Inspiration from Demon

[eberg]

Pondering what I'd like to see in a Chronicles version of Changeling, it occurred to me that there is a lot of stuff in Demon that inspires me. Here's what I came up with:

1) I'd like to see Clarity abandoned in favor of Mask. Your Mask doesn't just hide you from humans, it hides you from the True Fae. When you get back, you have Mask 1, representing the weak glamour of your former self that you project. You can get a quick increase by joining a Court, which strengthens the mask and gives you a set of Breaking Points fitting their milieu. Killing your fetch and regaining your life gives you a hefty increase. Alternatively, you can make a new identity and start building it from scratch or, maybe, using Pledges like Demons do. Stuff like flagrant use of magic or letting your Mask slip to take advantage of Seeming benefits would be Breaking Points. This helps bring the threat of the Others more front and center, as well as the role of the Courts in keeping them at bay.

2) I've never liked the conceit that you lost major capabilities of your Seeming when you came back through the Hedge. It always seemed like an excuse to keep from having to have ways to allow things like flight and breathing underwater for starting characters. What I'd prefer is something like Demon's Demonic Form. You have a toolbox of capabilities with which you build your Seeming. The downside is that, like Demon, you have to shed your Mask to access them. No hiding that you are actually a winged horse when you take to the sky. Similarly, when you lift that motorcycle and throw it at a guy, the ogre shines through.

3) One thing I was disappointed with was that Demon kept, for the most part, the Pledge system from Changeling which I always felt was too fiddly and easy to abuse. One thing they did remove was the ability for Demons to pump their own abilities and merits with Pledges. If the Pledge system is retained, I'd at least like to see this change applied. As it stands, it is just too easy to acquire merits to get around the problems of being a Changeling by making on oath with someone. As one of my frequent Changeling players pointed out: There is no reason any Changeling should be homeless or broke. Since a main theme of the game is having your life stolen, I'd prefer there not be an easy way to acquire money, shelter, and new social contacts.

4) The themes need to be kept different. You can't just import Cover and its trappings because they serve the espionage theme of Demon. I propose altering it to feel more like theater, like a masquerade where you are pretending to be the human you no longer are. This is what Changelings are, after all, is faeries playing at being human. The languages and the details should be tweaked to support this. The Court are just another layer of this, a play meant to confuse the Others with its rotating monarchs determined by the time of year. It is a masquerade ball and you rely on your Mask so that nobody knows who is who.

5) I do like the threat of becoming too Fae but I think that should be moved to Wyrd. If you want more powerful faerie magic, you are trading off your humanity to get it. The stronger you get, the more you are bound by bans and oaths and compulsions. Wyrd 10 should be a step away from True Fae. It would be cool if your Seeming had a lot to do with how you change as your Wyrd goes up. Maybe your Seeming gets stronger but it imposes more restrictions. A Wyrd 1 Ogre may be able to still be an intellectual, but not a Wyrd 8 one. The Wyrd 8 Ogre will be strong as hell, though.

Anyway, just stuff I thought about while taking a shower. Let me know what you think.

[Azahul]

Number 5 is basically how Wyrd Evolution in Equinox Road works. A Fairest at Wyrd 10, for example, has only the barest grip on sanity and gains derangements at the drop of the hat, but gosh darn they are beautiful.

The rest are very cool concepts though. I love the idea of emphasising everyday life as a masquerade for Changelings.

[ArcaneArts]

It feels like a neat fusion of concepts of Dark Ages Fae and Demon the Descent. It's too removed from what makes Changeling the Lost what it is though.

[Satchel]

It feels like a neat fusion of concepts of Dark Ages Fae and Demon the Descent. It's too removed from what makes Changeling the Lost what it is though.

I feel like bringing up the demons:Fae::changelings:stigmatics notion that's been percolating in my head since the sample Elimination Infrastructure subsection in Flowers of Hell.

