Gentry
It would be best to take one from the local Gentry. However, it is also possible to create a local genre. Non-local Gentry is also allowed, but any non-prefabricated Gentry must be developed in sufficient detail according to Second Editions rules and in the same way as the existing Gentry. The keeper must be approved before sending in the character.
Local Gentry
Die wylde Jagd
Titles: The One whose arrows always hit, Hunter of Damnation, God of the Hunt, Lord of the merciless cold
Description: A man 9 foot 8 inches tall wearing a cloak that hides his face. Only eyes that glow dark red with anger and bloodthirst, can be seen beneath the hood of his cloak. The pelt of a slain beast covers his shoulders. His armor is made from leather as dark as his heart, the blood of those who oppose him clearly visible upon it. He rides a cold-hearted steed that wears armor made of ice. Each strike of its hoofs echoes with the sound of shattering ice, sending cold chills down the spines of his victims long before they can see him. He weilds two weapons: a spear of never-melting ice and a Bow. He carries seven arrows, no more and no less. If you're lucky enough and you survive each of his arrows, your life will be spared. If you are not among those lucky few, he will drag you into the cold darkness to feast upon your body and soul.
Anyone might end up as prey to satisfy his desire for fresh meat and blood. If you seem to be a good hunt, he captures you to make you more interesting for future hunts. The better you fared, the more generous his 'improvements' are. His loyal followers further improve his hunt, making it more interesting for him and harder for you. Drovers herd you into just the right place for him. His cultivators change the very environment around you, forcing you to adapt quickly or fall victim to the hunt.
There are three ways to escape his realm. The first is to evade his seven arrows, which earns your freedom. The second claims that there are two portals, one on each side of his realm, that leads to the thorns. The third is largely thought of as fake, simply another trap that He lays. The rumor is there is one known as Hulda and if you are able to win her heart, she may be able to persuade him to let you go.
Realm: Ice and snow as far as the eye can see. Even the safer places require constant vigilance or you won't live to see another day. Even besides the Keeper, everything is your enemy in this realm. Every local sees you as food, a threat, or both, and won't hesitate to kill you in a moment of weakness. The environment itself is unforgiving and the snows have claimed many souls. Only one thing is clear: if you can't adapt to this cruel landscape, you will certainly die.
Entourage: Die wylde Jagd wants to hunt you, not leave you to his followers. However, every hunter knows the value of working together. If his arrows do not kill you immediately, they will make sure to finish the hunt. Here is a list of his known entourage:
- Kornunus - An ogre-sized man, with the upper body of a stag and lower body of a human.
- Mezhsargs - Dark red eyes is the only thing you will ever see when you encounter this bodyless drover.
- Skinfaxi - His trusted steed, its body formed out of a single crystal, shimmering in the light, its armor made out of ice that seems to never melt. Its red eyes always follow you, peering into your very being. Its hoofs create echoes of the sound of crashing and breaking ice each time they hit the ground, sending cold shivers down the spines of his victims long before they can see him
- Sabatschka - two wolf sized dogs, resembling a white Doberman with dark black eyes. Their very stare makes your soul turn to ash. Their steps carry death itself, everywhere their paws land turns to ash and dust.
- Young Mother Hulda - the "Daughter" of the wylde Jagd, and if the rumors are true, the only person who might warm his frozen heart. She is beauty incarnate in a place full of terror and despair. She has fair skin and platinum blonde hair, but her face resembles a mask of ice, no emotion can ever be seen, not even when her father is killing his prey.
Huntsmen: Huntsmen often come to catch the lucky ones that got away.
Fetches: The Hunter does not spare the time to create a fetch, why bother when you are the prey anyway and will die in his realm.
Former Denizens:
King Jaromír
Titles: King in shining Armor, Lord of eternal Battle, Harlequin
Description: King Jaromír, is a man who always pleases. His charisma is that of a true fae, twisted and deformed. He seems like a normal young man and nothing about him seems the least bit different or strange. Not even his smile, which is Jaromír's great strength. He enchants you, makes you admire or desire him. You want to be near him and enjoy his presence and that is exactly what he takes advantage of.
