Cruth'an'Chrutha
Beware thou who seeks out the Changeling, for their nature is one of evil and scorn. They will eat your heart as soon as look upon your face, and take more from you than what you gave, in body- soul- and mind.To the world, Changelings are the boogeymen who hide in your closet, the stranger on the street looking to harm you, the monster who sleeps under your bed. All of this legend sprung from the very start of time. The concept of Changelings, before Fey had more actively descended downward into the world and spread their kind about, was a mentally ill or physically ill child born to otherwise perfectly normal parents. This child would grow up extremely slowly, morphing and twisting into a horrific beast, putting the parents under a spell to take care of them forever. In reality, Changelings- while being a race who was able to morph and change shape- were beings whom were born to a mortal X fairy parentage, or a Changeling x Changeling parentage. They are in a sense primal fairies, stripped back to the days of before they learned to combine shape shifting magic with their genetics to become the pictures of beauty that we see today. In essence, a Changeling is an ancient fairy, born in the modern world through a genetic error caused by breeding with mortals.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Civilization and Culture
Gender Ideals
History
First discovered and sought out by monster hunters on account of their powerfully potent body parts which could be used in potion brewing, Changeling's were seen as a dangerous race of Fey with no remorse for the lives they ruined chasing their extreme urges. The race itself has little to no organization on account of being so vastly hated and so little in numbers. Changelings, contrary to popular myth, are not the result of fey creatures kidnapping a child, and replacing it with their own, or from a fairy implanting a bug inside of a human baby: but are one of two options. They are either the offspring of a fairy and another humanoid, or they are the offspring of two fairies with a genetic mutation.
A changeling will, up until their pre-teen years, be indistinguishable from their humanoid parent, at which point their true heritage is revealed through their skin shifting in hue to an an otherworldly color, alongside their hair going often some sort of shade of light color. This tumultuous time is made even more stressful at this point, as often the parent will be unaware that their offspring is in fact a Changeling. Sadly, this can often lead to feelings of isolation and dysphoria, and in many cases, can cause those around them to partake in evil acts. Changelings generally end up getting killed by their families, as the stigma around Changelings is too damning to allow. The changeling will be seen as feral creatures rather than the family member they once knew. Those who grow to survive will mask themselves as other races, which will generally now possess fairy traits one may find they weren't born with. ( horns, claws, fairy wings. Changelings can alter forms in these minor ways to better suit their personal aesthetic.)
Changelings were stereotyped as bewitching creatures of legend who would sooner sap the life out of an infant than to care for it. They were a personified headpiece of everything people hated about Fey. False rumors began circulating from a few bad incidents in some major settlements that the Changelings were the cause of Fey swapping their deformed children with mortal children to be used as slaves. A gross false allegation, where the truth has gone largely uncared for on account of the fact that it doesn't matter to the general public. They are a scapegoat when ever anythings wrong, and when they are innocent, they are labeled liars.