Chapter Four: Hedging the Bet

Hedge Hunting

“Place is fucking weird,” Jonesy said, pushing the brambles in front of him away with his rifle, careful not to let them touch him. “Where’s the animals? The bugs? Fuck, where’s the sun?”

“There’s plenty of places like this on Earth,” Kelly said, following Jonesy’s lead. “Amazon rainforest, that place has got plenty of low hanging trees that barely allow any sun in.”

Pat wasn’t really listening, though. The tracks kept leading through the thorns in the forest, and if the sun had actually come up, they’d all have to explain to their bosses why they had decided to skip work. The man they were chasing had definitely been some kind of magic user. Wielding the very plants in the forest against them, destroying the cars by ripping them apart with tree roots, it was too much to ignore. Then the freak ran into the forest, leaves shielding their escape for a few minutes.

“So where’s the GPS say we are?” Jonesy asked. “This doesn’t look like the Barrens anymore.”

“Hang on,” Kelly said, taking out her small little GPS. “Huh, that’s weird.”

“What?” Jonesy said, a touch of fear on the edge of his voice.

“This says we’re actually in Xinjuang, China,” Kelly said, tapping at the screen of her GPS. “No, now it’s saying we’re in Nairobi! What the hell is going on with this thing!”

“It’s messing with us,” Pat said, crushing another piece of thorn underfoot, gasping. “What the hell?” he shouted, pulling his foot up. The sole was torn open, blood dripping from the bottom of his combat boots. “How the hell?”

“Did that actually go through your boots?” Jonesy said, looking back. “How’d that happen?”

Pat tried to think of a reason, but just shook his head. “It’s okay…” Pat froze. “What’s this guy’s name?” he thought, staring at Jonesy like he’d never seen the man before. Quickly, he shook it off. “It’s okay. Let’s just keep going.”

As they forced their way through, the vegetation slowly changed more and more. The pines and sandy floor shifted, the sounds of distant deer and birds fading into the distance. One pine looked like it actually was growing deciduous leaves, full of fruit on each branch. For a second, Pat thought he saw a deer running past his vision, but then the thing turned it’s nuzzle up, and Pat found himself staring into a wolf’s sharp maw.

“Hey, guys, what do you suppose would happen if that thing trapped us in our own heads?” the woman said, Pat realizing he’d forgotten her name too. “Like if we’re stuck in a shared dream, and we’d have to do something drastic to wake up?”

“Maybe shoot yourself?” the man said, shrugging. The woman nodded, putting a black object to her head without a second thought, before pulling her finger and forcing a flash of fire and thunder from the thing. The man froze, a look of…something, some emotion on his face. Pat wanted to help the man, but he stopped. Something was coming towards them, something large, the ground shaking where they stood. In the distance, the Hedge (“Did I just call it by it’s name?” Pat thought) seemed to part away, the sound of thundering hooves coming closer. But instead of a horse with a massive rider, the Hedge revealed a woman of beauty, with flowers for her clothes and sunlight for her hair. The other man froze, putting another black thing up towards the woman, but Pat couldn’t understand why, she was clearly beautiful.

“Oh men,” she said. Her voice was barely a whisper, but her voice echoed across the Hedge. “Lost so far without one to guide you? I can be your light in such darkness, oh men.”

Pat didn’t hear what the man was saying to answer her, or pay attention to the sounds of thunder that followed. He was just fixated on the woman, how she moved effortlessly through the brambles and thorns of the Hedge, a burst of red color painting her face, vanishing a second later, her green-hued skin even more beautiful now, if it were even possible. Some annoying mewling was coming from something, but Pat just ignored it, focused instead on the beauty, his jaw down to the ground.

“Oh, a man who would not attack one like me.” Smiling sweetly, she approached Pat. As she closed in, Pat was slowly taken away, the scent of flowers and nectar filling his nose, sending him into ecstasy. “What is your true name, oh man?”

“Patrick Carter…” Pat said, seeing the woman draw closer. Her eyes were green, with deep red in the center, he lips full and lush. Something deep inside Pat told him something was wrong, so very wrong, but he quieted it. This wasn’t any kind of problem. This was heaven on Earth.

“Oh Patrick Carter, you are one of great will and passion. You are one I will partake great joy in.” As she came closer, she brushed a hand across his cheek, the skin of her hand warming up his face. “What is your wish?”

“I want to fight the monsters…” Pat said numbly, his mind clouded in a sweetening fog of pleasure.

“Then you shall fight the monsters, oh Patrick Carter,” the woman said, circling around slowly to Patrick’s back, her dress of leaves and grasses trailing behind as she let her hand trail up Pat’s spine. Then, in his ear, she whispered, “But do you pledge to me and me alone?”

“Oh yes…” Pat mumbled, not noticing the green skin flowing over his cheek and limbs. “Only to you, babe.”

“Then let us seal the pledge,” she whispered, facing him. Slowly, she closed, Pat closing his eyes as her lips met his. A bright flash hit him, then blackness.

“What?” he grumbled, rubbing at his head. He realized then he had no hair. His eyes shot open, and he felt all over his scalp, feeling something pointy just off on the sides. Feeling the tips, he felt down to his ears. Shakily, he stood up, but felt something off. Looking around, somehow the stone walls of where he’d woken up seemed shorter than how they would normally be. “Hello?” he said, the light dim. All he could make out were the vines growing in the walls, and on his own skin.

Desperately he ripped at them, drawing green blood from his veins. But they kept growing back, the wounds staunching themselves instantly. The more he clawed, the more the vines grew back, hardier and thicker. As he struggled, he started to shout.

The sound of clanking metal brought his attention to the door of the cell. Spinning around, he saw the woman from before, from the Barrens. “What did you do to me?” he shouted. “What is this?”

“You wanted to fight monsters, did you not?” the woman said, but he was starting to realize that the thing in front of was no real woman. “I gave you the chance. But you needed to be changed. Now you can fight the monsters that come after me.”

“Who am I?” he said, looking up at her with big, fearful eyes.

“You are my plaything, my little wooden soldier.” Smiling again, she kissed him.

The pain broke him like a dead pine needle.

Chapter 4: Hedging the Bet

'You see contracts... deals, well, they're the very foundation of all civilized existence. - 'Mr Gold / Rumplestiltskin, Once Upon A Time

A Field Guide to the Fae

Cultures across the world have legends of fairy like creatures through their histories. Small house elves are told of, along with tales of dryads flitting through the forests. Fairy wars and loves are told to young children, as their mothers lock the doors and hang iron over the doorway.

What are the fairies? Well, there’s a lot of different answers.

Faeries in Changeling: the Lost
Where do the fae come from? What trait is it that unites strange tree men, cunning goblins and mighty Arcadian kings, and what is it that divides them? Below you will find a brief overview of the faeries from Changeling: the Lost, followed by alternative possibilities from myths and legends.

Changelings: Changelings are created from the humans taken to Arcadia to be slaves for the gentry. Their souls are torn by the thorns of the hedge and the nature of Arcadia seeps into the cracks. Their bodies are twisted to become more aesthetically pleasing, or more proficient at their tasks, or to survive in alien environments, or just because. Even their minds are warped by faerie magic, and by the horrors they have lived through.

Yet changelings are more than victims, they are survivors. Each and every one of them had something that gave them strength, something that gave them a reason to fight, something that lead them home. Upon their return most changelings find that their story has only just begun, and in their absence the world has moved on. The life they hoped to return to is often now occupied by a fetch. The changeling will need all the strength that led them home if they wish to build a new life or recover the old.

If that was all you could ask why do hunters ever hunt changelings? Indeed changelings have suffered hugely, and often they began their ordeal as just the sort of innocent, ignorant human hunters joined the Vigil to protect. Though modern culture often assigns a form of moral authority to victims simply being targeted by the fae does not imply you are or make you into a good person.

Changelings can come from all walks of life. A murderer, con artist or other lowlife could return from Arcadia and fall right back into their old habits, only this time they have faerie magic to abuse. Someone who was once a good person could pick up monstrous habits; an ordinary family man who spent years locked away in Arcadia only survived by eating the flesh of his fellow slaves. Sometimes the cravings get the better of him. Then there's insanity. After the horrors and madness of Arcadia, no changeling can ever be said to have a stable mind. If a changeling believes (correctly or not) that her former jailer will come for her if anyone strikes a match in her presence, all the hunters might hear is when the homeless woman froze a man solid for “no reason”.

All that is if the hunter's judge changelings in isolation, it is far more likely that hunters who see several changelings will develop assumptions. If the first changelings the hunters meet are all loyal servants of the gentry, busy doing it's nefarious work. Why should they believe the one who says she escaped? That's what the loyalists said too. How will the hunters even tell the difference between changelings and the gentry anyway?

All in all, the best that can probably be hoped for is that hunters judge each changeling fairly. Somebody has to protect people from the bad ones, and the good ones don't deserve to be lynched for having the misfortune of being abducted by the gentry.

Building a Changeling: To build a changeling start with a mortal, then add Wyrd, Bans, Contract and Dread Powers.

A changeling's Dread Powers often favor finesse, guile and deception over raw power. Abilities that create illusions, enchant the mind or approach problems from an odd angle are all common, as are natural features of strange faerie forms.

Changelings also posses a large set of simple innate tricks. All changelings can see past the Mask much like humans with The Sight and possess the following Dread Powers: Dreamwalker 1, Dreamshaper 2, Emotional Harvest 1, Knock Knock 1. They may learn Dreamwalker 2 and higher dots of Emotional Harvest with study and practice.

Finally promises sworn with a changeling are binding. By spending Willpower when a promise is spoken a changeling can turn it into a Pledge, granting mystical sanctions if the promise is broken but also boons if it is upheld.

Fetches: When the more powerful fae take a slave they sometimes cover their tracks by building a fetch from scraps and a piece of their new slave's shadow. Unaware of it's artificial nature the fetch returns to everyday life to hide the gentry's crimes.

The process of creating a fetch is imperfect, the new fetch is always missing something that the real human once had. It could be integrity or empathy. It could be a violent temper or an addiction. Close friends and family can notice the change, but most assume there is a mundane explanation especially since the implications of a supernatural cause can be too horrific for words.

Unlike most faerie beings a fetch looks completely human, even to other fae and mortals with The Sight. Unless they meet their changeling counterpart most fetches genuinely believe they are truly human as well. Tracking down a fetch can be a hard task for any hunter, but sudden personality shifts can raise suspicion and the use of Dread Powers can prove it beyond doubt.

Hunters rarely get along with fetches. Firstly the fetches are built from faerie magic. Even though that scrap of shadow gives a fetch human emotions and the capacity to grow a depressingly large number of fetches degrade into fae like sociopathy or capriciousness. Hunters on the trail of a serial killer with strange abilities occasionally discover their query was a fetch, not a slasher. There is another reason; fetches were created by the gentry and serve the gentry's purpose, if perhaps unknowingly. At the lest they hide the true fae's crimes from the world. Who knows what else they might be doing? Reporting on the gentry's enemies? Marking the choice victims for slavery? Perhaps it's best to take them all down, just to be safe.

Building a Fetch: To build a fetch start with a normal human than add Unseen Sense (Wyrd), The Sight, Wyrd and Dread Powers. A fetch's Wyrd always equals it's changeling counterpart. They do not possess the other innate abilities common to changelings but can learn them as Dread Powers.

Fetches often have Dread Powers that let them blend into normal society and avoid suspicion. A couple of unique Fetch only Dread Powers exist: Mein of Normality (O) which permanently hides the fetch from any magical senses used by changelings and Aura of Banality (OOOOO) which prevents any fae from spending Willpower on Dread Powers in Wyrd * 10 feet for a cost of 3 Willpower per scene.

Sidebar: Another Possibility

'''The default assumption is that the changeling is, or rather, was the original human and the fetch is the copy. What if this was different? What if the fetch is the original person and the changeling was the knockoff? Or what if the changeling and the fetch had no prior relationship before the changeling became convinced that he really was some random unfortunate human.'''

'''Such a choice could lead to a more adversarial stance between changelings, and hunters defending ordinary people from deluded faerie monsters trying to steal their lives. Remember that whatever the real truth is, few if any hunters know for sure. Playing all the options as plausible possibilities could lead to interesting conflicts between the hunters who believe they are helping kidnapped humans get their life back from artificial impostors and hunters who believe they are protecting innocent humans from faeries who wish to take their place.'''

Sympathy for the Fetch

The default position for most hunters is an adversarial relationship to the fetch. And why not? Fetches can sink into dangerous fae thought patterns, they are supernatural beings and they're serving the purposes of the undeniably evil true fae. This means that introducing the fetch as the sympathetic victim can raise drama and interesting moral questions.

Here are three storyhooks that can challenge a hunter's preconceptions and maybe introduce a little sympathy for the fetch.

The Girl in Red: You're cell has a reputation in the neighborhood for solving certain problems and the girl knocking at your door has a “certain problem”. You've known her for quite a while, she's a good kid, the sort of person you took up the Vigil to protect. When she explains that she saw a strange person, half-man and half-wolf, entering her grandmother's house it sounds well within your area of expertise. Then she mentions it all started with nightmares about being nothing more than scraps of wicker and red cloth while the real her hunted her down with a woodsman's axe. You’ve just spent the last week on the trail of a vicious axe murderer and you’re sure some of the victims were ordinary humans. How do you feel now?

The Sweet Nurse: St Mary's hospital has a big problem. Every year a few kids go missing just after getting their flu shots. Everyone is looking for the truth: Police, media, parents, even your fellow hunters. When a brother and sister return claiming they escaped from a witch in a gingerbread house who tried to throw them in the oven, you know this is a job for you. No child killing monsters in this town! Will you keep that righteous fury when you learn the victims were all fetches, and given to the changeling “witch” by their parents in the hope it would help their real children come home?

Me and Myself: Your cell tries to help changelings back into human society. Often this meant getting the fetch out of the way first, so how do you react when you meet a changeling who doesn’t want his fetch removed? He's convinced that he and the fetch can restore themselves into one being and undo some of the true fae's tampering, but he needs someone to help break the ice and someone to protect him and his fetch from both hunters and changelings. Could this be the secret to helping changelings recover? Is this even a good idea?

Hobgoblins:

Between Earth and Arcadia lies the Hedge. An endless maze of twisting paths bordered by terrible thorns. Yet even the liminal Hedge has people who call it home. Hobgoblins are native to the Hedge; some were once creatures, people or even items from Earth, warped by prolonged exposure the Hedge's faerie magic. Others are discarded experiments and toys created by the gentry, and some have never known any home but the Hedge.

Hobgoblins come in all shapes, sizes and characters. The verity is far too much to be summarized here. Some hobs are little more than wild animals, others are intelligent and can form entire societies and settlements. Some of these are almost sane enough for a human to feel comfortable. Others are dangerous threats who smack their lips at the thought of human flesh.

Under most circumstances a hobgoblin cannot leave the Hedge, and wouldn't be able to survive on Earth if it could. In rare places and at certain times the Hedge's nature will encroach into our world. Such places can be strange fey areas cursed with mysterious disappearances or they can be treasured magical resources where the people of two worlds meet for mutual benefit (Or trouble, like areas of "hungry grass"). It is not unknown for a goblin market set up shop, eager to sell to those humans who can understand and appreciate their goods.

Out of all the types of fey hobgoblins are the least likely to be encountered by hunters. They are hardly ever seen on Earth and few hunters will ever enter the Hedge. The places where hobgoblins visit Earth are frequently targeted by hunters, but they're also frequently protected by hunters with motives other than opposing monsters. There is profit to be made by the shrewd trader and even hunters who do specialize in fighting monsters can see a market as an irreplaceable resource. Who else sells the supernatural kick they need to level the playing field?

Building Hobgoblins: Hobgoblins are so varied that just about any thematically appropriate design will work. Hobgoblins can of course see other fey beings as they truly are, the ability to open Hedge gates is rare. Few hobs can travel between Earth and their home at will.

The True Fae: The true fae are the most deadly threat a hunter is ever likely to encounter. This is a simple statement of fact. There are monsters that rival or even exceed the gentry in power, but their presence upon Earth is a rare and terrible event. If the gentry's visits aren't exactly frequent their hunts are not rare either.

In their own domains within Arcadia the true fae are nothing short of gods. They can create armies and mountains with a whim or crush their opponents with a thought. On Earth their powers are far more limited, yet they remain one of the greatest threats a hunter is likely to battle.

Hunters who know of the gentry almost universally loath them, the rest have been duped or enchanted. The true fae are self-centered to the point of utter sociopathy, they seem incapable of even recognizing that other people have independent thoughts. A true fae will kill innocent humans for what seems like nonsensical reasons or even pure whim while their most common reason for visiting Earth is to take human slaves. No moral hunter could ever approve of their presence.

A method to stop the gentry once and for all is the holy grail for hunters who focus on the fae. Some hunters hope to win through force of arms, some new weapon that could chance the gentry away from Earth forever or even bring the fight to Arcadia itself. Others seek a more mystical solution. The true fae cannot do anything without pledges and contracts. It stands to reason that there must be some agreement that allows the gentry to prey upon Earth, if it could be discovered it might have a loophole or a condition that would banish the fey forever.

