The Seemings
Changelings are those faerie-stolen humans who have managed to escape their unearthly masters, break through the barrier between worlds, and return to the world of their birth. The world of the Others is a strange and uncanny place however, and the simple act of living there changes human beings in ways they could never imagine. These changes are what make up the fae mien, or Seeming, of the Lost. They are reflections of who each changeling is and what they have been through; ultimately, they are what separates the Lost from other human beings, and even from one another. They are still the same person they were when the Fae took them, and yet they are not; they are still human, and yet they are Fae; they are all changelings, and yet they are as different from each other as they are from humans and Others. Their bodies and souls reflect these realities and, as such, Seemings provide benefits to Changelings, but also impose penalties.
The changes which transform a normal human into a Changeling can come as a result of the duties the Lost performed for their Fae masters, or as a result of the environments they were exposed to; most often, they come from the Fae who stole them. Still other changes can come from the escape itself, as the Changelings fight their way through the Thorns back into the world of mortal men and women. Whatever the circumstances, in the end, no-one escapes unscathed.
1.
Beasts: believe that they have taken the most difficult road back through the Hedge, for they have had to claw back their minds as well as their souls. For a Beast to return, he has to turn his back on the lush sensory life of the animal, and think, if only long enough to burrow, chew and wriggle through the thorny barrier and back to the human realm. No matter what animal he holds an affinity with, a Beast lives in a state of paradox, a conscious, moral person infused with the unconscious, amoral power of the animal kingdom. A Beast's behavior and the place she creates for herself in the world depends a great deal on the kind of animal she reflects. Some stand apart from human society. Some throw themselves into the human world, revealing the wildness and the world of sensation at the heart of human interaction. Some express their connection to the world of sensation in their own, uniquely primal ways. Of all the changelings, the Beasts are the most difficult to categorize. They're as varied in form and behavior as the animals whose essence they share. All of them, however, exist as interstitial figures, living on a threshold between human and animal, civilization and wilderness.
Appearance: A Beast always has some feature belonging to the animal she reflects. It's important to note that the Beast reflects the idea of the animal rather than the animal itself. She might reflect more than one animal. She might reflect (like the archetypal Beast from the folk-tale) a category of animals that don't even exist. They're always very physical and solid, whatever form they take, and many Beasts have a strong odor of some kind.
Contracts: Beasts gain an affinity with the Fang and Talon Contracts, allowing them to take on qualities of animals. They can also specialize in Den Contracts, which grant them a special connection to their territory.
Beast Kiths vary from outright embodiment of specific animals to embodying animals as they are associated with certain traits and qualities. From the corebook; Broadbacks (those of great endurance... and stubbornness), Hunterhearts (predators and other creatures with built-in weaponry), Runnerswifts (creatures of remarkable speed), Skitterskulks (creepy-crawlies or other creatures with jittering reflexes), Steepscramblers (climbing animals), Swimmerskins (aquatic and water-loving creatures), Venombites (poisonous animals) and Windwings (flying animals). To these, "Winter Masques" added the Cleareyes (representing creatures renowned for their senses), Coldscales (reptiles), Roteaters (carrion-eating beasts) and Truefriends (representing pets, pack animals, or others emphasizing loyalty to others). They also got one extra kith in "Grim Fears"; the Riddleseekers kith embodies animals as representatives of wisdom and cunning (sphinxes, spiders, snakes, owls, etc).
Culture-based Beast Kiths (Also from Winter Masques) include: Chimeras (mix-and-match creatures who get along with hobgoblins), Coyotes (clever and greedy beasts), and Nixes (watery beings with intoxicating voices)
2.
