National Venue Style Sheet – Changeling: The Lost

Part 1: Basic Information

Venue: Changeling: The Lost
ANST Storyteller: Rebecca Spence-Kirkham
Storyteller Contact: syeniess@gmail.com

Part 2: Styles of Play
Rate each of these categories, using the scale below:

Style of Play - Description - Rating
Action - Combat and challenges - 2
Character Development - Personal dilemmas and choices - 4
Darkness - PC Death or Corruption - 2
Drama - Ceremony and Grand Story - 5
Intrigue - Politics and Negotiation - 4
Manners - Etiquette and Peer Pressure - 3
Mystery - Enigmas and Investigation - 3
Pace - How fast do stories emerge, develop, and resolve - 2

Rating - Description
1 - Low; present

• at a game once every four quarters.

2 - Moderate; present at a game once every three quarters.
3 - Average; often present at each game.
4 - Influencing; consistently present at each game.
5 - Constant; always present at each game.

• = Predominantly Player Introduced.

Part 3: Description of Venue

Theme

“The Queen of Fairies caught me up
And took me into that hill
I’m a fairy head and toe
Fair lady, look at me well.

The Fairy land is beautiful
But, terrible to tell,
At the end of each seventh year
We pay a tithe to hell;
And I’m so strong-bodied and fair
I fear it’ll be myself.”

Excerpt from “Tam Lin”

The land of Faerie is the stuff of beauty, alien and strange by turns. The Others themselves are equally alien, their motives unclear, their abilities strange and terrifying. None can escape from Faerie without being marked, changed by their experiences there, and none can escape Faerie without something powerful, strong to pull them back to the mundane world through the thorns of the Hedge. The more a Changeling wants to escape from the twisted realms of the Fae, the more they realise on their return to the “real” world how much they have been altered by their experiences.

Changeling: The Lost is a setting of grand sweeping majesty and highly personal drama – the tensions and troubles of returning to a stolen life and finding it well and truly denied to you, and the consequences of that denial for your sanity and future hopes and dreams.

What to do, how to go on living, when the memories of the life you were taken from, the memories that kept you going through your ordeal, have been supplanted by a creature wearing your face, living your life for you? What to do when your “happily ever after” has been taken away? Not only that, but how to continue when the enormity of your change from the ordinary mortal you were becomes clearer? No longer mere mortal, you are sundered from your old life, and an escapee from the realms of the Fae, not truly belonging in either place.

Mood

The mood is one of flux. Just as one will respond with tragedy and misery to the loss of their previous life, another will attempt to move on past it, living vicariously and forcefully in order to drive past the sadness. Still another will rail against their treatment, arm themselves and fight against the taking of yet more captives by the Fae. As the Seasons change and flow, so the moods of the Lost are changeable and various. Factional divisions do not alter the sorrow of their treatment at the hands of the Fae, merely their methods of coping with that treatment. As such, there is no one single mood to the Chronicle. Loss and fear are ever present, the loss of your old way of life, the loss of connection to the ordinary mortals surrounding you. Fear of reprisals and recapture by the inscrutable Fae who you fled Arcadia from, fear of trusting any stranger lest they turn out to be an enemy, a spy, or even just another Lost, selling you back to your Master to save themselves from the same fate.

Setting

Action - Combat and challenges – 2

Simply because the Changelings have abilities far beyond the ken of mortals, does not instantly mean they are all spoiling for a fight (especially as not all are martially bent). Most Changelings are well aware of their limitations, and know that in a straight fight, one on one with the Fae, they would be right back in the care of their Masters and made to regret a thousand times ever daring to escape. While the Summer Court is the most martial in outlook, even they hesitate to form large scale operations to fight against the Fae. The sense of camaraderie amongst the Lost regarding their shared experiences tends to limit the amount of physical in-fighting, though it will still happen.

Character Development - Personal dilemmas and choices – 4

Every Lost has to face the fact that their life has gone on without them living it. On their return, they must either abandon the memories of the very life which got them through the Hedge safely, or find some way to wrest it away from the control of the Fetch which replaced them. Do they do this through cold-blooded murder? By ensorcelling their own loved ones to win them back over? Should they strive to forget everything that happened to them in Faerie, or find some way to reconcile their mortal lives with their new fae abilities? The direction of their lives hinges on the choices they make.

