Changelings - Defunct
While the Sidhe and Re Vihan are ageless, they are still susceptible to death by violence or disease. With an exceptionally low birthrate, other steps must be taken to strengthen the bloodline and replace lost numbers. To this end, the healthy babies of Bediz are often stolen away, replaced by a changeling, their true natures hidden with glamour. Infants are the most common targets for replacement, but others can be targeted as well, although Fae only rarely bother hiding the abduction of adults, usually chosen for their beauty and skill.
The deception is often temporary, ending with the "death" of a changeling or, in some rare cases, the surreptitious return of the child. The cases where a changeling will survive past "infancy" is extremely rare, but often a serious concern, as adult changelings become increasingly unstable and dangerous.
For information on the fate of the abducted human, please see the entry on Milliget
Basic Information
Anatomy
Changelings are faerie dopplegangers, most typically resembling the human infant it was swapped with, maintaining a persistent glamour to further the illusion. Without this glamour, and as the creature ages, the Changeling adopts a sickly or misshapen appearance, such as a large, withered head, covered in wrinkles to the point that it resembles a gray raisin, or twisted hands with long, oddly-proportioned fingers. Their morphology is similar to most humanoids, possessing two arms, legs, ears and eyes and one mouth and nose.
In their natural form, changelings often possess several rows of sharp, but uneven teeth.
Genetics and Reproduction
Changelings were orignally created via Arkane rituals, usually tied to a constructed fetish. Originally created by the Korrigan, the species has become self-perpetuating, creating new Changelings for their own purposes or at the behest of a patron, often a Sidhe or Korrigan. The quality of the base materials often will determine the strength of the Changeling they spawn.
Growth Rate & Stages
The "life" of a changeling varies, and many do not appear to grow or age from their base forms, appearing to wither and die within days, weeks or months of the initial swap. Others age slowly, maintaining their sickly and weak appearance, matching the expected growth of their host species. This can continues for years, although few changelings reach adulthood before disappearing back to Faerie or being killed.
Some Changelings grow unaware of their true nature after infancy, attempting to live a normal life. Never intended to survive in a prolonged identity, these creatures will grow more and more erratic and unstable as they age, continuing their over-consumption of resources and emotional manipulation in each stage of life. Elder Changelings are often prone to dangerous mood swings, violent anti-social behavior, and paranoia. Changelings lack the ability to comprehend morality and often exhibit extreme psychopathic tendencies. Violent psychotic breaks, including audio and visual hallucinations are common, with the Changelings placing themselves in the centre of paranoid conspiracies of impersonators driven by unseen malevolent forces. As artificial constructs, they are all but immune to pain or internal damage.
Eventually growing to unstable for civilized society, they will often drive those around them away, residing as violent, anti-social hermits.
Ecology and Habitats
Changelings can be found throughout Alvez, residing in typical regional settings and family units befitting the location and culture of their hosts. Emotionally and physically needy, Changelings will often try and form strong co-dependent bonds with family, friends and communities, drawing in more resources via a web of social obligations and emotional manipulation. The changelings continue to create and draw on these ties until their deaths or psychotic breaks.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Changelings are known for their voracious appetites, devouring any food, drink or medicine they have access to, and constantly demanding more. In poor communities, it is common for this consumption to drive hosts to utter ruin with little regard for the consequences. Consumption is the driving force behind changelings, and they masterfully manipulate their hosts into maintaining the life of the Changeling.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Changelings adapt to the social structure of their host communities, following the customs and rituals that are expected of them. Adult changelings will ferociously attempt to top their local pecking orders through any means necessary, then use their position to serve their desires and whims, draining larger and larger resource pools as they evolve.
Changelings have little social structure amongst themselves, and are often hostile to other Changelings, seeing them as a threat to their own resource pools, even if they are unaware of their true nature.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Changelings are found throughout, typically in Bediz settlements in Arle and the Western Realms, although they can freely travel to the South. They are most common in the North, such as Gallia, Briezh and Normandi.
Average Intelligence
Infant changelings are typically more intelligent than their Bediz counterparts, capable of processing stimuli to determine threats to its existence and emotional strings to make it the centre of attention. As they age, their mental state deteriorates significantly.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Despite their sickly appearance, Changelings possess exceptional sensory powers beyond those of most humans. Changelings can see well in low-lighting and hear sounds and voices through stone walls or over large distances. Though they often appear as infants, they are capable of processing stimuli on an adult level and determining threats against it and exploits for its benefits. Unusually insightful and manipulative infants are often seen as an early warning sign of the presence of a Changeling.
Changelings possess incredible powers of audio mimicry, capable of perfectly replicating sounds and voices, as well as rudimentary ventriloquism and some telekinetic powers, capable of tipping over vessels and slamming doors around them.
Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms
Changelings are parasitic doppelgangers, typically replace Bediz infants, although this is not always the case. Once the original has been removed, either by abduction or murder, Changelings use glamour and skillful manipulation to draw on the resources of their host families and communities. Changelings are physical and emotional drains on their hosts, adopting sickly and needy forms, constantly consuming energy and resources as their beleaguered hosts try to fill their insatiable needs. When a host is drained, Changelings will often draw on extended family, social ties and the community at large, moving along the social chain in its quest for resources.
Civilization and Culture
Beauty Ideals
Adult changelings adopt the local ideals of beauty from their hosts as means of acquiring social status and resources in a purely material assessment.
Gender Ideals
N/A
Relationship Ideals
Changelings are maintained and defined by their relationships, drawing on familial, social and romantic networks to draw in more resources, energy and attention, often giving very little in return, although the often are not viewed as such by those within their social webs. Whether intentional or merely instinctual, Changelings use social relationships solely for their own unfulfilled needs and insatiable desires.
Common Taboos
Numerous wards exist against changelings, often employed by parents looking to prevent the abduction and substitution of their children. An infant changeling can be made to reveal itself by demonstrating extremely unusual behaviour in it's presence when it things its alone, such as heating water in eggshells, constantly spinning around or wearing clothing noticeably inside out. This will confound and confuse the changeling into demanding an explanation, thus revealing its true nature. However, a changeling will often attempt to disrupt these attempts to identify it and will attack if outed. Changelings have few, if any qualms about killing those who threaten its position.
Iron scissors are thought to drive away potential abductors from infant's cribs, as done the burning of shoe leather. Obfuscation of a subject's True-name, such as the use of nicknames, will also aid in the prevention of such abductions.
If the original subject is located and retrieved, a changeling is compelled vacate its host community. In unaware changelings, this often leads to bouts of paranoia and rage, ending in the death of the changeling or the target as the changeling flies into a homicidal frenzy.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Many Fae peoples possess low birthrates or require new blood to maintain their species, and will often commission Changelings to aid in the abduction of Bediz, with the Changelings replacing the abducted target and taking over their lives. More recently, this has also spread to the Bediz themselves, who hire Changelings to aid in the assassination or replacement of political and social rivals.
False identifications often occur in some Bediz populations, leading the the interrogation and occasional death of non-changelings, often the disabled or neurodivergent. Changeling rumors have been known to cause outbreaks of mass hysteria throughout Bedouar.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Lifespan
Less than 3 months.
Conservation Status
Changelings typically reside within their host populations, their day to day existence unremarked upon and unmolested so long as their deception is maintained. When their true nature is revealed, however, they are often driven out or killed, resulting in low survival rates for outed changelings. Their survival is further threatened by organized inquisitions and hunting organizations, such as the Order of Albi.
The Sidhe Courts and Korrigan Troupes offer little protection to Changelings unless Hospitality is claimed within a Faerie stronghold, at which point they are protected under the doctrine without further special considerations. Many Fae look upon changelings with a mix of pity or disgust, and few have lasting relations with individuals.
The hostility of Bediz populations and the indifference of Faerie populations leads to a high mortality rate for outed changelings.
Average Height
Changelings are shorter than the average human, falling towards to lower edges of the average range for a region, but rarely abnormally so.
Average Weight
Despite their constant consumption, Changelings are typically lighter and thinner than expected.
Average Physique
Changelings appear weak and sickly, possessing far less muscle mass than their human counterparts and are often perceived as sickly or weak, prone to injury and sickness. Despite this, they are capable of great bursts of speed or strength when their lifestyle is threatened, capable of killing a fully grown man while unarmed. These bursts are usually only used in extreme circumstances when all other attempts have failed.
Geographic Distribution
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