He lures you and brings you into his kingdom where rules supreme. He weaves tales to make you think he saved you from the dangers of the thorns, but this is all a charade while he claims you completely as his own. In this time he measures and weighs your very soul to determine what you are and what you can do for him. It gives him pleasure to move you like a piece on the chessboard for his entertainment. Jaromír changes you into something that bastardizes your old life, forcing you into a role you could never have dreamed of before. So a priest may now become a ram who has to live his life as in the stables, in which he is served the horse's apples as dinner.
Realm: His kingdom is like something out of a picture book. Forests stretch across his kingdom with valleys and even small mountains. His castle stands proudly in the middle. It consists of six castle courtyards and, with a few exceptions, is built of heavy stone. The buildings of the castle extend over a narrow elongated ridge, the river, and the large village. The main castle is at the southern end, and half a mile further north is the only ground-level entrance to the castle. The slopes to the west, east and south drop steeply and are overgrown with grass and trees. Next to his castle is the capital of the empire, where his favorites live. He has molded them into craftsmen, soldiers, and knights. His servants, like the Chamberlain or Seneschal, can also be found here when not in his service. The king's court and empire have to function. If not for dreadfully weary Changelings and Fae creatures, one could believe this land was pulled from history. And what could a king do most of all he waged war and for that he needed more than just a handful of soldiers and knights. Craftsmen and even peasants and needed to fuel the war machine. The more worthless one was, the lower the work and the further away from the castle one lived. Those who pleased the king most would find themselves placed in the five smaller castles spread around the realm, and commanded to wage war against the king, to ensure he always had a battle to attend. Only those the King deemed wretched had a chance to avoid a bloody death in the petty kings wars.
Huntsmen: Those who the King values are often the targets of his Huntsmen, wanting to return such valuable stock to their rightful place.
Fetches: Jaromír almost always leaves behind a fetch, they are quite similar to the Changeling, often made from the hair of the Changeling themselves. This close connection makes it more likely for The Lost to bond with their Fetch.
Former Denizens:
Cvellabecdael Keeper of the Evergreen Gardens
Titles:The Warden of the Meadow, The Bedeviled Heart, The Boundless Hunter
Description: A walk in the early morning, the dew has settling on the sweet-smelling roses. Lush green of the garden plants sparkling with life. Yet there is contemplative silence, and into the distance reveals a picturesque horizon.
This is perhaps exactly what one would expect when wandering through the green spaces. However anyone who takes a closer look as they wander the curving paths of the meadows will see that something is wrong. The silence that emerged as Cvellabecdael wandered through her evergreen garden. She wore a complacent smile on her lips as she admired her beautiful garden, so wonderful in its verdant life. Her silky black hair fell smoothly over her shoulders. Two antlers, both beautiful and deadly, unfurled from her forehead in branches of unbreakable bone.
The giant of a woman bore no fat on her frame, and its slender graceful build seemed to emphasize her cruel nature. Long and powerful limbs moved with an unearthly grace. Her face was adorned with large pupil-less black eyes and full lips. Which when parted for a smile, revealed sharp teeth. Her nose resembled that of a deer. She could be mistaken for a beautiful and kind caretaker of this garden. However behind that mask is the wicked and cruel soul of a Gentry. She will leave you to wither under the scorching sun in her garden, your blood feeding the flowers and plants, the only thing she truly cares for.
Realm: Vast meadows and thousands of flower fields stretch as far as the eye can see. Playfully arranged statues of marble dot the landscape. There is not a plant that does not exist here and so many more that you have never seen before. Insects and animals scurry through the wilderness, from bees to rabbits and deer. Everything you can imagine.
