Threshold & Antithesis
Glamour and Epiphanies
Changelings must have Glamour to maintain their connection to the Dreaming. Without Glamour, they become lost in the Mists and can even lose what makes them fae and become Undone. Glamour can be found by finding Dreamers who have it or can create it.
There are different methods for how to do this called Epiphanies. There are five different paths a Kithain can take.
- Reverie (The Path of Inspiration)
- Rapture (The Path of Self-Inspiration)
- Ravaging (The Path of Theft)
- Revelry (The Path of the Kith)
- Rhapsody (The Path of Destruction) - forbidden
Of these two have particular styles called Thresholds.
Book References
- Character Creation Chart: WW92041 Changeling: the Dreaming (20th Anniversary) pg.#148
- Thresholds: WW92041 Changeling: the Dreaming (20th Anniversary) pg.#145, 260-264
Thresholds
Changeling gain Glamour from a variety of sources, but each has their own style that calls to them personally. That style is called a Threshold. These styles come in two forms, one is more benevolent (Musing), and the other is harsher (Ravaging). Seelie tend to favor Musing Thresholds, and generally Unseelie will favor Ravaging Thresholds, but it can go either way.
While Thresholds are for regaining Glamour, we do not require Kithain PCs to submit requests for this. It is done on the honor system, and can place off screen (downtimes). These come more into play for RP Flavor.
Musing Thresholds
- Reverie (The Path of Inspiration)
Named for the ancient Greek muses, Musing Thresholds center around what the Changeling does to inspire the Dreamer to do what they do to produce Glamour. This is usually tied to the Changeling's concept.
The particular form can be picked out at character generation, or develop/change from RP, but each Kithain may only have one at a time.
System: To generate Glamour the character must know what inspires the Dreamer. Roll Perception + Kenning (difficulty 8); the number of successes indicates how much time the character must spend with the Dreamer to understand what makes her create.
The Changeling will pick a Dreamer, and then spend time with them. It could be anywhere from a few hours or a month. The more time spent musing together, the more outstanding the creation will be.
| No. of Successes | Time with Dreamer |
|---|---|
| 1 success | One month |
| 2 successes | Two weeks |
| 3 successes | One week |
| 4 successes | One day |
| 5 successes | Instant connection; a few hours |
System
- Roll Manipulation + an Ability that suits the situation, the kith of the Kithain, and the situation.
- Ability could be Empathy, Performance, Leadership, or possibly Intimidation.
- Difficulty 6. Storyteller can lower difficulty if the Kithain was particularly inspiring.
- Gain Glamour equal to successes.
- Failure: The Kithain must spend another week studying the Dreamer before trying again.
- Botch: Dreamer was pushed too hard and rejects the idea and has a temporary creative block.
- Dreamer (or ST) can roll the appropriate Attribute + Ability (difficulty 6), see chart above for time it will take for creativity to return.
- Kithain must start from beginning with inspiring.
- If the Kithain uses her Musing Threshold to inspire the Dreamer, and gains 5+ successes on this final roll, then the Kithain gains +1 Glamour.