Building the True Fae: The true fae are built like changelings except for one important difference: They have a minimum of Wyrd 5 and can buy up to Wyrd 10. Attributes, Skills and any Dread Power where additional dots do not change the mechanics may be brought up to a maximum of Wyrd. Though the gentry usually favor subtlety and finesse like other fey creatures their raw power is such that they frequently come across as possessing overwhelming force.

As beings of intense passions and utter sociopaths the true fae reverse the rules for Virtues and Vices and have no Morality whatsoever.

Faeries in Myth and Legend
Faerie Mythology is vast, stories have traveled around the world and down the centuries. Changing with each telling. Authentic faerie folklore can be combined with the setting from Changeling: the Lost, or it can replace it.

Celtic Myth

Thanks to the spread of folklore across the globe, most in the Western world recognize the British Isles, specifically their Celtic roots, as the origin of many fairies in fiction. There are so many creatures in Celtic folklore, entire bestiaries have been written about them, both fictional, and real. Sadly, what might have been real facts usable against the fae were lost in the transition to written writing thanks to the “efforts” of the Catholic Church to convert the Celtic tribes.

Cù Sìth: Large hounds said to claim the Scottish highlands, the cù sìth roamed the moors, looking for mothers to steal away, reportedly to use their breast milk to nourish the fairy young under the mounds. The truth wasn’t that far fetched, as one cell in 1970s Scotland found the remains of a missing young mother, being eaten by the young of a cù sìth. Though large, they’re still vulnerable to both iron and bullets, even when their clearly advanced intelligence shows in complex ambushes set against hunters. The most telling sign of a cù sìth are the three bloodcurdling howls they let out before attacking.

Kelpie: The mythical “water horse”, a kelpie is known to take two common forms. One is that of a beautiful black haired woman, tempting men to come to its place by a river or loch. Other times, it takes the shape of a proud mare, powerful and strong. It’s form is frankly worthless, however, compared to its love of fooling men into riding them, in one form or the other. Once the fool is in their grasp, they will dive into the nearest pool of water, drowning the men, then feeding on them. In more modern times, rumors are circulating that kelpies now take the form of attractive women on top-of-the-line motorcycles.

Leprechaun: The very symbol of the Celtic fairies in the modern world, leprechauns have taken on a life all their own. According to the original myths, the leprechauns hid themselves from the world, haggard old men who spent their time fixing shoes and making mischief on the odd farmer. They also were known for wearing red, laced with gold, rather than their current imagining of entirely green-dressed gingers.

Though not as cruel as many of their others, they are still known as spiteful and shifty creatures. Many a hunter has caught one, seeing an end to their financial worries, but the leprechaun almost always manages to turn the tables and make the hunter submit to the leprechaun’s demands.

In the folklore, the only way to find the pot of gold is to keep a constant watch on the fairy, or it would vanish forever, though threatening to harm the leprechaun also gave a similar result. Despite these tales, leprechauns have also been known to be some of the best manipulators of the “rules of hospitality”, and many an Irish family has been hounded by a wee man with an orange beard, demanding repayment for a long forgotten service.

Ogre: Great hulking brutes of immense size and strength, ogres were known as man-eaters and destroyers, able to lay down many men before being killed. In the history of the Vigil, many accounts of ogres are found, though they are primarily outwitted more than being outfought. Despite their gullibility, if an ogre is encountered in direct combat, odds are someone isn’t coming back from that fight. That someone is likely to be the poor hunter that got into the fight with the ogre without any iron.

Pixie: Small creatures with long pointed ears and a mischievous disposition, pixies are known as the souls infants who died before baptism, but no one has made the connection between dead infants and pixies yet. What is known is that pixies are often poorly clothed, and prize materials humans find trivial. Ribbon, string, and bottle caps have all been found to attract pixies in droves. However, they also delight in leading people astray from safe roads and snatching children for themselves. That said, they can also be calmed, and a pixie who is shown kindness, or at least a good deal, often repays in kind.

Púca: A more mischievous, and sometimes dangerous counterpart to the pixie, the púca more often than not causes trouble around the household, though it can be bribed with gifts of hot porridge into being a protector for the home and barn. Many a hunter has tried to clear out an infestation of the creatures, only to wake up the next day with their toes broken and house falling apart.

Scandinavian Folktales

The folktales of Scandinavia speak of many races. Some of the most famous types of faeries hail from Scandinavian nations, and owe their fame to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, but one only has to go to the original stories to find far more fae beings than the fair elves and lovable but gruff dwarves found in The Lord of the Rings.

Dwarves: Some of the most famous fae beings around, in their underground homes they practice incomparable smithing and are known to be quite skilled at magical arts, two talents that were often combined to create magical relics. However dwarves were prone to greed and dislike the sun. Earlier tales portrayed dwarves as human sized with grey skin, perhaps referencing their origin as maggots who fed upon the body of Ymir, later tales portray them as short, heavy-set humans.

Hyllemor: AKA Elder-mother, a hyllemor is the spirit of an elder tree, and her permission must be granted before the tree can be chopped down.

Mara: A women who spends her nights causing nightmares and riding horses until they are too exhausted to work in the morning. Not all mara are aware of what they are.

Elves: An incredibly beautiful race, who inhabit forests, meadows and mires. They are masters of both magic and illusions, and are strongly linked to mists. Elves are nasty when offended, and often spread irritating diseases as revenge. Watching elves dance is also dangerous, for years can pass in just a few hours, when one cell claimed that when it had started watching the elves dance in Norway, the year was 1982.

Näcken, Strömkarlen: A creature that spends it's time playing the fiddle inside waterfalls, in some versions of the tale its beautiful music lures people into drowning, in others it is willing to teach its art, but it's music may come at a terrible price.

Huldra: A stunningly beautiful girl at first, but her back is a rotting tree trunk. She may also have a cow or fox's tail. The huldra are associated with many of the typical faerie behaviours such as seducing away young men or stealing babies and leaving their own young in their place, however they are also said to watch over charcoal burners in exchange for food.

Trolls: Among the most famous faeries, trolls are long lived, exceptionally strong and sometimes eat people. Trolls even posses some magic, and can disguise their appearance with illusion. Despite this Trolls are not particularly bright, and are easiest defeated by tricking them into staying out until sunlight, which turns them into stone.

Germanic Folklore

The word “Faerie Tale” has become almost synonymous with stories collected and edited by the Brothers Grimm. Hidden among the enchanted forests of Germany lie all manner of strange fae creatures, there is more than one reason reason that forest is called “Black”

Aufhocker: A shapeshifter who's name literally means “Leap Upon”. In some stories the Aufhocker would cling to their victims back and instil a supernatural fright so their victim would run until they collapsed from exhaustion. In other stories they simply went for the throat.

Feuermännlein: A small human shaped being made from living fire, Feuermännlein delight in burning down buildings.

Nix: Shapeshifting river spirits who lure people to drowning, in this the Nix share traits with many river spirits from around the world. Male Nix can assume many different forms, including the shape of a man, a fish, or a snake. Females usually appear as a women or as a mermaid. When disguised as humans a Nix can be recognised by the permanently wet hem of their garments.

Weisse Frauen: One of the nicer verities of faeries, the Weisse Frau, or White Lady, is a matronly figure wearing white who protects children, she is also closely linked to water. The Weisse Frauen are is sometimes linked to Jenny Greenteeth, an English river spirit who drowns children.

Slavic Myth

The word “fairy” is primarily Anglo-Saxon in it’s roots, meaning that what may be fairies to those who speak English are considered something else entirely by those who come from Eastern Europe. What the English would call fae have another name in the Slavic countries. They would be considered “gods”.

Bannik: A fairy that inhabits the banya, the bannik is a fickle creature, easily offended by Christian iconography. Specific times are reserved for the bannik, and if interrupted in the course of their steam baths, the creature is known to douse a victim in scalding water, even strangle them. However, the banniks also have the ability of seeing the future. To tell what might happen, one put their back to the open door of the bathhouse. If fortune was good, the bannik would gently massage the intrepid human. If fortune was ill, the claws would literally come out.

Domovoi: A house-bound fae, the domovoi is a haggard looking old man, resembling the previous owner of a house and possessing a pair of horns and tail. In return for a family caring for their home well, the domovoi would help with the housework and fields, though small offerings would also please the creature. If the domovoi were to become displeased with the family, however, the creature would commence harassment of the family, from poltergeist activity to the classic and possibly deadly action of attempting to suffocate a person in their sleep. In 1997, video surfaced from Russia, showing a series of creatures reported to be domovoi. Internet savvy hunters have put the videos up, but no one has yet been able to verify precisely what was in the videos.

Rusalka: Reportedly unquiet maidens or unbaptized babes who drowned, the rusalka are maidens of a body of water, only able to leave at night onto the banks of said water. Though at first attractive to the eye, the rusalka on closer inspection has more in line with a drowned corpse, hair wet and skin water damaged. Despite these qualities, the creatures were known to easily lure men and children to the waters, where they would be drowned or, in the case of some men, actually tickled to death, as a Polish cell on the Oder witnessed happen to a local police officer. Reportedly, should their hair dry, they would finally die forever.

Vodyanoy: Another river fairy, the vodyanoy were often seen as wrinkled, naked old men with long thin beards, black fish scales and gills inhabiting the rivers. Possibly one of the most powerful fae, the vodyanoy did not stop at mere drownings, but also would break dams, and most curiously, force those that survived their treatment to become his slaves at the bottoms of the rivers to be their slaves.

American Myths

Fairy isn't a natural term for what they are. They are the gods and goddess of nature. They are the spirits of the river and the forest and the land. They are the Crying Lightning and the Falling Rain, the Monster on The Roof and the Protectors of Nature. They are also bestial and wild, and averse to all things human, which they figure, are destroying the Earth.

Curupira: Known as a protector of the forests, the curupira has a mane of fiery red hair and feet that face backwards, used to trick hunters and explorers. They are also known to be capricious, able to create illusions and whistle in a way that would cause madness in the intended target, riding a collared peccary as it went. A cell of the Ashwood Abbey, in the Amazon looking for a separate target, soon found themselves afoul of the local curupira, and weeks later the two survivors stumbled into a local village, one mute, the other laughing about the little men who had turned his feet around for killing for sport, not food.

Encantado: Reportedly river porpoises that are able to shapeshift into human beings, encantados are reportedly residents of an underwater paradise known as Encante. They delight in music, parties, and sex. This is especially of interest to hunters, since encantados are considered by many residents near the rivers of South America to be their true parents. Encantados are also known for kidnapping humans, be it lovers, their spawn, or even random residents along the river, to say nothing of stories where the encantado can enchant humans, or even turn a human into an encantado like themselves, along with the ability to control weather patterns and inflict disease on an unlucky target.

Nimerigar: A miniature people said to have inhabited the Rocky Mountains, who had a reputation for firing poisoned arrows at trespassers from small but powerful bows. Until recently, such tales were regarded as superstition, until a mummy was found that measured up to 14 inches. Though conventional archaeologists and scientifically minded hunters argue it to be an infant, the fear that a race of miniature killers is roaming the Rockies has sent many other hunters into a race to search for and flush the creatures out.

Squonk: A fearsome critter that inhabits the Hemlock forests of Northern Pennsylvania, the squonk is a fae said to be so ugly that it weeps at the sight of its own face, covered in warts and ill-fitting skin. This appears to be the special ability of the creature, since it has been confirmed to vanish into a puddle when discovered. J.P. Wentling, a member of a cell of lumbermen in the area, said that he had managed to catch a squonk to the end of his days, but his cellmates only found a puddle of water in the leather bag he claimed it was in. Despite this, scientifically minded hunters have given it the title Lacrimacorpus dissolvens.

CHANGELING COURTS
In Lost, the defining trait of all changelings is their abduction and escape from Arcadia. The changeling’s have endured much, and wear their scars openly. Changeling culture is partly a support group and partly a mutual defense against being recaptured by the gentry. At best it can help changelings recover and rebuild their lives. At worst they can normalize all sorts of alien faerie behavior patterns that desperate changelings from their humanity until they are a danger to the mortals around them.

Any organization of changelings larger than a few friends is called a Court. Put a dozen changelings together and somebody's going to ask “hey there's a lot of us here, what if the gentry notice.” At that point everyone scatters or they start signing up to courts, because courts are more than just a social organization. Properly designed, courts are a powerful mystical defense that hides their members from the eyes of the true fae. By tying their Wyrds and power to symbolism the gentry cannot understand changelings protect themselves from their former captors.

Defining how changelings construct their courts can define the course of a story, it is a choice you as the Storyteller should consider carefully. Here are some ways a court may be organized:

No Courts

Perhaps there's not enough changelings in town to need courts. Perhaps the locals are just disorganized or untrustworthy. Maybe in your game there's no such thing as courts.

A game with no courts works well if you don't intend to give too much focus to changelings, if you'd rather play each changeling or small group as an isolated incident with no overwhelming structure, or if you don’t want faerie politics to detract from badass battles between hunters and the fae.

The Four Seasons

Organizing the courts by the seasons is the default choice in Changeling: the Lost. In this system every freehold has four courts formed by ancient pacts with the four seasons. In this system each of the courts is represents a coping mechanism for the horrors of Arcadia as well as one of the five stages of grief.

The Court of Spring is for changelings who seek to keep the past behind them and forge ahead to create a new life of joy. Therefore Spring represents the stage of denial. It's dominant emotion is Desire, courtiers seeking to fulfill their desires and the desires of others.

The Court of Summer is for changelings who seek to fight back against the gentry and protect others from the horrors of Arcadia. Therefore Summer represents the stage of anger. It's dominant emotion is wrath, courtiers angry at what the true fae did to them.

The Court of Autumn is for changelings who have a little piece of themselves that likes being fae; maybe they like the magic, or the glamour or just being part of a secret club. Therefore Autumn represents the stage of bargaining. It's dominant emotion is fear, courtiers trying to understand and use fear, both their own and others.

The Court of Winter is for changelings whose overriding motivation is to hide from the risk of getting hurt again. Therefore Winter represents he stage of depression. It's dominant emotion is sorrow, just another thing courtiers hide from.

No court represents the final stage: Acceptance.

The Seasonal Courts work well for a game where hunters often interact with (or maybe even join) the political structure of changelings. It's a pretty solidly defined social system which gives hunters a chance to get some bearings in the mad world of the fae. Network Zero reporters making a feature length documentary, Null Mysteriis sociologists on a long study, Wilde Society artists as mad as the fae they paint or Lord Stewards diplomats representing humanity's interests are all examples of hunters who might wish to interact with a court on a long term basis. Of course, hunters gaining that level of trust among the paranoid fae either requires enormous effort, some rare and unique circumstances or the suspension of disbelief, not that should prevent you from playing such a game if it is what you enjoy.

For more adversarial games a freehold organized on seasonal lines can make an interesting opponent. They will attack during summer, strike with magic from the shadows during Autumn, and hide away during Winter. The changeling's powers might even shift with the seasons forcing the hunters to adapt their tactics.

Weather interactions with the freehold are adversarial or social the metaphor of the seasons lends itself nicely to an episodic game. In Summer the hunters must prevail through strength of arms, in Autumn the occultists and researchers must lead the way, in Spring a hunter's attempts to balance his marriage and the Vigil take center stage. It doesn’t have to be just symbolism. For hunters with an adversarial relationship to the courts this could be a shocking discovery that shows just how far faerie magic has infected their town.

Seelie and Unseelie

The Seelie and Unseelie courts come straight from mythology. The Seelie were often benevolent and fair to humans and the Unseelie were their opposite, though neither trait could truly be relied upon. These are the fae after all.

Though the two courts are not quite so simply defined as good and evil they still represent a form of moral dualism that is at odds with the World of Darnkess' usual murky nature. Yet a wealth of options is available to the creative Storyteller. What if the Seelie were helpful to humanity, but every gift came with a pledge of rules and musts and can'ts. Wouldn't you begin to yearn for the wild intoxicating freedom and revelry of the Unseelie? And how many nights of passion and danger before you once again crave the comfort and safety of the Seelie?

And this is how the changelings hide from their former jailers. By creating two courts who's philosophies cannot lead to anything but conflict but have no chance to actually win they confuse their captors. Courtiers do not always realize that their battle is never winnable, and those who do sometimes decry their efforts as meaningless, but that's not true is it? It keeps the gentry away.

Even when changeling’s themselves do not recognize the division of Seelie and Unseelie the concept can be a useful to hunters. Dividing changeling into rigid categories of Seelie and Unseelie that really mean “ones I like” and “ones I don't like”. It might be wrong to kill humans and even Seelie, but Unseelie don't count do they? The myths say so.

The division also works well for a crossover game with both hunter and changeling players. The clear division allows hunters to join with the “good faeries” against the “bad faeires” without risking the integrity of hunters themes of being for humanity and against the darkness.

