Discarded changelings and Huntsmen

[Raistlin]

It is an assumption that changelings are always looking behind their shoulders because they know Huntsmen are out there to get them. Since most of them are escapees and True Fae take ownership as a very, very serious matter.
There are however, a number of them which were casted away and banished by their Keepers like old toys (to be replaced by new shiny ones). Like the whole Playmate kith.
While is true changelings face many dangers besides Huntsmen, do these changelings have an "easier time" compared with the rest, knowing their former masters haven't sent anyone after them?

[Eldagusto]

Then there is also Changelings day who made a deal to be in Arcadia for a certain period of time, maybe they are more well adjusted then discarded kidnap victims.

[espritdecalmar]

Maybe, but the Gentry change their minds all the time. One day your former captor might fly into a rage when it realizes that you're not there anymore, as it suddenly decides that releasing you was a huge mistake, or maybe abandoning you was a test of loyalty, one which you, obviously, miserably, failed.

[Khanwulf]

Maybe, but the Gentry change their minds all the time. One day your former captor might fly into a rage when it realizes that you're not there anymore, as it suddenly decides that releasing you was a huge mistake, or maybe abandoning you was a test of loyalty, one which you, obviously, miserably, failed.

Or didn't fail, because you agreed to be released for a little while (explicitly or implicitly) and haven't been "called back" yet after your time Ironside is up? Changelings may not even remember such bargains, because their memories of Arcadia fade. (This is still a thing, right?)

--Khanwulf

[BetterWorldz]

after your time Ironside is up

Sorry for derailing the topic a bit but Ironside is a cool word for earth, does it appear anywhere in the official material or is that your thing? I don't think I've ever seen it elsewhere.

[Khanwulf]

Sorry for derailing the topic a bit but Ironside is a cool word for earth, does it appear anywhere in the official material or is that your thing? I don't think I've ever seen it elsewhere.

It's sprinkled through 1e material as slang for what True Fae call the real world. I can't claim credit, nor do I have the material in front of me to cite.

--Khanwulf

[BetterWorldz]

It's sprinkled through 1e material as slang for what True Fae call the real world. I can't claim credit, nor do I have the material in front of me to cite.

--Khanwulf

Nah I don't think that's a thing in 1e, just did a search in my compiled full 1e PDF and got no matches. No Ironside in the Underhill excerpts either. Could you have stumbled upon it in some fan material maybe?

[espritdecalmar]

Sorry for derailing the topic a bit but Ironside is a cool word for earth, does it appear anywhere in the official material or is that your thing? I don't think I've ever seen it elsewhere.

A few years ago, someone used it on the forum and it caught on as a slang term. I don't believe there is any official source that uses it.

[Master Aquatosic]

No. I think I saw it in official material too. But it would be so cool if that was really a fanmade term that grew organically from our little community.

Also, three reasons why they would still be scared of Huntsmen

1) True Fae sends them after you once they find out how much new occult power and secrets you have gained since being kicked out

2) you can get trapped as a pawn in a Huntsman's scheme to get to another Changeling, which has a non-zero chance of you getting sold at a Goblin Market and a higher chance of them just torturing and killing you.

3) Your Keeper's rivals/friends/enemies get a bit of your essence and send a Huntsman after you to co-opt someone with insider knowledge or just to insult your original Keeper

[BetterWorldz]

No. I think I saw it in official material too. But it would be so cool if that was really a fanmade term that grew organically from our little community.

It is fan-made, and doesn't appear anywhere official from searching through the PDFs. Seemingly it came from an old topic on the previous forums but the earliest use of it here can be traced to this thread :

http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/m...angeling-slang

Again, sorry for derailing

[Khanwulf]

Very well then. I'll still use it as a handy form for "real world".

[Raistlin]

Maybe, but the Gentry change their minds all the time. One day your former captor might fly into a rage when it realizes that you're not there anymore, as it suddenly decides that releasing you was a huge mistake, or maybe abandoning you was a test of loyalty, one which you, obviously, miserably, failed.

"Fair" enough. And what about those who earned that freedom, by performing a near impossible task, solving a riddle, winning a tournament, etc... Any of this reinforced with a pledge with the Keeper.

[espritdecalmar]

"Fair" enough. And what about those who earned that freedom, by performing a near impossible task, solving a riddle, winning a tournament, etc... Any of this reinforced with a pledge with the Keeper.

I imagine there are a few different ways one could handle that sort of scenario:

1. The changeling won their freedom fair and square. Their Keeper isn't coming after them, and they don't have to worry about Huntsmen. Their story instead focuses on other things. The changeling certainly leads a privileged existence by Lost standards, which could come with interesting social complications.

2. The changeling has a pledge from their Keeper not to bother them anymore, but there are plenty of other Gentry that might take an interest in the half-fae who pulled one over on one of their own kind. Maybe a rival Fae thinks the changeling would be a nice prize, or maybe that sort of victory gets the Wyrd's attention, and ends up putting another one of the Fair Folk in the Lost's path. It's also possible that the pledge only applies to one of the Keeper's Titles, and another aspect of them considers the changeling fair game.

3. The wording of the pledge might allow for workarounds. An inexperienced changeling might not know about Huntsmen, and so doesn't bother to specify that the Keeper can't send proxies after them. Or, rather than Huntsmen that try to forcibly return the changeling, the Keeper's agents use gaslighting and emotional manipulation as weapons, in an attempt to get the changeling to return "willingly."

[Master Aquatosic]

Plus, there's always the danger of getting caught up in the machinations of someone else's Huntsman. As you're not their quarry, they are more likely to see your life as expendable too

[ArcaneArts]

0) Ironside appears in the official Second Edition at least once due to the perpetuation of it's use by fans.
1) If you're not important when you leave, you'll still be worth a Huntsman once you prove your worth. One of the advantages to changelings is that they can always make themselves shinier baubles.
2) Actually, that's how most changelings end up working. Even the inherently more valuable changelings aren't worth risking a Title on until they shine themselves up.
3) and of course, Huntsmen always have a wider view than just the one. Everyone is a tool on the way to their target, and if a freehold is destabilized, that just means the Loyalists have more to take advantage of.