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I've seen a lot of questions about Changeling recently. For various reasons, it seems, a short detailed overview would be welcomed. This is such an overview. I have made every effort to stick to cannon here, in that I do not believe that I contradict the Word of White Wolf anywhere within. Additionally, I believe that what I present here matches closely with the ideas that were in the developers' heads when they wrote the books. However, Changeling is not a game where every detail has been provided, and there are blanks left for the players and Storytellers to fill in. This document is rife with details which fit into those holes but which should not be taken as cannon. This work is presented in the hope that it will help new players reap the rewards of playing Changeling, help experienced players perhaps pin down one or two niggling confusions, and help storytellers of all stripes by providing them with another perspective on the great Changeling setting. In that spirit, I hope you enjoy this work and find it useful.
Changelings
Changelings are the result of a merging of Faerie with Human. They are both, or neither. Faeries are literally living dreams; emotion made substance. Canonically called chimerae, faeries come in many shapes and sizes. Most of them haven't had the opportunity or desire to become changelings. Those faeries who have become changelings sacrificed much, but gained much as well. Much of the power and glory of the fae is diminished by the merging with a human. Even the memories of their long immortal lives are buried. To justify such a loss, the gain would have be enormous, and it is. Changelings can survive in a world where dreams are no longer given even second-class status. They can walk down the street. They can interact with the world well enough to nurture the Glamour that they need to survive. A changeling is not a faerie who is controlling a human body. A changeling is a single person whose spirit and psyche are made up of both mortal and faerie, twining around and through each other to an extent that they can be separated only by the death of the mortal. The faerie part, being immortal, must then find a new human to merge with. There is a less diminishing procedure which allows a faerie to evict a mortal soul from a body and then take its place; the effects on the faerie are about the same as when becoming a changeling, except for three points: The faerie is not demeaned by contact with a mortal soul, a bit more of the faerie's power survives, and the faerie gives up immortality. By taking the mortal soul's place in the body, the faerie also takes the mortal soul's place in the great scheme of things. While this may seem like a pretty bad trade, the proud and noble Sidhe choose this method of interacting with the mortal world. Let the commoners soil themselves by mixing with mortals.
of physical objects are an important part of the world for changelings. It is the changeling tendency to see and interact with the emotional content in things which sets them apart from everyone else. For many changelings, the dream aspects of physical objects are the most commonly encountered type of dream. Glamour, then, is the magic that transforms things. Those pebbles are really gems, those dollar bills are really leaves. This smelly old crashspace is really a sumptuous dwelling suitable for a prince. This is why the word Glamour is used for the power of emotion. The separation between worlds blurs around a changeling. It is as if they smudge the line between here and there. A changeling weapon can strike an enemy who is in a different world from the weapon (a dream weapon can strike a physical enemy, a physical weapon can strike a dream enemy), and a changeling's purely dream companions can often see the physical world when they're with the changeling. There's no hard and fast rule for this blurring, except that the end result should be that to changelings, it's all one world.
Changeling society
Changelings are divided into two courts: the summer court and the winter court (called Seelie and Unseelie, respectively). Each court is home to changelings whose preferred form of Glamour was commonly generated by people during the appropriate season, back when the seasons were an incredibly significant part of life. Emotions like those in the top half of the chart generally fall into the summer court, while the lower half is representative of emotions in the province of the winter court. Don't get the idea that the Unseelie are just about villainy, though. Summer was a time of hard work and responsibilities, while the winter was a time for relaxing around the fire, telling stories, or seducing that lovely wench next door. These and many other traits are also reflected in the courts. There is a third social group being brought to light by the meta-plot: the Fomorians and their servants. The Fomorians are best described as Cthonic; their servants are merely evil. They represent a threat the changelings specifically and the world in general; it may be that the courts unify to long enough to fight them. In any case, the Fomorians are a social force which is currently mostly hidden but definitely significant.
Changeling magic
Changelings can theoretically achieve any Effect though their magic, and they can counter the magic of a human magus. Changeling magic, though, goes without paradox. Before you get too worried about changelings being too magically potent, keep in mind that the Arts are more focussed than the Spheres are. Where a human magus would study Correspondence (the Sphere of position and distance), a changeling would have to study several Arts including Wayfare (the Art of getting from here to there) and Soothsay (the Art of seeing through space and time). The Spheres of human magic are the most empowering form of magic, by a large measure. It may be that changeling magic avoids paradox because its study involves the in-depth understanding of a single concept at a time. This narrow and deep focus may make the results of changeling magic fit into the universe more neatly and with less rejection.
Changeling life
So, you woke up this morning and there was a beautiful royal blue silk coverlet where your old comforter should have been. You went into the kitchen and all your glasses have turned into crystalline goblets. Your dog talked to you. Then the really weird stuff started to happen. Things like your boss growing horns in the middle of lecturing you about being late again, and your cubicle walls being made of stone and having manacles set into them. The whip that your project supervisor carries around all day and uses on you occasionally. There's beautiful princess locked in cubicle 12 who keeps telling you she doesn't want to be rescued. When you finally get home, you find that one of your friends has left something (you don't have a clue what, but it's active) in the refrigerator. Welcome to life as a changeling. Congratulations, you have the headaches and worries of two worlds to deal with. On the other hand, you get two worlds worth of triumph and beauty too. "To live will be a great adventure." (Peter Pan, "Hook")
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