WEAKNESS

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Changelings have many strengths but they also have weaknesses too, this page lists most of them, though some specifics are on other pages, such as banality.

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BANALITY & THE MISTS

Both of these things can compromise a changeling in numerous ways, please visit the relevant pages for more info on this.

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THE MORTAL SHELL

While the changeling soul is immortal, the human body the changeling occupies is not. Changelings have the exact same weaknesses as human beings such as vulnerability to disease, toxins, poisons. They can drown too. Some Birthrights of certain kith may negate drowning, but only when the kith is WYRDED, otherwise even a morganed can drown, and don't forget a changeling with zero glamour is human in every way possible too.

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COLD IRON:

The best way to think about cold iron is not as a thing, but as a process... a very low-tech and crude process. The ore is found all over Concordia, sometimes very close to the surface. Some freeholds are actually built on deposits of it. Once hunted and gathered, the ore is heated in a large crucible over a charcoal fire. The resulting lumps of black-grey materiel can then be hammered into shapes.

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Compared to steel, it makes poor weapons. They are heavier, more brittle, and they lose an edge more quickly than steel ones. Thus, cold iron weapons tend to be small: axe heads, daggers, arrowheads, darts, bolts, etc. It is rumored that some Prodigals produce cold iron weapons with steel properties. Other gossip says that weapons quenched in sidhe blood are extremely hard for fae to sense.

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The most common form of cold iron found today is known as wrought iron, which is used in older human cities for fences, gates, and balcony railings, for example. Some of the most beautiful cities are bastions of cold iron: Paris, Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans. (Stick to the middle of the street during Mardi Gras,)

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Weapons made of cold iron cause both real and chimerical damage to changelings, and cause horribly painful, smoking wounds.

• Cold iron causes Chimerical + Aggravated damage at the same time.

• Each point of damage caused by cold iron also drains 1 point of temporary glamour  from the changeling.

• A cold iron weapon is broken and unusable if a botch is made using it.

• Cold iron weapons are poorly weighted and impose a -2 melee /firearms modifier when used.

• Cold Iron weapons are not common knowledge (Nor entirely practical) a character must have OCCULT KNOWLEDGE of changelings in or order to justify having a cold iron weapon.

• A Changeling may use Cold Iron, But gains 1 permanent Banality each TURN  they do so.

• Proximity to cold iron (Wrought iron) Causes discomfort for changelings: Changelings tend to stay at least a meter away from these features. This discomfort adds + 1 difficulty to all actions (and cantrips) performed within 1 meter of wrought iron features or weapons.

• Cold Iron, (wrought iron) drenched in changeling blood (A life's worth) removes the discomfort and the modifier.

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CHANGELING BELIEFS REGAREDING COLD IRON

Different schools of thought exist on the origin of cold iron. These are the main theories some changelings believe.

• Sundering Incarnate: Many believe that iron represents the force of the Sundering; the philosophical division between humankind and the Dreaming incorporated... made flesh. It was formed not by any "thing," but as a "natural" effect when Banality reached a critical level. Paradoxically, this mystical assertion is backed by hard science: Steel actually contains more iron than cold iron does. After all, most of the tings we associate with iron are actually steel or cast iron (cold iron that has been melted and poured into a mold).

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• Nightmare Metal: Some believe that iron is the "anti-matter" of Glamour. Some masters in the Hinterlands Project believe there is a location opposite the Dreaming, "Nightmare," if you will. Iron, these masters propose, is made up of materiel from this place.

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• Balor's Bones: Others postulate that iron was poisoned by Balor, or that it may even be made from his body. While this is ridiculous to most fae, two hard facts back up this theory. First, the members of House Balor seem to be immune to cold iron's effects. Secondly, many fae have dreams of Arcadia involving cold iron, suggesting that it exists in Arcadia as well.

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• Garou's Revenge: An Emissary reported recently that some Garou are able to talk to spirits that live in machines. This report has led to a frightening possibility: perhaps cold iron houses some evil spirit, placed there by the Garou. Dougal's refining process that transforms cold iron into steel may drive the spirit off. If true, then the Garou may be able to infest other materials with this spirit. The same informant says there is much dissension among the tribes of Garou so perhaps they lack the power or perseverance to do so.

• Note: Fae are believed by some changelings to have taught humans the secrets of  silver weaponry during the time of the impurgium.