A vast Underworld of Independent Courts

In this style courts can be thought of as very very small sovereign nations each claiming their own territory. A vast tangle of pledges and alliances divides the city up and if they don't quite enforcing peace treaties, directs conflicts through safe and acceptable outlets. Treaties that limit the rule of a court monarch even within their own domain serve as the cornerstone of the courts' defenses against the gentry. Such treaties could be as simple as allowing passage to merchants from another court or as vital as every court swearing to outlaw dangerous and forbidden sorcery.

A vast underworld system works well for investigative games that focus on the fae's hidden nature. A variety of courts each with different styles can keep hunters from ever feeling like they understand what's going on. Don't feel like every court needs to have drastic differences, sometimes the most subtle change can be the most confusing: The goblin like fey wearing red, black, red, black, black, red scarves are members of the Muddy Pond Politik, but the ones wearing red, black, red, red, black, red scarves are from the Muddy Puddle Politick. Confusing the two is a deadly insult.

When the courts are not confusingly similar Storytellers are advised to play up the fey's potential for striking imagery. Give each court a theme and play it to the hilt. Whether that theme is a ballroom of graceful elves, a workshop full of industrious dwarves belching steam, or something stranger like an impoverished medieval keep built into a moving train carriage. Consider playing with bizarrely appropriate settings: Inside a bank vault can be found a court (or the entrance to the court's Hedge home) of goblins that resembles the New York stock exchange of the 1920s. Don't be afraid to work with bizarrely inappropriate settings as well: the ballroom is found below the dingiest dive bar in town.

Personal Affinity

Less of a court organization and more of an alternative to courts, under this system courts are not formal organizations but character archetypes worn into the Wyrd by centuries of faerie tales and faerie creatures. The closer a fae is to an archetype the more of the practical power provided by that "court" they can use. A faerie witch may deliberately encourage warts, find a run down thatched cottage, buy a bubbling cauldron and follow other traits of the stereotypical hag to increase her magic. This would be represented by giving her the usual advantages of the Autumn Court

Personal Affinity can stand on it's own feet as an interesting form of magic, but it also makes a nice alternative to having no courts, allowing the Storyteller to benefit from the material written about the courts in Lost without requiring the use of large social groups.

Changelings Alone or Hobgoblins too?

Are the courts only for the benefit of changelings or do they share membership with the hobgoblins native to the hedge? The biggest difference is probably the size of the courts. Even a large city can only support so many changelings trying to interact with mortal society, connect with their old life or forge a new one, before the Masquerade starts to creak at the seems.

Hobgoblins however can only remain on Earth during very specific circumstances, and can rarely come in numbers. In a story where hunters are intended to interact with the courts including hobgoblins can provide the numbers for elaborate political intrigue or the extras to fill the dance floor.

However in games where hunters intend to destroy the faerie courts once and for all hobgoblins can be too much of an advantage. Changelings often have ties to Earth and those ties can be used against them by a patient hunter. Hobgoblins mostly do not, and safely hidden in the Hedge they can fight back from an almost unassailable position.

How the changelings and the hobgoblins relate to each other should also be defined. Are they equal partners? Do the changelings human creativity and access to Earth give them a dominant role? Does a court require the patronage and rule of an ancient and powerful hobgoblin to even function? Is membership restricted to hobgoblins who have at least a somewhat human mindset, and if not how do the two communicate.

Benefits of a Court

Once you have decided how the courts are organized it is worth asking what benefits come with membership. The social benefits of belonging to a group are a given, but is there anything else?

Emotional resonance: Did you notice the affiliated emotions next to each Seasonal Court? The fey are often associated with emotions and in Lost membership of a court improves a changeling's ability to harvest a certain emotion for glamour. In Hunter it could do the same, but harvesting is less important important in a Hunter game. Perhaps instead the fey gain bonus rolls against people feeling their court's emotions. A small +1 to social rolls and/or Dread Powers, +2 for exceptionally strong emotions or if the fae is the focus of those emotions. Alternatively the fae may get the bonuses if they are the one feeling that emotion. Normally anger would give you a penalty to patient thought, but perhaps the Summer Court knows revenge is best served cold.

Dread Powers: It's no surprise that the fair elf has Dread Powers that makes him an excellent archer, but he can also freeze things with a touch? That's because he's with the Winter Court. One option is to choose Dread Powers that fit an aspect (or several aspects) of a court, be it their namesake, their ideals, their signature emotion. All members of the court are able to learn those Dread Powers in addition to their own faerie abilities.

Conceptual Affinity: When the courts patron is flourishing, so shall the courtiers. Give a small benefit like +1 to all Dread Powers or +4 dice when spending a point of Willpower so long as a courtier is in their element, but should the courtier ever enter their elements opposite then give an equivalent penalty. A Spring courtier gets the benefit in spring, and the penalties during Autumn.

I Do Believe In Faeries
A relationship between a human and the fae can be many things, but it is rarely normal. Sometimes just by being around a fae can make life literally a fairy tale. The evil stepmother gets the police on her case for abuse, and your fae boyfriend is willing to make you his wife forever more. Sometimes the situation is reversed, and you're beloved step-sisters fall in with a bad crowd and become wicked. Relationships with faeries, like with any human group, is varied and open to interpretation. What may seem like a poor bastard enslaved by a fae princess is a man who, for the first time in his life, has a purpose, and a happily married fae may have been tricked into their relationship by a cruel and petty husband.

First, there's changelings; the faeries who have the greatest ability, and often the greatest desire, to have some kind of “normal” relationship with ordinary humans. Changelings have suffered greatly in Arcadia, and their scars mean they will struggle to cope with normality for all their lives. Changelings require stability to an extent that few humans can understand. Even after it's explained, few people could really appreciate just how distressing it is for a changeling when you break the exact wording of a casual promise. No more than a changeling could really appreciate just how frustrating it is when they try to define your friendships in legalistic terms, and hold people to them. What is worse is that when the changeling's need for stability is not accommodated, when she gets fired from a job, or when her girlfriend sends a last minuet text rescheduling their date for next Thursday, a changeling may suffer panic attacks or other psychological breaks which combined with a troll's brute strength or a hag's subtle curses can cause no end of damage.

It might even be best if ordinary humans and changelings kept their distance, but that is rarely the case. Changelings were once human, and it is only natural that they would want to re-establish links with old friends, family or just rejoin the society they consider to be their home, social animals that they are. There is still lots that ordinary humans can offer them: Unless the changeling has exactly the right tricks they have exactly the same reasons to hire a skilled professional or an accountant as anyone else, any human retainer can help the lost navigate human society and social mores, and the human tendency towards sanity makes mortals especially helpful at counteracting the faerie inclination towards madness. Most changelings are infertile but still wish to be parents, creating a long tradition of faerie godmothers. In every interaction between humans and changelings there is potential for disaster; though many changelings find the idea of using humans as pawns to be uncomfortably similar to their own abductors, their definition of pawn or slave can be rather... unique. More than one changeling has felt that working for days without sleep is the correct thing to do if you agreed on a deadline you can't deliver.

Humans who are in the know can also see many reasons to interact with changelings. The stories of household brownies and shoemaking elves have some basis in fact, given the opportunity many would leap to hire such an efficient worker. Faerie magic can be a temptation: Health, wealth, happiness, a faerie can grant your wishes. However the fae know well that magic always comes with a price, for the fae's own dread powers this price has often been paid in advance through collective bargaining by the faerie race. On a more personal level you could say a faerie's torment in Arcadia was the price. But for mortals, the price must still be paid; it is most commonly written into the Pledge a mortal signs to get that magic, and woe betide any who fails to uphold on their side of the bargain.

If one word could summarize the relationship between humans and changelings it's effort. For any relationship to work both sides will have to work for it; the changeling will have to put effort into accepting that humans do not think of their relationships like a legalistic contract and do see a difference between betraying someone and forgetting to return a book on time. The human will have to put effort into accommodating the changeling's psychological needs.

As for those true monsters, the true fae. The most common understanding of relations between the gentry and mortals is simple; the gentry sees a person it likes, then abducts them to a hellish existence in Arcadia. This case is common, and terrible, but it is not the only way humans and the gentry interact. Did you know that if a true fae gets too curious about some part of ordinary existence it can forget who it really is and lose all it's powers, until something reminds it, usually with disastrous results.

When the lords of Arcadia choose to interact with humanity the most important thing to remember is that they have no sense of proportion. In return for the simplest favor a member of the Gentry might hand down untold wealth, but a simple misspoken word can result in a grudge that lasts for generations. Even today there are a few towns and families enjoying the fruits of a faerie's blessing, but only a few, for such blessings are inherently dangerous. If nothing else the increased attention only makes it likely that the true fae will hear something that offends it, but most of these blessings come with a list of musts and cant's that have to be followed with legalistic, even religious devotion. Indeed, sometimes the true fae even present themselves as gods (they certainly have the power) and while it would be foolish to assume that all of the gods in mythology were true fae it would be equally foolish to assume that none of them were.

It is these times, when a true fae binds itself to a community that most of humanities interaction with the true fae takes place (or at least, most of the interaction on Earth; which is where hunters are most able to make a difference). If your town is given great wealth as the surrounding area shuts down and is outsourced, a single delinquent kid going missing might not be considered a very big price to pay. On the flipside, killing a dozen people in a shopping mall because they didn't have the shoes the gentry was looking for might be considered a lucky escape if the fae has inhabited the area for centuries. Either could draw the attention of Hunters.

Changelings as Allies
It's not easy to imagine working with the fae in any capacity. The laundry list of psychological needs that a changeling requires might be too much for any lone hunter cell to contend with, while the hunter tendency to kill anything that looks even remotely monstrous can lead the fae to panic and treat the hunters as dangerous. The work required for both to even become acquaintances would require both to remember that each has been scarred, scared, and unable to become "normal" ever again.

There’s a payoff for both sides. The hunters get a fairy “ally”, or at least an ear to the ground about what the fairies are doing in the area. This knowledge allows hunters to observe on the monsters and, if not eliminate them, to at least keep them under a watchful eye, or gain new allies in uncovering the secrets of the world if they can really work through all the trust issues. It also allows hunters to look into the psychology of a monster in a very relatively safe manner. The disconnect from typical humanity that many fairies live in is an object lesson in how valuable the culture hunters live in is to mental health, and how the sudden removal of that culture can damage a fae’s perceptions of the world. And if they need to, the fairy can be eliminated before it goes too far into the bad end of their minds.

For the fairies, they find a connection to a world they might have thought lost forever. Hunters give the fairies a link to the mortal world, a bridge that acknowledges both the normal and paranormal. A way to interact with the mortals of the world safely, protecting them from fairy threats. They act as an unknown factor; a hunter who has made no deal with a fairy is a wild card that can do what needs to be done.

Of course, there’s the issue of trust to work out. Hunters are more than ready to believe that fairies are playing their cell for their own inscrutable ends. Fairies return the thought with fears that once they run out of use for the hunters, their lives will be measured in minutes. Then there are different methodologies. Hunters prefer to put their ears to the ground and might prefer to steer clear of magical methods when the mundane is safer and even more effective. Fairies might prefer to utilize their abilities to look for their clues without even putting themselves in their foe's crosshairs. Yet often the two will argue over which is the safer method, and the smallest arguments between hunter and changeling can sometimes lead to problems.

Changelings as Enemies
Let’s get this out of the way; fairies are no longer human. They have strange magic, they look like monsters (if you can see them as they are, which adds another layer of fearfulness), they act in ways that humans don’t. For a lot of hunters that’s enough, and even if a hunter isn’t willing to kill a faerie just because of what it is, it only takes a few bad experiences to start stereotyping.

And the fae have no shortage of bad experiences. Even the most human minded changeling struggles with faerie madness, and others are downright alien. If a faerie genuinely believes (and she might be right) that one day she will be killed by someone in a red dress, well not many hunters would be sympathetic to her explanation of why it’s self-defense. The reaction to a broken casual promise. An attempt to help that only makes sense if you think like a faerie. When humans and fae interact there's a lot that can go wrong. Some fae are so far gone that the difference between madness and evil becomes blurred: The toymaker who’s forgotten the difference between people and parts, the drug dealer who can’t understand how anyone can cope when they’re not on an acid trip. That's all before you get to the fae who actually are evil. And there are evil faeries, ranging from changelings who adopt criminal lifestyles with their new powers to semi-willing thralls of the true fae to degenerates who will actually abduct other changelings and humans alike and sell them into slavery in Arcadia.

Certain aspects of faerie reality can also seem very suspect to hunters, further driving up the tension between the two groups. Harvesting glamour from humans may not do any harm to those who are “fed upon”, but more than one hunter sees the resemblance to vampiric feeding habits and reacts accordingly. The ability for faeries to literally walk amongst the dreams of sleeping people invites paranoid suspicion - after all, who knows what harm they could do to a person’s mind while they are defenseless?

When hunters go up against the fae, one of the first thing to remember is that, apart from the terrifying true fae, most faeries are somewhat lacking for raw might. An ogre might be supernaturally strong, but it’s not quite as strong as something like a werewolf. If you locked a hunter with a faerie in an arena then the hunter’s combat experience could well be more potent than whatever magic the fae wields.

But what the fae lack in raw strength they make up for in finesse. No one hides like the fae, no one cheats like the fae. In a direct fight a hunter may well have an advantage, so a faerie will do anything he can to make sure he never gets into a direct fight.

Against such a foe information becomes a vital weapon. Plant cameras, tap his phone or just ask the neighbors. If you know enough you can force a battle, and you can win. But if the fae knows more about you, you might never even realize he exists.

ADVICE FOR RUNNING AN ACTION GAME

Sometimes, players might not have the time to go through the daunting task of penetrating the Mask and following a trail of clues. Maybe your ST just doesn't know yet how to make a brilliant tale of intriegue and deciet. Or maybe you just want to have a little lighter tone to your dark tale. Often, this is when you break out the action genre.

Note that action is not anathema to a good story. Die Hard is a movie where even the smallest details become vital to understanding the overall plot and most of the important characters have a believable backstory in the plot. Don't let your group imagine that just because you're using the words "Action game" means that it won't be worth it.

First, take into account your players strengths and weaknesses in their characters and playstyles. Just because they're better at gathering information doesn't mean that they're useless in an action environment. Fae have a weakness, after all, and someone has to find it out.

Of course, the key to action games is, of course, action. There's time for investigation and research of course, but action games have spice to them as well. In action sequences, the key is motion and fluidity. Don't have your characters just have a gunfight and then suddenly end it. Give them a running fight through an abandoned building as civilians run everywhere. Have them run from the cops after the fae decided to lure them into a trap.

Make sure that the action doesn't overpower the plot though. Just because a movie has "Action" as the genre doesn't mean that you can neglect the characters or pacing. Remember that your players are looking for a game that entices them, not one that simply goes through the same tired cliches and tropes of other action movies. Again, following the example of Die Hard, screw with your players perceptions. Give them a Chekov's Gun that they soon find out is filled with red herring.

Changelings as Innocents
In many ways changelings can be considered the sort of innocents that hunters took up the Vigil to protect. There’s really not really any moral difference between being locked up in a vampire’s basement and being locked up in a faerie’s castle. Sure some hunters might consider the faerie permanently tainted by their affinity for faerie magic in a way that the vampire’s dinner wasn’t. But other hunters won’t.

The biggest challenge you as a Storyteller will have in portraying the fae as civilians is that in many ways a changeling is more capable than a hunter. An ordinary human may end a night of clubbing drained dry, but things are unlikely to end well for a vampire who sinks their fangs into a changeling formed of strange living flames. A changeling might want to live an ordinary life, but if some other sort of monster has the ability to spot him (or the fae’s odd relationship to luck shows up) they can defend themselves in a way that civilians never can. This is at odds with the goal of playing changlings as innocents.

Perhaps the easiest solution is to take away changelings (or most changelings) powers. Instead escapees from Arcadia only gain the benefits of the Fae-Touched Merit, but retain all the less mechanical effects. The faerie personality, the relationship to the Wyrd, and the propensity to madness. This would create fae characters who have even more need of protecting than ordinary mortals, as their nature puts them right in the crosshairs of amoral witches and faerie lords wishing to reclaim their “property”.

Another solution would be to focus on the issues a faerie’s magic cannot solve. The faerie madness that hangs over all changelings is best treated from the stability of a human mind. Many changelings’ fondest wish is to build a new mundane life, or regain their old one. Not every hunter (or player) is going to think that helping monsters is part of the Vigil, but for groups like the Long Night’s Merciful, Searchlight’s Councillors, The Sisterhood of St Wisdom or The Office of the Lord Stewards, changelings can provide interesting characters to center a story arc around, for they so clearly need help yet find it so hard to trust help freely offered.