But don't let yourself be seduced by this inviting abundance, the fruits that the trees and bushes produced were not only inviting and tasty but also deadly at the same time. Some of them bearing addicting nectar, while others wicked poison. As you moved through the flower seas, it seemed as if you would never find an end and after a while, there was no way out of the labyrinth full of sensuality and scent. Stunned, some might even fall asleep. And even so, the pollen that flew around was something to be avoided because it also clouded your senses and you couldn't make out clearly where the north or south was. The more you are under the influence of the eternally beautiful, the more you get a place in the garden. From flowers to animals or even statues. Everyone becomes a part of the garden.
Huntsmen: Cvellabecdael sends not often out Huntsmen, it happens every now and then that there are more or less of them.
Fetches: Fetches that are left behind and that is always the case are perfect they are better than you the dream of every spouse, child, friend and family something you would never manage yourself.
Former Denizens:
Mother of the Endless Water
Titles: Mistress of the depths, Devourer of the Weak
Description: There she was, barely recognisable in the water as she glided through the sea. Her muscular body steeled from a lifetime in the water, if you only saw the top of her body you would expect to see a beautiful woman with fine muscles defining her silky skin and plump bluish mountains. But no matter where you looked else, a person's every thought changed.
Besides her two arms, she had ten limbs that moved like tentacles, while suction cups were attached under them to not let any prey leave out of her grip, two of the ten tentacles were three metres long. Even though she had no legs, she was fast and her tentacles were better than just each leg and arms together. Not a rumour was heard in her kingdom of anyone ever getting out of her tentacle grip.
Across her back spread two large fins with iridescence and luminosity that captivated those who saw them. Especially in the depths of the endless sea, it was a feast for the eyes, even if the view of those of did not bode well.
But the worst thing was her face - the contrast to her upper body was so strong that many lost their minds just looking at it. Big yellow eyes stare at you through the thick black water just below, her mouth opened like a toothy beak and broke every bone with a gentle bite.
Realm: Water as far as the eye can see, sometimes you could see some landmass, but even if you saw it as a lifeline. It wasn't, as far as the eye could see there was dark saltwater that got thicker and blacker the deeper you dived. Many of the lost gathered together and lived in small colonies under the surface of the water, as the land was no longer a natural source of life. Their habitat was now the water and so the greatest danger was in the water.
The colonies of inhabitants were mostly coral reefs made of corals that no one had ever seen before. Light and huge enough to hollow out and house people. Algae and other things were planted to feed everyone and the inhabitants made tools from shells and snails. Above all, spears and harpoon-like weapons were popular against the creatures of the sea. No one knows exactly what is swimming around, but anything you saw could eat you.
Next to the creatures of the water that make dinosaurs and aliens look old. There were also the people of the Brach'oa, these creatures were a mixture of crabs and something that looked remotely human? At least if you had ever seen a human, the resemblance was there. They worshipped the mother as their goddess and saw the lost as their enemies.
They lived in huge shells held in the air by large algae above the coral colonies. And their songs could be heard echoing through the water several times a day. Their voices were so powerful that everyone was filled with fear.
Mother, source of life, mistress of the depths, devourer of the weak. To You alone belongs the dominion of the seas. Eternal will be your kingdom, all-encompassing your power and irresistible your will. Send Your children to devastate the heretics and unbelievers. Give us victory, that we may proclaim Your strength beyond the borders of all seas and fill the lungs of the air-breathers with water.
Huntsmen: For a long time now there was no sign of a Huntsmen.
Fetches: The chances for a Fetch are quite low. And most of them horror visions of the original. They are evil and most of the time get involved in to criminal activities.
Former Denizens:
The Emperor
Titles: Keeper of the Salted Land, The blind Warrior
Description: The heat of the three suns shines down on you, there was nothing to provide shade. They were always in the sky and only the structures standing on the arid dry ground gave a little protection from the heat of the suns. The absence of celestial bodies and seasons make time calculations difficult, so that you lose track of time sooner than you think and a day becomes a year and a year becomes a decade. How long are you here? You don't know.
