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CHIMERICAL REALITY

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…once having tasted the lips of excellence, once having give oneself to its perfection, how dreary and burdensome and filled with anomie are the remainder of one's waking hours trapped in the shackled lock-step of the merely ordinary, the barely acceptable, the just okay and not a stroke better. Sadly, most lives are fashioned on that pattern. SettJing-for what is possible; buying into the cliche because the towering dream is out of stock….

—Harlan Ellison, Introduction, The Sandman: Season of Mists

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Before their Chrysalises, changelings hover in a half-reality, seeing the world as others do, but touched by flashes of otherness. They experience momentary visions of chimerical reality without understanding what they see, or hear strangely compelling sounds without recognizing their origins. Sometimes it is a smell or taste or even a tactile difference that is incongruous with what is experienced by everyone around them. Children, too young to know that these alterations are not normal occurrences, simply accept them. Teens and adults, more rooted in the "real" world, often dismiss these experiences as hallucinations, frequently denying the occurrences so they won't be labeled as "weirdos." Some respond to the stimuli that "isn't there" and end up in counseling or a psychiatric ward. But what they experience is real — for changelings.

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This illusionary fantasy world is called chimerical because unenchanted mortals cannot normally experience it. Although they occupy mortal flesh in order to stave off Banality, changelings' true selves lie within their fragile, englamoured souls. As changelings, they see the world around them from within a chimerical shell. The whole world has a chimerical reality for the fae. They do not shift viewpoints back and forth from the banal to the chimerical, seeing first a street with broken pavement and sagging storefronts, then changing with a blink to a vision of a golden avenue lined with palaces. Instead they normally see the true magic anima that exists within every object, place and person. They pick out the inherent nature of persons, places and things, weaving those perceptions into a greater whole.

Thus they do not see the tattered old book of fairy tales with the torn cover, but the warmth and pleasure countless children have derived from reading it. Each child has left some imprint on the book, some tiny spark of imagination or inspiration that the book evoked for her. Changelings see and revel in that residue, which may cause the book to appear new and crisp, with freshly painted colors. Likewise, they may smell luscious strawberries on an "empty" plate, feel the weight of velvet on what looks like a school uniform, and dance to a symphony played on crickets' legs.

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Trapped on Earth and exiled from Arcadia, changelings have adapted to a human world. Balancing a mortal life against a Kithain existence has a profound affect on a changeling's personality, but there are other factors as well. How a fae is perceived by her peers is strongly influenced by her age.

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As part of their price for living in this world, changelings age at the same rate as the mortals around them. There are legends of fae who have lived for centuries, but the world discourages such a blatant display of magical power. Youth is highly prized in Kithain society. With youth comes innocence, trust and belief in the magical.

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SEEMINGS AND MEINS

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All changelings have two halves, two natures that exist as a single whole. The true form of a changeling is called their fae mien, the fae form
made of Glamour that can be seen by other fae and creatures of Glamour. That half of themselves is hidden away, protected from the harsh Banality of the Autumn world by their mortal seeming. Which one is viewed entirely depends on the person doing the perceiving and how close to the Dreaming the fae is at the time. Both exist together rather than shifting back and forth, a shared existence that begins the moment the fae and the mortal body become one.

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MORTAL SEEMING (MUNDANE)
A changeling’s mortal seeming is the body that hides her fae self from mundane perception. The fae is either born into this mortal body and emerges during Chrysalis as a changeling, or (for Arcadian sidhe) takes over the body upon exiting Arcadia.

Though the mortal shell may hide the fae self underneath, that mortal body always bears the hallmarks of the fae hiding inside. A cat pooka’s mortal seeming may seem lithe, graceful and a little ferocious while an Autumn sidhe’s mortal form might bear some of the striking beauty and poise of her fae counterpart. Still, mortal forms do age and though the changeling inside might hold onto their youth and power, unless the process is held back by time in a freehold, the mortal body will eventually die.

 

Those that do stay within freeholds to hold back the march of time can end up spending more time as a child, or a teenager, than they intended. The effects of this extended time in a freehold will eventually become obvious to mortals as a child doesn’t grow older, or coworkers spot an adult that seems to never look a day over twenty. Often that can mean changelings need to abandon their mortal lives, or in the case of children their mortal families, when people begin to notice something is wrong. During fosterage, understanding older fae can take in these young changelings to prevent the attention of mortal authorities. Bedlam might be a terror for all Kithain, but so is exposure to Child Protective Services or well-meaning but stifling stints in mental health facilities.

 

FAE MEIN (CHIMERICAL) 
Hidden beneath the changeling’s mortal shell is her true self, her faerie soul or fae mien. Anyone who can see through the mortal disguise sees the immortal child of the Dreaming, the fae soul that has lasted through the centuries. Changelings and other denizens of the Dreaming can always recognize one another for what they are.
Only within a faerie trod, freehold, or any Glamour-infused place can a changeling’s fae mien surge to the forefront and be freely seen. Still, a changeling’s fae mien is always present just under the surface, ready to be spotted by any other changeling or Dreaming denizen unless actively hidden. The fae mien can be pushed aside by renouncing one’s fae self, but doing that invites the coldest touch of Banality.

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INTENT:

If the mundane and chimerical qualities of a scene are in conflict, resolve by using the -intent- to form the context of what is seen to occur on the mundane and chimerical.

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On her way home, an assassin murders a local troll knight by shooting him in the head with a mundane gun.

 

Due to the disparities between the size of the fae mien and the mortal seeming, it would require the murderer aim above the human head to hit the troll in the forehead. This is not the case. Because the assassin is intent on shooting the victim through the head, the effect manifests that way even chimerically.

(Meaning the troll chimerical form takes a chimerical bullet to the forehead!)

 

If the attack is chimerical and the assassin aims directly at the troll’s head, mortal witnesses would describe the murderer as aiming for the human’s forehead. However, this of course does not manifest as a real bullet causing damage to the trolls mortal  form, the bullet would need to be wyrded to do that.

Another example of mundane conflicting with chimerical qualities involves trolls walking through doorways.

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A normal sized door is smaller than the troll’s frame and should force the person to deny her faerie mien in favor of the mundane,  but she
doesn’t have to since the intent is to walk through the door. To faerie eyes, the troll bends ever so slightly, while mortals only see a human walking through the door normally.

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