Fate in the Background
Fate isn't a powerful force normal. Sure, it works through powerful means at times, but those means are affected by the subtle variations Fate throws at us. Example, let's imagine that a hunter finds the Vigil by a fae dragon using his wife as a sacrifice to it's master. So how did that dragon find the hunter's wife? Perhaps the dragon escaped and hid in a cave for decades. Maybe the dragon sealed that cave with a massive slab of rock. Later, that cave was blasted through to make a highway for the new housing development that was built in a local valley for many newlywed couples. The dragon could only remember that it's keeper liked brunette women who had been mothers. So the first brunette mother it found, it stole. Awakening her husband to the Vigil. In turn, that Hunter realizes the truth, and kills the keeper, dying in the arms of the wife he's freed. All because of seemingly random events coinciding to weave a wider tale.

Fate often also uses agents to further its goals. An ordinary office worker will find out that he has a brain tumor, but his doctor is so tired that the name of the office worker seems so similar to the name of a local mob boss. Distraught, the office worker wants to do something grand for his last acts on Earth. So on seeing the mob boss escaping justice yet again, the office worker decides that it's time to act as the South Boston Saints advise. He buys a gun, waits, and when the mob boss leaves the court, the office worker shoots the mob boss just as he proclaims his innocence, and the office worker is shot by the police. Fate didn't need a meteor or lightning bolt after all.

Why Fate does these things is alien to many humans. The fae might have a better view of the goals of Fate then men. A fairy might tell a hunter that they need to let the vampires live so that a greater evil can befall them. The werewolves must leave or else the truth will be revealed. Options that take time to a hunter, time that might not be had. Of course, the rash actions of these hunters might just be what Fate intended after all.

If your group is using a Fated path, make sure it is very, and just to reiterate,  very  subtle. Don't bash your players over the head with Fate. Have weapons jam at inopportune times. Manipulate families to drag the hunter away from the current task at hand. Lead the police on wild goose chases for no reason. Once you tie it all together at the end, the hunters will realize that their biggest foe just might have been their biggest ally. Of course, it could all just be Fate.

USING REOCCURRING MOTIFS AND THEMES TO SYMBOLISE FATE

Stories prefer to use recurring themes to symbolize certain objects the author wants to bring to light. Death is constantly associated with the cold of the grave, and so a character who might be emotionally dead might always have a low temperature or appear in a cold environment. The chaste hero is always going to be surrounded by tempting beautful women to try and force him from the path, only to continue onward as he leaves a trail of broken hearts to symbolize just how much he sacrifices for the good of all.

Motifs can also come in musical form. There's a reason the villain gets the bombastic or beguiling numbers in a movie or musical. You want your audience, your players, to know something important or devastating is about to happen. That way, not only do they get their creative powers working, but it's easier to play with their preconceived notions. Just because the dark music plays when the villain enters the room doesn't mean he'll do anything important. On the flipside, you could play everything straight, and force your players to jump at every little cue expecting to find some key to their success. Here's a few common motifs to help get things started.

COLORS

White: Innocence, purity, virginity, royalty

Black: Evil, darkness, depravity, lack of hope

Red: Blood, passion, anger, hatred

Blue: Kindness, compassion, justice, healing

Green: Nature, growth, vitality, wildness

Yellow: Sickness, decay, deviousness, riches

Purple: Power, command, authority, magic

ANIMALS

Dogs: Loyalty, Friendship

Cats: Intelligence, Smugness

Horses: Speed, Freedom

Pigs: Dirty, Rescourceful

Insects: Unity, Strength

Lions: Royalty, Power

Livestock: Productive, Hard-working

METALS

Iron: Strength, Unbending

Gold: Wealth, Maliability

Silver: Purity, Persistence

Mercury: Speed, Flexibility Lead: Imperfect, Unbreakable

HEROIC TALES

Fate as the Enemy
Some people might take comfort in the idea that their life is given meaning by it’s place in Fate’s tapestry. Others would resent any force that tries to control them. A game where fate is the enemy can easily go two separate ways.

The first is a cerebral game where occultists play their wits against Fate. They must identify Fate’s plans in dusty tomes of lore and through understanding, triumph, tweed jackets and English accents are optional. The second kind is a game of endurance, tough sons of bitches that persevere even though the world is (literally) working to bring them down.

As an enemy Fate can take many forms, from the overt - an earthquake destroys the player’s home - to the subtle - the player’s enemy overhears her addresses. Fate, of course, does not literally take a body for an end of game boss battle. Instead a conflict with fate will simply result in a character having the most rotten and improbable luck.

In either style if Fate is the enemy it is advisable to give the players a destiny that they have a genuine reason to avoid, their own death is of course a classic but harm to anything they hold dear or failure on any important goal works just as well.

Sidebar: Derailing Fate for Dummies.

Hunters and faeries both have reasons why they might want to escape their own Fate or prevent another from coming to pass. Here are the most common tricks of the trade.

1) Divergence points: Plenty of prophecies have conditions. If a prophecy says the hunter must get the legendary sword or the faerie will win, then there's no need for the faerie to break fate at all. Keep the hunter away from the sword and fate comes down on the faerie's side. This is the most common way of derailing a Fated Path since every use of that Merit creates a new divergence point.

2) Cheat like crazy: You're best friend is fated to die at your hand. That means "die" in the Shakespearean sense right? Prophecies often have twists, they come true but not how anyone expected. Take that tendency and abuse the hell out of it. Make liberal use of a thesaurus. Look for other meanings in slang or alternative languages. Turn the literal into metaphor and the metaphorical into literal. Stretch language to breaking point. Once you've found a interpretation that works for you, make it happen. You won't get bonuses from Fate as you work towards your version but if you pull it off the Wyrd will consider the destiny fulfilled and you pocket a nice full Willpower refresh from knowing you beat Fate itself.

3) Fuck Fate: You're fated to betray your cell. Well no matter how many temptations or threats the Wyrd throws at you it can't actually force you to do anything. You can escape from just about any Fate by stubbornly refusing to go along or making the Fate impossible. You can't sell out your safehouse to the Spider Queen if you burn it to the ground can you? Defying Fate grants you a full Willpower refresh as you assert your control over your life, but the Wyrd does not like defiance. The Storyteller rolls one die in secret for each person who defied Fate (the Fae have it worse, roll Wyrd). Every Success inflicts one disaster upon whoever dared to defy Fate. If they survive they're free to go about their lives.

Storyhooks

Le Morte d'Baseball

Until last week your life was nice and simple. You were the captain of the school baseball team. Your girlfriend was the head cheerleader. Your grades were up and college talent scouts were keeping an eye on you. But ever since you went to buy a new bat, and won one for free by pulling it out of a stone in the sports store's “test your strength” contest, life has been weird.

The changing rooms were redecorated, and somehow ended up with a round table. You encountered the ghost of your girlfriend's mother while on a team hunting trip, which is even weirder because none of you have ever gone hunting before. A woman you've never met claims she's your half sister, and the mother of your child. And everyone seems to want a good fight.

You think you're living out a modern retelling of the Arthurian legend. You're playing King Arthur, your best friend is Lancelot, your girlfriend is Guinevere, the baseball team are the Knights of the Round Table and your staunchly rationalist physics teacher is Merlin. You better learn how to fill your role before your first sword fight, and hope that buys you enough time to figure out how to escape fate entirely. King Arthur's story ends as a tragedy.

All the World's a Stage

You know all the stories. After all you're a professional. A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet. If the Bard put quill to parchment you've put it on stage. So when the stories started coming to life it didn't take you long to notice. At first it was nothing more than odd coincidences, a similar name here, a turn of phrase there, but thespians do have their superstitions. You found you could encourage the coincidences by acting and even twist things around by going off the script. You're going to need that because it's not longer just little coincidences. Shakespeare's plays are coming to life. Can you improvise a comedy or will you be forced to play a tragedy?

The Fae and Fate As we've discussed, fae and Fate go together like peas and pods, and in this case, many hunters just want to burn their peas and leave the pod to rot. Only the fae think, sometimes even know, that their place in fate's plan is stronger than many people's positions in it.

Some fae take this realization too far into the extreme. They start treating their abilities as Fate's "nudge" to make things go the way they're supposed to. Someone misses a bus, but ends up falling in love at the cost of their promotion. A man gets mugged, and through it comes to realize that his true strength lies within. Sometimes it gets darker. A child is orphaned in an alley in order to devote their life to vengeance. A young child is placed with a wicked stepmother, it will turn out for the best in eighteen years or so. A good cop has to watch a guilty party walk free, all because Fate decided that the cop needed to be reminded that sometimes the system works when it doesn't.

If only that were the extent of fae manipulation of man's place in fate, it might be the end of it. Other faeries sometimes forget that Fate isn't good or evil, those words only apply to people capable of judgement. Fate just is. When a faerie forgets that she can all manner of trouble. A faerie sees a beautiful girl with two ugly stepsisters and falls into the role of the faerie godmother. Helping the girl win the handsome homecoming prince and devising a suitably horrific punishment for the stepsisters. Never mind that physical ugliness dose not imply that you are a bad person, or that the girl already has a happy relationship.

Sometimes it gets a bit more cynical. A faerie who knows the stories might slip a little luck to kidnappers, after all rescuing the mayors innocent daughter is a good way to earn Fate's rewards. Other's just take on a role, wear a lot of white dresses, blush at any vulgar language, and if you get any trouble a knight in shining armour will probably come and rescue you. Mortals sometimes catch Fate's eye, but the Fae have an easier time doing it intentionally. Hopefully they won't hurt anyone on the way.

Even if the fae try to do good, a cell of hunters isn't always going to agree that Fate should be that obvious in a person's life.

APPENDIX: Enchanting Freedom: Fairies and Philadelphia

Philadelphia isn’t a fairy tale city. If the city was like the ones in fairy tales, the Continental Congress wouldn’t have had to bolt the second the British came up to reclaim it. If Philly were more fairy tale compliant, the drug battles that tear through the streets might just be resolved with an impassioned speech and a call for action.

But if Philadelphia were a fairy tale city, it wouldn’t be Philadelphia.

Hunters who take the Vigil against faeries are confused by Philadelphia, and question often how the city’s hunters haven’t all gone mad yet. They call for peace, or for negotiations, or for a simple cease-fire. They try to remind many Philadelphia hunters that the fae are sometimes still human, and that they can even be saved.

Philadelphia hunters often tell them to fuck off and back up their threat with a shotgun missing it’s serial numbers.

Because as much as other hunters think that they know monsters, they don’t know Philadelphia. It is a gritty city where people know you have to earn your happy ending. It is a city that struggles to wake up each day sometimes and keep going, and raises it’s fist in triumph when it claws it’s way to the top. It doesn’t want pity, it wants to work, and if fae get in the way, well the hunters of Philadelphia will take the fight to them.

Stories of the Delaware

The Lenape have no fairies. To them, the creatures they dealt with were beings that lived in the forests, completely natural, no more bizarre than the rain or tides. Their knowledge of what would be called faeries by the English was only related in stories and myths that have become nearly forgotten, except by those who know such tales are more real than could be believed.

Immediately, one character jumped out at researchers who looked into the legends of the Delaware Valley. The Anglicized translation turned his name into “Crazy Jack”, a trickster figure of the Lenape who reminded the people to be careful with their words, and that if they said something, that it could always have two meanings, as well as showing great wisdom and luck in escaping from danger. Whether Crazy Jack was a single figure, or a group of similar looking fae who protected the Lenape, there has been no evidence.

A more terrifying figure was the “mhuwe”, a giant of ice who would consume men entirely out of its madness. However, unlike the windigo of the Ojibway, the mhuwe could be saved by offering it a civilized meal and basic human kindness. The dwarf-like wemategunis, strong for their size and mostly mischievous, would show favor to those who would tolerate their actions and act as the messengers for the Great Spirit.

What is vital to remember is that many Lenape stories are more valuable for information than the actual characters and creatures mentioned. “The Greedy Maiden”, “The Hunter and the Owl”, “The Girl Who Joined the Thunders”, all immediately struck hunters who focused on fae as almost horrifyingly similar to the fairy traits of abduction, deal-making and obfuscation. Those hunters who are actually Lenape scoff at such ideas, but do admit that there are similarities.

The Immigration Boom

When the potatoes died in Ireland, and fighting between the Italian states was just too much, thousands of millions came to America, bringing their own traditions and beliefs along for the ride. These immigrants, these thousands of unwashed, uneducated, and desperate refugees flooded the Eastern seaboard. Though hard working, they found hatred and abuse as well, as the “native born” Americans insured that these new immigrants found only the worst work and the coldest of scorn. Mobs of Americans torched immigrants’ homes and churches, as the authorities turned a blind eye.

Fairies didn’t exactly make things easier. The flash-point between the Irish and Nativists was in 1844, when Nativists rallied against the Philadelphia Irish because of controversy over what version of the Bible was to be taught in schools. Surprisingly, it was because the Catholic priests wanted to remove the Bible from the schools due to differences in the wording. Organizations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians and Sons of Cu Chulainn were still in their formative years, and resistance to Nativist actions was primarily street level fighting rather than political action. At first, the Nativists merely held rallies, but at one rally in Kensington on May 6, the crowd felt it’s anger boil over, and with assaults on the Nativist speakers, a full-blown riot erupted in the area. Two churches were destroyed, and the Nativist forces claimed the fighting was completely caused by the Irish, never mind the fact that they held an anti-Catholic rally in a heavily Irish neighborhood.

Maybe the hunters could have written the whole thing off as another riot between the Irish and Nativists, but another riot started in July. This time, the riots were between the state militia and the Nativists, and more deaths were reported. The city hunters took notice, and realized that something had probably manipulated the second series of riots into existence; two separate riots like these were too much to ignore as simple coincidence. They searched the areas of Kensington and Southwark to find a small man running around in multi-colored patchwork clothes, giggling incessantly about the fighting fulfilling some kind of contract. The hunters couldn’t see him for the wrinkled, scabby mess that he really was, but they knew enough to shoot him and burn the body.

What many Irish today forget to mention is that freed blacks were targets of their own anger. There were other riots previous, race riots, Irish fighting the freed blacks that threatened to take their own work. Some hunter scholars theorize that something had been manipulating both the Irish and the blacks, but what had never been determined, until hunters started to notice the proclivities of fairies in the modern era for causing public disorder. Then, there are hunters who claim that many are trying to whitewash history from another angle, and that no monsters were responsible for the riots in the 1800s. These opposing hunters point out that no fairy would be that public, and that their precedent is to keep low from the radar. The debate continues to rage on, though everyone can agree that, monster or not, the riots were truly monstrous.

Helter Skelter

The 1960s in Philadelphia were a strange time indeed. The factory closings made their economic impact felt, and the civil rights movement took on a new life with Dr. King preaching for equality, a fight many black Philadelphians felt was vital. The city did it’s best to handle calls for equality, including one measure where white and black cops were to patrol the black neighborhoods of North Philadelphia in pairs.

It was at this time that the hunters started to notice fairies in their midst, in part thanks to a coalition of cells led by the Hounds, who pointed out likely fairy hiding places in the city, if not the fairies themselves. The fairies had their hands in everything from the drug trade to prostitution, and the hunters could abide their actions no longer. In the humid summer of 1964, hunters plotted, striking down fairies one block at a time.

Slow going would be an understatement, and each day it seemed like every fairy hideout burned would lead to two more springing up to replace it. The hunters had no unified front, just small agreements and running battles trying to oust the fairies from their holes. Small cells patrolled their blocks for newcomers, as larger groups like the Malleus and the Sons used their clout in the city to force known fairy hideouts into the open and into oblivion. But things still moved too slowly for many hunters, and patience wore thin. They needed a break, and badly.

They got it when a pair of police officers, a black man and white man, arrested a woman for a parking violation in North Philadelphia. What the black officer didn’t know was that his partner was an officer in the Hounds, and saw the woman for what she really was; a human-shaped facsimile of wood and leaves. Maybe they could have just taken her away to interrogate later, but a “friend” of hers, a non-hunter patsy who knew what she really was, tried to save her. The officers arrested him too, and thought that things were all in line with procedure. What the young Hound didn’t realize that the rumor mill had turned the arrest into the beating and killing of a pregnant black woman. That one spark lit the tinder that turned North Philadelphia into a riot.

With the police concentrating on quelling the riots, the hunters saw their chance and went for the throat. In the space of the two days of the riot, the structure of Philadelphia’s fairy society disintegrated. From Kensington to South Philly, the fairies were hunted down and eliminated, with only the goblin market in FDR Park spared. The four rulers of the city’s fairies were killed each by a hunter faction. What would become a Union cell killed a fairy wearing gaudy party clothes at a Temple university frat house. Malleus inquisitors killed a fairy with a chill around it’s body trying to hide on a subway train. The Abbey made sport of a fairy that was busy trying to scare mothers into giving up their children. The Sons managed to take down a great dragon-man in a battle on the waterfront.

The fairies backs had been broken, at the cost of the city’s northern neighborhoods.

Philadelphia Tonight

Now, the fairies in Philadelphia are lost and leaderless. What few remain are scattered into small gangs and hidden groups, scrounging through the trash and debris of the battles between hunters and other monsters.

Aegis Kai Doru: Watching

With the wolves on the top of the list and witches on the backburner, the Shield and Spear don’t have much time devoted to sniffing out fairies. So they’re taking a back seat for now, busy focusing on their own issues.

