Difference between revisions of "The Mists"

Revision as of 15:54, 15 May 2014

The mists are an often misunderstood part of Changeling, and they warrant special discussion. The other sphere effect that cloaks supernatural activity, The Delirium, is largely (if not entirely) ineffective against other supers. The Mists, however, introduce banality as the measure of vulnerability to the mists, and operate with full efficacy against Prodigals (other supernaturals) and this seems to confuse people and or engender concerns about game balance.

Other Supers and Why the Mists Don't Effect Them So Easily:

Almost by definition, a prodigal (Mage, Garou, etc) is going to have a lower banality than the average mortal adult. Mortals' worlds are much simpler, much smaller, and as a result much less interesting. They succumb to The Mists because their psyche will not permit them to process the reality of The Dreaming - it's too corrosive for their sense of safety. For all the same reasons that mortals buy into the Technocracy's Consensus, they reject Glamour. Many of the kithain's most dangerous prodigal adversaries (agents of the Weaver) have staggeringly high banalities, and thus suffer from complete (or near complete) memory erasure. But for the Technocracy, for example, this tends to only be true of decanted-types, clones, and fully indoctrinated rank-and-file - many of whom are actually mortals. Anyone with Genius is, of necessity, permitted a greater leeway with their creativity and many Technomancers are profoundly creative and intuitive people. Many sites and STs hold that technology makes you banal. That is not the case. Technology makes you unseelie. Plenty of technofaeries exist in canon. House Dougal, in canon, makes extensive use of the internet - and they're a seelie house.

Garou interact with the Umbra extensively. The Dreaming is part of the Umbra (or at least attached to it closely) and the line between spirit and chimera is very, very wuzzy. The vastness of possibility in the Umbra means that Garou are also, of necessity, lower banality. Again, technology doesn't make you banal - Glass Walkers aren't the least banal wolves out there, but that's because of their focus on more mundane things than, say, the Uktena. Rage, however, does tend to be a banal force - it subsumes possibility. Fear, hate, and Rage do not tolerate possibility.

All of this adds up to: Supers will be slowed by the mists, but don't expect them to be mind-wiped in the slightest.

When the mists matter:

The Mists only matter in three instances:

Enchantment

A character was enchanted in the past and the enchantment has since faded (either by chimerical death or the enchantment's duration ending) - In this case, The Mists shroud the events that took place during the enchantment. All chimera, and all fae seemings are effected, all faerie magick is effected, mundane events are partially effected - only the glamourous details themselves are shrouded. If you are enchanted, and then have some beers with a satyr in a pub, The Mists don't make you forget having beers with the satyr. They just make you forget he's a satyr. If you have a beer with that same satyr /at the freehold/ you remember having a beer with the guy, but forget where, exactly, you were.

Chimerical Death

A character was able to see The Dreaming, and was killed by chimerical damage. Chimerical damage isn't real, and the character doesn't actually die - however the mind has been convinced that it died, and needs time to process this fact. In this case, The Mists determine how long the coma is if you are left alone - attempting to wake an individual and mortal medical care (as well as magical means) may wake someone from a coma more quickly. Chimerical death automatically disenchants, so unless your enchantment was induced by non-faerie, magical means you can put together on your own, the first case, above, immediately applies.

Wyrd Effects

Faerie magicks are used to effect the real world in some way. Wyrd Cantrips, The Wyrd Rede, and Calling Upon The Wyrd all do this. Details of these happenings are forgotten, but since the bulk of events aren't glamourous, the actions themselves are NOT forgotten. You may not remember that so-and-so called upon the wyrd, transformed into a mighty and beautiful Sidhe, and then started shooting faerie magick around like crazy, but you DO remember that so-and-so was very powerful, and had the ability to do things that people aren't supposed to be able to do (as long as you have some frame for understanding such things).

How The Mists Work:

The Mists function a little like Arcane. The memories that are shrouded by The Mists are re-written (if possible, blanked out if not) to bring the events experienced as close to the individual's own understanding of the world as can be managed. Occam's Razor is the appropriate tool for determining what memories The Mists leave in their wake.

A garou who witnesses a kithain's chimera would remember that so-and-so had a spirit ally because this requires the least change in what actually happened. To the garou, a spirit ally is a perfectly mundane, day-to-day thing. A mage who witnesses the same thing might conclude, instead, that the Kithain has some sort of static magical powers that did whatever they saw the chimera doing, unless spirit friends were part of their general paradigm.

If a given event is simply too out-there for a witness' understanding of the world to handle, it gets blanked out. Higher banalities tend to get less re-writing, and more blanking out as their realities tend to simply have no room for anything of the sort - but those blank spots in one's memory are quite easy to notice. Memory blackouts are scary things, and mortals who are repeatedly subjected to them begin to go in for brain scans and other medical diagnostics. Faerie hunters know to look for these as signs that someone has repeated encounters with Faeries and is thus a good person to keep tabs on.

Subsequent Enchantment

Anyone who gets enchanted, in addition to being able to interact with chimerical reality, regains access to their memories of all events that have been shrouded by the mists: including prior encounters and learned abilities and weaknesses of the kithain and so on. Repeated enchantment also tends to lower banality as more and more Glamourous memories seep through, reducing the effectiveness of the mists overall.

There is no additional ability to recall the information implied here. Events from three months ago are still events from three months ago. The Mists simply cease shrouding those memories whenever an individual is enchanted.

The Guilty Party

Information about the individual who enchanted you is among the last to be forgotten. Information about chimera tends to be forgotten first. Information about kithain who didn't interact directly with you goes almost as quickly. The more intense the interaction, the more memorable it becomes, and the enchantment itself is always the most intense of all.

The Mists Chart