How do you run the Fair Folk?

[Dex Davican]

Actually no longer true in 3E.

Hmm. Howso? Looking through their writeups in the Core, it looks like you can guess which Creatures of the Wyld are actual fae vs. Wyld-mutated monsters by whether they have the Cold Iron Bane Merit.

[JohnDoe244]

All fae creatures have a few things in common: weakness to iron

Actually no longer true in 3E.

[Dex Davican]

Raksha are a fae species, as are hobgoblins, hannya, and the unshaped. There may be others—frankly the unshaped and hobgoblins probably don’t have enough coherence to be considered a “species.” Raksha are the most familiar to humans because they tend not to spend much time in the Deep Wyld, and they’re social in the sense that they mimic Creation-born social constructs (e.g. courts, armies). All fae creatures have a few things in common: weakness to iron, unbreakable promises, the need to feed on emotion while in Creation, etc.

Wyld creatures become more fae-like with continued corruption, but yeah, gryphons probably started as a mutation of Creation-born creatures and gradually became Wyld natives. They probably don’t feed on emotion and probably need physical food even while in the Wyld.

Edit: And yes, the fae are Chaos natives, alien invaders to Creation.

[Sunder the Gold]

The Wyld is mutated Creation. Think of Chaos’ influence a bit like how radiation works in pulp stories. It’s an alien corruption of “natural” forms. Even in the Deep Wyld, that corruption follows patterns and forces, even if those aren’t clear to the Creation-born.

Meanwhile, fae creatures (like Fair Folk and Hobgoblins) aren’t corruptions so much as they’re mimics. They’re true aliens to Creation, bearing some trappings of reality in order to consume reality.

Beyond the borders of Creation, there is no Wyld because there’s no reality to corrupt. There’s only formless potential, a Chaos so senseless that it might as well be nothing. A vast ocean that would dissolve you into millions of specks of potential spread across infinity. A blank page that absorbs any ink lesser than the titans’ demiurgic miracle.

So Wyld creatures are only native to the boundaries of Creation and Chaos, and the only lifeforms in the true Chaos are the Raksha?

[Dex Davican]

The Wyld is mutated Creation. Think of Chaos’ influence a bit like how radiation works in pulp stories. It’s an alien corruption of “natural” forms. Even in the Deep Wyld, that corruption follows patterns and forces, even if those aren’t clear to the Creation-born.

Meanwhile, fae creatures (like Fair Folk and Hobgoblins) aren’t corruptions so much as they’re mimics. They’re true aliens to Creation, bearing some trappings of reality in order to consume reality.

Beyond the borders of Creation, there is no Wyld because there’s no reality to corrupt. There’s only formless potential, a Chaos so senseless that it might as well be nothing. A vast ocean that would dissolve you into millions of specks of potential spread across infinity. A blank page that absorbs any ink lesser than the titans’ demiurgic miracle.

[Sunder the Gold]

I like the Ex3 presentation of Raksha as we know them being a specific type of wyld denizen, and not some archetypal framework for all things Wyld.

The Unshaped being the true form of Raksha, and being the only real lifeform of the Wyld, worked back when the Wyld was just a lavalamp of formless, meaningless nonsense.

The new nature of the Raksha, and the addition of more variety in Wyld lifeforms, has sadly not been matched by making the Wyld less nonsensical.

Is the Wyld supposed to be practically-empty Kaos, or is it supposed to be a hodgepodge of alien realities with alien worlds and alien species?

Like what they've done to the Underworld, with its various different afterlives, all separated by the seas of the dead?

[Dex Davican]

I wouldn’t worry about Graces in Ex3 unless you actually want a “Koschey’s Egg” situation. If I were a dev (and I’m not), I’d have Fair Folk need to create a Grace to maintain really broken powers and advantages, so PCs can find a clever way around those powers. Otherwise, forget ‘em.

[Katamari_Naneke]

Ok, cool, the Heresy of Balor in Ink Monkeys seems like a great starting point. I have a player who wants ties to the Fae, perhaps if she's hunting the heart grace of a specific calcified raksha for some reason we'll figure out when we get started, there's a lot of potential for run-ins with adversaries who are also seeking heart graces for ...a different raksha.

Looking at previous edition stuff about Fair Folk graces, they all seem to be tied to virtues. Do we know anything about how that's going to work in this new, virtue-free edition?

[MoroseMorgan]

I like the Ex3 presentation of Raksha as we know them being a specific type of wyld denizen, and not some archetypal framework for all things Wyld.

Those fantastic essays still apply. It is a society of fluid accidents that view the world in their own way. I haven't much thought about Raksha in a "before Creation" paradigm in Ex3.

To give some concrete advice for running, your watch words are Affectation and Fancy. Fair Folk do things solely because they want to, so anything that seems amusing, or was amusing, they will keep doing it.

I had a Noble that assumed the shape of a little impish goblin to follow around one my PCs. It could have revealed its terrible montrous form and been a malevolent overlord, but it chose to ineffectually flummox and tease the PC because it could, and it liked it.

Spontaneaty without falling into the LoL rAnDoM trap is the goal, with a dash of alien.

Reveal a new power, and if someone asks why you didn't do that the whole time, the answer is "I hadn't thought of it yet."

I've recently gotten into Steven Universe, and Gems very much remind me of Fair Folk, if that is something you are familiar with.

[Katamari_Naneke]

Aha, thanks!

[Dex Davican]

Is this it?
https://thor.divnull.com/pub/exalted...w-20100513.pdf

I don't see anything about the Fair Folk in there.

That compilation doesn't appear to have any of the essays. Try this one.

[Katamari_Naneke]

If you can find the old Ink Monkeys compilation, there is a good essay about the Fair Folk in that.

Is this it?
https://thor.divnull.com/pub/exalted...w-20100513.pdf

I don't see anything about the Fair Folk in there.

[Jutlander]

If you can find the old Ink Monkeys compilation, there is a good essay about the Fair Folk in that.

[Sunder the Gold]

Perhaps the Seven Witches of Vice from Re:Zero could work for inspiration?

They’re all still people, but people who largely lack empathy for other people... except for the one who cares about people more than anything, but who is still so insane that she hurts as many as she tries to help.

But I’m just operating off second-hand knowledge, so I don’t know.

[Katamari_Naneke]

Ok, thanks for the input, everyone. Maybe I'll start with a court that parodies some of the terrestrial antagonists and build out from there.

I didn't think to ask initially, but are there any canon Fair Folk characters that you've enjoyed using?