Ashwood Abbey: Curious

Vampires and werewolves, they’re old news to the Philadelphia chapter of the Abbey, though always steady entertainment. But now they’d like to sample the stranger side of things. The Abe wants to see, and experience, a fairy in it’s most basic nature. They’ve put out offers, and can’t wait to see what replies.

Ascending Ones: Shopping

Goblin markets exist in Philadelphia, selling the fruits the alchemists so sorely desire. With the gangs almost always buying from Crescent suppliers, the Southern Temple always has money and supplies to burn at the markets.

Cheiron Group: Very Interested

With corporate so keen on getting fairy bodies, Keystone has started to expand their operations to include the tagging and retrieval of the fairies. The costs are starting to pile up, and the benefit isn’t yet showing, but the board in Philadelphia is hopeful that something will come of it. Eventually.

The Long Night: Offering Help

The abused fairies of the city, to the Long Night, are something they can save. Isaiah Bellamy has instructed M5:5 to start making offerings of peace to the fairies, to show them, and M5:5, God can be as merciful as He is wrathful. With their on-the-ground leader Trey wrapped up in his own issues, M5:5 has accepted Bellamy’s order, but only tentatively. Trey still leads the ground, and if he makes a new call, so be it.

The Loyalists of Thule: Worried

The Loyalists of the city are wondering why the fairies are staying so quiet all of a sudden. They fear that it’s a gathering storm in the earliest stages, but the Indebted don’t have the resources to handle this kind of snipe hunt. They’ve petitioned the Three Old Men for assistance, but so far, no deal. There’s concrete proof, or there’s no help.

The Lucifuge: Care Less

They’re not demons, they’re not witches foolishly summoning demons, they’re not men who turn into wolves, they’re not tempters who suck blood…really, as long as the fairies keep their heads down, no reason to make waves.

Malleus Maleficarum: Searching

The Witches Hammer is looking for something, anything to bring in support to the city. So, cells are searching high and low for prisoners, trying to convince Gallaher that, yes, Philadelphia is a city worthy of the attentions of the larger hierarchy. Should Gallaher find out, though, a whole wave of Malleus will swarm the city. All it would take is the right fairy.

Network 0: Frustrated

If they could get their hands on footage of a fairy or goblin in action, hell, the NetZos in the city would have a chance to maybe, just maybe, put the truth out. Unfortunately, their searches almost always end up going bad. It’s wearing on the Secret Frequency, and the seams are starting to show.

Null Mysteriis: Cautious

Maybe there are mutated humans who could be considered “fairies” in the literary sense of the word. Maybe the rumors are simply there to belittle a group of people who are just as normal as you and me. Whatever the case, the Misties aren’t taking a leap of faith without proof.

Sons of Cu Chulainn: Firm

The Sons still have a clubhouse in Kensington, and the suburbs of Philadelphia are literally dotted with club houses and meeting halls. Lately, they’ve had to calm their hunting in favor of community service, but a few older Sons still want to drive the last of the fairies out of their holes and away from the area.

Task Force: VALKRYIE: Holding On For Dear Life

It’s getting to be almost too much for Liberty Unit, with wolves and vampires running rampant. They need to prove to command that they’re still a viable cell in the area. So it’s come down to the final quarter in their game as far as they’re concerned. Fairies are now enemy number one, and bringing back the bodies has become the play of the day.

The Union: Scornful

So what if they keep to themselves? The markets, the feeding on the people around them, it’s just too damn suspicious. The Union has started to take a new message to the fairies; get out of the city, and you won’t wake up dead.

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOODS

The Dragon of the Rust

There is a creature that stalks the graveyard of America's declining industry. A monster of scrap metal, broken machinery and economic decline. It is a being of great power but it's touch is light. An innocent maiden becomes a snack here, an unemployed mechanic is taken as a slave there.

For such a powerful monster the damage it causes is small, but is it not a hunter's mission to battle for one life as well as one hundred? If a hunter is true to the Vigil is it not their duty to fight The Dragon of the Rust?

Appearance In it's true form The Dragon of the Rust resembles nothing more than an enormous pile of scrap machinery in the shape of a dragon. As it walks it whirs and clicks as pieces of broken scrap try to fulfill their old functions. It's roar, the sound of a thousand engines revving and a car crash, is loud enough to shatter eardrums.

To those who cannot see it's true form The Dragon of the Rust looks like nothing more than a beaten up old truck driven by an old factory worker who's fallen on hard times and homelessness, belching smoke and the bangs of engine misfires as it drives. However it is seen, the Dragon of the Rust has such an Aura of Dread that most flee at the first sight of him.

In it's native Arcadia The Dragon of the Rust is mightier still. A cathedral sized monster of half broken machinery stalking a desolate city half burred beneath sands and time. It's slaves live within his body, endlessly toiling to keep the jury rigged mechanisms as functional as they can. A process half way between slave labor and being digested.

Storytelling Hints Let's not beat around the bush, the Dragon of the Rust is a dragon. This is not the sort of monster that one lone wolf hunter with a shotgun full of iron and balls of solid brass is going to kill. This is the sort of monster that could go head to head with entire cells. However if you get enough Hunters together and point enough cold iron (or anti tank weaponry) at it, the Dragon of the Rust will go down.

Therefore the first hint is simple: if the players get into a fight with the Dragon of the Rust, go all out. Use his contracts creatively and to their full potential, making the players work for every inch, and if they win, shower them with rewards. Rumors spread among the Vigil, and the team who killed a dragon is going to get respect. Be creative and be generous. If the players are Loyalists of Thule the dragon may babble occult secrets in it's death throes. For Network 0 handwave a reason why the Dragon's Mask falls as it dies, then have it stagger into a crowed street... on camera. Dragon teeth, dragon hearts, the pearl from a dragon's forehead, the Aegis Kai Doru or Ascending Ones could butcher the corpse for relics or alchemical ingredients.

Yet even with such rewards going against a dragon is a dangerous prospect, have a second look at the Bans. These are specifically designed so a lone cell who knows the rules can take on the Dragon of the Rust and win. Taking advantage of it's bans gives a cell a safehouse the dragon cannot threaten, a way to hear it's movements and even a way to control the dragon if they're willing to make some unethical choices (remember, monsters can be virgins too). Iron rounds out the Bans by adding a combat weakness.

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 6

Physical Attributes: Strength 9, Dexterity 5, Stamina 9

Social Attributes: Presence 7, Manipulation 1, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Crafts 3 (it's own body), Investigation 2, Occult 2

Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 6 (claws, teeth), Firearms 5 (breath) Survival 2

Social Skills: Intimidation 8

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Wrath

Wyrd: 9

Willpower: 9

Initiative: 8

Defence: 5

Armour: 5 (0 against Iron)

Speed: 19

Size: 20

Health: 29

Contracts: Rust, scrap, urban decay, unemployment, dragons, pollution, homelessness, ruined factories, fear.

Bans: The Dragon of the Rust cannot enter or project it's powers into any factory, garage, mechanics shop or other industrial building which has turned a profit in the last complete financial year.

The Dragon of the Rust must flee from any union membership cards held by an employed member of a trade union in a blue collar job.

The Dragon of the Rust's Aura of Dread cannot affect anyone who has ever taken Damage from the heat of a working steel furnace.

The Dragon of the Rust must do one favor to anyone who offers it a virgin sacrifice. It must fulfill this favor in both word and in spirit.

Dread Powers: Dread Attack 7 (claws), Dread Attack 9 (teeth), Dread Attack 6 (poisonous pollution breath), Gremlinize 8, Scrap Harvest 4*. Unholy Attribute 5 (Strength), Unholy Attribute 4 (Stamina), Aura of Dread 3**

* As Shadow Harvest but requires scrap metal and broken machenery rather than shadows. Roll Stamina + Crafts + Scrap Harvest.

** As Terrify, but it reflexively activates the first time anyone sees The Dragon of the Rust in a scene. There is no cost for this ability.

NORTH PHILLY

Kensington

Kensington has always been an area of Irish-American activity in Philadelphia, from the 1840s up to the new millennium. Though there is overlap between Kensington and Fishtown (meaning hunters can face both the fairies and the Shadders), the area is currently in a new round of gentrification. Despite this, the large abandoned brick factories and older residents still speak of the blue collar roots that brought Kensington to life before the mass shutdowns of the 1950s. Other minorities have moved in, but the Irish roots of the area cannot be denied.

The Heavy Bags

Named after one of boxing’s most famous training tools, the Heavy Bags follow Thornton as loyally as a soldier follows their general. They’ve taken it on themselves to patrol Kensington for any fae when Thornton is either too busy to or simply unable to make the time. Each one a poor white kid, they all consider themselves lucky that Thornton trained them and gave them a purpose, and consider him a better father than their own most of the time.

The Heavy Bags know the following Tactics: Cripple Claws, Corral, Dentistry, Moral Support. Their safehouse (Really Thornton’s gym) has the following stats: Size 3, Cache 2, Secrecy 0. The handle to the basement door is electrified (Trap 1) and opening the weapons safe improperly will trigger a crude nailbomb (Trap 2), it is also equipped for interigating faeries (Torture Suite 1)

Sean Thornton: A boxer who travelled from Ireland to compete in the golden ring. After unknowingly competing with a faerie Thornton's luck went sour. Literally. At his lowest the Son's of Cú Chulainn helped Thornton turn his life around, and he now runs a boxing gym; using sport to help kids turn their life around. Often he points those lives straight at the fae.

Kenny Wilkinson: A mother who tried so hard and a father dead on the job on the docks, Kevin grew up trying to act like a man but without a role-model to show him the way. A few fights and a graduation from Catholic school that nearly didn’t happen, Kevin found his way to Thornton’s gym when a cop dragged him there after yet another fight. Since then Kevin’s eased his anger and redirected it to the fae, taking his anger out on the agents of what he believes of the Fate that decided to kill his father.

Frank O’Hanrahan: Born to a white father and black mother, he never fit in comfortably in either side of his family, though it wasn’t that his parents didn’t love him, but rather neither side of his family did. Dejected, he found solace in exercise, and from there found Thornton’s gym. For the first time, it didn’t matter who his parents were, only what he could do, and now Frank’s decided that he’ll do whatever he can to keep his new family, and also helps Thornton running the business side of the gym.

Bill Hagan: Bill’s brother ran away from home early in Bill’s life, but his parents didn’t believe him when he tried to tell them that the thing in his brother’s place was just a few scraps of newspaper and a trashcan body. It took Billy a round in therapy to “realize” that he was only seeing things, and accepted the trash-brother as his real brother Dan. It wasn’t until years later when the Heavy Bags broke into his home while his parents were out that Bill was finally vindicated. Asking all the questions he could, he soon joined the Heavy Bags, simultaneously comforting his parents as best he can, waiting for the day he finds the real Dan again.

Sean Thornton

Sean Thornton was born the son of a quiet, peace loving man in the small village of Inishfree. His father was an ex-boxer from Pittsburgh, who returned to the land of his birth to escape a horrible accident in the ring. William, however, took to the ring with a passion, and despite his father’s initial misgivings, was ready to strike out on his own.

Hoping to make it big in America, Sean Thornton crossed the Atlantic and took to the smaller rings, honing his skills in order to build up a repertoire as a hard but fair fighter. A chance bout changed his life, though, in the form of a large man with fists like concrete and a face like a misshapen boulder. It was the hardest fight Sean had ever had before or since, and that night he suffered his worst defeat ever. As he lay on the canvas, gasping for breath, barely able to see straight, he saw that his opponent had changed. Instead of skin, he was more like a walking wall of copper, teeth of silver grinning out from a crooked mouth. At first, Sean shook it off as being punch drunk, and a few days later, was ready for his next bout. It was another disaster.

So it followed, bad match after bad match. What was supposed to be a charmed rise to fame instead became a sidebar in the sports section, one promising boxer whose luck didn’t hold out. The second “Fighting Thornton” gained nothing except for a few weak condolences and some low paying matches where he fought desperately for the little money offered. He was destitute to the point of taking on bare-knuckle brawls in the back alleyways, eventually finding his way to Philadelphia because, frankly, nowhere else let his bad luck keep going.

Finally, he found himself being dragged to the hospital from his latest bout by a member of the Sons of Cu Chulainn, and was told that his bad luck came from a monster, a fairy from his bedtime stories, stealing away his luck. Of course, Sean didn’t believe, why should he have? He finally started to believe when the Hound brought in the same boxer, in his real state. That was Sean’s first kill with his fists. That was when he became a Son.

Since then, he’s pulled his life together, becoming the owner of a small boxing gym in Kensington, which doubles as the meeting house for the Hounds in North Philadelphia. He’s since gotten married, but it’s started to fall apart as Sean spends more and more time at his gym, planning assaults and battles with fairies and goblins.

His wife and a few others have noticed it though. Sean’s eyes go dead sometimes, like there’s nothing to interest him in daily life anymore. There are only two times when the light comes on again. Usually, when he’s working the heavy bag or sparring with another fighter, he’s his old smiling self. The other time is when he’s lopping off heads with his sword and shooting the fleeing fairies in the back.

He’s also gotten into hot water recently in the wider city. A bad hunt in South Philly has earned his cell the enmity of the Joey Carcione and the Union, and he’s convinced that they’re under the sway of a fairy themselves, as great bird-thing soars from block to block. His cellmates are still investigating, but Sean’s had enough waiting around. He and a few other Hounds are ready to strike now, before they can cause any more trouble in their city.

Frankly, Sean treats the Vigil like another match. You need to be faster on your feet than your opponent, and strike harder where it hurts. His cell is merely an extension of his own body, the legs and fists of his Vigil. Sure, there’s some injury, and Sean has more than his fair share of scars, but as long as the foe hits the mat, that’s what counts, right? Damn right.

Appearance: Thornton is built like a concrete bunker that’s starting to show it’s age in the cracks at the edges. His muscles are losing their tone, and his hair is nearly gone all gray. His face is mashed up and sports several impressive scars, and anyone who boxes can tell they weren’t gained in the ring.

Storytelling Hints: Thornton is a dangerous enemy not only to fae, but to other hunters. With his direct nature and the unwavering loyalty of those in his cell, as well as the ear of the local police, Thornton can easily turn a hunter’s vigil in Kensington into a nightmare if one gets on his bad side, which is increasingly becoming all of them. That said, Thornton is also a possible ally if he’s sufficiently impressed with whoever tries to convince him to help their cause. He also reacts violently to those involved with the drug trade, however, after hearing rumors of some bastard named “Two-Wrongs” pushing shit in the area.

Profession: Athlete (Athletics, Medicine, Brawl)

Compact: Sons of Cú Chulainn (Red Branch Knights)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence: 2 Wits: 3 Resolve: 3

Physical Attributes: Strength: 3 Dexterity: 3 Stamina: 4

Social Attributes: Presence: 3 Manipulation: 1 Composure: 2

Mental Skills: Medicine 2, Occult 2, Politics 3

Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 4 (Boxing), Drive 2, Firearms 2, Weaponry 2 (Iron Broadsword)

Social Skills: Empathy 2 (Locals), Intimidation 3, Persuasion 2, Streetwise 2, (Kensington), Socialize 2, (Boxers, Locals)

Merits: Allies 3 (Local Cops 3), Brawling Dodge 1, Barfly 1, Contacts 4 (Boxers, ring managers, high school gym coaches, locals), Fighting Style: Boxing 5, Professional Training 3, Resources 2, Status Sons of Cu Chulainn: 3, The Sight 2, Warrior’s Code 5,

Willpower: 5

Morality: 4 (Suspicion)

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Wrath

Initiative: 6

Defence: 3

Speed: 11

Health: 9

Antagonists: The Irish Mob

The Irish Mob in Philadelphia used to be something. Starting in the 1950s, the group rose from the intersection of Kensington and Allehgheny, and was responsible for various break-ins, thefts, and blackmailing. As home security became more easily available, however, the group started a move into meth, and from there came the group’s eventual downfall. Truth of the matter was, drugs weren’t profitable when the War on Drugs was raging. Finally, the Irish got their last real action in the Mob wars in the 1990s, working as muscle under the Italians and battling with outlaw motorcycle riders and black gangs for the drug trade.

Since then, the Irish mob is a shadow of it’s former self. Many suspect the gang has disappeared completely, though there’s still a few poor Irish guys left in the area to keep a small trickle of potential recruits around.

Story Seeds

A news report catches your eye one day; “Accused Hitman Released on Technicality”. Reading, it says that he was an accused hitman for the Irish Mob, but the police were forced to release him when a crucial piece of evidence went missing. He says that he just got lucky. Maybe it was nothing, but then the cops who arrested him turn up dead, shooting each other in what the paper’s are calling “A tragic accident”. Something let that hitman out of jail. Why?

You’re hearing the word; a criminal group is teaming up with fairies in the Northeast. They’re skirting past even federal authorities because they always have airtight alibis. As the police keep watching, drugs keep flowing, and people keep dying. Then, there’s a break in the case. One of the men is seen, on camera, giving drugs to an undercover. Only that same guy was at a sports game that night, captured on the big screen. What the hell is going on?