Darklings: Changelings know that their deeds have consequences, but few feel those consequences so keenly as the changelings who are called Darklings. Many were stolen away as the consequence of attracting the attention of the Fae. Their obsessive clinging to the solace of the night is the consequence of having been imbued with shadows. Their love of quiet is the consequence of having lived in a world where all was whispering, all was rustling and snapping twigs and creeping fear. The Darklings believe that they found it hardest to escape from the lands of the Fae, because their way back was hidden from them. Of all the changelings, they were lost in an alien landscape, with no reference point to return to, with all paths shrouded in shadow. To escape, they had to be the ones who could survive in the shadows, to thrive there with creeping things and dark things and dead things that move. Having come back, they are the changelings who wait in the shadows. The Darklings' memories of their time in Faerie are awash with shadowy fears. Vague, hulking forces loomed from the corner of the room. Small skittering things crawled across faces or became momentarily tangled in hair before dissolving. Wet, slithering things moved around in the background. Trap doors and boarded windows with something behind them figure heavily in dreams of Faerie. Being sent on errands with no point, being forced to copy ancient codices of lore that made no sense while outside things shrieked and fluttered, being made to enter a cellar and being eaten, over and over again, being lost in mazes, all of these things feature heavily in Darkling dreams of faerie. The dark places of the human world don't remotely compare.
Appearance: Darklings tend to appear somehow less solid, less substantial than other changelings. It's not that they're transparent or anything. They just feel less solid somehow. Many (but not all) are thin, in their fae miens unnaturally so. Many are tall, and the ones who aren't are only shorter than normal because they're hunched over. Some have pointed ears and noses. Some have straight, lank hair. Skin runs the gamut from deathly white to transparent, shadowy black or blue. Their eyes are almost always dark, like deep pits that reveal nothing. Sometimes, in their fae miens, they have freakish features, like tiny horns or fangs, extra eyes and the like.
Contracts: Darklings gain an affinity with the Darkness Contracts, allowing them to use darkness as a thing of distraction and fear.
Kith: Corebook Darking kiths are the Antiquarians (keepers of ancient lore and forgotten knowledge), Gravewights (those with ties to death and the undead), Leechfingers (soul-suckers, breath-stealers and blood-drinkers), Mirrorskins (shapeshifters and face-changers) and Tunnelgrubs (things that crawl and squirm below the ground). "Winter Masques" added Lurkgliders (gargoyles and flying... things), Moonborn (children of the moon and madness), Nightsingers (players of "the music of the night"), Palewraiths (spectres, shadows, and the like), Razorhands (serial killer-style nightmares) and Whisperwisps (spies, and rumor-whisperers).
Culture-based Darkling Kiths (Also from Winter Masques) include: Illes (trolls with illusory beauty), Pishacha (bizarre madness-inducing creatures), and Skogsra (animal-controlling forest-dwellers).
3.
Elementals: While other changelings reflect creatures who, at least on some level, represent human dreams (beauties, horrors, tricksters, animals), the Elemental psyche is influenced by the desires of objects and forces. The Elementals believe that their journey back through the Hedge was harder for them than it was for any of the changelings because they had less reason to escape. Their humanity had been more damaged by what they had endured in the Fae realm. Their memories of Faerie are often difficult to understand. Some know that once, they understood what it was to be a tree, or a stone, or a mound of earth. Some remember being lost to enchantment, becoming a clockwork doll or a lover made of ice. Others recall being lost in an environment now alien to them, perhaps serving as a manservant or maidservant in a flying city of glass or a blazing city made all of brass. Still others found their way into the Hedge on their own, and bear the marks of whatever thorny wasteland they wandered in before being taken to Faerie. Often seen as alien and inhuman, the Elementals are as much a mystery to the other changelings as they are to the humans around them.
Appearance: Every Elemental has something of their element about them. Mostly, that connection shows itself through the texture and color of the skin, through something in the eyes.
Contracts: Elementals gain an affinity with the Elements Contracts, allowing them to manipulate and control the element they embody.