In the middle of it all is a huge building called the Coliseum, the arena where everything happens. The centre of it all was where he was enthroned. There was only one place for him his white empty eyes moved over the inner part of the arena where they fought. And where you will fight. His body was massive and muscular, bronze shimmering his skin in the glare of the suns. Humility and fight that was what filled him and what he longed for. And all the others had to follow him in search of the right fighting partner, someone good enough to stand up to them all and fight with him.
Realm: Daily life here was like you would imagine in an arena or coliseum. As soon as someone arrives, you are examined by the supervisors and put in your category. No matter how well or badly you are suited for fighting, here you are taught not to embarrass yourself for at least the 15 minutes you stand in the arena. You will be adapted to your role. So that you provide enough entertainment. Nobody wants to see something boring.
For the next while, your daily routine is training from morning to night until you are ready to compete in the arena. How long are you asking? Well, that depends on how well you practice and how often you have to be punished. From one year to ten maybe a hundred. You should do your best to give a glorious fight in the arena... maybe there is hope if you win.
If you are big and strong, you will be given heavy armour and a weapon. If you are fast, you can expect to be handed a bow. But there are so many weapons and combinations it would be pointless to list them all. Above all, necessity is the mother of invention.
But maybe you are good with animals then they will make sure to use that against you by making you fight them. The animals that are especially irritated and hungry for your flesh are waiting for you in your fight. Or you may be lucky and be able to ride in chariots. An advantage over your opponent. But don't think that they won't put 5 opponents in front of you, no one has an advantage over anyone else. Everyone is equal in the arena.
When it comes to the weapons and armour used in the arena, you can say it's a big mix. Inspired by so many different eras and cultures, everything blurs together and sometimes you can't tell what came from where. Everything here is a cultural pile. Because the only thing that counts in the end is your fight and the fight of others.
Huntsmen: Huntsman is seen more or less depending on how many flee from the arena.
Fetch: No Fetches are left behind.
Former Denizens:
WWW.exe
Titles: The Angry, The Sad, The Desire
Description: The WWW.exe controls the city. What does that mean you say?
WWW.exe is the City, they control everything from food to rain to your life. Why is this your life? Well, sometimes you can't even remember anymore how you got here. The WWW.exe is like your mother, father, your caretaker. You never see it.. Well someone might say you can see it on the screens of your devices, and hear their voice from the speakers. Its voice is inhuman, more so even than the voices of the stranger inhabitants of the city.
It always runs a shiver up your spine when it speaks.. Slowly creeping through the speaker towards your ear. You can feel its hatred towards you, and how it wants you to suffer in your life.. In this city. It's like the city consumes you, your feelings, your memories. Everything.. But they control the city.
And so WWW.exe will try to just let you hang out on the long arm.. Not satisfied enough but also not suffering too much, just barely making it. This is nagging at your soul.. It destroys you more than simple starving.
Realm: The City, some say, is a circle with a maze that never ends. Some say it moves streets and buildings around just to keep you inside.
It is a concrete jungle of tall buildings, skyscrapers, and other buildings with minimal space for the maximum number of people. Everything lies in darkness and the neon of the lights merely colour the never-ending fog that lies over the city. Some days rain streams down on the hot asphalt creating even more fog. More sparkling lights and slurs of neon while you walk through the streets. Everything reacts with your device and WWW.exe. It's like an overlay that follows you constantly and it changes everything based on who you are.
If WWW.exe things you don't deserve to eat, then the food will be more expensive and so you burn down your daily work routine, drink your too expensive shit drink and smoke a cigarette that smells and tastes like camel hair. But this is your life... And the one next to you.. Is he eying you..?
The big guy is two heads taller than you. Muscular, faint orange pelt over his body, two mandibles coming out of his mouth. His eyes got removed and upgraded to something better. Cold chrome and steel. He must do work that needs vision. WWW.exe is known for taking people and ‘upgrading’ them, making them more efficient in their job. You? Well, your upgrade is not as good as his. You only could get typewriter fingers.. Your job was typing things for WWW.exe. Even if you are sure they don't need any of this.. It was your job. He likes your belt, his gaze always goes to you, he would love a new one..