St. Katherine Drexel Shrine

St. Katherine Drexel is well known to Catholics around the United States, especially in Philadelphia. Her name has been associated not only with the same Drexel family that founded Drexel Univeristy, but with her aid missions to the blacks and Native Americans in the Western and Southwestern states, constantly calling for racial equality and fair treatment. Her considerable wealth helped her in this task, building missions, schools, and even establishing an order, the Sisters for the Blessed Sacrament. She never knew about the Malleus, and if she had, she would have had stern words to say to it’s leadership. As it is, her order is now a favorite choosing ground for the Sisterhood of St. Wisdom, who scan the S.B.S. for only the most driven and merciful of sisters to accept into their secret path of protecting the flock.

Subsequently, her shrine is now considered their biggest priority in Philadelphia. Secluded in a small group of trees in neighboring Bensalem, it’s brick walls a museum, housing for the religious, and a wide open patch of land that includes a modest garden and a small graveyard. It also houses religious relics of St. Katherine within, priceless especially to the sisters of her order.

In secret, the cell of the Sisterhood that works within it’s walls uses the shrine as both a base and a hideout. They take both victims and monsters from Philadelphia into their care, doing their best to rehabilitate them and give them a new chance at life. It’s rough, with other Malleus cells in the city more focused on fighting calling for their backup. But the Sisterhood strives on, trying to make some small difference in the lives of their victims.

Sister Maria Olivier

Background: Sister Maria, born Jess, has been surrounded by Catholicism all her life. As a young girl she was taught by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament at a missionary school in her native South Africa. Jess loved to learn and when she was approaching the end of her education she approached the sisters to ask about taking her vows and becoming a teacher herself. What Maria didn't know was that the sisters were already thinking about suggesting Maria might enjoy a career as teacher. What the sisters didn't know was that their thoughts had crossed the desk of the Sisterhood of St. Wisdom whereupon it was upgraded to a scholarship to study theology. At best the Shadow Congregation gained a new member, at worst the Church gained a new nun. Either way it would be a home run for Heaven's team, and she took the name Maria on her entrance into the S.B.S.

Fresh into the Hammer of Witches and now Sister Maria, she was given one of the more common tasks for the Sisterhood: Helping the thralls and blood addicts left behind after the Order of St. Longinus dragged another vampire into God's sunlight. About a year into her duties Maria caught the eyes of her superiors with a daring feet of heroic bravery. When a blood addict she was helping with fell back into addiction she walked unseen right into the vampire's lair and talked him into following her out over several days. But Maria felt that the skills of the Malleus were being under utilized. She had already been given the explanation for why the Malleus Maleficarum kept the Benedictions secret, but she’s never been in favor of that policy personally. She got her chance to do things her way after she was reassigned to Philadelphia, where the constant fighting and tensions meant laxer oversight. There she would seek out good honest members of the Church, those who could be trusted to keep quiet, and quietly teach them useful “prayers”, without revealing exactly what she was teaching.

Appearance: Sister Maria is an African woman usually found in conservative Christian dress. She keeps her body fit and strong and it shows, but she passes it off as nothing more than the benefits of good diet and lots of hard work, and speaks with a heavy Afrikaner accent.

Storytelling Hints: Outside her immediate cell no one in America knows that Sister Maria is a member of the Shadow Congregation. A safety precaution for the non-combatants in the Sisterhood, but a precaution that gives Sister Maria a good deal of freedom. Most of the time she keeps herself busy and visible doing the work of a nun to keep her cover strong. At the St. Catherine Drexel Shrine she is the woman to go to for school tours. On the weekends she tours Philadelphia going to different workshops for the clergy and laity, and when she finds a group that fits her criteria she begins teaching them the same benedictions she learned without word getting back Baudolino or Gallaher, calling her teachings “little used prayers”. Her usual curriculum covers The Hands of St. Luke and the Blessed Protection of St. Agrippina, The Maternity of St. Bridget and the Fortitude of St. George.

Virtue: Faith

Vice: Envy

Conspiracy: Malleus Maleficarum (Sisterhood of St. Wisdom)

Profession: Religious Leader (Academics, Occult, Medicine)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 4

Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4

Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 4

Skills: Academics 3, Computer 2, Medicine 2, Occult 4 (Catholic Apocrypha), Athletics 3, Drive 2, Larceny 2, Stealth 3 (Sneaking Around), Empathy 3 (Monster victims), Expression 3 (teaching), Persuasion 3, Socialize 2, Streetwise 3, Suberfuge 2 (cover story).

Merits: Allies 1 (Sisterhood of St. Wisdom), Benediction 2 (The Apostles Teachings, Fortitude of St. George, The Hands of St. Luke, The Maternity of St. Brigit, Blessed Protection of St. Agrippina), Contacts 3 (Support Groups, Local churches, Catholic Schools), Danger Sense 2, Direction Sense 1, Holistic Awareness 4, Iron Stamina 2, Language (Latin), Meditative Mind 1, Professional Training 2, Quick Healer 4, Status 1 (Malleus Maleficarum).

The Ashcribs

If you ask hunters about the Ashcribs half will tell you that they're just another gang, profiting of illegal drugs and human misery. The other half will tell you that they're one of the largest cells of hunters in town, a disorganized rabble who viciously protect their turf, whether it's from rival gangs or monsters.

The truth is that they are drug dealers, they are hunters, but they are far from disorganized. The typical member of the Ashcribs is a disaffected and impoverished African American young man who hopes to work his way up from dealing on a corner to the luxurious position of drug lord (use the stats for a Gangbanger, WoD core p205). What the soldiers don't know is that their little gang is just one small part of a much larger organization: The Cult of the Phoenix.

As part of the Jagged Crescent the Ashcribs serve the Ascending Ones in a small but useful capacity, selling drugs for profit and maintaining trading relationships with a couple of local hobgoblin merchants. Only the three leaders know the gang's true allegiance. They're smart, dedicated and keep the Ashcribs tightly organized.

Russel Blakeside runs the Ashcribs. He was a collage graduate but he felt so out of place working a white collar job that he returned to the old neighborhood and began forming his own criminal fiefdom. The management techniques he learned in collage let him run an efficient and profitable gang, and impressed his suppliers enough that when they wanted a permanent operative in Philadelphia they chose Russel. For his part Russel is a ruthless, dedicated man who works with the Jagged Crescent for the the money, the connections, and the justifications.

Jermaine Carr sits at Russel's right hand. An introverted bookish man, Jermaine was nevertheless demotivated by the culture of his school. Unable to cut it in either the straight and narrow or the criminal underworld Jermain floundered until he was discovered by Russel. Russel offered Jermaine his protection and a purpose. Now Jermain serves the Jagged Crescent loyally, in the Ashcribs he handles everything from organizing duty rotas to the finances. Of the three leaders he is firmest believer in the Ascending One's mission to guard the night, and with Russel's blessing Jermaine uses Ashcrib cash to help in the local community.

Jordan Wise sits at Russel's left hand. Jordan was born with a natural gift for chemistry and botany. He has been loyal to Russel since they were just a small gang controlling a small row home. When Russel was inducted into the Ascending Ones he knew he could not use elixirs to their full potential without his best chemist, and so Jordan joined the Cult of the Phoenix alongside his boss. Most of Jordan's time is spent in an Ashcrib safehouse brewing drugs or lixirs but he also serves as the cells general purpose expert on the occult.

The Ashcrib keep their safehouses moving. With both monsters and the police interested it's a matter of survival. Normally they have a few Size 0 or Size 1 Safehouses containing a Cache (often hiding as much or more drugs than weapons) along with one primary Size 2, Cache 5 (drugs, elixirs and weapons) safehouse where Jordan Wise runs an alchemy/drug lab. Secrecy is usually around three dots. Only the primary safehouse is routinely trapped, usually with some alchemical concoction designed to slow down intruders long enough for Jordan to grab what he can and burn the evidence behind him.

The Ashcribs know the following Tactics: Controlled Immolation, Disappear, Searchparty and Moral Support. Their leaders also know Identification.

Russel Blakeside

We were born in the ashes of a dying city.

Our mother's milk turned to dust in our mouths.

To survive we became strong.

If you don't back off our turf we'll show you how strong we are cocksucking motherfucker!

Background: Russel has been fighting since he was just a kid. First he fought to escape the old neighborhood, now he fights to control it.

When he was young Russel promised himself that he would escape the old neighborhood, fighting against bad schools and disinterested teachers to get into college. In college he fought against feelings of alienation to pass with a solid GPA. Russel fought all the way into a good white collar job, then after three months he left. Unable to cope with feeling entirely out of place in the middle class culture he went back to his old neighborhood and started his own drug ring.

The management techniques and business theory Russel learned in college translated well to crime and Russel's empire grew. On the street he kept an iron fist upon the reins, favoring profit over feuds and revenge while he drove a hard bargain with suppliers and used market research to identify potential customers. His success and loyalty earned him the respect of his suppliers, including the Jagged Crescent. They met Russell and made him a pitch: He joins and does the Ascending One's work, in return he gets all the benefits of membership: Stable supplies for drugs and weapons, allies and even elixirs. Ever the intelligent businessman, Russell wasted no time saying yes.

Appearance: Russel is now approaching early middle age, yet he still cuts a powerful muscular figure and walks with perfect self confidence. He usually dresses in street clothing but from expensive designer brands to advertise his wealth and success. Tattoos and jewellery display his allegiance to the Ashcribs and threaten with hints of mystical badassedness, though they are positioned to be invisible on the occasions when Russel needs to appear in a suit.

Storytelling Hints: Russel thinks of himself as old school nobility. The gang leader and the turf are one. If the leader is well, then the turf and all upon it are well. In his own opinion Russel is a ruler, a law giver and a judge who brings peace and prosperity to his domain through military strength.

In many ways Russel's views are true, perhaps more true than he knows. Like the tyrants of old all the benefits of protection and governance that Russel gives his "subjects", he takes back through taxes. That is, he sells drugs to his own people. Perhaps the truest thing you could say about Russel's morality is that given all the drug gangs and small fry monsters who might have ended up holding his turf, Russel is the best of a bad bunch.

While you can criticize Russel's morals, it is hard to fault his competence. Russel rules his turf completely, and violence or crime that he hasn't sanctioned is quickly suppressed. Encroachment by rival gangs or monsters is met with a swift and brutal response. Even the people on his turf who don't like drugs or gangs know that they can report crimes to Russel or ask him to judge a dispute. Admittedly Russel doesn’t have much interest in the parts of governance unrelated to enforcing his order upon the turf, but he has Jermaine for that.

Though Russel is the ultimate law upon his turf he is actually no one of importance within the Ascending Ones. A petty baron ruling a few blocks in Phoenix's name, selling drugs and keeping relations sweet with a couple of local hobgoblins. Russel knows what he is seen and does not mind. As part of the Jagged Crescent Russel gets a reliable supply of merchandise, equipment, alchemical Elixirs and a cause to justify his actions. If a monster with a little too much mojo for a bunch of gangbangers tries to set up shop he can pass the word along. So far no body's drawn a connection between the "nobody gangbangers with no connection to the occult" and the "Arabic assassins from out of town who kill monsters in their sleep".

Let the Crescent call him a tool. Russel isn't greedy, he has his turf and the Ascending Ones give him everything he needs to keep it. For that he will serve them loyally.

Profession: Criminal (Academics, Larceny, Streetwise)

Conspiracy: Ascending Ones (Jagged Crescent)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 4

Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5

Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Academics 2 (Marketing), Crafts 1, Investigation 2, Politics 4 (Street), Science 1, Occult 1 (Alchemy)

Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3 Firearms 3 (Pistol), Stealth 2, Larceny 2, Weaponry 2

Social Skills: Empathy 2, Persuasion 3, Intimidation 4 (On his turf), Socialise 2, Streetwise 5 (Territory), Subterfuge 3

Virtue: Prudence

Vice: Wrath

Willpower 6

Morality 3

Code: Murder is okay if it's done on Ashcrib turf under Ashcrib law (modifies murder)

Tells: Calling Card (The Ashcribs' emblem)

Merits: Allies 2 (Jagged Crescent), Allies 2 (Knife of Paradise), Contacts 3 (Local community, drug dealers, arms dealers), Elixir 2, Iron Stamina 2, Professional Training 3 (Criminal), Status 5 (Ashcribs), Status 2 (Ascending Ones), Resources 3, Toxin Resistance 3, Wyrd Image (Resolute Barron)

Our Lord of Mercy Gospel Church

Located among the urban decay and gang violence of North Philadelphia, Our Lord of Mercy Gospel Church remains a refuge of charity, friendship and good Christian values. The congregation are mostly middle aged or elderly African Americans and those children too young to dodge Saturday services. For most of the congregation the church is vital. It provides a community apart from the drugs and the gangs, and it provides faith and hope to people who have little else.

Yet the church has a secret. A sinister secret? You decide. Sequestered among the enormous church hats and rejoicing music is a cell of the Long Night. With the church as their base, and the congregation as potential recruits they welcome the coming apocalypse with open arms and joyful music. The leaders subscribe to the Doctrine of Mercy and the cell spend as much time trying to help drug addicts and victims of urban poverty as they do battling monsters. The Faithful and the Hopeless both hold a presence among the rank and file.

For most of their Vigil Our Lord of Mercy Gospel Church has battled against human ills, with mercy, and the more obvious supernatural predators, with mercy or with a gun. Now they've changed track. The latest member to join is Shauna Williams, a recovering drug addict and a former member of the Wilde Society. Shauna's insistence that the fey were separate to hell, and the casual ease in which changelings would swear away any intelligence to the devil has led Billy Dee Richards to the theory that the fae were the angels who took no side in the war between God and Satan. After several years of slowly loosing ground Billy Dee feels that he needs help, and if they could redeem a member of the gentry, who better to help the Lord's soldiers than an angel?

Billy Dee Richards is the Pastor at Our Lord of Mercy Gospel Church. He follows the Doctrine of the Merciful and is the official leader of the Church's hunter cell. His position puts great strain upon him, more so in recent years where the church's influence and territory have been gradually eroded. Now Billy is looking for a silver bullet to reverse his cell's declining fortunes, and he believes redeeming a faerie lord into a true angel to be that silver bullet.

Sonia Armstrong is the most respected member of the cell. She fought for the Long Night during her youth and retired when the last of her cellmates fell. When the Long Night moved into her church she walked right in. Sonia stands at 4 foot of iron determination, common sense and superstitions. She is a figure of strength and experience to her cell, and though her old age limits her to light duties she can still point a shotgun with the best of them when trouble comes knocking. Sonia follows the Merciful Doctrine.

Shirley Adams is the lead singer for Our Lord of Mercy Gospel Church, but she is also one of the church’s most dedicated hunters. As one of the Faithful Shirley rouses her Cell to battle with her singing voice and brings the Lord's vengeance to the spawn of Satan with her gun.

Alec Black worked at a secular charity running a soup kitchen, but he had no issue with taking donations from the local church. But when Billy Dee showed him what was behind so many of his client's poverty and suffering he knew he had to do something. Though he lacks the religious convictions seen in most of the Long Night he's starting to be convinced. How else can you explain the monsters walking the night? Alec follows the Merciful Doctrine.

Christian Dennis is one of the church's success stories. A former gangster who has renounced his wicked ways to follow the teachings of Jesus. Christian does not believe he can ever truly redeem himself for human death stain his hands, but he does truly believe he can use what he learned in the gangs to protect others from his own fate. Christian follows the Doctrine of the Hopeless.

Daniel Parks was a hunter before he joined The Long Night. He and a couple of buddies spent three weeks fighting the vampire who used his block as her personal blood bank. By day they'd take down the vampire's servants and slaves one by one, by night they'd hole up in a different hiding spot. Of the three Daniel is the only survivor, and he wouldn't have been if Shirley Adams and Christian Dennis didn't overhear the commotion of the final confrontation. Though he was not originally religious Daniel has started to see the hand of God in every victory and near escape, leading him to follow the Doctrine of the Faithful.

Shauna Williams was once a member of the Wilde Society, until her family staged an intervention with the help of their church. They managed to get her clean from drugs, but nothing they tried would dislodge Shauna's cravings for faerie inspiration. When Sonia realized why they couldn't help Shauna further the group instead decided to make use of her abilities. Though Shauna's grasp of Beautiful Madness is limited, it was enough to catalyze the group's recent focus upon the fae.

Our Lord of Mercy Gospel Church knows the following Tactics: Moral Support, Corral, Deprogramming and Exorcism. They meet in their church, Safehouse Size 3, Cache 3.

Billy Dee Richards

Background: Billy Dee Richards grew up in a time when mercy was impossible to find for a poor black kid growing up in the ghetto. His father lost his job when the factories closed down, and his mother was always sickly. Young Billy took to books, but knew that he had to appear tough to keep from being beaten by his peers. He made himself look tough, but anyone who knew him knew that the giant was softer than any man they knew.

