Changeling: The Lost

Changeling: The Lost

Changeling: The Lost cover
Designers	Ethan Skemp
Publishers	White Wolf
Publication	August 2007
Genres	Personal Horror
Systems	Storytelling System

Changeling: The Lost is the fifth supplementary role-playing game line set in the new World of Darkness. It is published by White Wolf, Inc. It uses the Storytelling System for rules. Changeling is the second limited game published by White Wolf after Promethean: The Created, but in April 2008 it was announced that because of the success of the line it would be an extended limited series not limited to 5 books. Since then a 6th book has been released, Night Horrors: Grim Fears. Two more books, Dancers at Dusk and Swords at Dawn, were also announced.

The game is primarily inspired by tales of changelings from European folklore, but includes elements of similar stories from around the world. While superficially similar to the original World of Darkness game Changeling: The Dreaming, Changeling: The Lost approaches the legends from a more traditional perspective of mortals kidnapped by Fae, and eschews the heavily-reviled past life angle that characterized its predecessor.

Release History

The game was released on August 16, 2007, "just in time for Gen Con," according to the White Wolf website. Previous to that, updates on the White Wolf Inc. website slowly revealed more about the setting and the mechanics. Much of what was known about the game, prior to the official updates, was disseminated by members who attended the 2007 GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas.

On April 25, 2007, a White Wolf staff member's publicly posted photograph documenting a prank revealed the Changeling cover for the first time.

On April 30, 2007, the cover for Changeling: The Lost was officially revealed via White Wolf's news feed; coupled with this description of the game line from the publisher:

Taken from your home, transformed by the power of Faerie, kept as the Others’ slave or pet — but you never forgot where you came from. Now you have found your way back through the Thorns, to a home that is no longer yours. You are Lost. Find yourself.

The cover depicts the Changeling title super-imposed over a mass of green thorns; a battered Luna Moth is impaled on the thorns.

A "quickstart" version of Changeling: The Lost was released for Free RPG Day, June 23, 2007. This free demo was made available for download from the White Wolf, Inc. website on June 26 2007.

Game Overview

The dominant themes of the game are the pain of loss, the quest for identity, and the bittersweet nature of human existence.

The prevailing mood for a Changeling game is bittersweet. While the game works to enmesh itself within the horror genre, it does so in a way that recognises the deeply moving beauty that often accompanies faerie tales. The game does this through contrast, demonstrating juxtapositioning of dreams and nightmare, of wonder and terror. While much of what the changelings were all about has been ripped away, this is placed in context of a hard won freedom and struggles worth fighting for.

Setting

The game is set in the World of Darkness, a fictional analogue to the real world, but is a darker depiction thereof. Not only is the world cast in a more violent, malevolent and horrific manner, but humanity unknowingly coexist with legendary monsters and the supernatural. The "Changelings" of the title are ordinary human beings who were kidnapped by the Fae and taken to serve a durance of slavery in Faerie (alternately known as Arcadia). The player characters represent changelings who have escaped their otherworldly captors and through the netherworld that separates Faerie from Earth, known as the Hedge. The game focuses on the experiences of these changelings, the self-titled Lost, as they re-discover the world of their birth, try to cope with the changes they have undergone, and seek to evade recapture.

Changelings refer to themselves as "the Lost": they were kidnapped by the immortal Fae, taken to an alien realm, and held prisoner. While trapped in Faerie (referred to as their "Durance"), they were forced to serve their otherworldly masters and endure servitude ranging from menial labour to torture. In being dragged through the Hedge to Faerie, some essential piece of their humanity was torn away by the thorns of the Hedge, and over the course of their Durance, they are forced to forge compacts with the realm that triggers a change in their physical and metaphysical nature to survive under the twisted laws underpinning Faerie.

Many escape only to find that in their place has been left a Fetch, faerie simulacrum forged from leaves, twigs, and other debris, and that their experience of the passage of time may be greatly different from the passage of time on Earth since their theft. While some will seek to kill and replace the Fetch in hopes of reclaiming their lives, many more discover that either the world or their selves have altered far too much to resume where they left off.

In turn, many of the escaped turn to others of their kind, establishing political havens and refuges amongst the enclaves of humanity. Partly to provide mutual protection against external and internal threats, partly to provide a support network of fellow survivors of Faerie that they can identify with, and partly to hold society and court in the absence of true integration with humanity. For even under the best possible circumstances, the Lost are no longer fully human, and having been exposed to the wonders and horrors of Faerie, they cannot subsume themselves within the bliss of ignorance.