Kith: The Seeming whose kiths are most straightforward; the corebook Elementals are Airtouched (air), Earthbones (earth and stone), Fireheart (fire), Manikin (man-made items), Snowskin (cold), Waterborn (water) and Woodblood (plants). "Winter Masques" introduced the Blightbent (pollution), Levinquick (electricity), Metalflesh (metal) and Sandharrowed (sand) kiths. Culture-based Elemental Kiths (Also from Winter Masques) include: Apsaras (watery tarts who induce lust), Ask-wee-da-eed (will-o'-the-wisps who bring bad luck), and Di-cang (jeweled Bodhisattvas who ease pain and...uh, break into things)
4.
Fairest: Despite the name, not always pretty. The world the Fairest were part of — or as much of it as they remember — was beautiful, a world of sweet pain and exquisite cruelty, a bittersweet paradise. Surrounded by beauty as they were, thralls to creatures a thousand times lovelier than anything on Earth, they had to focus all their thoughts on remembering what it was to be plain, to walk among the ordinary. The Fairest return from the Fae realm as striking, enchanting beings, but with that enchantment they bring back an inhuman cruelty -- a cruelty sometimes magnified by the arrogance that comes from knowing that they were pure enough of heart and strong enough of will to escape the thrall of ecstasy. The Fairest often believe that they should be far more influential and powerful in their Courts than they actually are, mistaking social prowess and ruthlessness for the qualities of leadership. Some manage, by sheer force of personality and charm alone, to rise to the top, but there are more Fairest in positions of authority than there are Fairest who know what they're doing. They push themselves into everything they do, and sometimes their overwhelming charisma is enough to carry an enterprise on its own. Of all the changelings, the Fairest are the least suited to solitude. Though proud and cruel, they are social beings, and when they rise above their shortcomings and let others in, the cruelty that made them can be redeemed.
Appearance: The Fairest are often tall, often slim and always good-looking. They're never really conventionally attractive: instead they're striking, haunting, memorable, and seem to carry themselves with a sublime grace. They're also the changelings who look the most like their fae miens when shrouded by the Mask.
Contracts: The Fairest gain an affinity with the Vainglory Contracts, allowing them to use their beauty and standing as a powerful means of persuasion.
Fairest have the greatest variety of kiths. Bright Ones embody light. Dancers used their grace and agility to amuse their Keeper. Draconics embody the glory of the Great Beasts; dragons, chimerae, manticores and the like. Flowering Fairest were used as literal pieces of horticultural art or sent to use their seductive musks upon others. Muses were used to inspire, be it admiration, disgust or fear. Of their "Winter Masques" kiths: Flamesirens represent the entrancing beauty of fire. Polychromatics are living embodiments of the shifting rainbow. Shadowsouls show how darkness can be beautiful as light. Telluric Fairest are bonded to the stars and the celestial bodies. Treasured were living trophies to be admired and coveted by their Keeper. "Grim Fears" adds another set: Minstrels amused their Keeper with music and/or song. Romancers were the idealized lovers of the True Fae, and punished terribly for being anything less than perfect. Larcenists stole for their Keepers, and often stole their freedom from their Keepers. Perhaps worst of all, the Playmates were taken to be the "best friend" of a childish True Fae.
5.
Ogres: Most folklore traditions have stories of trolls, hags, giants and flesh-eaters, and the changeling Ogres more often than not reflect those. Their tragedy is often that as they try to escape the violence that made them, they perpetrate it. Whatever place an Ogre finds in the world, she’ll find that the only way to rise above the brutality that made her what she is to accept it and use it. Of course, there’s a fine line between accepting something and embracing it, a line too many Ogres cross. The Ogres who make it back through the Hedge have to be, more than any other changeling, exceptional people. Not that the Fae are necessarily picky in who they choose to abuse and brutalize: rather, the Ogres are those who managed to survive without being eaten, crippled, or beaten to death and to avoid becoming so much like the monsters that took them that they wouldn’t want to leave. They don’t have to be particularly smart or cunning, but they are the kind of people who know their own mind. Most Ogres have an in-born streak of stubbornness that makes them faithful (if sometimes annoying) companions and terrible enemies.
