Realms (Changeling)

Taken alone, the Arts of the Kithain are powerful yet inchoate, great storms of potential energy which cannot be brought to heel or directed into the world. It is solely through the province of the Realms that changelings are able to master the old magic of the Dreaming, or to deploy any but the rudest and most innate miracles of Glamour.

Like all else of the Dreaming, contradictory tales abound as to the origin of the Realms. The sidhe speak of the Tuatha de Danaan taking up great tools by which they set into place the elements of the Autumn World and the Dreaming itself, and naming each in turn. The nockers and boggans speak of canny contracts signed at the dawn of time with the substance of the world itself. Some eshu speak of distant gods playing at dice for control of this or that bit of reality, and how some handed down authority over those pieces to favored children, and how less-favored children stole other pieces. The pooka simply say that magic can only ever be the marriage of aspiration and experience — what you dream and what you know — and that Glamour, and indeed life, are useless without both components.

In the end, the practical result is this: Arts must always be combined with one or more Realms, which describe what the Arts can do. Speaking broadly, the Realms of Fae and Actor allow cantrips to enhance, attack, or enchant people (or people-like things, in the case of chimerae), while the Realms of Prop and Nature mostly allow cantrips to ensorcel things (and, sometimes, animals). Odd edge cases exist, of course, but those are the general rules, and these are the four great primary Realms that every changeling finds at least some facility with. More esoteric are the supplemental Realms of Scene and Time, which may never be used alone, but always enhance cantrips aimed at Fae, Actor, Nature, or Prop.

Ultimately, dedicated Kithain mystics expand their mastery of the Realms through practice, imagination, and simple experience of living. To achieve greater mastery of Actor, one must spend more time around people, thinking about them, talking to them, observing them, and finding out what makes them tick; to achieve mastery of Nature requires spending time in the wild, and so forth.

Realms are rated in dots which each grant broader and broader dominion over that which is governed by the Realm. In order to use a cantrip on a desired subject, the changeling normally must have purchased the relevant Realm (or Realms) up to the dot rating that best describes her target. However, if she lacks an appropriate rating, then all is not lost — the changeling may fold together imagination, Glamour, aspiration, and will to force the magic to bend to her will anyway. Players may target a cantrip with Realm ratings they haven’t purchased by spending a point of Glamour per “missing” Realm.

Putting it all together, the final result, in game terms, is this: When casting a cantrip, the changeling rolls her rating in the Art being used + the rating of the lowest primary Realm being used. Time and Scene never change the dice pool.

## Actor

This Realm grants power over the folk of the Autumn World. Its purview encompasses ordinary people, of course, but also the enchanted, Kinain, mages, and even Prodigals such as vampires and werewolves (though not the Kithain and their fae brethren).

### First Dot - True Friend

The most rudimentary initiation into this Realm grants power over a well-known friend or confidante — someone the changeling has spent a great deal of time around, whose interests and hobbies and aspirations she knows, and who trusts and likes her.

**Possible examples:** Your friends. Your spouse. Your brother. Your kids. Certain numbers of a therapist’s patients.

### Second Dot - Personal Contact

Basic initiation into the Realm of Actor allows the changeling to work cantrips upon those that she has personally met and had at least a few minutes of interaction with, and whose names she knows. In older times, folk were cautious about giving their names to strangers, for names are things of power in the hands of the fae — but the Autumn World has largely forgotten its fear of faeries, and names are easy to come by.

**Possible examples:** Your boss. Your coworkers. Your neighbors. The kid who picked on you at school. The bartender at your favorite bar.

### Third Dot - Familiar Face

Adepts in this Realm can weave their cantrips against anyone they recognize based on some preexisting context — the changeling has moved beyond the need for a name. A person needs to be no more than “the guy who drives the ice cream truck,” “that cop who gave me a ticket last week,” or “Stephi’s mom.”

**Possible examples:** The people at a high school reunion. The local news anchor. The regulars at your favorite bar. A criminal you saw a story about on TV. The guy who drives the bus you take to work every morning. Those kids always hanging out on the corner.

### Fourth Dot - Dire Enemy

A favorite of redcaps everywhere, the changeling can now wield her Arts against anyone who has established themselves as an antagonist, even those she’s never met before. An antagonist is anyone attempting to restrain, attack, belittle, harm, humiliate, or thwart the changeling.

**Possible examples:** A security guard at the place you’re breaking into. A mugger. A vampire who attacks you at the club. The kid running to tattle on you to the teacher. The guy who isn’t taking no for an answer at the bar. That dickhead who just cut you off in traffic and flipped you the bird

### Fifth Dot - Complete Stranger

Mastery of the Realm of Actor grants the changeling power over even total strangers, so long as she has some idea of who she’s aiming her cantrip at — she still can’t “blind aim” a cantrip, so “whoever broke into my apartment” won’t work.