Darkness - PC Death or Corruption – 2

Death is a part of life. However, while players may find their PC rendered unplayable, such as, for example, if their Fae Master reclaims them, such an event is not an everyday occurrence. The Lost band together, forming motleys and groups in order to protect against the Fae, and protect against the agents of the Fae, in an attempt to limit the damage that such agents can do. As such, while death can and will occur, it is not so regular and commonplace that it loses all impact. Fear of recapture is a greater threat than actual death, and fear that one deal too many will be made that results in your recapture, either through betrayal at the hands of a friend or through overstepping your own powers.

Drama - Ceremony and Grand Story – 5

At the heart of Changeling: The Lost lies grand and epic stories. The Fae are creatures of myth and legend, their tales reaching ordinary mortals in twisted forms, but reaching and touching their lives nonetheless. The Lost are sad echoes of those Fae, the tragic reminders that not every fairy stories paints the full picture, that such stories gloss over the less pretty aspects, and that no-one asks questions of what happens next when the story is completed. The Lost may not, at least to their memory, have quite the same stratified, complex system interlinked Contracts of the Fae, but their new lives are still governed by some of the same rules and worries – the Lost can wield lesser shadows of the powers of the Fae, and they must equally pay a price for doing so. Each Changeling knows that their sanity depends on balance – they are no longer mere mortals, and denial of their fae sides leaves them pained and bereft. Yet, they also cannot risk giving over entirely to that fae side, lest madness claim them utterly.

Intrigue - Politics and Negotiation – 4

The delicate balance of Lost society relies on the complex dance of politics from the changing Courts of the Seasons, to the negotiation of personal favours and alliances. The sensible are wary, knowing that even the most carefully worded bargain can be subverted or thwarted unless precisely detailed, becoming masters at the art of wordplay. Negotiations for access, for permission to visit a Hollow, to make use of a Court’s resources, or even request aid are always needed.

Manners - Etiquette and Peer Pressure – 3

The pressure of peers is often troublesome. From the physical pressure to join a certain group or motley, to the subtle wordplay pressure to share another’s viewpoint on an issue, such pressures are present in day-to-day interactions with any Lost. Some learned to their cost not to insult another, and so are fearful of the wrong word at the wrong time, lest the offended party retaliate with more than simply harsh words or a clenched fist.

Mystery - Enigmas and Investigation – 3

Much remains mysterious. On fighting through the Hedge, a Changeling’s memories are torn and ragged. Just how much of their time kept in Faerie can they recall? Do such memories help them to ensure they are never hunted down again, can they be used against the Fae in future? There are those who would investigate the powers of the Fae, investigate the mysteries of the Hedge itself, in order to better arm the Lost against the predations of the Fae. There are even those who would investigate the nature of Changelings themselves, seeking to find out if there is a way to remove the Fae taint and fully reclaim a mortal life, or whether their souls have been irreparably damaged by their ordeals in Faerie.

Pace - How fast do stories emerge, develop, and resolve - 2

Grand and epic stories are not resolved each week. They develop, are enhanced and made mutable over time, but they can be teased out slowly by the Lost, questions answered also resulting in further questions, further lines of enquiry which spiral from the initial investigations. The answers are almost never straightforward and simple, there is always more to discover, another layer previously unseen.

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Storyteller Information

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Part 1: Storytelling Mechanics

Character Creation Guidelines:
1. Canonical Snowflakes: Creativity is encouraged, however, every genre has published canonical materials which define the setting for that genre, and characters created for play within that genre should conform to that canon. Characters which break canon can be interesting, however, they also strain credibility and damage a venue. Please bear this in mind when creating a new character, that if it strays too far from canon your ST may choose to deny it.
2. Ensemble Story Telling: The themes of this game are not centred around controlling other PCs, nor are goals necessarily Player versus Player. This story is group-oriented, and any PC that places his or her own fun above the lives of others is an inappropriate concept. The creation of motleys is strongly encouraged.
3. Role Play vs. Roll Play: The Storytellers of the game reserve the right to ask participants of a scene where there is no risk of character death to run the scene cinematically and with role playing rather than with challenges. The participants are under no obligation to agree if they do not wish to do so.

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