Changeling: The Dreaming

From The Ashes: Detroit by Night features a Changeling sphere which uses rules from Changeling: The Dreaming modified to bring the game into line with the remainder of the 20th Anniversary line (as C:tD, itself is not currently slated for the 20th Ani TLC). We are always accepting commoner concepts in: Boggan, Eshu, Nocker, Satyr, Sluagh, Troll, Piskie, and Chlurichaun flavors. Pookas and Redcaps are welcome as well, but due to their frequently problematic portrayals we review those apps more carefully. Sidhe are similarly reviewed carefully, and we have a cap that will keep Sidhe numbers limited to 3, or 1/4th the commoner population (whichever is higher).

Overview

The fae are creatures of dreams, drawing magical power and their very existence from "glamour", the hopes and dreams of mankind. Glamour created and maintains a separate realm of imagination known as the Dreaming, from which the fae originally came to the mortal world. During the Iron Age and the subsequent rise of rational thought and science, glamour became less common in the real world, and the opposing force of banality could injure or kill the fae. In response, the fae nobility (the Sidhe) withdrew to Arcadia, their home deep in the Dreaming, and the commoner fae developed the Changeling Way, a way to hide faerie souls in plain sight, as it were, by merging them to mortal souls, creating something new in the process: the Changeling. Eventually banality became so strong that the Dreaming was sundered from reality. This time period is known as the Shattering and it is associated with the time of the Black Plague. For many years commoner changelings lived among mortals and made their way as best they could in a world where glamour was fading. Then came the Resurgence, man landed on the moon and belief and dreams broke open the doors to Arcadia. Strife in Arcadia led to the exile of the Sidhe, who then presumed to return to their position of rule - the commoners, resentful over being abandoned and doing just fine on their own prior to this resisted; the result was the Accordance War. The chrysalis of the High King David Ardry ap Gwydion effectively ended the war and the empire of Concordia was formed.

Chariot County

The mortal city of Detroit, Michigan (as well as some of it's surrounding suburbs) were, even prior to the return of the Sidhe, organized into a coalition of freeholds, with a disproportionate number of Nockers and Boggans. Known for it's craftsmen, who drew their glamour from the dreams of Detroit's businessmen and labor unions, the county itself was laid down in the immediate aftermath of the Accordance War. The establishment of Sidhe rule over the county was an important victory for the Royalists as the strong ties between the commoner population and local organized labor meant that even the seelie among the commoner kiths were inclined to resist the Sidhe's authoritarian style. As a concession to help establish a peacefully ruled county, several freeholds were left in commoner hands as independent holdings.

Political maneuvering by House Eiluned disrupted what would otherwise have been a straightforward negotiated transfer of the County between House Fiona and House Dougal. The ambassador from the Kingdom of Willows essentially accused Queen Mary Elizabeth and Queen Mab of a sort of gerrymandering and insisted on concessions, making enough of a scene that they got one: Chariot County was permitted to transfer to the Kingdom of Grass and the title Count Chariot became part of Queen Mary Elizabeth's court. However, Count Chariot was forever to be an Eiluned title. This gave King Meilge an ear in Dougal's court as well as a hand in the obviously valuable industries of Chariot County.

Three Eiluned have served as count(ess) of Chariot County, the last of these was Lucien Valerius, who vanished along with his entire court and has not been heard from since.

The Mystery of Chariot County

Chariot County was a bustling hub of chimerical industry right up until its disappearance in 2004. The first sign of trouble was the unsuccessful run of the County's half-dozen firebrands. Not only did they not arrive at their freeholds by Imbolc, they never successfully completed their missions. Each reported the same thing: they were, mysteriously, unable to navigate across the county line. Upon their return to Tara Nar, scouts and soothsayers were engaged to discover what had happened to the County. All their efforts would yield was the increasingly ominous confirmation that neither Kith nor Kin could find their way into the County - and all word from the county had ceased as well.

This mysterious barrier finally failed in 2011 when a Dougal emissary, returning from Tara Nar, found herself in the mortal city of Detroit, Michigan - the heart of what was once Chariot County. Realizing that whatever spell had held the county sealed away had finally failed, she availed herself of scouting the city as best she could stand. Finally, as the chill of banality threatened to undo her soul, she departed and finished her journey to the court of Queen Mary Elizabeth where she delivered her report: Chariot County was no more. Not a single freehold survived within its borders, and banality was stronger there than the knight had ever felt.