With such a caring nature, his parents were surprised that their son drifted to becoming a pastor. A few years study in the seminary, and Pastor Billy Dee Richards was sent back to his old home in Philly. If it was possible, things seemed to have gotten worse. The gangs had taken over entire neighborhoods, drugs running everything. Billy Dee did his best to preach his gospel, but the youth he so desperately wanted to reach out to kept slipping through his grasp. He was at the end of his rope when one of the older couples in the church asked him to help them save their possessed grandchild. At first, Billy Dee thought they were merely unable to explain or accept a mental illness, and decided to at least humor them to ease their pain. Three buckets of holy water and a singed hairline later, and Billy Dee found out what really there.

It wasn’t until Shauna joined the cell that Pastor Richards noticed that maybe the fae could be an answer to his city’s troubles. Reading through Christian apocrypha, he believes that there had to have been angels who chose no side in the war that tore Heaven apart. If the fae were such angels, they could act as the messengers of God people would need to show them their wicked ways, and force the gangs in his area to repent. This does not fit perfectly with the path Isaiah Bellamy, the leading Long Night member in Philadelphia, who wants to just reach the changelings on the streets. To Billy Dee, the changelings are only a symptom of the larger disease, and he will do what he thinks is needed to return the angels that took them to their former glory. And then, just maybe, an angel could take his burden from him.

Appearance: Billy Dee is a middle aged black man with short executive style hair and a full mustache that can only be done justice with the word awesome. He usually dressed in a reasonably priced suit or his robes, as appropriate to the occasion. In public he still moves with passion and energy, but in private he walks with his shoulders hunched under the weight of the world.

Storytelling Hints: In a word: Tired. Billy Dee is a tired man. He never joined the clergy to fight monsters in the night. He thought his life would consist of preaching the Lord's word and helping members of the congregation across any spiritual stumbling blocks in their lives. But what man of god could close his eyes once they had seen the truth of the world? And so Billy Dee leads his cell on, he does so because in his heart he knows his actions to be the Lord's work, and on his shoulder he carries the weight of every bad decision a scholar inevitably makes while trying to teach himself war.

Profession: Religious Leader (Academics, Occult, Persuasion)

Compact: Long Night (The Merciful)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve, 4

Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 1, Stamina 1

Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 5, Composure 4

Mental Skills: Academics 3, Computer 2, Investigation 2, Medicine 3, Occult 4, Politics 4

Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Drive 2, Firearms 2, Larceny 1, Weaponry 2

Social Skills: Empathy 4, Expression 2 (Gospel Singing), Intimidation 3 (Fire and Brimstone) Persuasion 4 (Religious Rhetoric), Socialize 4 (Questioning), Streetwise 5 (North Philly)

Virtue: Faith

Vice: Pride

Willpower: 8

Morality: 5

Merits: Allies 2 (Lord of Mercy Church), Contacts (gospel churches, Christian youth workers) Danger Sense, Fame 1( North Philly), Holistic Awareness, Meditative Mind, Professional Training 2, Resources 2, Status 2 (Long Night).

CENTER CITY

EVENT: New Years Day Mummers Parade

The Mummers Parade has a tradition reaching back far into colonial history. The Swedes, the area’s original European settlers, had a tradition of “Second Christmas Day”. They would parade through their small towns and villages, visiting neighbors and calling for hospitality. Eventually, the idea of a costumed parade through the streets of Philadelphia was enough for unofficial crowds to start roving the streets in the late winter season. These groups would often have one leader, who made a special dance and rhyme.

“Here we stand before your door;

Like we did the year before;

Give us whiskey; give us gin,

Open the door and let us in!

Or give us something nice and hot

Like a steaming bowl of pepper pot!”

In time, the other ethnic groups of Philadelphia also latched on to the tradition, and organized their own clubs and groups to parade through the city, organizing primarily in South Philadelphia. The Europeans brought their extravagant costumes and instruments, while freed slaves from the South brought their own songs and dances. Despite the nuisance the festivities often made to some, the majority of the city loved the New Years celebration, and the first official parade was held in 1901. Today, though the parade has had some struggles for funding, the city’s population is loathe to even consider ending it. Even celebrities native to the area have come out for the Mummers. There are four main parts to the parade; the Comics, groups of revelers reminiscent of the original Swedish style, marching down Center City in fun costumes and makeup with healthy amounts of booze in their systems; the Fancies, who use small elaborate floats and dance routines; finally, the String Bands, whose large numbers, elaborate costumes and set pieces finish up the parade on the street. The Fancy Brigades do not perform on the street; instead they take their massive props and numbers into the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Both fairies and hunters know the parade well. In the early years of the tradition, hunters found that the abundance of guns being fired off was the perfect cover to use their own weapons on a hunt when the Mummers were out. In more recent times, cells often use practicing for New Years as an excuse to step out from families and friends to take up the Vigil. Fairies have a different reason for their love. The parade seems to call to them, like it’s a source of energy to their magic and sorcery. Often, after the parade winds down Market or Broad street (Depending on where the city decides to let the parade travel), hunters have to contend with fairies, high on magic, running loose through the city. Both sides have had a running tit-for-tat battle over who has control of the parade for decades.

There’s a wild card in all this though; Oscar Rizzo, the Blood Mummer (Hunter: The Vigil Core Rulebook, p. 359). Oscar stalks the backstreets of the city too, and in the time during and immediately after the parade, he can dress in his Mummers suit without suspicion, meaning that if he finds the right victim, he can kill and leave without arousing suspicion. After all, it’s just a man in a Mummers costume, how could he kill anyone without getting any evidence on his suit?

Story Hook: Oh, dem golden slippers!

A group of fairies has decided they want to control the magic of the parade all for themselves. To that end, they’ve created a new club consisting of themselves and duped mortals, practically kidnapped from the other clubs. The call themselves “The Golden Slipper Motley”, and over the past few years have won prize after prize, edging in on first. A cell of hunters says that to let them win first prize would mean they can control the parade, and with it the magic that comes off it, and the ability to warp the city as they see fit. What now?

Philadelphia Cuisine

At first glance, this might seem a little odd. Cuisine? What could Philadelphia offer to the culinary world? Hell, why should it even matter what a person eats in a Hunter game?

In Philadelphia, it could mean everything.

First, there’s the iconic cheesesteak, sold anywhere and everywhere, from the brutal rivalry between Pat’s and Geno’s in South Philly, to Tony Luke’s near the Sports Complex, and even made on the small grill of Mr. Joey Carcione. The cheesesteak is to Philadelphia as being cruel to others is to New York, a ritual that has formed over many years.

First, one steps up to the cashier, saying what kind of cheese they want, and whether they want any additional toppings. In Philadelphia, the usual order is “Whiz wit’”. Improper etiquette results in the customer being sent to the back of the line to order again. Payment is usually given when the person orders, since giving them a sandwich before they can pay is foolish, after all.

The pepper pot is another long standing meal. A stew of beef, peppers, vegetables and seasonings, the pepper pot has been a part of Philadelphia since the Revolutionary War, since the soldiers of Washington’s army had to make do with any food they had available. Out of this desperation, the pepper pot was born.

The hoagie is a disputed claim, but many attribute it’s creation to ship workers on Hog Island, during World War 1. It’s blend of meats, cheeses and vegetables, as well as it’s connection to the city, led to it being declared the official sandwich of the city in 1992.

Snack foods come in three distinct flavors. Most days of the year, the soft pretzel is the way to go. Created by Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants, the soft pretzel is an enduring treat in the area, and few are the people who don’t know the taste of the soft, warm, salted bread. In the hot summers, though, the Italian water ice takes the stage, cooling people down all over the city. Finally, for those times when you just need sugar, the Tastykake snack cakes are what a person will get.

Why so much detail about food? Fairies often don’t know the cultural norms of where they wind up, and many a hunter unsure of whether or not they’re chasing a fairy will just ask whether they want Pat’s or Tony Luke’s. They’ll see whether or not they know to say hoagie. It’s not the most reliable method, seeing as these are terms native to the area, but sometimes, a little paranoia can go a long way.

Then there’s the fact that food is powerful to fairies, almost more so than other creatures. A witch can cast a spell on some bread and call it a day, but fairies messing with food are something else entirely. Many hunters point to a short week in 1987, when several missing persons reports cropped up after a new diner opened in Olney. A cell of Ascending Ones went in to see what was happening, and that night set fire to the building, the horned and hoofed owners still inside. They never recovered the missing. Food, in the hands of a fairy, is a potent weapon indeed.

Story Hook: Whiz wit’ fruit

A new cheesesteak stand has opened up in North Philly, and somehow has become an overnight hit. People are lining up for blocks to get a taste, and the taste can only be described as “orgasmic”. Food critics are already raving, and rumors of a second location are flying.

The area Ascending Ones, however, remember 1987, and are worried that the disappearances will start anew. They’ve tried to put the word out about the danger, but they’ve found several area cells under the thrall of the new stand as well. They want to make sure there’s no cancer cells able to warn the fairies, because yes, they’re sure there’s fairies, they’ve seen them. There’s gonna be blood either way with this.

Thrumpkin Durmont

Background: Thrumpkin was just a humble engineer working SEPTA’s subway system when the gentry took him. He was traveling through the tunnels on what should have been a routine maintenance job when he noticed the tunnels were getting smaller, the concrete walls were giving way to bare rock. Obviously he knew something was wrong but by then it was already too late, a burly troll like overseer saw Thrumpkin and ordered him back to work. Oblivious to Thrumkin's protests that he didn't belong here.

Toiling for years in the dark, sightless mines changed Thrumpkin from a man into something other. His body grew strong and tough, even as it shrunk to fit into those tunnels. His eyes adapted to the darkness. Yet it never crushed his spirit. Thrumpkin always knew that one day he would be free or die trying.

Yet Thrumpkin found his greatest barrier to freedom was not the guards, or his unseen master, but the other slaves. Deep within the mines he found himself among elaborate hierarchies of slaves. A complex Byzantine web that seemed to have no purpose but to give the slaves at the top someone lower than themselves to look down upon. Trying to form some sort of unified resistance only earned him beatings, sometimes from the guards, sometimes from his fellow slaves. In the end he accepted that if he wanted freedom he would have to win it all on his own. Thrumpkin threw himself into an abyss, not exactly caring if he survived or not, and far beneath the other slaves and overseers began the long process of tunneling to freedom.

Appearance: Thrumpkin looks like a dwarf from just about every Tolkien want-to-be hack to ever put a map in the front of the book. He's short, has an enormous beard and speaks in an Israeli accent.

Storytelling Hints: If Thrumpkin brought one thing back from the mines with him, it's a hatred of doing the Gentry's dirty work for them. He cannot stand changelings standing divided, becoming easy pickings for the others. In fairness he also can't understand why changelings choose to stand divided; no matter who points out to him that maybe generations of accumulated changeling wisdom knows something the new guy doesn’t.

Even as more experienced changelings criticize Thrumpkin for failing to realize the vital mystical advantages they get for dividing the freeholds into several courts, his impassioned firebrand oration has drawn the loyalty of a small but dedicated band of followers favoring his common sense ideals of solidarity and sticking it to the gentry.

Though Thrumpkin's band is small they poses a single potent advantage that has kept them safe even as they play in the big leagues; Thrumpkins's pick axe, taken with him from Arcadia itself. While wielding this pickaxe Thrumpkin can tunnel as fast as he can walk through solid bedrock. Combined with his own legendary sense of underground navigation his band can strike from below, anywhere at any time. If they get in trouble, there's always an escape route down and the option to collapse a tunnel behind them for a nearly invisible bolt hole.

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 4

Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4

Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 2, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Crafts 3, Occult 2, Science 1 (Geology)

Physical Skills: Athletics 3 (Splunking), Brawl 2 (While drunk), Firearms 2, Stealth 1, Survival 5, (Underground) Weaponry 2 (Pickaxe)

Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 3 (Firebrand speeches), Intimidation 2 Persuasion 3, Socalise 2 (pubs), Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 2

Merits: Allies 3 (His followers) Direction Sense 1, Iron Stomach 3, Inspiring 4, Resources 2, Toxin Resistance 2

Dread Powers: Dreamwalker 1, Dreamshaper 2, Dwarven Constitution* 1, Emotional Harvest 1, Knock Knock 1, Impress 2, Mechanical Repair 3, Relic (Thrumpkin's Pickaxe) 4
 * Thrumpkins' Stamina is 3 dots higher for the purposes of drinking large amounts of alcohol.

Wyrd 2

Contract 2: Mining, Oration

Bans: Thrumpkin cannot resist any freely offered alcohol, unless it qualifies as a “girly drink”.

Flaw: Dwarf

Willpower: 6

Morality: 4

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Gluttony

Initiative: 5

Defence: 2

Speed: 11

Health: 8

SOUTH PHILLY

Location: Philadelphia Sports Complex

The Sports Complex is the place to be in South Philly during the sports seasons. The Philadelphia Phillies are the city’s National League baseball team, playing in Citizens Bank Park. The Eagles, the city’s perennially championship-less football team, play out of Lincoln Financial Field, the “Linc”. Both the 76’ers basketball team and the Flyers hockey team play out of the Wells Fargo Center, along with many of the city’s smaller sports teams. Philly’s soccer team, the Union, play in PPL Stadium in Chester County, but maybe if their popularity grows, they can join their older brothers in the Complex.

Often, the Phillies and the Eagles take up most of the limelight, while the Flyers come in when they’re having a particularly good season. In recent years, the “Sixers” have had some hard times, but they’re slowly regaining some love from the city.

All of the stadiums are relatively recent constructions, and all have some tributes to Philadelphia sports legends. Statues of third baseman Mike Schmidt and radio announcer Harry Kalas stand over the fans in Citizens Bank, as Wilt Chamberlain makes a dunk for eternity outside the Wells Fargo Center.

What really matters, though, is the fans. Anyone from Philadelphia will tell you that the teams only stay because the fans would riot otherwise. The city is notorious through the US, and even the world, for having the downright worst and rowdiest fans in sports. In Philadelphia, the fact that the fans threw snow balls at Santa is a point of pride, not disgrace. Even when a man is punched simply for wearing the other team’s jersey, fans will shrug and say, “Who’re we playing next”.

For decades, the Sports Complex has been a rallying point for all of Philadelphia. Philly fans for decades swarm the stadiums, in years good and bad, to cheer on their teams (Especially when a team from New York is in town). What flows through the Complex is emotion. Emotion fairies love.

If you put a fairy in the Complex, you’ll see them get high enough to burst sometimes. Often, they come into the area as street musicians, and they’ll make a few bucks, but that’s small change compared to the feelings of triumph, sorrow, and victory that they feed on. Do they manipulate the games to get these emotions more? Maybe, but they never do it during a championship season to hear them tell it. Even they don’t know what the Curse of Billy Penn really was.

Hunters who patrol the area are always worried, because the fae love these emotions. Their magic becomes stronger, their illusions more powerful. Many Union cells are taking the fae infiltration the complex as a rub, and want to take their sports teams back.

Story Hook: Going for the Goal

It’s finally happening. The Birds are finally closing in on the big win, and there’s no chance of them losing now. The entire city is setting up for a parade in February, and the talk is all over the place that with the win will come better players for next season.

Of course, your good cheer died the second you heard about a group of fairies coming in with plans of their own. Seems they love to feed on sorrow, and a loss after a season of football that good is just what they want to charge up their magic.

Lt. Joshua Wozniak

"C'mon, 'music man', get outta here so real people can watch their games in peace."

Josh Wozniak learned at the feet of the greatest. When he was twenty-two and fresh out of the police academy, he witnessed Joey Carcione leading a hunt through his hood in South Philly with a Union cell, taking down a man who was ranting and raving about some "gentry" or something. When he confronted Carcione the next day at the man's deli, Carcione took Wozniak in, and showed him the truth. Wozniak was awestruck at two things. One, that such creatures as in his grandparent's old stories actually existed, and two, that the area police weren't actively marching through the streets cracking monster skulls.

That was ten years ago. Now, Wozniak is one of the police officers in charge of keeping peace on game day in the Sports Complex. He has a group of about ten officers under his lead, and he uses them well. During the pre and post game festivities/mourning, he and his men are making sure that the crowd follows the city's ordinances, behaves properly, and don't do anything overtly illegal, every inch of him a calm, professional cop that many in the city wish walked a beat in their neighborhood. Then, when everyone's attention is on the games, he cracks down. His men only think they're shooing away the homeless bums who try to panhandle a few bucks, but Wozniak knows different. Anyone playing a trumpet or scurrying around the parking lots without a valid ID or game ticket is out, no questions asked.

It has also earned Wozniak a dossier with Internal Affairs. He stands accused of arresting and imprisonment without cause, excessive force, and abuse of authority. So far, Carcione and his own men have made a strong case for Wozniak, but the lieutenant wants to go further; he wants to make it that any fairy that comes around the Complex is tagged and bagged.

