Changelings, also once derogatorily called Milklings, are one of the few kinds of fae capable of surviving in the modern world. Kithain is a term used by the Changelings to describe themselves.
Other, non-Kithain fae include the Thallain (monstrous versions of the Kithain), the Gallain and the Adhene. Animate Chimera may be alive, but are purely the creatures of the Dreaming, and not generally considered fae.
A kith is one of several different types of kithain, analogous to the clans and tribes of other monsters.
Characteristics
All Changelings are born to humans. Before they realize their heritage, they live in a half-reality, catching glimpses of the Dreaming that never fully realize themselves until the prospective Changeling experience the Chrysalis. Once, a baptism was necessary to extinguish the fae soul, but nowadays, Banality is often strong enough to undo a child’s faerie soul through other means. There are exceptions, as some Sidhe that returned during the Resurgence forced themselves on humans, casting out their souls and overtaking their lives.
Within their faerie selves, all Changelings reflect a Legacy, an archetype that reflects their Seelie and Unseelie part. Acting according to their legacy grants a Changeling back Willpower.
Aging
Once, the fae were immortal and unrestricted from the passage of time. With the beginning of the Shattering, fae in mortal bodies learned that they aged like humans did and would eventually die if no preparations were made. The Seeming often reflects their actual age, but not necessarily.
By remaining within a freehold, changelings can avoid aging. Doing so, however, carries the danger of insanity and Bedlam. Older Changelings therefor play a dangerous game in how long they can stay inside a freehold and how long they can survive exposure to the banal world. If they play their cards right, Changelings can outlive mortals by centuries. Often that can mean changelings need to abandon their mortal lives at some point. (See the article Changeling Death)
True immortality is said to have been regained by the elusive Síocháin, who have managed to balance their mundane and their faerie sides with each other.
Powers and Abilities
Changelings are divided between their faerie mien and their mortal seeming. The seeming reflects their outlook on the Dreaming and Banality and how they deal with their dual natures. The mien is a reflection of their faerie self, reflecting their kith. From their kith, each Changelings inherits a Birthright that grants them a special ability to call upon.
When threatened, Changelings can call upon the Wyrd to invoke a force called the Dragon’s Ire. A nimbus of fire, along with mystical winds that stir their clothing, surrounds the changelings and lets him appear more dangerous and majestic to their foe.
Within a Changeling reside two forces: Glamour is the expression of the Dreaming, allows a Changeling to interact with chimerical reality and cast Cantrips. Banality, on the other hand, allows them to withstand the dangers of the Dreaming.
Changelings are connected to a spiritual, three-folded dimension called the Dreaming, which draws its strength from human dreams. Deep within the Dreaming lies Arcadia, the fabled home of the fae. Western Changelings are one of the few supernaturals with a regular access to the Dreaming (most other fae access regions of the Umbra instead).
Weaknesses and Drawbacks
All Changelings are affected by the ancient bane of the fae, Cold Iron. Its presence makes changelings ill at ease, and cold iron weapons cause horrible, smoking wounds that rob changelings of Glamour and threaten their very existence with Final Death. It is so distasteful to changelings that they can sense cold iron in their immediate presence. Likewise, just as they inherit a birthright, their kith also carries with them a frailty that they cannot lose.
Changeling’s dependence on twin forces within them means that they have to maintain a balance between the two: Too much Banality is a sure way to become Undone (i.e condemning their fae soul to a true death) and causes memory lapses of the Changeling’s faerie self. Too much Glamour, on the other hand, leads to the madness called Bedlam, in which a Changeling completely dissociates from mundane reality to live in chimerical fantasy lands. In recent times, Changelings also contend with a kind of glamour that is drawn from darker places, called Nightmare Glamour, which becomes more powerful the more a Changelings tends towards Bedlam.
Changelings are subject to a phenomenon named the Mists. Originally a pure expression of the shapeless world the Firstborn molded according to their designs, they became polluted with Banality and now act as separation between Changelings and the Dreaming. A changeling that is too often affected by the Mists forgets who he was, eventually becoming Undone. As a side effect, the Mists also keep the world of the Changelings hidden from mortals, who rationalize chimerical incidents away unless they were Enchanted before.
Society
Changelings are deeply hierarchical creatures. Even in the modern era, they cling to a feudal model of society, with Nobles on top and Commoners below. Most Nobles are Sidhe, while the bulk of the other kith exist as commoners, with only a few exceptions. Few changelings survive Banality and the harshness of the world without a network of others of their kind to fall back to, resulting in few loners among their numbers.
Newly formed Changelings are assigned a mentor, who oversees their fosterage, in which the young changelings is tutored in the ways of their society. Fosterage is divided into two periods, the time of warding, in which the mentor maintains a close watch on everything their ward does, and the time of watching, in which the young Changeling is allowed to put what they have learned into practice. When this period ends, the Saining confirms the Changeling as an official member of their Court and their true Faerie name is revealed to them. These traditions reach back to the era of the Four Courts.
Beyond the immediate tutelage, Changelings are divided between Noble households, which often exist as formalized feudal structures, and Commoner motleys, which are more egalitarian and often nomadic. Both households and motleys are often centred around a freehold, a wellspring of glamour with a connection to the Dreaming and enforce the Escheat, a shared set of laws common to all kiths and courts. A smaller kind of social unites are oathcircles, which are groups of friends that have sworn oaths of mutual support, regardless of their political affiliation, and cliques, who consist of changelings who act as patrons to a specific kind of dreamers.
Individual Changelings are also aligned to one of the two Courts. Called the Seelie and Unseelie courts, these two institutions provide the Changelings with a code of conduct and shape their mien. Unlike the Four Courts of the Mythic Age, the Seelie and Unseelie rarely exist in a state of open warfare and have learned to coexist. A third power, the Shadow Court, is one the rise, disregarding the ancient balance between the two and trying to topple it in favor of their own designs.