You are done on your way to your bed in your 9m² apartment.. Suddenly you feel pain and you hear a heavy smack on your head. The guy gets what he wants and nobody, not even WWW.exe will stop him. You are laying in the streets, rain is pouring down on you. Rats and other things just wait to eat your flesh. It stinks like piss, rotted shit and fouling flesh... You wish to die but WWW.exe will not allow it. You need to work.
Huntsman: WWW.exe sends Huntsman out regularly to hunt down former denizens. You need to come back to work.
Fetch: WWW.exe always leaves a Fetch, they are mostly made out of cables or other electronic devices.
Former Denizens:
The Oracle
Titles: The Dark Prophet, The All-Knowing, The Sighted Empress
Description: Most often The Oracle takes the form of a woman, with long flowing red hair housing a curation of Hedge Beast bones and Changeling icons. Long flowing robes, littered with stars reflect an expanding galaxy unlike any mortal eyes have witnessed. She appears tall, though her image shifts constantly, warping and flickering making it hard to concentrate in her presence or focus on her directly. Visitors are ‘’meant’’ to focus on their readings, after all. Each Changeling who serves The Oracle is one of the cards in her Tarot Deck and as readings are laid out, they play on a stage in front of her guests, with vivid and often deadly displays of their own futures. Each card is in fact an Icon of said Changeling and getting hands on these cards is unheard of.
Realm: Upon arrival in Prophēteia (as it’s commonly called) or denizens of the realm know it as Dromvier, you’ll face an ever expanding wood that repeats itself with thick trees and deep shadows in every direction. If you stumble upon this realm by accident, you will surely die in these woods if the Diviners do not find you. If you have come for a reading, you’ll enter the woods and immediately be faced with the price you’ll pay for the information you seek. Perhaps you’ll see your wife smiling at you, ready to guide you to the Oracle. Her safety or maybe even her life is now part of this bargain. Perhaps you’ll find bits and pieces of your earned reputation as bread crumbs leading the way, ready to be forgotten by all who knew you should you accept the cost. It is said Loyalists and Privateers from other realms will travel here to garner information for their Hunt, so they may get an edge on pleasing their own masters, but former Denizens of this realm know that Others of indescribable status and power also came for The Oracle’s truths. The limits of who she serves are unknowable.
When readings are not taking place, the Oracle is rarely found. Meanwhile the suits co-exist with one another, each taking on a role within the realm that tightly coincides with the meaning of their arcana, displaying traits of both the forward and reverse of their cards. There are power struggles, friendships, alliances, and pacts just like any other community, though denizens change often. When the readings are carried out, death is often in the cards, so to speak. The loss of one Changeling means the arrival of another shortly thereafter and as such the community expands and collapses often.
Escaping the Realm is rare, though not impossible. The Major Arcana are typically the oldest in the realm and are closely tied to the Oracle as pure Loyalists. But some cards do not arise in each reading and these are the moments when an escape is possible. Recently the Queen of Swords helped stage an escape, enacting the Silent War in a reading rather than focusing on the prophecy being laid out. The dissent caused chaos, and the Ashen General continued to lay siege until as many of the suits could escape as possible. It is rumored she also escaped, but her whereabouts are completely unknown, in or out of the Hedge.
Entourage:
- Death
- The Fool
- The Lovers
- The Moon
- The Tower
Huntsmen: Perhaps the most horrifying part of the realm are the Diviners. A zombie-like hoard of devout soldiers. Once the Changelings of the deck, these fae died during a reading and were brought back outside the Arcana. Without faces, unable to speak, their previous identities are erased as are their memories of their former selves. Stories of lost loved ones turning into Diviners are common, though finding them again once they’ve changed forms is impossible. It makes their hunt for the escaped Changelings all the more heart-breaking. Ironside, Diviners are androgynous and silent soldiers acting on Loyalist orders from the Major Arcana.
