Changeling

Visit the Changeling Plot page for an update on current events.

There are a handful of House Rules in play. Experienced players will recognize these, but they're gathered here for newer players, or anyone seeking clarification that they won't find in the source material.

New! A one-time award of 5 extra XP for adding a character bio on the Character page. Fair warning, though: anything posted on that page is considered IN CHARACTER knowledge, and fair to use during play, unless clearly marked otherwise.

You were human once. Paying bills, squabbling with kin, gas in the car and good grades and the nine-to-five grind. It all seemed so mundane, back then. Now, you'd give anything to have it back.

You were human once - before *They* came. Keepers, Gentry, Fae: call them what you will now, but then, you called them Master. You had to. Alien beings incapable of empathy or compassion, they took you to a world where their will reshaped reality. There, they made you their own.

Were you the hunted hare, fleeing for your life? Or were you a beast of prey, running fast or flying swift, too lost in your senses to know that you hunted and slew your own kind? Were your heart and flesh frozen to ice, made as implacable as earth, or as flighty as fire? Were you made a consort of more than mortal beauty, dreading your "lover's" passion and ennui alike? Warped into brutish form by hard labor and harder fists? Twisted by spite in the service of one you could never please? Or were you perhaps simply locked away in the dark so long that skin and sight and spirit forgot the touch of sun and twinkle of stars?

You remember that time best in your nightmares, but your waking mind tries to forget. Are you truly free even now, or is it all a cruel game? What luck or strength or trick freed you from your chains? What memory drew you back from Arcadia, through the perilous Thorns, and home to the world of men? Dare you still call it home?

You were human once - but not any more. Now your body and mind, (some say even your soul,) have been molded irrevocably into something other. A false construct has stolen your name and now lives your mortal life, perhaps with more skill than you could now muster. Time passes oddly in Arcadia, and you are not the age you ought to be, society not the time you remember. Your body, mind, and heart still bear the imprint of the changes made during your captivity. Much of human life is now lost to you, but your eyes are now forever open to the dark miracles of Glamour and fae magic.

How will you live? Where will you go? Who will you trust? And, worst of all...

**How long will it be before They come looking for you once again?**

In Changeling: the Lost, you play a once-human captive of the True Fae, after her escape from slavery and return to the human realm. Your character may have been abducted at any age from puberty onwards, and have been captive for up to 100 years. Most likely, a Fetch, (a construct designed to mimic human life,) will have been left in his place, so he cannot easily reclaim his former identity. Your "magic" comes from Contracts with aspects of reality; these elements agreed to serve the Gentry, and as their former servants, some measure of that agreement is yours to draw on as well.

Changeling is a "Valley of Shadows" game - like Werewolf: the Forsaken and Geist: the Sin-Eaters, it is set in present-day State College in the World of Darkness. This is the world and town you know, albeit one darker and more superstitious, with supernatural beings hidden in the shadows. Character concepts can incorporate any human elements appropriate to the area: there are a large number of positions associated with the university, for example, but not so many gangbangers.

Supernatural inspiration for your Changeling can come from any of the fairy tales and urban legends with which you may be familiar. The Fae defy easy categorization, and their servants often blur boundaries in their seemingly infinite variety as well. All Changeling characters choose a Seeming  at character creation, a template that broadly describes their durance in Arcadia and the likely characteristics and affinities resulting from it.

Changeling politics revolves around the Freehold, a group that bands together for mutual support, headed by a seasonal monarch. Changelings Contracted with the seasons to provide some stability to shield them from the Fae. Each season also is affiliated with a philosophy that helps a Changeling find purpose in their new life. For this reason, the seasonal Courts are the most influential, but there are others available.

If you want to discuss a new character, or have a question or downtime activities for the Storyteller, you can reach Shay at RaptorSLH@yahoo.com, or through the Facebook group. New characters start with 35 XP. Players can earn additional XP at any time, up to 35 bonus XP over the life of their character, by providing a detailed backstory. If you have an unusual concept, or want to tweak a new character to better fit how she evolved during play,don't be afraid to drop me a line!