**Possible examples:** That guy waiting for the bus. The person who just got into the elevator with you. That lady with the weird mole. The man in the yellow raincoat. The kid working the drive-through window.

## Fae

This Realm grants power over the things and children of the Dreaming — the Kithain themselves and their stranger cousins. Its most rarefied heights also grant dominion over the odd and incomprehensible mysteries of the world, since mysteries are, in the final estimation, also gifts of the Dreaming.

**A note:** This Realm is relative, and is presented from the perspective of the Kithain, who generally act as the default protagonists of Changeling: The Dreaming, but these are not the only changelings in the world. When wielded by, for example, the Menehune of Hawaii, the first dot of this Realm affects the “common” hana and kokua kiths, while the second dot grants power over the “noble” ali’i and kahuna kiths. For a Menehune to direct a cantrip at a troll, sidhe, or redcap, she would need to use Fae 4, as the non-Hawaiian Kithain are alien to her place in the Dreaming.

### First Dot - Hearty Commoner

The first things a changeling initiated into this Realm gains power over are the humble commoners of the fae world.

**Possible examples:** Most non-sidhe Kithain, titleless Autumn sidhe.

### Second Dot - Lofty Noble

With greater mastery over the Realm of Fae comes the ability to direct cantrips at the nobility of the Kithain, a fact that causes no little consternation among militant commoners — it’s difficult to keep morale up when the Dreaming itself seems to endorse the divisions of class and power. This rank also encompasses members of “commoner” kiths who have been granted titles.

**Possible examples:** Arcadian sidhe, troll knights, oba.

### Third Dot - Manifold Chimera

Those with significant facility with the Fae Realm eventually learn to direct their power at chimera, including both chimerical creatures and wholly chimerical objects (but not including a changeling’s voile — her clothing is considered a part of her by the strange rules of the Dreaming).

**Possible examples:** Nervosa, your imaginary friend, most nocker contraptions.

### Fourth Dot - Elusive Gallain

Potent adepts of the Fae Realm may direct cantrips at those strange fae set apart from the Kithain by the inscrutable will of the Dreaming. This category generally includes the nunnehi and Menehune, Adhene, inanimae, Thallain, and any other bizarre denizen of the Dreaming. It also includes any inexplicable yet bodiless beings that changelings occasionally encounter, such as spirits or ghosts.

**Possible examples:** Goblins, kachinas, water babies, hana, ghosts, neraka, Hsien.

### Fifth Dot - Dweomer of Glamour

Masters of the Fae Realm may work their magic directly upon receptacles of waking Glamour: cantrips, Treasures, freeholds, dross, trods, and so forth.

**Possible examples:** Caliburn, a closed trod, the balefire of a freehold.

## Nature

This Realm encompasses the raw elements and awesome forces of nature. It is defined by a classical and holistic understanding of natural phenomena and substances, rather than a clinical one.

### First Dot - Base Element

The changeling may direct a cantrip at discrete manifestations of the four classical elements (air, earth, water, and fire). These manifestations must be fairly straightforward and inorganic. Because it’s difficult to quantify discrete manifestations of air, that element often requires the Scene Realm as well.

**Possible examples:** A puddle, a big stone, a campfire, the soil of a grave, all the water in a bathtub.

### Second Dot - Raw Material

The changeling may affect unliving, organic material such as wood, paper, rope, hemp, and the like.

**Possible examples:** A wooden shelf, a wooden fence, a sheet of paper, a hand-rolled joint, the mooring line for a small boat, a steak dinner.

### Third Dot - Verdant Forest

At this level of initiation, the changeling may now direct her cantrips at living plants.

**Possible examples:** A planter of flowers, a potted cactus, a mighty oak, creeping kudzu vines, a fresh apple, a weeping willow.

### Fourth Dot - Feral Animals

Adepts of the Nature Realm gain power over living animals, great and small. People who have been transformed into animals (hey, it happens) are governed instead by the Realm reflecting their base form (usually Actor, or, in the case of pooka, Fae), as are Prodigals such as werewolves who transform freely between human and bestial forms.

**Possible examples:** Your dog, a stray cat, the tigers at the zoo, the crow sitting on your roof, the goldfish who is now the only witness to a murder.

### Fifth Dot - Natural Phenomena

The most refined mastery of Nature grants the changeling the ability to directly target natural phenomena: weather patterns, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and the like.

**Possible examples:** A fog bank, a storm cloud, a geothermal vent.

## Prop

Prop is the Realm governing objects of all sorts, from table knives to telescopes. Props are worked objects not falling into the parameters of the Nature Realm, including all refined metals, plastics, and compound materials.