While it is possible for a story to exist without the backdrop of a changeling society, the customary society model for most cities containing changelings is that of the freehold, a collection of changelings who are declared liberated from Faerie rule. Changeling society represents aspects of both human society and the nature of faerie accords. As changelings are creatures bound to an imperceptible flow of fate known as the Wyrd, they can forge with each other verbal pledges that are mystically binding. This is itself a reflection of Faerie, where the entire fabric of its reality functions by a process of conceptual contracts and interrelation. In this manner, changelings use the art of pledge crafting as the basis for building trust amongst themselves, and social decorum, so verbal pledges and codes of etiquette serve in stead of formal written laws as in human society.

While the freehold contains many of the trappings of feudal society, such as fealty, a court system, codes of etiquette, patronage and peerage, the functional model is unique to changelings. Rulership is a shared function, in that rulership is expected to cycle through a number of holders on a reasonably equal basis as accorded to the power of the various courts of a freehold. This division of power is held by the various courts, with each court representing one section of a group of natural phenomena. As well, each Court has a specific plan for resisting and turning away the True Fae.

The Seasonal Courts, which are said to be predominant to Europe and North America, include:

Spring

The Emerald Court, affiliated with the emotion of Desire and the aspect of New Growth and Rejuvenation; revel in delight and pure joy to turn away the True Fae.

Summer

The Crimson Court, affiliated with the emotion of Wrath and the aspects of Heat and the Sun; seek to destroy the True Fae who come to earth with military might.

Autumn

The Ashen Court, affiliated with the emotion of Fear and the aspects of the Harvest and Decay; use stolen Faerie Magic (Contracts, Tokens, Oneiromancy, and Pledges) against their creators.

Winter

The Onyx Court, affiliated with the emotion of Sorrow and the aspect of Cold; attempt to go "underground" and avoid the attentions of the True Fae.

Other courts are introduced in later supplements, that are designed to represent the political dynamics in the Orient (Directional Courts) and Slavic regions (Sun and Moon Courts):

North

The Armor Court, affiliated with Suffering/Detachment and the Black Tortoise; practice detachment and ascetic hermetism to appear more undesirable to the Fae.

East

The Serpent Court, affiliated with Greed/Envy and the Azure Dragon; dive back into the human world and attempt to gain power among mortals.

South

The Vermilion Court, affiliated with Passion/Ecstasy and the Vermilion Bird; find strength by connecting to mortal emotions on an intimate level.

West

The White Tiger Court, affiliated with Honor/War and the White Tiger; use military might to turn back the True Fae, as well as attempting to eliminate faerie behavior as much as possible.

Sun

The Court of the Day, affiliated with Shame and Righteousness.

Moon

The Court of the Night, affiliated with Disgust and Wickedness.

Characters

While a large number of faerie creatures are presented in the setting, the protagonists of the story are the changelings. As changelings were once humans transformed into something part faerie, the character's own lives become vehicles for exploration of the nature of the fae. As changeling are all victims of kidnap, slavery, and various forms of abuse, they inevitably are confronted with themes of mental and emotional torment. The fact that most changelings are dealing with some form of alienation and dehumanisation has allowed the society to develop a high tolerance for eccentricity and understanding for individual distress.

Beyond that, changelings' behaviour and nature are somewhat altered to be more in line with that of their former Keepers. In many situations, changelings begin to manifest the traits of the fae that make them so terrifyingly inhuman: their cruel beauty, their capricious nature, their inscrutable laws, and their inability to empathise with humanity. Over all, both changeling's individual and social behaviour can be thought of as reflecting the tenets of faerie tales and legend.

The changeling's Durance brings about a physical transformation, each one shaped differently by his or her personal experiences in Faerie. As a result Changeling: The Lost features a more nuanced and detailed character-creation system than the other World of Darkness games. Some Changelings exhibit inhuman beauty, while others exhibit atavism, and the general motifs of physical change determined by the function or role in Faerie are called Seemings, which can be further defined by a specific Kith.

The Seemings are as listed:

Beasts

Changelings that share qualities with animals both mythical and mundane.

Darklings

Changelings that represent the aspects of fear and shadow.

Elementals

Changelings that have become one with an aspect of nature.

Fairests

Changelings that embody the beauty and majesty of the Fae.

Ogres

Changelings that were subject to violence and became avatars of it.

Wizened

Changelings that served as workers and servants only to become the figure of their profession.

Beyond that, changelings can elect to join one of the Courts and/or Entitlements, which serve as societies of aristocratic standing or as secret orders, each bestowing privileges.