Since then, Chariot County's disappearance has yet to be explained, the fate of the kithain that once called it home has yet to be discovered, and the overwhelmingly powerful banality in the area goes similarly unexplained. One thing is known: the banality that crushes down upon Detroit is growing and seers fear that, left unchecked, it will spread to eventually swallow all of Concordia. Most of the nobility, however, see Chariot County as a lost cause and do not deign to waste further resources on it.

For the time, it remains The Dreaming's own Roanoke.

House Rules

(Main article: House Rules: Changeling)
Changeling: The Dreaming did not, and is not slated to, receive the 20th Anniversary loving heaped upon Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, and Wraith. Consequently, C:tD needs solidly more house rules than most other systems to bring it in line with the rest of 20th.

The Mystery of Chariot County

To make matters worse, the house rules we use on From The Ashes are in many respects partially mitigated and re-written by the oppressive crush of banality that characterizes the on-grid space. To wit: Nothing is Wyrd. Everything, birthrights, cantrips, the whole shebang is forced out of the mortal realm and made chimerical unless specifically shored up by a Faerie's own glamour.

The "upside" to this is that all frailties, other than the Sidhe curse, may be ignored in on-grid scenes (for the duration of the scene) by taking on a temporary banality point. They stack up, remember.

Chimerical companions also require 1 temp glamour per week to survive in Detroit's inhospitable environment. Better have a source of glamour handy if you're gonna bring a friend.

What Is Chimerical?

(Main article: What Is Chimerical)
Confusion often abounds about what it means for something to be 'Chimerical.' The main article goes into more detail but the quick and dirty version is:

A Chimerical entity is one that only exists in the Dreaming. It is invisible and immaterial to the unenchanted observer. What's more, the presence of Unenchanted observers means that such entities are no longer able to make changes to the real world (which they could, if the only witnesses were enchanted). Chimerical objects may be the target of chimerical cantrips - chimerical cantrips cost no glamour to cast.

The 'opposite' of Chimerical is Wyrd. Wyrd objects are able to be seen by unenchanted observers (though they are obviously supernatural in nature). They may effect the real world. Actions taken by Wyrd entities induce The Mists. Wyrd and real entities may be the targets of Wyrd cantrips, these cost 1 glamour to attempt.

The Mists

(Main Article: The Mists)
The main article is very important for this one as The Mists are one of the most misunderstood aspects of Changeling: The Dreaming and our interpretation here is designed to mitigate the story-killing parts of Changelings sharing the grid with other supers.

The gist is that The Mists will obscure a lot about the events, actions, and identity of Kithain from unenchanted eyes. However, other supers (Including Technocrats) tend to have very low banalities and thus tend to be only marginally impacted by The Mists. They will almost certainly remember enough to know that the Kithain is a supernatural being of some kind, and those with enough Fae Lore will recognize that they are under the effects of The Mists.

Anyone who is Enchanted also regains all of their memories of any events shrouded by The Mists - and they also remember that these events were once forgotten. Repeatedly enchanting folks is a good way to blow the Right of Ignorance, and individuals with Faerie Lore and/or knowledge of Faeries are much harder to muse. You have been warned.

Application Process

(Main article: Applications: Changeling)
While hardly the world's most stringent stickler, The Supremes will process you faster and be more positively inclined towards your app if you follow this simple, three-step process.

Step 1: The Pitch

Want to play a changeling? @mail The Supremes or email ftachangeling@gmail.com with a subject of INQUIRY: Your concept here. Properly labeled Inquiries get processed faster. Email and @mail without the proper subject gets read whenever the very busy wiz gets around to it.

Step 2: Get Ready

Take the intervening time to read our news and/or this wiki's pages on the subject of the Changeling Sphere and the site in general. Please see the Sphere Information Room (it's off the Player Nexus) for Changeling. Read all +views relevant to your concept.

This same information can be found in the main article for changeling applications.

Step 3: Submit

Once you've been given the go-ahead by The Supremes, submit your app according to the process outlined in the Sphere Information Room.

Allowed Books

• Changeling: The Dreaming 2nd Edition - White Wolf, Inc., ISBN 978-1-56504-716-7
• Changeling: The Dreaming Players Guide, 2nd Edition - by Phil Brucato, published by White Wolf, ISBN 978-1-56504-701-3
• All others on a case-by-case basis. Check with The Supremes.

External links

• White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
• White Wolf's Official Changeling: The Dreaming wiki: http://wiki.white-wolf.com/worldofdarkness/index.php?title=Changeling%3A_The_Dreaming
• Wenchipedia's Changeling Pages - An excellent, though not authoritative, resource.