding to the ground.” Likewise, though she may attempt to channel a target’s response with other means, the changeling cannot directly compel action, nor can she control exactly how a target might react to a feeling or idea — a redcap biker hit with a wave of “indulge yourself” will almost certainly react differently than a staid Gwydion sidhe!

**System:** The Realm used determines what type of audience can be influenced with this cantrip. Note that Scene is required to affect more than one target, making it a very common addition to this cantrip. Each success on this cantrip increases the power of the magical pulse and lowers the difficulty of Performance, Expression, or related rolls by 1 for the rest of the scene, so long as they reinforce the emotion or idea being conveyed.

### Bated Breath

A satyr lays out a complicated tale of car troubles and girlfriend problems while the rest of her crew hurriedly unloads the kegs from the back of the truck. A battle slows to a halt as a troll delivers a heartbroken eulogy over a fallen friend.

This versatile and mischievous cantrip allows a changeling to hold her audience in place while she speaks, holding their focus solely on her, allowing her to slowly leave a scene or serve as a powerful distraction for others. Targets are not literally paralyzed, but utterly absorbed in what the changeling is saying to the point of missing all but the most obvious events around them. Language is not a barrier for this cantrip, though lacking a common tongue will increase the casting difficulty unless the story is simple enough to be effective with gestures and mime work. The changeling must speak without significant interruption for the duration of the cantrip. Targets will remember what she told them during the cantrip after it ends, though they may not exactly be able to explain while they were quite so spellbound.

Although this cantrip is certainly good for all kinds of narrow escapes and other mischief, the Dreaming doesn’t allow those under its spell to come to immediate harm. A changeling could not keep her target on the tracks while a train was barreling toward him, for example, or force someone to stand in the middle of a burning building. Any actual harm or imminent danger breaks the cantrip, even if the target isn’t immediately aware they are in peril. However, this catnip can be used to allow the changeling to get closer in order to strike, or help allies set up an ambush. Targets are considered surprised for the first action turn in such circumstances.

**System:** The Realm determines who is being enthralled. Each success keeps targets spellbound for 1 minute outside of stressful scenes such as combat or heated confrontations, or 1 action turn during high pressure situations. During this time, the changeling must continue speaking, but may move at a walking pace, interact peacefully with her environment, and use non-aggressive magic. This duration may be extended by one interval per additional point of Glamour spent during casting. A target may only be affected by this cantrip once per scene.

### Legend Tripping

A childling joins hands with her terrified friends and describes how they remind her of her favorite superhero team, giving them the strength to fight a terrible Nightmare monster. A gallant clurichaun recites a story of his grandfather’s legendary charm, channeling his ancestor’s silver-tongued prowess.

By telling a story and casting this cantrip, the changeling infuses her targets with the power of narrative, temporarily boosting their capabilities so long as they act out the role she has assigned them in the story. The targets do not need to hear or understand the changeling, but she must still tell a story and work out the specific parts and qualities each target embodies within it, as it determines what traits may be boosted with this magic. For example, if the changeling declares a target to be a modern Lancelot, then his Melee rating may surge as the mythic role takes hold. However, he could not improve his Computer rating as that’s not really associated with Arthurian figures.

It is important to establish that Legend Tripping requires specific roles for the individuals to play. It’s not enough to say “we’re the good guys, here to defeat the bad guys” – whether the story is drawn from history, from legend, or from the mind of the changeling herself, each role being cast still must have definite features and expectations to fulfill. Treat it as if the cantrip gave a target new Quests and Bans suited to the role. Invoking Lancelot, for example, may make a target a master swordsman, but come with a Quest to battle injustice and a Ban that ends the cantrip immediately if he behaves unchivalrously. Note that when using this cantrip on a group, the changeling may mix characters from different stories or her own imagination as she sees fit.

**System:** The Realm used determines who receives the effects of Legend Tripping. This cantrip costs 1 Glamour and 1 Willpower in addition to any other costs. For each success gained, the target may improve an Attribute or Ability by 1, even if it takes him over 5. The changeling has control over what traits are boosted. This cantrip lasts until the end of the scene or until the target acts too far outside of their assigned role, as determined by the Storyteller.

### Stranger Than Fiction

A pooka brushes aside the despair of her motley by explaining that the local chief of police is actually her favorite cousin and sure enough, he lets them off the hook for their trespassing. A redcap laughs as he explains that the Thallain goons didn’t search everywhere, and produces a switchblade from an unmentionable hiding place before cutting his friends free.

Stranger Than Fiction allows a caster to tell a story so powerful it alters reality itself, subtly but powerfully bending events so they fit the changeling’s personal narrative. Essentially, this cantrip allows the changeling to create their own lucky breaks, freak chances, fortuitous coincidences, and other technically plausible if not particularly likely events.

It is important to note that Stranger Than Fiction is more like creatively editing the narrative of reality than outright re-writing it. The cantrip cannot simply “undo” actions that already occurred, nor can it contradict longestablished facts. If a changeling’s friend was taken away by the police, he could not use this cantrip to say no arrest happened… but he might be able to explain how, in the confusion, the police actually arrested his friend’s twin brother instead. If his mother died when he was young, he can’t suddenly bring her back to life by saying she actually just ran away, though he might be able to describe how an old key his mother left him just happens to fit the mysterious chest the group found among his mother’s old things.

As a rule of thumb, the longer a fact has been established or the more commonly it’s encountered by others, the harder it is for this cantrip to twist it, since the magic relies in part on exploiting the gaps in what’s commonly known or expected. Thus the Storyteller should adjust the difficulty of this cantrip accordingly, or even declare that it cannot achieve the desired result.

Stranger Than Fiction also cannot blatantly conjure people or objects from thin air in front of witnesses — that’s the domain of other Arts — so a changeling cannot describe how an empty driveway actually has a car in it and watch as one appears. She could, however, explain that she keeps a car hidden under a tarp out back, then go around behind the house and find one. (If someone is already waiting in the backyard and thus the car cannot appear, the cantrip fails but any related costs are refunded to the caster and no Banality points are incurred.) The Storyteller is the final arbiter of whether this cantrip can justifiably produce a desired result, though she is encouraged to be liberal in its application whenever possible.

**System:** The Realm used determines what sort of coincidence is being conjured. In addition to normal costs, this cantrip also requires the changeling to acquire Banality points. Kithain theorists speculate that this cantrip works because the changeling actually diverts the Banality that normally keeps such amazing events and lucky breaks from happening. Relatively minor or easily explained coincidences inflict 1 Banality point, seriously unlikely chances inflict 2, and truly outlandish but still technically plausible events inflict 3.