Musing Threshold Table
| Style | Description |
|---|---|
| Inspire Creativity | The character wants to inspire creativity in all those around him, especially those who have the potential to become great artists. He may try to inspire multiple artists at a time to work together to create a great piece of shared art. Working together, especially on a shared vision, can be held together by the inspiring changeling who can keep them on track. |
| Create Hope | An optimist at heart, the character tries to inspire hope in others. He may help someone out of a situation that seems hopeless or find a new solution for the Dreamer that has lost hope and belief in herself. Even in horrible circumstances, greatness can be brought forth when someone has been given hope. |
| Create Love | The character believes that any problem can be overcome by love. He may bring two lovers together or encourage a discouraged romantic to give love one more try. This may involve a lot of listening and making suggestions and encouragement. As long as the subject tries, and listens to the character’s advice, the musing works. |
| Create Calm | The character believes that calming one’s spirit can resolve most situations. She tries to keep the Dreamer calm and cool to enable the subject to assess herself and gain insight into her problems so she may relax enough to create. |
| Foster Trust | The changeling thinks the world can be a better place if people have faith in one another, extending their trust and getting involved with shared projects and interests. |
| Help Those in Need | Some need help or guidance. Those who are addicts or who are abused need inspiration to give up their addiction or stand on their own feet so they can Dream again. |
| Foster Dreams | The character inspires people to dream of things they want to achieve, convincing them that if they dream hard enough, those things can come true. |
Ravaging Thresholds
- Ravaging (The Path of Theft)
Opposed to the inspiration of Musing, Ravaging is filled with trauma, pain, and anguish. Be it a psychic assault, touching on emotional trauma suffered in the past, it can be seen as a means of revenge not only on the victim, but possibly a statement to the world in general. In it's own way, it is an art form.
Changeling PCs that chose this style are recommended to only have this happen off screen with NPCs. It can be performed on camera so long as the 'victim' PC is OOCly willing.
The system is similar to the Musing Threshold, the Kithain decides the form the Ravaging will take (ex: “I’m sending the child terrible nightmares and taking Glamour from his terror”), makes the appropriate rolls, and gains the Glamour.
Ravaging Thresholds Table
| Style | Description |
|---|---|
| Exhaust Creativity | The character delights in exploiting others, mocks those with more talent, and even hires them to create for him, but disparages what the Dreamer makes. The art created this way is tainted, corrupted, or wasted. This burns out the Dreamer and he is left wondering why he wasted his time. |
| Destroy Hope | The character seeks to induce despair in the Dreamer. He stands by and lets the Dreamer sink, refusing to help or even mocking her efforts to reignite any hope she has lost. He may talk her out of taking actions to improve her life by pointing out how useless they are. |
| Destroy Love | The character blocks his target from experiencing love. He gains strength from preventing others from finding it. He has several ways of breaking up lovers, from seducing one of them to fabricating lies or “evidence” that one’s significant other is cheating. As long as the prey’s attempts to find love are foiled the Ravaging succeeds. |
| Create Anger | The character prides himself on his own self-control, but delights in driving others to frustration and anger. By wearing down his target’s self-esteem and self-control, he drives the prey to self-destructive, violent acts. |
| Break Trust | The character has had his trust broken and now must visit that feeling on others. He
works to sow distrust between two or more people. Eventually, he causes his victim to lose trust in everyone else and isolate himself from the world. |
| Exploit Dependence | The character prides herself on her self-sufficiency and tries to force others to become dependent on her. These might be neglected children, runaways, addicts, or those who crave her love. Ultimately, she destroys anyone who depends on her by walking away once the victim is firmly “hooked.” |
| Destroy Illusions | The character is jaded. Innocence disgusts him. He might talk up something the victim believes in, then yank the rug out and laugh at the prey for being a fool to believe in anything. Childlings might prey on other kids by getting them in trouble or by revealing the truth about Santa and the Easter Bunny. |
Antithesis
- Book Reference: WW92041 Changeling: the Dreaming (20th Anniversary) pg.#145, 174, 269
All Kithain have an action that he/she sees as the ultimate of Banality, deeply personal and different between every changeling. Whatever that is, when the Kithain runs into their antithesis, it triggers in a soul-crushing manner the strikes right to the heart of their faerie soul, like a violation of their nature. Other Kithain may find it in poor taste, but not react as strongly as you. This antithesis may change as the Kithain changes through RP.
Examples of possible Antithesis' include:
- Interfering with the play of children.
- Breaking an object of great beauty (mundane or otherwise).
- Wearing a suit and tie on her mortal body.
- Giving someone a false compliment.
See the Banality wiki page for information on Perceiving Banality, Temporary Banality, and Increasing and Decreasing Banality.
A Kithain's Antithesis should be set in a +note at character generation.
