So it's been a hot minute since we got the basic breakdown of how the Arcadia Problem works in both editions of Changeling (technically ambiguous in both, but in 1e it leaned "yes, with enough wiggle room for you to say otherwise" and in 2e it leaned "no, with enough wiggle room for you to say otherwise). It was a contentious issue that I'm pretty sure we can all agree the Second Editions of both Changeling and Mage have done well to move away from. But it's been a couple years, and I've done some reading, and I've learned a few things that have given me a better appreciation for certain bits of subtext in the lines, so:
This thread is going to be an exercise on my part in advocating for the perspective of "the True Fae are Supernal beings," with an eye toward emphasizing the ways this a) is not a world-ending big deal, and 2) was not executed very well in First Edition. I will be somewhat loose in my division of First and Second Edition material from both Changeling and Mage, because the idea here is that the idea of the Strangers sharing an umbrella category with the likes of the Exarchs has merit, and because the nature of the games' First Editions is such that the notions therein were relatively unrefined early on and became less so as more books came out (and the last few books of Mage 1e in particular were made with an eye toward 2e).
I've got a couple of talking points sketched out that I can type up in later posts (among them being that some of the worst excesses of Changeling 1e's presentation of mages and how that affected the reception of the idea can be laid at the feet of early Mage 1e's struggle to disentangle itself from Atlantean Literalism).
Unfortunately, it's currently 1AM where I am, while I have historically been on the "they're different places" side of the discussion, my rationale for holding that position has never really had anything to do with keeping Changeling's biggest metaphysical actors from being associated with a different gameline. With this in mind, and with an understanding that civility would be appreciated on this contentious issue, I'd like to start with an opening question for other posters:
What's wrong with the idea that the True Fae are Supernal beings?
This thread is going to be an exercise on my part in advocating for the perspective of "the True Fae are Supernal beings," with an eye toward emphasizing the ways this a) is not a world-ending big deal, and 2) was not executed very well in First Edition. I will be somewhat loose in my division of First and Second Edition material from both Changeling and Mage, because the idea here is that the idea of the Strangers sharing an umbrella category with the likes of the Exarchs has merit, and because the nature of the games' First Editions is such that the notions therein were relatively unrefined early on and became less so as more books came out (and the last few books of Mage 1e in particular were made with an eye toward 2e).
I've got a couple of talking points sketched out that I can type up in later posts (among them being that some of the worst excesses of Changeling 1e's presentation of mages and how that affected the reception of the idea can be laid at the feet of early Mage 1e's struggle to disentangle itself from Atlantean Literalism).
Unfortunately, it's currently 1AM where I am, while I have historically been on the "they're different places" side of the discussion, my rationale for holding that position has never really had anything to do with keeping Changeling's biggest metaphysical actors from being associated with a different gameline. With this in mind, and with an understanding that civility would be appreciated on this contentious issue, I'd like to start with an opening question for other posters:
What's wrong with the idea that the True Fae are Supernal beings?
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