Chicanery (Art)

Practitioners of Chicanery bend and weave Glamour, knowing the Mists will follow to obscure the magic from the mundane world. Commoners were the first to harness the Mists to alter perception and memory, and considered the resulting Art a small act of rebellion against the force which normally limits their power. Perhaps because of the Art’s origin, Chicanery was long considered an Art fit only for commoners. Knowledge and use of the Art still carries a stigma in courts ruled by elder nobles.

## Unleashing Chicanery

Chicanery focused through raw Glamour bends perception, rewrites memory, and makes fantasy and folly irrefutable. Example commands when unleashing Chicanery include “hide this house from our enemies,” “make the world forget this day,” or “what was found will be lost again.”

## Chicanery Bunks

Chicanery bunks often involve the caster’s voice, disguises, and lies. Example bunks: Insist that your friends call you a different name for a day, dress up as a doctor and treat patients, repeat a secret three times in front of a crowd, or burn a photograph.

## Chicanery Cantrips

### Trick of the Light

A subtle manipulation of Glamour to muddle perceptions, Trick of the Light creates misunderstandings and mistakes. A pooka running a kidnapping con sounds just like the mark’s mother over the phone. An eshu hounded by a deranged hunter walks into a market and blends into the crowd. Down on her luck, a sidhe passes off a one-dollar bill as a 100 so she can eat tonight.

**System:** Casting Trick of the Light on a target causes anyone perceiving the target to misinterpret what they see or hear as determined by the player, but the effect does not hold up to prolonged scrutiny. The changeling invoking Trick of the Light uses the Realm to determine what becomes changed or altered with the illusion. Each success on the cantrip roll maintains the subterfuge for one turn. A character spending longer than a turn paying close attention to the target can roll Perception + Occult (difficulty 8) to see through the cantrip. This cantrip cannot be used to weave elaborate illusions; if a target couldn’t reasonably mistake the target object for the genuine article without much attention, it’s probably too involved for Trick of the Light.

Trick of the Light is considered chimerical even when used on mundane targets because the effects are subtle and do not withstand prolonged examination.

**Type:** Chimerical

### Veiled Eyes

Where Trick of the Light makes the viewer mistake one thing for another, Veiled Eyes uses the Mists to make the target of the cantrip instantly forgettable. A Kithain dressed in courtly robes can walk through a crowd of mortals unnoticed, a troll’s ornate broadsword hangs freely on her hip but goes ignored as she enters a bank, and the changeling’s enemies remain oblivious to the storm clouds rolling across the sky toward their home. The target does not become physically invisible, just not worth noticing. Changelings can create malicious applications of Veiled Eyes, making speeding cars or incoming enemies go unnoticed until it’s too late.

**System:** The Realm determines the thing that everyone else ignores, but additional Realms can be used to create exceptions to the effect. Using Fae and Nature, for example, could allow the character to cloak herself with Veiled Eyes, but allow animals to still sense her. The number of successes determines the duration:

 2
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 4
 5

Changelings can counter the enchantment with a resisted action using Perception + Kenning (difficulty 8), but must be looking for either the focus of the cantrip or searching for something hidden. Other supernatural creatures also have the same chance to see through the illusion, provided they possess some form of supernatural senses or mystic insight.
**Type:** Chimerical or Wyrd, depending on the target

### Dream Logic

Disjointed and illogical connections thrive in the chaos of the Dreaming, and changelings adept in Chicanery capitalize on the weirdness of dream logic to confuse and manipulate. As the target’s mind becomes shrouded by Glamour and the ensuing Mists, she becomes disoriented and does not question statements or commands that would normally make little sense to her. Covert eshu pass messages and packages with confused mortal couriers. The troll zookeeper tames new animals that no one else can safely approach.

**System:** The Realm for Dream Logic determines the target. After successfully casting the cantrip, the changeling imposes a confused, suggestible state of mind onto the target(s) causing +3 difficulty to any Mental or Social tasks throughout the duration. The target(s) also become highly sensitive to the caster’s suggestion, going along with actions and ideas that would normally make little sense or that the target would rebuke.

Any time the character attempts to manipulate or command the target(s), the player or Storyteller may resist by rolling Willpower (difficulty 8) and scoring as many or more successes as the player rolled for the Dream Logic cantrip. Players of affected characters may spend a point of Willpower to overcome the cantrip if the changeling suggests anything which shocks their consciences or puts them in mortal danger. The duration of Dream Logic depends on the number of successes rolled when cast:

 2
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 4
 5

**Type:** Chimerical

### Veiled Mind

Legends and mythology paint fantastic, and well deserved, scenes of faeries stealing mortals’ memories. Moving beyond mere sight or sound, the changeling shrouds the focus of the cantrip with Glamour and the accompanying Mists to temporarily wipe the focus of the cantrip from everyone’s mind. The lover who scorned a Kithain may find her family staring at her with blank faces as she comes home for a holiday, or the changeling’s opponent forgets to draw her sword during the duel.

**System:** The Realm determines what everyone else forgets, and multiple Realms can be used to create exceptions. A character using Veiled Mind to make everyone forget her long enough to escape her enemies could add Fae or Actor so that her motley does not regard her as a stranger. The number of successes determines the duration:

 2
 3
 4
 5

Changelings employing Veiled Mind may unravel the effects any time they wish during the duration. As with Veiled Eyes, changelings and other supernatural creatures can resist the Art provided they have some reason to try to remember the subject.

**Type:** Chimerical or Wyrd

### Lost in the Mists

What is worse than being unable to trust your senses, being invisible, or even being forgotten? Masters of Chicanery employ the ultimate manipulation of the Mists to wrest away their target’s identity. The focus of this cantrip not only forgets who he is, but the changeling can employ her knowledge of other Realms to make him believe he is something else entirely. The nocker’s rival begins acting like a dog when presenting a new invention. The vampire terrorizing a local motley wakes up with no memory of her undead state and panics when she steps outside and the sunlight burns her skin. A clurichaun makes a mortal believe he is a rain cloud to create instant performance art.

**System:** As with Dream Logic, the Realm determines the target but additional Realms allow the changeling to define the inflicted delusion. In addition to their normal function as modifier Realms, including Scene or Time also allows the Kithain to build a different place or different time period into the effects. For example, using Scene the character could opt to have the target retain their normal identity, but believe she is in prison. Similarly, use of Time could transport the target into the past or an imagined future, at least in her own mind.

When the character casts the cantrip, the target’s player should roll Perception + Kenning (difficulty 9) to determine if she is aware of the invasion into her mind. If successful, the character can resist the effects each turn with a successful Willpower roll (difficulty 8), or for the entire scene by spending a point of Willpower. The number of successes determines the duration:

 2
 3
 4
 5

**Type:** Chimerical or Wyrd