Fetches: Fetches are not unheard of from The Oracle, but typically rare.
Former Denizens:
- Cole Soleil: The Knight of Wands
- Dorian Aria: The Knight of Cups
- Jack Kears: The Six of Swords
- Phoebe Lawson: The Nine of Swords
- Revel Black: The Page of Swords
- Note: To play as part of the Black Arcana, you must choose which card your PC represents and shape it accordingly to the card’s meaning. You may choose any suit, Ace - 10 of the Minor Arcana, or Page - Knight of the Court Arcana. Kings, Queens, and Major Arcana are unavailable to PCs. Card places will be given on a first come, first serve basis. No two cards will be in play at once. (eg, two players can not both be the Knight of Wands at once.) Making a wiki does not secure your card.
- Do not name your wiki your card title, but your PCs name. Include your card in your info (if you're disclosing it).
Foreign Gentry
FableEater
Titles: Chattering Chorus, The Spinner of Worlds, Echidna: Forge of Horrors
Description: The aspect of the FableEater who is sometimes called “The Leveller” or “Call to Adventure” responsible for leading most, if not all the realm’s changelings into its clutches, the Call is a shapeshifting, mellifluous being skilled in persuasion, subtlety, and trickery. Those it deems worthy, or more likely simply those who fit a particular trope or ideal are usually snuck away from Ironside with the promise not only of power, but of heroism, adulation, and purpose. Though its appearance regularly changes to suit its needs, the Call is most commonly seen as a celestial, shimmering being of light that can grow to be an all-encompassing universal panorama. Its methods are often honeyed and full of promises, but it is also the FableEater’s aspect of sheer Elemental destruction.
Realm: A series of interlocking cities connected by vast plains of unoccupied land suitable for large scale combats. Each city tends to relate to a different theme or technology, changing over time as new stories and tales have been formed. In the modern-day, these cities are mostly analogues for American cities, though those spun through the lens of modern comic books. New Apple, Coast City, MegalopolisVille… cities of faceless hobs and citizen changelings at constant risk due to the actions of the so-called “Super-Villains”, trapped in the role they have been spun into.
Despite being a world of ‘advanced technology, magic and superhuman powers, it is a place that never changes, where the status quo can never be altered, and where none of these things can genuinely improve life because it wouldn’t be ‘relatable’ to the mundane world anymore. Beyond this space of stasis lies an infinite series of false reflections, like the protected space but subtly, or incredibly different. In these worlds, Changelings are written and rewritten, mirror images of more beloved ‘characters’ in the Keeper’s stable, tweaked or twisted to see how a tale might go differently.
New Apple is modelled after New York, while Coast City is like Ironside’s San Francisco. MegalopolisVille meanwhile is geographically similar to Chicago, though it is the realm’s centre of science and technology and the realm’s tallest towers. Other places, fields or cities are expanded upon as needed, but all too often these places are collapsed into nothingness when they are no longer central to a story. Other realms sit side by side with it, many featuring the same or similar figures with an altered theme, be it the era, the theme, or the genre of story, occasionally visited by favourites from the prime realm for a novel change of pace.
Entourage: The FableKeeper’s court spans swaths of its realm. Composed initially of Hope Inc, the premier group of New Apple, over time its membership has grown and changed to incorporate The Brigade, an anti-hero collective of “take no prisoners” heroes that revel in their ability to endlessly cause destruction that can always be fixed if they get bored. They are:
Hero Inc:
- Donner - The team wall, a statuesque Ogre woman made of living stone who controls the environment.
- Blitzen - Team Speedster, a deer-like Beast woman and partner of Donner. Lightning powered.
- Joan Janezz - “Alien” Water Elemental, Shapeshifter and Density Manipulator, four-armed and has antenna.
- Heavenly Dayz - Fairest Bright One who can manipulate elemental forces. An older, bright green-skinned man with greying hair. Healer and team Leader.