Prop can never, under any circumstances, affect objects made of cold iron.

### First Dot - Ornate Garb

The changeling may target anything that is commonly worn, or currently being used as clothing or a body decoration.

**Possible examples:** A dress, a shirt, jewelry, tattoos, makeup, a small padlock worn as an earring, your boss’s toupee.

### Second Dot - Crafted Tool

The Kithain may now enchant any object that doesn’t use electricity and has no moving parts.

**Possible examples:** A club, a knife, a sword, a crowbar, a screwdriver, a hand saw, a glass coffee table, a mug, a mattress, a lucky coin.

### Third Dot - Mechanical Device

The changeling’s mastery of Props grows to encompass objects with moving parts, so long as they don’t require fuel or an electrical power source.

**Possible examples:** A gun, a skateboard, a bicycle, a door, a combination lock, an action figure, a swing set.

### Fourth Dot - Complex Machine

At the higher ranks of facility with the Prop Realm, the changeling gains the ability to ensorcel machines that require fuel or electricity, so long as the object is fairly easily to explain, use, and understand.

**Possible examples:** A toaster, a chainsaw, a car, a printing press, a stun gun, an oven, a telephone, a lamp.

### Fifth Dot - Arcane Artifact

At the apex of the Prop Realm, the changeling discovers the secrets of working Glamour upon even the most complex of devices — those of inscrutable working or function, or that depend upon delicate and complex electronics.

**Possible examples:** An X-ray machine, a television, an iPod, a smartphone, a computer.

## Scene

Scene is one of the two modifier Realms. It cannot be used to ground an Art on its own, but must instead be used in conjunction with Actor, Fae, Nature, or Prop. Scene expands the effects of the Realm it modifies to encompass as many relevant targets as the changeling desires within the described zone — for example, if Scene were coupled with Actor 4, a cantrip could be used upon all of the changeling’s enemies within the area; if it were combined with Prop 4, the changeling might enchant all of the cars in a parking lot.

Using Scene always raises the difficulty of a cantrip by 1.

### First Dot - The Chamber

The first dominion of the Scene realm is the Chamber, allowing the changeling to affect all subjects within a small, discrete, enclosed area.

**Possible examples:** A den, a closet, a garage, a bedroom, a utility shed.

### Second Dot - The Cottage

The second domain of Scene encompasses a small, contiguous building, allowing the Kithain to work a cantrip upon all subjects within.

**Possible examples:** A mobile home, a one-story house, an old cabin in the woods, a bomb shelter.

### Third Dot - The Lonely Lane

Adepts of Scene may work a cantrip upon an entire highway or road, stretching as far as the eye can see, and anything on it or immediately adjacent to it (such as in adjoining yards or on the sidewalk, but not inside of buildings).

**Possible examples:** A lonely country road, a city block, a suburban street, a hiking path, an interstate highway.

### Fourth Dot - The Glen

The changeling may lay a cantrip over all subjects within an entire discrete, easily-defined outdoor location. Anyone inside of a structure that happens to be within the area is exempt.

**Possible examples:** A park, a lake, a forest, a hill.

### Fifth Dot - The Castle

The greatest works of Scene can amplify a cantrip to target all relevant subjects within a single massive structure or a cluster of smaller buildings that fall under a single intuitive header.

**Possible examples:** A castle, an office building, a university campus, an office park, a shopping mall, a hotel.

## Time

Time is one of the two modifier Realms. It cannot be used to ground an Art on its own, but must instead be used in conjunction with Actor, Fae, Nature, or Prop. Time allows the changeling to manipulate a cantrip in various ways, winding its Glamour through time in increasingly complex permutations.

Using Time always raises the difficulty of a cantrip by 1.

### Second Dot - Suspended Sands

The cantrip’s effect is delayed, and will activate at a time of the player’s choosing (set when the cantrip is cast), up to a year and a day in the future.

### Third Dot - Fateful Trigger

Rather than being delayed by a set amount of time, the cantrip may be set to “hang” until a specified trigger occurs, set by the player. Examples include “the next time a Kithain walks through the door,” “the next time Bill the Sluagh walks through the door,” or “the next time the door is opened.” The character must use the appropriate Realm or Realms for the target of the trigger.

### Fourth Dot - Bright Echoes

After the cantrip ends, it automatically reactivates a second time. The second activation applies the cantrip’s effects as though it rolled only a single success, no matter how many successes the original cantrip generated. If the first use of the cantrip failed, so does its echo.

### Fifth Dot - Glorious Renewal

The Cantrip becomes seasonal and reactivates after being dormant. The specific circumstance for the Cantrip reactivating is dictated by the player, but must involve a significant marker (such as an equinox, eclipse, birthday, etc.) and there must be significantly more time between activations than the duration of the cantrip.