"No," David grunted, pushing the bar up inch after trembling inch. The ogre sucked a breath over his jutting lower jaw, and lowered the weight one more time.
"Seriously, though," Killian asked, his golden eyes falling to David's elbows as he placed his own furry hands just below the bar. "We were taken on the same day, kept by the same Keeper, treated almost the same... why are we so different?"
David snarled, shoving the weight up, and slamming it into the rack hard enough to make the plates bounce. He sat up, snatched his towel, and wiped at his face. He stood, blotting out most of the light on that side of the room as he did so.
"Almost ain't the same," David said, pointing at the bench. "Your turn. Twelve reps."
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| We are what we are made to be. |
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Nature Versus Nurture
While I took a bit of a break from the Chronicles of Darkness, I did have a Changeling: The Lost release a little while back with Like A Good Neighbor - Portraying True Fae in Your Chronicle. However, that dip back into the waters got the gears in my head turning, and it made me ruminate on something that I feel a lot of players overlook when it comes to their character's Seeming in these games.
Because yes, mechanically, you choose a Seeming that gives you access to the powers and abilities you most want for your character. However, what turns a human into a particular kind of changeling isn't just about who they are as a person, and what is revealed about them by fae magic and the Wyrd; it's also (at least in part) dependent on their treatment at the hands of their Keepers.
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| You merely carve away everything that isn't the statue inside the marble. |
For example, say a Gentry has two people who are very alike before them; socially adept humans who are good at making friends, each of which has a force of personality all their own. One of them, as expected, ends up as a Fairest... but the other doesn't. The other finds themselves becoming a beautiful Beast. While it might be due to an inherent difference in the two people (the former attempted to be an equal participant in conversations and riddle games, while the latter merely fawned over the Keeper to try to keep themselves safe), it could also be the way the Gentry treated the two of them. The former's behavior meant the True Fae was intrigued and engaged, verbally sparring with the mortal, the conversations rubbing off on them. The latter, though, was merely giving passive attention, and treated more like a yapping dog than they were someone deserving of the Gentry's attention and respect, minor though it is.
Say the Gentry punished two of its kept humans. They were very similar, but one was punished for actions they actually committed, making it clear they were being trained for a purpose. That leads them to become a hound; strong and fierce, but reacting without thought to commands that have been drilled into them. The second person, though, is punished cruelly, or even unnecessarily, twisting the knife in their wound. That hatred, that malignance, leads them to become an ogre, instead.
And even if a True Fae is purposefully reducing different people into the same kind of changeling, who is to say the methods and treatment don't produce different results? Like how you might take two ingots of the same raw material, but turn them into radically different alloys? Even a pair of twins, put into different scenarios and situations, would end up with utterly unique fates. For example, the True Fae might take one brother, and keep him on a mountaintop where the wind eventually blows him away one layer at a time, until wind is all he is, turning him into a gusting gale. The other brother, just as stubborn and just as willful, might be buried deep beneath the earth. And the longer he pits his will against the rock and mud, the more he becomes a part of the earth, until his skin becomes craggy, and his blood slows to thick, pumping clay.
Thematic Interactions Are What Make Changelings Unique
While it's perfectly within the bounds of the game to have a character who just doesn't remember how they became what they are, or to have someone who was simply cursed or changed by a True Fae into the form they have now, digging a little deeper into why and how your character became what they are can add extra elements to their story. Did the Gentry merely reveal their true nature, imbuing it with magic, making this form an even truer version of who the changeling was in their soul? Were they twisted out of true as the Gentry attempted to force them into a shape and being that didn't fit them? Or did they, through their own actions and behaviors, end up sealing their fate?
Again, these aren't necessary parts of a character... but they can act as seeds that will grow throughout a chronicle, giving you deeper interactions, and more impactful story!
And, lastly, I'd recommend picking up your own copy of Like A Good Neighbor, as well as one of my older supplements 100 Frailties to help you build these necessary weaknesses into your player characters and antagonists alike!
I would also recommend checking out the following free articles about this game:
- 5 Questions Every Changeling: The Lost Player Should Ask (About Their Characters)
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