Also the distinction between scales - changelings are on the run from the Fae; demons are on the run from Faerie.*

*An entity comparable in scale to it, rather, but sentence flow.

[SoulGambit]

It feels like a neat fusion of concepts of Dark Ages Fae and Demon the Descent. It's too removed from what makes Changeling the Lost what it is though.

Would you mind elaborating?

[Satchel]

Would you mind elaborating?

Part of the deal with Changeling is that you managed to find your way back to Earth thanks to still having enough human memory and self-image to return from the giant mythic monster-mold that is Faerie, and losing your grip on your human mindset makes you more likely to get stuck outside of Earth until such time as serendipity sees fit to mold you into a state whose humanity is irrelevant to its ability to traverse the universe.

That's kind of at odds with "you can be a pillar of flame with seven mouths and a set of noxious shadow-tendrils!" in terms of "desperately wants to live a normal life with maybe a little bit of excitement in it."

[SoulGambit]

So out of the suggestions in the OP, the only one that really elicits that response is the demonic form portion? More specifically, its the scope of that suggestion.

[Stupid Loserman]

As noted, your take on the Wyrd is pretty much what Changeling is already going for; to increase in fey puissance is to approach the madness of Faerie, to become touched in the same way that the Good Folk themselves are. You're dead on there. Probably could be reinforced mechanically more elegantly.

As for the rest of what you take away from Demon ... well, you're free to do whatever you like with the games, and if you're having fun and enjoying it, more power to you, go for it. I personally feel that these changes would basically just make Changeling and Demon into the same game with different superficial trappings. Heck, you get very close to saying so yourself — just renaming Cover to "Mask" without changing how it works is a huge substantive change. It needs to be adapted to Changeling's themes. The thing is, adapting it to Changeling's themes isn't as simple as just doing the same things but using different adjectives. The Cover rules themselves impose an atmosphere of paranoia, mistrust and deceit that, while present in part in Lost, are expressed in Cover in a way that would overtake and transform the game. When just acting weird is enough to attract the attention of the Enemy — when "attracting the attention of the Enemy" is such an everpresent concern that there are actual mechanical widgets you use to measure how much heat you've drawn — then the game is all about being on the run, lying, and questions of identity and falsehood. At that point, you basically have Demon in green paint.

I feel that Lost is a broader game than that. Lost isn't just all about hiding from the Others and making sure nobody knows what you are. It incorporates that — that's the M.O. of the Winter Court, generally — but it's also about running full force at the Hedge with an iron hatchet, and it's about becoming weirder yourself, developing weird tics and habits, and asking whether you can balance the capabilities of the fae world with the perspective and conscience of humanity, and it's about eating, drinking and being raucous, because you've been stolen from the world and now that you're back you understand how precious every moment of life is here on Earth. Some Lost stories don't incorporate the Gentry at all except as backstory. If I could take a stab at a comparison, if Demon is about carefully balancing on the line lest you fall, Changeling is about dancing back and forth until the line blurs.

The Mask as it is in the game does a great job of expressing this idea; I'm very happy with it. You're wearing two worlds, and they're both real. Which is more real? You're wearing both worlds all the time — changelings never forget what they are now, can't pretend they are who they were before, because every time they look in the mirror they see those claws and cat's eyes and that crown of flame. For changelings, walking into the freehold during court is like sliding down a hole into Wonderland: suddenly you're surrounded by the hippo-man and Jack o'Knives and the Green Lady, and they're not all horrible monsters, not outwardly, but they are strange in their own ways. I'd feel sad to see the fae mien inadvertantly reduced to a cool emergency button that's not safe to press frivolously. I like it the way it is, more like an ill-fitting suit that's the only thing in your closet. The fact that the Mask, in a sense, brings changelings and the True Fae into the same category rather than separating one from the other also reinforces that confusion and melding, that torn-between-two-worlds feeling. It can't be us vs. them when sometimes you're not sure which one is "us."