- Night Haunt - Darkling martial artist, spy, mental genius, and superior driver. Always wreathed in cloaking shadow save for 2 bright, red eyes.
The Brigade
- Rampage - Giant, red Ogre brute. Eyeless and hunts by sound.
- Gunhead - Mad, Wizened Inventor. More guns than just the head.
- Brutalia- Seven-foot-tall Fairest strongwoman, weapon wielder and team leader.
- Dread Claw- Raptor Beast, Speedster, and assassin. A spindly, bird-headed man with feathers along his arms that are razor sharp.
- DeathStar - Shadow Elemental, a tall, quiet figure wearing white gloves, white boots and a suit that looks like a starscape.
Huntsmen: The Huntsman of the FableEater are well known and feared, they often come out and hunt escaped changelings.
Fetches: FableEater commonly makes fetches, though just as many are simply destroyed in its own machinations and entertainments as they are actually sent out to replace anyone. When they are, they tend to be almost extreme, amplified examples of the trope or ideal that the True Fae saw in their real counterpart. People who were thought to be good produce fetches who are incredibly good, and people who were chosen for their particular malice or cruelty produce fetches who become mass murderers.
Former Denizens:
Xekanius, Archdevil of the Devouring Abyss
Description: They say that Arcadia is hell, but little do they know there is an actual hell somewhere in there. There is a part of Faerie known as the Infernal Kingdoms, a gathering of realms where a multitude of fiends vie for dominance over one another. At the furthest edge of these kingdoms is the Devouring Abyss, the domain of the Archdevil Xekanius, a demonic fae that lords over an army of fiendish soldiers, self-serving bureaucrats, depraved aristocrats, and brutish slaves.
Xekanius is tall and muscular, a pair of ram horns growing from his skull and leathery wings sprouting from his back. Many find him simultaneously abhorrent and attractive, both drawn to and repulsed by him in extreme measure. His voice is deep and melodious, his words imbued with a supernatural charm that is nigh impossible to resist; when he speaks, you wish to listen; when he commands, you wish to obey; when he scolds, you wish to cower. The Archdevil has a way of honing in on weaknesses that is impressive even among the Fae, possessing an innate understanding of how to exploit people's vulnerabilities and moral shortcomings. He is a literal devil, through and through, and he will have you saying 'thanks' and 'please' as you sell your soul on the dotted line.
He seduces his victims with promises of lost knowledge, tastes of carnal pleasures, or power to decimate those that wronged them. He threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, to rob them of friends or family, or to utterly ruin the legacy of their life's work. He will do whatever it takes to convince you to follow him through the Thorns. Once you belong to him, though? Hell is your new home, and your master... well... he is the Hunger That is Never Sated.
Realm: Lakes of fire craggy hills surround the Devouring Abyss, the outer edges of Xekanius's realm patrolled by warbands of savage fiends. An expansive mining complex is the heart of the Fae's industry, slaves taken in war or bought on the markets digging for sulphur, iron, copper, and other, stranger materials that do not exist in the human world. The Abyss itself is a massive depression in the black, barren ground, a chasm several miles wide and unimaginable deep.
A sprawling society of devils and demons descends along its northern slope, roads, stairs, and ladders connecting the buildings painstakingly carved from unyielding bedrock. Slaves, chattel, and servants live in simple hovels, while the merchants, craftsmen, officials, and clerks live in modest comfort. Great mansions and luxury palaces belong to Xekanius's favoured subjects, places where unimaginable cruelty and boundless hedonism meshes together in spectacles designed to entertain the most prominent citizens of the Abyss. Regardless of their position or status, they are all devils and demons of one sort or another: raucous imps and honey-tongued incubi, barking hell-hounds and braying nightmares, towering balrogs and near-human cambions, to mention but a few. Many Wizened end up as lawyers or officials, navigating and taking advantage of the massive and unwieldy bureaucracy that governs life in the Abyss, its wheels greased by excessive amounts of forms, permits, and bribes.