"Entitlements" include

Duchy of Truth and Loss

An order that hunts down and eliminates fetches.

Eternal Echoes

An order that possesses perfect memories, serving as expert witnesses and historians.

Tolltaker Knighthood

An order of bounty hunters.

Magi of the Gilded Thorn

An order of Hedge guides, masters of traversing that world.

Bodisattvas of the Broken Cage

An order that seeks to inspire change and renewal.

Mechanics

As changelings are part fae, there are a number of abilities that are inherent to their enchanted nature:

The Mask

All things faerie, including changelings, are veiled so that they appear mundane to normal human senses. Only the fae have any natural facility at penetrating the Mask to see the truth beneath, but the act of ensorcelling can grant a human being this power, usually temporarily. In addition, certain humans are "eternally ensorcelled", being able to see faerie beings without the need for a pledge or Contract, this power being granted either due to events such as head trauma or being faced with evidence of Faerie so unavoidable that a normal mortal's mind cannot help but accept it.

Wyrd

A changeling's Wyrd represents their affinity with the power of Faerie. The greater a changeling's Wyrd the stronger their mystical prowess and their fae nature is. All changelings start with a Wyrd score of 1, though experience points can be spent to increase it. Low-Wyrd changelings may appear almost human, while high-Wyrd changelings are closer in nature to the True Fae. A high Wyrd score also brings Frailties.

Frailties

Frailties are limits imposed on changelings and other fae creatures by the Wyrd to compensate for their powers over reality. Frailties come in the form of Taboos, which either prohibit or compel certain behaviors, and Banes, which are things that automatically injure a changeling who is exposed to them. Frailties can be major or minor: minor frailities are either uncommon or very specific issues (such as a bane of toad spittle, or a taboo that requires one to not wear blue) that are easily avoided in everyday life, whereas major frailites are more common or more general (a bane of salt, or a taboo that forces one to offer hospitality to any person that recites one's name), and therefore more difficult to avoid.

Pledges

Changelings can swear upon the Wyrd to mystically bind and enforce verbal and written accords and vows with each other. These pledges can grant changelings advantages in the form of boons, and inflict punishments against those who would break them.

Oneiromancy

The realm of Faerie is partly forged of the substance of dreams, and this fact grants the Fae a special mastery over dreams and dreaming. Changelings, too, have a lesser mastery over dreams, being able to walk in them, shape them, reap Glamour from them and a number of other abilities.

Glamour

This is a mystical energy that all faerie creatures use to fuel the terrible wonders of Faerie. Within the game, changelings use it to fuel a number of abilities and powers. For a changeling to replenish their spent stores, they must harvest it from a number of available sources, which includes human emotions.

Cold Iron

Iron that is relatively pure and unworked by machine is repellent to the creatures of Faerie. It has a natural ability to destroy enchantment, and inflict grievously supernatural wounds to the Fae themselves.

The Hedge

The Hedge represents a vast, seemingly intelligent or partially intelligent ecosystem that forms a boundary between Faerie and Earth. Changelings have the innate ability to enter, access and explore the Hedge. It is home to "hobgoblins": beings, sometimes sapient and sometimes not, who deal with changelings on a fairly regular basis and may represent varying degrees of threat.

Contracts

An inherent ability of the True Fae is the power to forge covenants with concepts or natural mechanisms (such as summer, the wind or fear), and be lent some power related to the subject of the covenant. Changelings have a lesser ability to learn and exploit these agreements, allowing them to call upon such powers to a more limited extent. A number of contracts are naturally available to all changelings, while some show an affinity only with certain seemings or certain courts.

The list of common contracts include:

• Contracts of Dream: Enable the changeling to manipulate, enter, and create dreams.

• Contracts of Hearth: Bestows changelings with the arts of blessings and curses.

• Contracts of Hours: Bestows changelings a limited command over the flow of time (found in Rites of Spring).

• Contracts of Mirror: Grants the changeling shapeshifting and physical transformations.

• Contracts of Moon: Bestows changelings command over madness and delirium (found in Rites of Spring).

• Contracts of Omen: Endows changelings with visions of the past and future (found in Rites of Spring).

• Contracts of Reflections: Allows changelings manipulation of reflections and mirrors (found in The Equinox Road).

• Contracts of Smoke: Bequeaths changelings with the arts of stealth and deception.

• Contracts of Lucidity: Allows the changeling to manipulate sanity and perception.

• Contracts of Goblin Wyrd:

The list of Seeming affinity contracts include:

• Contracts of Animation: Wizened affinity contract that animates the inanimate (found in Winter Masques).

• Contracts of Artifice: Wizened affinity contract that bestows supernatural craftsmanship.

• Contracts of Communion: Elemental affinity contract that allows communion and animation with the elements (found in Winter Masques).

• Contracts of Darkness: Darkling affinity contract granting nocturnal witchery.

• Contracts of Den: Beast affinity contract that grants protection over the home and den (found in Winter Masques).

• Contracts of the Elements: Elemental affinity contract bestowing mastery over the elements.

• Contracts of Fang and Talon: Beast affinity contract granting mastery over animal forms.

• Contracts of Forge: Wizened affinity contract granting mastery manipulation of shape (found in Rites of Spring).

• Contracts of Oath and Punishment: Ogre affinity contract granting power to enact punishment to broken oaths (found in Winter Masques).

• Contracts of Separation: Fairest affinity contract that severs physical ties and bonds (found in Winter Masques).

• Contracts of Shade and Spirit: Darkling affinity contract that grants command over the undead (found in Winter Masques).

• Contracts of Stone: Ogre affinity contract bestowing supernatural strength.

• Contracts of Vainglory: Fairest affinity contract granting the appearance of great and terrible beauty.

• Contracts of the Wild: Beast and Elemental affinity contract granting mastery over the weather and the wilderness (found in Rites of Spring).

The list of Court affinity contracts include:

• Contracts of Eternal Autumn: Autumnal contracts over the harvest and curses of withering.

• Contracts of Eternal Spring: Spring contracts over growth and rejuvenation.

• Contracts of Eternal Summer: Summer contracts over heat and vigor.

• Contracts of Eternal Winter: Wintry contracts over snow and ice.

• Contracts of Fleeting Autumn: Autumnal contracts inducing and warding against fear.

• Contracts of Fleeting Spring: Spring contracts to manipulate desire.

• Contracts of Fleeting Summer: Summer contracts that bestow and remove wrath.

• Contracts of Fleeting Winter: Wintry contracts to invoke and banish sorrow.

• Contracts of Punishing Summer: Summer contracts over the dominion of war (found in Lords of Summer).

• Contracts of the Sorrow-Frozen Heart: Wintry contracts that seek to chill the heart (found in Lords of Summer).

• Contracts of Spellbound Autumn: Autumnal contracts over the mysteries of the supernatural (found in Lords of Summer).

• Contracts of The Four Directions: Directional Court contracts over distance and location (found in Winter Masques).

• Contracts of Verdant Spring: Spring contracts crowd emotional manipulations (found in Lords of Summer).

Antagonists

The Lost have many problems to deal with, the most prominent being the Gentry, or True Fae. Other problems include their fetches, Hobgoblins, Enchanted Mortals, Mad Changelings, and the various other beings within the World of Darkness Cosmology.

Books

• Changeling: The Lost. White Wolf. August 16, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58846-527-6. WW70000. The core rulebook.
• Autumn Nightmares. White Wolf. October 5, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58846-531-3. WW70300. Antagonists book.
• Winter Masques. White Wolf. November 30, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58846-532-0. WW70200. Seemings and kith book.
• The Fear-Maker’s Promise. White Wolf. January 2008. PDF only.
• Rites of Spring. White Wolf. February 6, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58846-716-4. WW70201. Contracts and magic book.
• Lords of Summer. White Wolf. June 11, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58846-715-7. WW70202. Courts and entitlements book.
• The Equinox Road. White Wolf. August 6, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58846-717-1. WW70203. The endgame, the return to Faerie, the nature of the True Fae and crossover rules with other gamelines.
• The Rose-Bride's Plight. White Wolf. October 2008. PDF only.
• Night Horrors: Grim Fears. White Wolf. October 6, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58846-743-0. WW70205. An Antagonist book filled with Fae and Lost for any Chronicle and Crossover.
• Dancers in the Dusk. White Wolf. March 2009. WW70207. Extended info on Hobgoblins, the Hedge, New Contracts, The Dream-Realms, and The Dusk Court. This title was announced in the advertisement at the back of Night Horrors: Grim Fears.
• Swords at Dawn. White Wolf. June 2009. WW70208. Details on the wars and conflicts of the Lost. Talecrafting and Fate as means to expand a character’s legend. Glorious objects and terrible relics from legend and dream. The Court of Dawn and new Entitlements reflecting the aspects of change..

External links

• Official Homepage
• Changeling: The Lost Demo - Freely available PDF demonstration version of the game
• Review at Flames Rising
• Review at RPGnet