I love Changeling and I love Demon. They're both vivid, fun and personal games. I feel the ways in which they are alike and complement one another are already safely apparent, and I would rather explore the ways in which they diverge and can do different things.

[Satchel]

So out of the suggestions in the OP, the only one that really elicits that response is the demonic form portion? More specifically, its the scope of that suggestion.

You will note, if you pay close attention, that I am not Arc. I was speculating on the most evident element of "what makes Changeling what it is" that he was referring to, filtered through the fact that previously people have expressed disappointment that the Lost's forms at lower Wyrd tend to be more humanlike without seeming to understand that trying to go back to living a relatively safe, relatively human life after a lengthy term of dehumanizing and addictive hellmonster-apprenticeship requires a certain degree of human self-image.

The Mask being an extremely thorough mental illusion rather than a quantum superposition of the mien is another thing that just renaming Cover fails to account for, but it's understandably less storied in terms of past conversation.

[ArcaneArts]

Arc's gonna have to write a long response to the request for supposition, I'm gonna do it after after a walk in the rain.

Suffice it ot say though, just because certain surface elements of Demon and Changeling look alike doesn't mean that they have main themes anywhere near each other. An understanding of those themes results in why the mechanics have the differences they do, and why converting what was converted misses the point.

I'l explain further after my walk. Passion for both games is gonna leave me going for quite a bit, apologies in advance for the expected length.

[eberg]

As for the rest of what you take away from Demon ... well, you're free to do whatever you like with the games, and if you're having fun and enjoying it, more power to you, go for it. I personally feel that these changes would basically just make Changeling and Demon into the same game with different superficial trappings. Heck, you get very close to saying so yourself — just renaming Cover to "Mask" without changing how it works is a huge substantive change. It needs to be adapted to Changeling's themes. The thing is, adapting it to Changeling's themes isn't as simple as just doing the same things but using different adjectives. The Cover rules themselves impose an atmosphere of paranoia, mistrust and deceit that, while present in part in Lost, are expressed in Cover in a way that would overtake and transform the game. When just acting weird is enough to attract the attention of the Enemy — when "attracting the attention of the Enemy" is such an everpresent concern that there are actual mechanical widgets you use to measure how much heat you've drawn — then the game is all about being on the run, lying, and questions of identity and falsehood. At that point, you basically have Demon in green paint.

See, I feel like I said that it wasn't just a matter of taking Cover and renaming it. Item #4 is pretty much all about that. Mask wouldn't be entirely about attracted the attention of the enemy, though that would be a factor. It is also about trying to fit back into the mortal world despite the fact that your life has been stolen and you aren't human anymore. Heck, the name of the game is Changeling, which refers to a faerie imposter.

The Mask as it is in the game does a great job of expressing this idea; I'm very happy with it. You're wearing two worlds, and they're both real. Which is more real?

But, they aren't. The mask is a glamour covering what you have become. "Revealing your true form" (note the phrasing) is already a risk for Clarity loss. So, I'm not really making it any more risky to reveal your fae mein. My proposition just allows for the fae mein to be more radical and interesting.

[ArcaneArts]

Okay, let me preface this with a basic fact: I love both Changeling the Lost and Demon the Descent. They are, in this whole slew of games of the World of Darkness that I love, the games I absolutely love. I have a deep and intimate relationship with Changeling in regards to how it's affected my life and sense of self, and Demon probably would have done the same had it come out earlier. It's done enough despite that. And I completely understand the relationship people see in these two-I want to do a crossover game with these two because of it, and if you had to draw from another game to shore up Changeling, Demon would be a good choice...though when pressed to it, I'd have trouble saying how, and that's where this essay comes in. I know where the pinhead of this conversion is, though, so I'll start there.

Starting the Dance on the Wrong Foot

This is what Changelings are, after all, is faeries playing at being human.

No. It's not.

This, I'd say, is the heart of the problem of the conception of the ideas at work. It is true to form for changelings in the classic sense, granted, but it's not true for Lost and their breed of Changelings. This is why I said it worked well for Dark Ages Fae-that's a game about being the alien nature god, who may or may not play at being human as it's convienent. Even Changeling the Dreaming plays closer to what is proposed in this game-you are, after all, a fae soul in a human life, waiting to bloom and dance before the Last Winter comes. The stories and themes breathe life into these character forms, and they look close to what you suggest.

But the Lost aren't people who were always fae. The Lost are humans who had everything stripped from them, and struggle to get it back. And above all else, they actually do it. Not perfectly, true. They'll never be human again. But they can wear the mask as well as the Mask, and carry with it all that comes with the term. They have their scars, and they can be informed by them, but they aren't ruled by them per se. Lost is about humans playing at being human, and not because it's a masquerade, because it's a game.

They do it because it's the only thing they have left in this world gone mad.

Raising Hell on the Long Way Home is What the Wizened Call a Bad Idea, or On Themes and The Fundamental Differences of Games

I think most of us here have a clear understanding of what Changeling's main themes are: the Long Way Home and Beautiful Madness. The game never particularly hides it, and I think a lot of have had a good ol' long time to internalize it. Demon never quite spells out it's themes, which make it a little fuzzier, but I think it's still fairly clear. Still, somehow, people seem to confuse these two and think they look the same. On top of that, I'm not sure they get the sense of the atmosphere, of just where the fear is. So despite my own personal assurances, it's time we cracked into this, and I'm gonna do so on the easiest distinction between the two. It's also going back to that controversial aspect of Changeling, so enjoy this upcoming bit. Which aspect am I talking about?

Changeling is about abuse survivors.

Yep. I know it's a commonly accepted fact, and it's true, but still, I'm going to have to be that guy here for a second. I'm not entirely sure what guy I'm talking about, but all the same, I am that guy. Back on track.

Changeling is about having your world shattered and receiving scars you'll never lose. It's also about picking the pieces up and fitting them together, to get a good restoration or to make a whole new picture. It's also about painting the scar and turning the ugly thing into a beautiful accent on your face. It's about getting up and moving on. This is part of the reason I disdain CtL's TVTropes page(bleakest game my ass). And very much so, it's about the space in between those moments. I'm using pretty metaphors because the actual fact of the matter is mind-spinning and hard to really talk about, but trust me: it's weird. Anyways, Changeling is about having your innocence killed by Mickey Mouse, to be betrayed by childhood wonder, and then turning right back around and living a life of magic in spite of it anyways, dancing with the corpse of your innocence brought back to life by your sorrow, your anger, your fear, and your joy. It's not easy.

So why is that important? Everyone knows Demon isn't Changeling on that score, in fact the OP emphasized(wrongly) that point.

Well, that's where the Beautiful Madness comes in, and why that is the element, leading the abuse survivor aspect by the hand, that conflicts with Demon.

See, Changeling is a game where the characters have all sorts of enemies. Other changelings, hobgoblins,fetches, and of course the Strangers. But perhaps moreso than most of the other gamelines, their biggest enemy is themselves-or perhaps it's more accurate to say the damage done to themselves. A lot of Changeling is in the mind of the player characters-the game comes to life much more so in the moment when the character fights to not break teacups because she was always there with them than in the moments of them running from the baying dogs. Hell, it's much more in the moment when a character decides that not every baying dog is the herald of one of them coming. It's on seeing things as they are, which is why Clarity is the morality/integrity stat of the game.

Because let's be honest, the Strangers aren't actually that close. Not at all.

Here's what you've been waiting for-the point. It's about how the themes inform the game, the atmosphere, and the reality of the threat.

Returning to the abuse point, Changeling is about the abuser being behind bars, or being in another state. You've escaped, you've gotten away, they don't know where you are, they can't touch you. You should know this. You did it.

Yeah, but in the end, you don't really believe that.

How could you? This person dominated your life, was around every corner, heard ever whisper. Did you really escape? Can you really ever do it? They'll find you, they know what you would do, and they're just so sneaky and so strong and-do you hear yourself? This is ridiculous.

That's the thing, that's the heart of it. In truth, the Strangers are far away and capricious enough to not really come after you. The danger is real, don't get me wrong, but Changeling isn't about constantly being watched. Honestly, you're more likely to be returned because of the other broken people around you than the actual abuser. In Changeling, the real enemy is far away, and the big fear, the fight you have, is with your own nightmares and horrors that they are right there. Perception is a big part of the game-cripes, in the Hedge, a changeling who is worried about being caught is more likely to be caught than a changeling who is not. Changeling is about surviving and recovering from abuse, and while they have many dangers to deal with, it's never so much as what they think is there. A huge amount of Changeling is about the fact that the danger is in their head, almost literally.

This is why you have an enemy who wears your face and knows your life better than you do. This is why normal people can't see what you really are unless you screw with their head somehow(ala pledge or whatever). This is why the Hedge and dreams operate so similarly to each other, and why both are psychoactive. This is why the courts shift control of power. This is why everything is off kilter-because the game is about doubt and worry and dealing with the feeling that you're not in control after being abused, and how can you ever have things go back to normal, particularly when the world keeps tumbling around, falling down, falling apart.

Demon's not like that. Demons, for all the lying and hiding and sneaking, actually has a pretty clear map to play with. They know who they are, and once they get a pin on the other guy they know what he is too. The problem they face is that the enemy is right here. Heaven isn't on the other side of a chasm, it's a veil away, and what a thin veil it is. God is here, God is watching. A demon who goes around thinking that they really don't need to worry isn't looking around. It's not in their head, it's not a product of their hurt and pain and fear and confusion-no, demons actually have a pretty good lock down on this. Demons have things to deal with from their Fall, but they are equipped to handle that-it's not traumatic. Demon, in this sense, is actually the exact opposite of Changeling. Their danger is just flat out more real than a changeling's is.

Demon the Descent is a game about rebellion, and the dangers that come from fighting the world. Changeling the Lost is about recovery, and the dangers with letting their inner selves overrule and take over their outer world. As such, Changeling doesn't need the sort of masks that Demon needs.

On the Faely Human and Spiritually Other, or On Kiths and Forms and Aesthetics in General

2) I've never liked the conceit that you lost major capabilities of your Seeming when you came back through the Hedge. It always seemed like an excuse to keep from having to have ways to allow things like flight and breathing underwater for starting characters. What I'd prefer is something like Demon's Demonic Form. You have a toolbox of capabilities with which you build your Seeming. The downside is that, like Demon, you have to shed your Mask to access them. No hiding that you are actually a winged horse when you take to the sky. Similarly, when you lift that motorcycle and throw it at a guy, the ogre shines through.

5) I do like the threat of becoming too Fae but I think that should be moved to Wyrd. If you want more powerful faerie magic, you are trading off your humanity to get it. The stronger you get, the more you are bound by bans and oaths and compulsions. Wyrd 10 should be a step away from True Fae. It would be cool if your Seeming had a lot to do with how you change as your Wyrd goes up. Maybe your Seeming gets stronger but it imposes more restrictions. A Wyrd 1 Ogre may be able to still be an intellectual, but not a Wyrd 8 one. The Wyrd 8 Ogre will be strong as hell, though.

First, let me directly address some things here before I go into why the aesthetics don't work.

1)Someone didn't read up on the Beast Swimmerskin, Elemental Waterborn, or Ogre Water-dweller in regards to that entire underwater thing.
2)Um, the Wyrd is completely involved with becoming Fae. The higher it gets, the more your physical forms and urges warp and twist, the more Frailties you get, the more you need to eat and thus be involved with the Fae World. Wyrd 10 is a step away from the True Fae(Hell, you're already larger than most True Fae's smaller aspects, like it's Actors or Wisps). Granted, that you need to lose your Clarity completely and make it to Arcadia to finish the process, but being at Wyrd 10 and causing one slip of Clarity begins the cascade of sanity and desire to stay here-both go away pretty quick unless you get stopped. Otherwise, yeah. Wyrd is a huge part of it. Clarity lets you be human at Wyrd 8 in mind even if the rest of you is a flying horse.
3)Speaking of, your human form is only bound up in the lower levels of Wyrd. Makes the Mask weird, but we'll talk about that.

So with that out of the way, let's talk about fairy tales and religious iconography. Or at least, as used by these games, and more importantly why I think the Demonic Form system of Demon is a poor substitute for the Kiths of Changeling.

That kind of sounds silly, doesn't it? I mean, one of the most popular merits in this game is Dual Kith. Mixing and matching options, with a liberally open mind(in other words don't contradict me King's Raven) you can have a character that has, I think, five or six kiths? Of course, you have to bend rules and really focus, but you can have a lot, and people like mixing them up. And that seems very evocative of the Demonic Forms, giving you seven inherent points to mix and match on. It's also pretty popular. Why is this a point I'm going to contend on?

Well, because reasons.

One of the interesting things to note is that Changeling's kiths are, as a rule, whole body affairs. You are wholly a Fireheart or a Windwing, and while permutations of the two exist(a mix could result in a phoenix or a seraph), it's kind of the whole of who you are, physically speaking. Demonic Form, on the other hand, is made up of parts. THis mod is your arms, this prop is your legs,etc. There's a minor point here, I'll get back to it.

So, the imagery at work. In order to understand some of what's going on with these games, we need to go to their sources.

Something that's interesting about the idea of faerie tales is how everything gets humanized. I'm not joking, faerie tales are tales of human faces. Consider that a big feature so often in them is that animals, tools, even the elements talk. All things live, and not quite in the animistic sense of the concept-all things speak humanly and think surprisingly humanly. Sometimes they even grow human faces, maybe even arms. Faerie tales, for the depth and breadth of their inhuman hordes, bridge the gap between the supernatural and the real by wearing aspects of humanity. It's all over the place. In many ways, it feels like we're trying to make the world relatable with faerie tales by making it more human. Maybe that's why it's magical to us-the world becomes us. It's no surprise, then, that Changeling plays the same sorts of cards. Consider the Strangers presented in Autumn Nightmares. We have some pretty inhuman examples. We have one that's a house, and another that's a thunderstorm(I'd cite more, but my books are buried in the mountain right now), and yet there's always a human expression of them. Nergal has hands! He has a face! He has a bellow! Hell, our mighty dragon keeper spends a shit ton of his time walking around as a changeling, with decidedly human aspects! And the Keepers are supposed to be most alien of aliens. We have far stranger hobgoblins, but even those are, quite often, immensely human!

Ironically, our sense of the fae is very informed by the idea of things having human seemings where none existed before. It's about being close, being intimate in it's familiarity, but being off step-not alienatingly so, most of the time, just distinctively so. Small wonder, then, that Kiths are whole body,neh? And in fact, this covers why the Mask is important the way it is, also tying into the "it's in your head" aspect of the game- people see you one thing, but you can still do things they can't do, and they acknowledge. There's a tug of both alienation and familiarization at work within a changeling when this happens as well as with other people, and if you push too far you break them, and now they share your perceptions,and what will you do when you can't trust their perspective as much as you could? It's not a beast you unleash, it's an incongruity that makes you questions what's true and what's not and did I really get out.

This is why the "You're really a winged horse" thing kind of falls apart. Changeling's aesthetic is about the application of humanity. If you're so inhuman as to not have a face, you're...well, you might be a fae creature, but that word creature becomes your defining trait. The Fae wear the mask that hides their cheeks and shades their eyes. Aesthetics leans towards the human because that's what the stories do.

It's tempting to say the same of Demon, of course. Whether we play in Abrahamic pools, Persian fountains, or Indian streams(there's more I associate with Demon, and more I know the devs associate with it, but let's keep it simple), humanity is also a common element. And sure, it is, but the iconography on the whole serves a different point.

See, religion and mythology, as used by Demon, are out to keep you away from familiarity.

Asuras may share human elements, as do the Devas, but they wanna make it clear to you-they are not human. The Angels may have a human face, but it also has the face of a lion, ox, and eagle, and don't get us started on the Ophanim, which are literally just wheels. Religions and Myths use their art, and the humanity within it, to make one things clear: We aren't you. You might be us one day, you might not. Either way, we are not the same. We are alien, we are foreign, we are higher or sideways or inner to you all.

Techgnosis aside, or perhaps dead center, that's a big reason the machine aspect is so emphasized in Descent. Humanity does have a tendency to slap it's face on everything, tools included, but they are the one thing where function must come first so much of the time, and thus our machines and tools are actually among the most alien things in our lives. The Angels are apart, God is apart, these things are not you. The aesthetics of Demon are to keep the sense of humanity away in order to evoke the divine order. That's why the Demonic forms comes in parts, why this is your arm and that is your leg. That's also why it doesn't mesh with the idea of a human cover-unlike the tug of directions with a changeling doing things under the human skin instead of unleashing it, a demon keeps his demonic self separate from the normal affairs-his true self is sacred, profane, and apart.

On Shadows and Souls and Deals

1) I'd like to see Clarity abandoned in favor of Mask. Your Mask doesn't just hide you from humans, it hides you from the True Fae. When you get back, you have Mask 1, representing the weak glamour of your former self that you project. You can get a quick increase by joining a Court, which strengthens the mask and gives you a set of Breaking Points fitting their milieu. Killing your fetch and regaining your life gives you a hefty increase. Alternatively, you can make a new identity and start building it from scratch or, maybe, using Pledges like Demons do. Stuff like flagrant use of magic or letting your Mask slip to take advantage of Seeming benefits would be Breaking Points. This helps bring the threat of the Others more front and center, as well as the role of the Courts in keeping them at bay.

3) One thing I was disappointed with was that Demon kept, for the most part, the Pledge system from Changeling which I always felt was too fiddly and easy to abuse. One thing they did remove was the ability for Demons to pump their own abilities and merits with Pledges. If the Pledge system is retained, I'd at least like to see this change applied. As it stands, it is just too easy to acquire merits to get around the problems of being a Changeling by making on oath with someone. As one of my frequent Changeling players pointed out: There is no reason any Changeling should be homeless or broke. Since a main theme of the game is having your life stolen, I'd prefer there not be an easy way to acquire money, shelter, and new social contacts.

I originally didn't have much to say on this. Just wham, bam, buying Masks is a bad idea not in line with Changeling, say something about the third point, wrap up the essay, go have lunch. But then I got hungry and decided to go have lunch, and while I was chowing on my hamburger sin I ruminated on the entire bit about how changelings should never be homeless or broke. That nagged at me. Is there something right here? And things cascaded from there. And now, I have something to say about.

But first, I will say this: maybe the pledge system needs work. I dunno for sure, I'd need to go and reread and think about it, but maybe it does. But a certain point of it must remain, and that comes back to our good old buddy, the source inspirations. With that in mind, it becomes clear why the limited benefits of Demon doesn't fly with Changeling.

See, categorically, fae and demons have traditionally asked for very different things. The demonic tends towards what Descent goes for-they largely ask for the service of a person, or for some aspect of their life, or of course they ask for the soul. The things they give seem different from what they take by contrast. This often goes back to the unholy purposes of demons and the scale they work at-in the end, only the souls of the people they deal with ultimately matter. THe limitations are aesthetically and thematically in line for demon.