Appearance: Ogres are always brutish in some way. Some have bestial features (and a few might even be confused with Beasts at first), and many are tall and broad, although by no means all; there are several short Ogres and almost as many skinny ones.
Contracts: Ogres gain an affinity with the Stone Contracts, granting them potent strength and a measure of hardiness.
Kith: Cyclopeans are Ogres with preternaturally accurate senses, though the ogres are often maimed or handicapped in some way. Farwalkers are bestial Ogres of the wilderness. Gargantuans are giants even among Ogres. Gristlegrinders are gifted and cursed with gnashing maws (and often a matching hunger for flesh). Stonebones display the toughness of a mountain cliffside. Water-Dwellers are amphibious Ogres. Of new Kiths introduced in "Winter Masques": Bloodbrutes are survivors of Arcadian gladiatorial arenas and wrestling rings. Corpsegrinders were fed on death. Renders can destroy almost anything they touch, a legacy of their time as labourers with no tools save their hands, or as living seige weapons. Witchteeth are Ogres who have proven more receptive to the mystical side of their Faerie nature, embodying the cruel man-eating witch and the magic-wielding giant of old lore.
Culture-based Ogre Kiths (from Winter Masques) include: Daitya (giants who rend and tear with supernatural ease), Oni (demons who gain power from the blood of the sinful), and Trolls (manipulative brutes)
6.
Wizened: The Wizened may well be the most unfortunate of changelings, for the Wizened could be anyone at all. Many were taken for no reason and through no fault of their own, simply finding themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unluckier still are those who came to the Others' attention because they encountered one who appeared to be in trouble – like the man who found a little person under a rock and set him free, only to be hounded to death for his presumption that the Fae might need his help. Despite their seeming haplessness, it takes someone as cunning and ingenious as the Fae themselves to escape from the Little People, and so Wizened changelings who return are most often those people who were already nimble of hand and quick of wit. The Wizened bring back disjointed memories of random cruelties, of being the butt of tricks and experiments that seemed hilarious to the Fae, even if they couldn't appeal to any human sense of humor. Many dimly recall trying to escape over and over again, each time being outwitted by their spiteful captors, perhaps at times being allowed to think they had escaped before the fact that they were still in Faerie all along was revealed
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Appearance: While every one of the Wizened is, in some way, smaller than she was when she was taken, they bear the features of the "Little People" in all their infinite variety. Being small often means being short — but not always. Some Wizened are tall and impossibly thin. Some aren't physically smaller than anyone else, but somehow seem smaller, as if they are insubstantial or somehow not quite there. Wizened captured in the West often have pointed ears, deeply lined faces, strangely-shaped noses and gimlet eyes. Often, a Wizened changeling's skin is richly colored, being bright green, red or blue, or the deep rich color and texture of polished mahogany. Their fingers are nimble and bony, and their fingernails are long and sometimes twisted. Some have hunch backs and prominent warts. Some have animal feet. Even to those who can't perceive their Seemings, the Wizened still seem small; that look of somehow not always being present stays with them.
Contracts: The Wizened gain an affinity with the Artifice Contracts, allowing them to repair, improve, and wreck crafted works.
Kith: The Wizened kiths all relate to the tasks they performed. Artists (obsessive craftsmen), Brewers (creators of heady and potent potables), Chatelaines (impeccably-mannered valets and diplomats), Chirurgeons (unrivaled doctors and surgeons), Oracles (fortunetellers), Smiths (forgers of magical tools), Soldiers (battle-scarred swordsmen), Woodwalkers (survivors of alien wildernesses), "Winter Masques" adds: Authors (master polyglots), Drudges (swift but overlooked workers), Gameplayers (clever masters of trivial pursuits), and Miners (telegraphing without the telegraph).
Culture-based Wizened Kiths (from Winter Masques) include: Gremlins (tinkerers who render equipment useless), Pamarindo (greasy but sustaining epicures), and Thussers (mesmerizing musicians)