Some become craftsmen, forging weapons of war for the infernal legions or becoming engineers or architects, planning the infrastructure of Xekanius's realm. Ogres and Beasts are primarily recruited to the war effort against Xekanius's neighbours, though those who distinguish themselves may be recruited to serve as bodyguards or gladiators, spilling each other's bloods in gory and vicious tournaments. A rare few rise to ranks of strategists, infernal generals that send thousands to their death in the name of the Archdevil. Darklings skulk and skitter across obscure vantage points, gathering information and spying on alleged enemies of the kingdom, or serving as ruthless assassins, dispatching of those that earn their master's ire. Some are sent outside the Abyss, targeting rival fae, or even influential Goblin Queens in the Hedge.
Fire elementals roar and roil in rivers of lava, acid elementals lounge in corrosive pools, and elementals of stone, metal, and obsidian help shape the hostile environment, ensuring that the Abyss ever continues to expand and grow. No matter who you were, no matter what you become, the Abyss is a place that eats away at you. Whether from endless years of monotony or unspeakable, diabolical tasks, Xekanius has a way of diminishing the people in his captivity, making them less and less of what they used to be, of -who- they used to be, until there is hardly anything left but the devils he made in his own image.
Huntsmen: The Archdevil's Huntsmen are always demonic in appearance, red eyes, claws and horns, some terrible to behold, and others possessing dark, mesmerizing beauty. They are instilled with their master's desire for his subjects, and his hunger for them, and they are relentless in their pursuit.
Fetches: Xekanius crafts fetches from whatever is available at the time he abducts a human into the Thorns, making do with random debris, twigs, or old pieces of patio furniture. They all return to their human lives with a strange birthmark they never had before, but apart from that, they are indistinguishable from the humans they are impersonating.
Former Denizens:
Mother Goose
Titles: Voice of the Northwood, Reader of the Taleweave
Description: At first, one might be excused for believing Mother Goose to be a kindly matronly figure at least from a distance. However Mother Goose stands over twelve feet in height, and is covered in pale frost bitten skin. Cracked and dry hair sticks out in all directions from under a shawl made of living fibers that continually play out and tell stories that humanity has long since forgotten. Her clothes are thread barren and show signs of being mended and damaged many times over. The bottoms of her skirts are cacked in dark mud and grasses, but under them are wicked and cruel clawed cockrel’s feet.
Realm: The Northwood is a dark and bitterly cold realm of Arcadia. The trunks of the trees in the Northwood stretch up to the sky above, so high that clouds form under the canopy. No light can reach the depths of the woods, and even lights brought from other realms find their ability to function severely diminished. Snow piles high at the base of the trees and threatens to swallow up anyone who dares enter the realm.
However there is a path that one can take to move through The Northwood with out succumbing to the deathly cold the Realm offers to unwelcome visitor. Anyone who offers up a Rhyme that Mother Goose has never heard before will find that the snows part and takes them directly to the small cabin located deep in the Northwood.
This cabin is massive for most who enter, but fits the giant Mother Goose just perfectly. It is in here that she tends to The Taleweave, the record of all stories that mankind has ever told each other. Sitting in her rocker, she weaves new lines into the Tapestry as the Changelings she has taken are forced to act them out for her.
Entourage: Mother Goose keeps a multitude of Changelings who serve as Actors in her tales. However few of them are truly loyal to the Gentry. Her greatest Ally in the realm is a great hedgebeast that serves as her mount. This great beast is a huge winged monster that moves silently through the woods and hunts any and all who would try to escape.
The Gander - Hedgebeast ally of Mother Goose
Huntsmen: Mother Goose sends huntsman out to seek out any who would dare escape. They are often statues made of Ice and Wood. They use methods of coercion and manipulation to draw their prey out.
Fetches: There is always a fetch left behind by Mother Goose. A creature whos flesh is made from the same threads used to knit the Taleweave, and its bones of knitting needles. These fetches are deeply flawed and extremely dangerous to those around them, usually falling to their most based desires.
Former Denizens:
