Changelings
Typically the rate of Goblinization is one-tenth of one percent in any given human population and occurs at the onset of or during puberty. The occurrence is more common in some lineages and so may be an inherited curse or latent manifestation. The afflicted (or blessed) go to sleep one night and awaken transformed with fae appearance and abilities. The Goblins, Trolls and Dark Elves may be driven out, attacked or even killed in the ensuing panic which will frequently extend to attacks on the Fae Ghettos with fire and iron.
The mutation of the Beastmen gives them resistance to the transforming power of Warp Storm, especially when combined with Silver Tattoos. There is no Goblinization amongst them.
The mutation of the Beastmen gives them resistance to the transforming power of Warp Storm, especially when combined with Silver Tattoos. There is no Goblinization amongst them.
The woman arose in the early predawn light. Carefully unwrapping her plaint of braided dark hair after splashing her face with water and trading the sleeping gown for a black skirt and red shirt. She set a kettle of water on the braizer and went to wake the children.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" her scream woke the house, small children sitting bolt upright from their mattresses while the older jumped up and looked around. The middle daughter froze and joined her mother's cries.
The husband raced into the room, a club in his hand, hair wild. The two small boys gazing up from their pads, the middle daughter her arms up as if warding off attack, his wife at the door staring and screaming. "Monster! Give me back my daughter!"
"What? Monster? I'm here mum!" said the hulking brute standing at the eldest daughter's bed. Wearing her daughetr's nightshirt, though stretched and torn and barely containing the muscled green skinned goblin with it's spikey brown hair, flat nose, wide buggy eyes, fanged mouth and back swept pointed ears.
"Husband! The evil fae stole our daughter in the night! Make it bring her back!" Cried the woman.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" her scream woke the house, small children sitting bolt upright from their mattresses while the older jumped up and looked around. The middle daughter froze and joined her mother's cries.
The husband raced into the room, a club in his hand, hair wild. The two small boys gazing up from their pads, the middle daughter her arms up as if warding off attack, his wife at the door staring and screaming. "Monster! Give me back my daughter!"
"What? Monster? I'm here mum!" said the hulking brute standing at the eldest daughter's bed. Wearing her daughetr's nightshirt, though stretched and torn and barely containing the muscled green skinned goblin with it's spikey brown hair, flat nose, wide buggy eyes, fanged mouth and back swept pointed ears.
"Husband! The evil fae stole our daughter in the night! Make it bring her back!" Cried the woman.
Summary
In all the lands ruled by humans the common folk know that the Evil Fae will steal some children or curse them between the ages of 10 and 14. None knows what causes them to do this. Perhaps it is some affront or insult the family caused. Maybe it is at the will of the terrifying Sidereal Fae. They do know that their children go to sleep in the night and awaken replaced or transformed. Sometimes glowing or glowering Elves, other times a short but nimble Gnome, and worst of all a hideous Goblin or fearsome Troll. It is almost never heard of that Dwarves should engage in this activity and so they are the most tolerated in the Empire, though the Dwarves tried rebellion in Imperial Year 869. Application of Iron and cold wrought iron does not undo the curse or enchantment but does burn the Changeling.
The lads and me, a unit of Legionaires and a handful of Monitors went into the Faerie section. Gates locked and guarded behind us. Searched the whole of it, and we done killed every Elf, Gnome, and Troll. A bunch of Goblins was found too, in a hidden cellar, all slain with iron. Never found no human child. No secret passage or closet was missed by the Monitors. And after, the Noble Lords had us burn it to the ground.-City Guard Report, Lianhou, Shard of the Black Rock
Historical Basis
It is unknown how they do it. The Jade Emperor in the Imperial Year 606 banished the Fae from all the Empire and provinces of humans, giving them their own lands. It is noted that he had hoped to end the occurrence of Changelings and made the Light Court, the Sealie swear they would never do such things again. The Unsealie were banned and pronounced criminals in all the lands of the Empire, though outwardly they can't be told from Sealie - excepting Goblins who are surely all evil, the Dark Elves who possess evil and sinister cast and monsterous tusked and horned Trolls which may on occasion be of Sealie Court.
Now only small licensed clusters of Fae live in gated communities in the cities and towns. Some rebels and the evil ones hide in the deep valleys of the mountains for certain, these lands being to wild and impossible to clear. Mages and scholars say that the Fae can walk in Dreams, and this may be how they escape the Fae ghetto or fly across vast distances, and break into locked and even guarded homes to carry out the change or theft.
Now only small licensed clusters of Fae live in gated communities in the cities and towns. Some rebels and the evil ones hide in the deep valleys of the mountains for certain, these lands being to wild and impossible to clear. Mages and scholars say that the Fae can walk in Dreams, and this may be how they escape the Fae ghetto or fly across vast distances, and break into locked and even guarded homes to carry out the change or theft.
Spread
This belief is widespread through the Empire and even the wild lands where humans dwell. Only in Eseret, a country long associated with the Fae is it discounted amongst the learned. Esereti loremasters think it is a curse of some lineages and ancestries long sleeping, that wakens and transforms a child. Or perhaps a fae in the ancestry that springs forth unbidden in later generations. This event can even afflict the most purebred noble lines where there is no record of Fae pairings.
Cultural Reception
The Fae know that they have done nothing. Goblinization pops up like albinos or other strange inheritances of birth. This occurs only with humans - not Bahku lionmen, not Ghenid, never in Minotaur or Centaur or LizardKing (Octnon). Not even with the Titans and Dead Kings.
In The Harrowlands these "sports" are taken as prized pets of the Vampire Lords, frequently withering and dying within years and even those that live never developing much in the ways of the powers of Fae races elsewhere. The Harrower permits no Sidereal nor foreign Fae to reside in it's domain.
In The Harrowlands these "sports" are taken as prized pets of the Vampire Lords, frequently withering and dying within years and even those that live never developing much in the ways of the powers of Fae races elsewhere. The Harrower permits no Sidereal nor foreign Fae to reside in it's domain.
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