Bishopric of Blackbirds

**Requirements:** Wyrd 2+,Wits 3+, Empathy 2+

**Origin tales:**

1. Once a changeling was lost in the Hedge. With no path to guide them, the changeling saw two black crows sitting on a Gallow’s Tree. With these they made a bargain, aid in navigating the hedge in return for a favor later. Since there were two birds, two favors were taken; the changeling would carry the bird’s token and offer aid for the same bargain struck.
2. The Blackbirds come from the unlikely bargain of a Hedgeghost and a Changeling. The Hedgeghost had been stitched together of those who had been lost in the Hedge and the changeling offered to help them in return for a favor yet to be named. The Hedgeghost agreed and once satisfied it turned into a token the Blackbirds still carry. A favor deferred still.
3. Bishop Lily Rose went out into the Hedge every day searching for the Lost. Yet she came across only a few and more often she found only their corpses. She fashioned a token to help her find others in need and was clever enough to defer its cost until she found the lost people. Over time, she and her token became a staple of the area and the title formed around her

**Legends:**

1. Once there was a Blackbird that came across a Gentry in need of aid. They offered their aid and it was granted. The Gentry then sought to take them back but they called on the favor owed. The Gentry tried to resist and went to their Realm, only to find nothing but blackbirds and their slaves gone.
2. Once a Changeling turned loyalist and was prepared to sell out a freehold. Before he could, a Bishop came to them and called on them to fulfill their debt for the help she had provided once before. He had no choice and so agreed to wait 24 hours so she and all those who owed her could leave. She in turn went back to the freehold and bargained so all the leaders would know of the threat and owe her for the help administered.

**What We Do in the Shadows:**

Enter the Bishopric of Blackbirds. They believe themselves the salvation of the freehold, positioning members to be there when others need them. That is their first stated goal: To assist those poor Lost (which, to most Bishops, constitutes all of them) when necessary. This can manifest in many ways. The Blackbird Bishops, for instance, often wander the Hedge and look for those who have escaped from Arcadia or who are plainly lost. The Bishops offer their aid, helping those poor souls return to the world. Maybe a changeling has a problem with her fetch, and a Blackbird Bishop will help her come to terms with her "other." (They won't help her destroy the fetch, but they will attempt to either forge an understanding between the two, or will instead help her to forget that life and never again try to contact her Fae-made twin.) The Bishops offer guidance to those who are lost, above all. As a changeling, it's all too easy to lose one's way, and the Bishopric accepts the role of savior.

Of course, salvation doesn't come free. From the order's earliest days under its supposed founder, the Bishop Lily Rose, the Blackbird Bishops are bound to require some kind of payment in return for aid. They do not provide aid without making it totally apparent that, by accepting a Bishop's help, the needy changeling agrees to an unnamed favor that will come due at some point in the future. Now, the Bishops don't normally use this power for selfish gain -- no, instead they use it to help the freehold. A favor might be to tithe some Glamour to the local Court, or to help another changeling deal with his fetch or even befriend a lonely soul. The favors demanded are generally done in service to the freehold, though sometimes the request can be quite intensive. For this reason, many changelings note that the blackbird is both a good and bad omen. In some stories, the blackbird is a sign of ill omen or sexual temptation. In others, though, blackbirds represent peace and love. For the Bishops, this is perhaps appropriate: Earning a Bishop's aid sometimes requires a favor whose work ends up far outweighing the reward.

**Mask & Mein:**

The Bishopric doesn't assert any common appearance or dress code among its Bishops, except for a single bird pendant hammered out of tin and painted black. The order expects its Bishops to wear this pendant somewhere within sight -- usually pinned to a lapel or hung around the neck via a small chain. A Bishop's mien is a whole different matter. Changes to a Bishop's mien are at first subtle, with feathers (usually the black and brown feathers of the common blackbird, though some manifest red-tipped feathers or oily blue-black feathers) appearing from beneath sleeves, cuffs and collars. These feathers sometimes drift away and fall to the ground around the changeling's feet. The other changes are more extreme. A Bishop's eyes may take on the round black glassiness of a bird's. His feet, too, may turn knobby and shriveled, ending in hooked talons. As Wyrd increases, the number of feathers grows before they drop to the ground, left behind for some humans to find. (Humans, too, feel odd in the presence of high-Wyrd Bishops -- mortals grow abnormally superstitious, refusing to step on sidewalk cracks or walk beneath ladders.)

**Bequeathal:**

The first and perhaps most common way that a changeling joins the Bishopric of Blackbirds is by using his membership to pay off a pledged debt. When offering aid in reward for a future favor, the Bishop makes it clear to most that one way out of the pledge -- a clause to the contract, so to speak -- is to become a Blackbird Bishop. Seeing as how the Bishops are devoted to helping the freehold and preserving Clarity, it serves the order's goals in the long run to have more members. (Though, again the cruel irony presents itself that some Bishops end up with alarmingly low Clarity without realizing it, and thus they become the ones weakening the fundamental sanity of the freehold.) Otherwise, those who wish to join are usually allowed to join. The other Bishops discuss it, but even if a changeling enters who doesn't deserve the grace and wisdom of the order, the other Bishops will make him deserve it. They recognize that they're only as strong as their weakest link, and if that means dragging one of their own headlong into helping others and farming out goodwill through pledges, then that's what they'll do. The Bishops have little problem in "motivating" their slacking brethren. Motivation may come at the end of an hours-long lecture -- or from a swift reprimand at the end of a cudgel.

Certainly there are those the Bishops want nothing to do with, and most new Bishops require a vote of confidence from a majority of the existing members. Ultimately, though, the Blackbird Bishops want more changelings in their order, and believe it'd be ideal if everybody felt the same way they did about helping one another (even if it means playing the martyr to do so)

**Token: Golden Cage [1-5]**

A golden cage dangles from around the neck as a pendant, the clasp on it is forever broken and an image of a black bird crudely drawn until activation. For each point invested in this token, choose one of the following Conditions: Broken, Fugue, Hunted, Lost, or Withdrawn. A Bishop can use the token to point the way to the nearest human, changeling or fae touched mortal suffering that condition in the Hedge, with the exception of the Lost condition which can be used on Earth or in the Hedge.
**Catch:** The individual accepted your help with a favor to be paid later.
**Drawback:** The focus needed to follow the cage’s subtle guidance is draining. In addition to the Glamour, activating the token requires a Willpower.
**Blessings**

* [1] This blessing lets the changeling regain 1 Glamour whenever she regains Willpower through her Needle in direct pursuit of her role. She may spend the Glamour immediately on anything she likes or store it in her heraldry token for later use. The token can store up to her Wyrd in Glamour. If she can neither spend nor store it, it’s lost. All stored Glamour empties at the end of the story.
* [1] Choose one of the following specialties: Survival (Hedge), Empathy (Calming, Therapy), Persuasion (Building Trust), or Occult (Tokens). The chosen speciality also gains exceptional on three successes instead of five.
* [1] Additional Thread.
* [1] Eye of the Blackbird: Anything touched by the Hedge gleams to your eyes. Once per scene, you can make a free Kenning check to identify Fae Touched or tokens in your line of sight. Each success gives you more people/token identified.
* [1] Magpie’s Burden: A bishop may soothe the emotional scars of another by bearing the wound themselves. By discussing the past events they almost literally take the words from the mouth of the speaker. In doing so they take any mental based condition from their target and inflict it upon themselves. They may do so up to Wyrd/2 (Rounded down) times per day.

**Touchstone:** Someone rescued from the Hedge.

**Clarity Curse:** Clarity attacks suffered while abandoning anyone/thing in the hedge add damage dice equal to ranks invested in this Merit.

**WP:** Once a scene, gain a WP when you cast aside mundane responsibilities to find another in the hedge.