But in faerie tales? Fae ask for weird stuff all the time, in ways that seem similar, but ultimately they seek to benefit as much as the characters, and they have much more in common-granted, what they take from people tends to stir their life as much as a demon's pledge does, but the benefits the fae receives is equal to what the other side can receive as well. It's true to form for Changeling to do so too.

There's also a little notation in regards both styles in a mathematical sense: the fae are about proportionate trades, the demons are about improportionate trades. In faerie tales, what is given is often equal to what is taken( least within it's own context), and it makes sense that if the fae were denied options to receive that the other had, it would cease to be 'equal' and 'fair'. All options must be on the table, all must equal zero-that is the way of the fae.

By contrast, demons often try to get people to think that what they are getting is worth more than it really is, exacting large payments for minor things. This makes sense, they are liars, cheaters, manipulators. Things are not equal. It seems appropriate, then, that they do get shafted on what's available to them-they only have access to what's important to them, and the people they deal with only get what's important to them. The entire nature of pacts is unfair to all, it is openly unequal. The entire affair is slanted and askew, and the center cannot hold.

So with that out of the way, the final aspect: Pledging for Masks like Pacting for Covers.

...No. What, no.

Again, going to sources, the Fae like to screw with mortals, toy and take and nudge things that will change their lives, but by and large they never want to be them, not in the way being a Cover would. They can act and play and wear masks like humans, but that's a temporary show, not something they'd identify as.

That's well and fine, but what about specifically within Lost's context, in contrast to Demon the Descent, I hear you ask. Good question.

Here's the thing though-the matter of identity is still important.

Changelings, for better or for worse, have an identity. It might get torn apart, warped and blurred and called into question, but they have who they were before-those that don't, don't come back(and that's important). In line with the themes, them having that identity gives them something to work for, a guideline to base on and work from, whether they keep to it or deviate from it in search of home. Their identity and challenge is looking to see if who they are, for better or for worse, is buried under this Seeming of theirs, if anything of them is left or if all they are is their afflictions. Their identity is their own, the challenge they must confront and deal with. Who Am I means, to them, is if anything joyous or serene is left, if they can be who they were or want to be. Having them pact for and live other people's identities muddles that issues, the conflict of being themselves.

Demons have a different issue in that they don't really have an identity, or if what they have counts, then it's a limited one that doesn't do much good. The use and need of covers compounds that problem, as they have to identify as other people, other circumstances, things other than their own selves. Is who they are nothing more than a program? Do they really have a self? Are they just an extension of the God-Machine, are they forever a part of the system they are rebelling against, or are they their own people? Is a demon even honest with themselves, or is there nothing but a collection of lies? Who Am I means, to them, a need to be distinct, to legitimately have a place in the universe that is their own, not provided by Machine or People, but self-defined, self-willed, something honest and pure. Having that would be a source of joy, where changelings must deal with the conflict of who they are now, and who they will be.

In Conclusions and Other Pretentious Affairs

I'd love to say these aren't bad ideas, but I'd be lying. I think understanding the differences between the two can be used to sharpen Changeling, which is showing some of it's problems over the years. That said, Demon can't answer Changeling's problems, it can only inform their solution. Changeling problems needs Changeling answers, because Changeling is not Demon.

And I'd love to say more, but I've been at this for hours. I'm done.

[SoulGambit]

@Satchel: That's okay, I value your opinion just as mutch.
@ArcaneArts: Nice Essay, very informative / helpful.

[proindrakenzol]

@ArcaneArts: excellent write up, but seraphim is plural, seraph is singular. "A seraphim" is grammatically incorrect.

[ArcaneArts]

@ArcaneArts: excellent write up, but seraphim is plural, seraph is singular. "A seraphim" is grammatically incorrect.

Unless, of course, the changeling is so screwed that they are now a living swarm of seraphs, but point taken.