Appearance: Out of uniform, Wozniak prefers simple, practical clothes, though a wedding or funeral will force him to don a nice suit or tux. He likes his hair short and keeps his body in above average physical condition. What appears to be baby fat is actually a thin layer of cellulose hiding rock hard muscles that can break a man.

Storytelling Hints: Out of uniform, Wozniak is quiet and observant, always able to make time for his ever-present Polish family, and always in the mood for a hearty meal. In uniform, he becomes gruff, taciturn and observant. He doesn't have the Sight, but he has become adept at telling the real vagrants from the freaks based on their actions. The humans ones are usually smart enough to scram when the cops say so. The freaks think their magic can help, and so they stand their ground.

He's also gotten a rather noticeable penchant for being rough with the fairies, which thanks to the Mask he doesn't know is there, has earned him that I.A. heat. It doesn't help that he's also suspicious of the Sons of Cu Chulainn after that incident in Sou' Philly, thinking them a dangerous cult that's making a mountain out of a molehill. He's becoming increasingly agitated when he's not out on patrol or at home, and his superiors may decide on a temporary leave if they see fit. Virtue: Justice

Vice: Pride

Compact: Union (General Strike)

Profession: Cop (Streetwise, Firearms, Investigation)

Mental: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3

Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3

Social: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 4

Mental Skills: Academics 2, Computer 2, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Politics 2 (Campaigning, Local Area)

Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Drive 3, Firearms 3, Larceny 2, Weaponry 2

Social Skills: Empathy 2, Intimidation 4 (White Shirt), Persuasion 2, Streetwise 4 (Sports Complex)

Merits: Allies 2 (Police Department), Allies 2 (Union),  Brawling Dodge 1, Contacts 4 (City Neighborhood Watches, Homeless, Fairy Hunters, Slasher trackers), Common Sense, Disarm 2, Language 1 (Polish), Professional Training 3, Quick Draw 1, Status 3 (Union)

Weapons/Equipment

9mm Pistol, 2-Way Radio, Police Badge

Morality: 5

Flaw: Paranoia: Wozniak fears that any homeless, panhandlers, and scalpers near the stadiums are fae, and must roll Composure to prevent himself from going after them without cause.

Story Seed

Stop Where You Are!

You’re escorting a fae through the Sports Complex to FDR. He’s promised that if you get him there, he’ll give you a stake that will always make it through the vampire’s heart. But as you’re almost through the parking lot, a group of cops ask to see your tickets. You tell them that you’re just cutting through to get to the park, but then a lieutenant walks up, and the second that white shirt appears, your fairy screams and collapses to the ground. The lieutenant claims that you were cooperating with a known felon, but he’ll let you slide for this time. As the ambulance and police escort drive away, questions are running through your mind. The biggest; how do we get that stake now?

Location: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park

Situated in South Philly, right next to the Sport Complex, the “Lakes” are an area of municipal parkland made for the benefit of the city’s inhabitants. With tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields, a golf course, and a wrap-around path for cars and pedestrians, the park is a gathering area in South Philly for urban picnics, small events, and even miniature markets for many ethnicities, particularly those from Southeast Asia.

Come night, however, and the park changes. The locals just ignore the strange calls and shouts they hear from the park, and police called in on reports of strange smells and bizarre sights just write off the calls as lunatics. Because that’s what the fairies, and the hunters, want.

It’s because FDR park is the biggest goblin market in the region. Objects, immaterial concepts, impossible mathematical equations, and anything at all can be bought, sold, and traded in the FDR market. Strange bird-things soar through the trees, as water fairies swim through Meadow Lake. Massive rock-men stand guard at all the entrances, throwing out anyone who causes trouble, if the troublemakers are lucky. The tables are run by any manner of creature, as slaves are herded about in chains, and fae sell their enemies (or anyone they want really) into fates worse than death for a few rotten apples.

So why do the hunters let this continue? Usually, because the hunters are looking for something too. That secret the vampire has been keeping? It’s on the table under the I-95 overpass. Want a way to make a witch scream in pain? You can find it for a bargain, only three days of memory, and you even get to choose which days. Edge to edge tables of the strangest, most bizarre items are setup, only to vanish by morning, or if someone is dumb enough to do something worthy of police attention.

Since it is neutral ground, it’s a valuable place for a hunter to move in relative freedom, but everyone there knows who is in charge. If the hunters were to break up the market, one of their best, though by no means safest, resources in the city would vanish.

West Philadelphia

West Philly has the majority of the city's colleges, meaning it has the majority of the city's young and naive kids who know nothing about the big city. Easy pickings for fairies who want to grab a slave who won't know which way's up by the end of their servitude. Drugs flow easily here, and the fairy proclivity for selling them makes it easy for the manipulation of the population of users.

Duke Philip Greyback

“You invade my home, threaten my subjects and then you call me the monster!”

Background: Philip Greyson was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he loved every moment of it. When he was young he slacked off in school. When he was grown he blew off collage and employment to live the high life on his enormous trust fund. This wasn't purely sloth or hedonism, it was to Philip a simple statement of fact: He already had more money than he could ever need.

All this changed one night at a quiet garden party. Philip was alone for a moment refilling his glass when he was approached by the most stunning woman he had ever seen. She was gorgeous, he broke out into a sweat from watching the sway of her walk, her scent made his head fuzzier than the wine, and she was wearing a dress that left very little to the imagination. That was the first thing that made Philip suspicious, this was a formal party. How did she get in wearing that?

The fair lady walked right up to him, hooked her arm through his and proposed they slip away somewhere quieter. If something seems too good to be true it probably is, and though he was a layabout Phillip wasn't a fool. Though he guessed her to be a golddigger, he politely declined, and she chose a proportionate and measured response: Drag him to Arcadia and turn him into an animal so he could spend the rest of his life begging and performing tricks for table scraps. One humiliation for another.

For an undefinable length of time Philip was a mindless beast in Arcadia, but as they say beauty can tame the savage beast. One morning he noticed the roses were just coming into bloom and it reminded him of a girl he had unsuccessfully courted for some time. He would have to get some new clothes, if the roses were blooming her birthday would be soon. This was such an unusual thought for an animal that he was stunned with confusion, after some thought he concluded that he must be human. Knowing that during high tea nobody paid attention to the animals he painfully squeezed himself back into a human shape and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

His first weeks as a human did not go well. The mere act of thinking was still hard for Philip, and he wondered in a daze trying to understand the simplest things and remember how to use reason. He did however find the birthday party at a country club. He didn't meet the girl though, he met someone much like himself but with a haughty jeering arrogance where Philip had genuine kindness. The real and the fake began an argument over who was the real Phillip Greyson. The fetch used deriding wit, insults and the support of the other guests, all with a hidden undercurrent of desperation and doubt. The changeling used half reasoned wild ranting backed only by an animal immunity to persuasion. It was the fetch who first laid hands on his counterpart, but he didn't get a chance for a second blow. Philip fled the party over his fetch's dead body and hid in the woods.

By the time the news of Philip Greyson being killed by some stranger who looked just like him reached the nearest freehold Philip had almost reverted entirely into an animistic mindset. Patient work was able to restore him to a mindset half way between man and beast. Intelligent enough to speak, polite enough to act human at court if he kept is mouth shut, and loyal enough to Summer whenever the trumpets sounded the call to battle.

It was at this point of his life that Philip met his Beauty: Gretchin Melnitz. Gretchin was special. She had The Sight, and by chance or by fate she was living on the same street as the home the courts found for Philip. Gretchin was always curious as to why she saw things differently to everyone else, who wouldn't be, but where as before she could go months without seeing a faerie now she was seeming one almost every day. The curiosity drove her nearly mad until one day when she incorrectly assumed Philip to be away she broke into his house to look around.

Philip's home was a mess. There were almost no furnishings at all and half eaten animal carcases and chewed bones lay where they fell. Gretchin would have left in disgust if Philip didn't appear there and then demanding to know what she was doing. Terrified Gretchin grabbed the largest bone in reach and made a few threatening swings as she retreated towards the door. This Philip could not allow, and in a single bound he had moved from the other end of the corridor to sitting on Gretchin's chest, screaming accusations and threats into her face.

What followed was an incredibly confusing fifteen seconds wherein Philip's actions were controlled by his frailty and Gretchin's by her fear. When everything had settled it turned out that rather than simply swearing not to steal from Philip's home, she had sworn to never leave in all her life. Philip for his part was Pledge bound to kill her if she ever broke her word and he made it clear he would do so but gave her most of the house to do with as she pleased and even volunteered to fetch her belongings.

The beginning of her new life was both incredibly lonely for Gretchin. Her greatest comfort was that Philip seemed to avoid her for months at a time and in time the fear was eaten away by familiarity. As for Philip, for the first time since he killed his fetch he was once again making an effort. He forced himself to walk upright, instead of walking on all fours when alone. He started wearing clothes and stopped hunting live prey, instead sneaking down in the middle of the night to eat Gretchin's leftovers. He even ate with a knife and fork. At the freehold he began practising how to speak English beyond a simple yes and no, he made an effort to be sociable and to actively work in the interests of his court. Philip discovered that he had a keen beastal cunning and animal magnetism that made him just as skilled at strategy and leadership as his claws had made him in combat.

There was a reason, through living with Gretchin Philip had developed an enormous crush on her. He remembered the fear in her eyes when they first met and was determined to become more than the beast that terrified her. It was not until he was bestowed the title of Duke and his own estate than Philip was first able to make his affections known.

Appearance: Philip looks mostly like a blend of lion and human – it suited his abductor that he should be a proud beast brought low – he basic shape is human but with fur all over and a very lion-like mane of hair. His face is a mixture of the two, again the basic shape is human but he has a pronounced cat like nose and ears with a wide fanged mouth. His canine teeth are pronounced and extend outside his mouth, though they aren't quite sabre teeth.

For clothing Philip dresses like the word “Duke” sounds. He's normally wearing regency clothing to white tie standards in bright colors, usually the summer court's green, red, and gold. He usually has an emblem of the summer sun somewhere upon his person.

Storytelling Hints: Philip is a Duke, and that means something. As a Duke of Summer it is his responsibility to protect the changelings he outranks. Sometimes he does this with words, some negotiations backed up by the possibility of force, though Philip usually leaves diplomacy to the specialists. Far more often he protects his people through strategy and by leading them in battle. Once upon a time duke also meant a military commander. Though Philip is not noticeably intelligent he is incredibly cunning and has a keen knack for predicting his opponents. He's even picked up a thing or two about faerie magic and has quite a skill in animating gargoyles. There's usually a few around wherever he makes a claim.

In person Philip presents himself as a proper blue blooded noble. Always elegant, polite and impeccably mannered. This even carries over to his attitude towards war: To Philip there is the proper way to conduct war, and the improper way. He never targets civilians and always treats his prisoners with dignity and respect. His foes may be felled by blade, guns, claws or even sorcery but he'll target their flesh and never the mind or soul. Even as he uses every trick of faerie secrecy, illusion and misdirection to outmanoeuvre his foes he won't even attack without warning or a deceleration of war. That a warning can come seconds before the shot at an unaware foe is considered perfectly acceptable by his code of etiquette. Yet kept safely chained by rules and etiquette is a true beast within, taking a good blow or a witnessing threat to Gretchin can unleash the animal. He'll drop the sword, abandon the fancy footwork, bear his fangs and leap for the throat.

Normally Philip works as part of a team, with fellow nobles whose strengths compliment each other and under a king who leads in the name of Summer. This time it is different, and he's leading alone. The petitions of the disorganized changelings in Philadelphia have travelled as far as Philip's native New York asking for protection. Though the New York Freehold could hardly spare their entire senior membership, they could spare at least somebody, and that somebody is Philip. He has therefore relocated to Philadelphia, a process that was admittedly as simple as adding a couple of doors to his mansion leading to strategic locations.

The situation in Philadelphia looks like pure madness to Philip, and as a fae that's an educated opinion. Not only is there at times near open war between the humans and the supernatural, there's frequently violent clashes between hunter factions as well. It's a far from the fights he is used to, where conflict was quick, decisive and above all over before mortals might notice something.

Philip knows of course that he can't go on the offensive with a rag tag group of changelings, not in such a militarized environment. His response is to hunker down and fortify. Normally Philip's year is split into four. In Spring he tends to the morale and loyalty of his men, and makes recuritment pitches to unaligned changelings. In Summer he goes on the offensive with his own band of changelings from New York, favoring quick surgical strikes to make up for his lack of manpower and force projection. He either targets a foe who's losing ground on other fronts or attacks to prevent an enemy from rising to prominence in a way that could unite the hunters (or any single faction of them). In Autumn he builds defences, the parts of Philadelphia where he shelters the changelings and proudly display the reds, greens and golds of summer. He's practically daring his foes to attack his fortifications, where networks of doors let him maneuver changelings instantly and silently while any inanimate object could be a loyal spy. Finally, in Winter he and those loyal to him hide away in the defences they built during Autumn. This might make him a little predictable to his foes, but there is a reason to his madness. The seasons are rather important to changeling magic.

If Philip has a vulnerability, it's Gretchen. She is the lynchpin of his emotional and mental wellbeing, as well as privy to almost all of his secrets. More than enough for hunters to go on the offensive against Philip’s followers, while simply killing her would cripple Philips effectiveness. Forcing her from their shared home would break their old pledge, and demand Phillip kills her himself, destroying him utterly, his self destructive rage most likely bringing down his followers with him.

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 4

Physical Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4

Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 2, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Academics 1 (Military history), Crafts 2 (Gargoyles), Investigation 1, Occult 2, Politics 3 (Faerie)

Physical Skills: Athletics 3 (Climbing), Brawl 5 (Claws, fangs), Firearms 2, Stealth 1, Survival 2, Weaponry 3 (Rapier)

Social Skills: Animal Ken 4 (Felines), Empathy 2, Expression 2, Intimidation 4, Persuasion 3, Localise 2, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 2

Merits: Danger Sense 2, Language 1 (French), Language 1 (Italian), Brawling Dodge 1, Disarm 2, Fast Reflexes 2, Fighting Finesse (Rapier) Giant 4, Iron Stomach 2, Inspiring 4, Resources 5, Status 4 (New York Changeling Freehold), Status 2 (Philadelphia Changeling Freehold), Striking Looks 4, Wyrd Image 1 (Handsome Prince)

Dread Powers: Beastly Command 3, Dread Attack 3, Dreamwalker 1, Dreamshaper 2, Emotional Harvest 2, Enhanced Senses 4, Fury 2, Impress 2, Knock Knock 1, Mirage 3, Terrify 2.

Wyrd 4

Contract 4: Lions, Nobility, Summer, True Love

Bans: Philip cannot let anyone take anything from his home, not even gifts, unless they have given him goods or services of an equal or grater value.

Philip cannot bring himself to harm any mortal woman wearing a freshly picked (one hour or less) red rose in her hair.

Willpower: 6

Morality: 5

Virtue: Prudence

Vice: Gluttony

Initiative: 7

Defence: 3

Speed: 13

Health: 10

Duchess Gretchen Greyback, nee Melnitz

''“My love, don’t be so terrifying. I don’t know if I would prevail over the competition.”''

Background: Gretchen is the kind of woman they would make a coming of age comedy about. Quirky, socially isolated, but with a hidden heart of gold and a secret talent. The Sight. Unfortunately what makes a good story often makes for a harsh life. The first time Gretchin saw a faerie, at nine, she asked her parents and soon ended up in front of psychiatrists. That didn't last long, the medication made Gretchen feel gray and lifeless (a common reaction for those with The Sight) and her parents were caring enough to stop the medication.

In place of medication it was arranged that school would keep an eye on Gretchen. No one ever saw anything amiss, since The Sight is not a mental illness. But all the same the result was a disaster that destroyed any academic potential Gretchen might have had. Her teachers were bad enough, discouraging her through well meaning idiocy every time they told her not to tax herself. The students were worse, and though the school was policed well enough to quash any overt bullying the other students still shunned her for being crazy. Gretchen left education with minimal qualifications and socially isolated.

Through it all Gretchen clung to her Sight as the one magical thing in her otherwise disappointing life. She would promise herself that she would introduce herself to the next supernatural being she could see. She read every book that started with the heroine seeing something no one else could see before being whisked away to adventure. Yet every time she saw a faerie her nerve let her down. It was not until she was in her 20s and working unhappily as a waitress when she got her chance. A changeling by the name of Philip Greyback moved into her street.

Even though Gretchen never worked up the courage to approach Philip, she did however eventually work up the courage to break in to his home when she incorrectly believed him to be out. Exploring Philip's home was an ordeal, the place closer to the den of a wild beast than the abode of a man. Half eaten animals and cleanly picked bones lay where they fell. Gretchen's nerve soon gave out, but not before Philip found her and demanded to know why she was in his house.

Terrified Gretchen grabbed the largest bone she could and swung it in what she hoped was threateningly as she backed towards the door. This was the wrong move, as Philip could not allow theft of any sort within his home. Not even of something as valueless as a bone. In a single bound he pounced upon Gretchen, roaring accusations. With Gretchen's actions controlled by her fear and Philip's actions controlled by his ban what followed was confusing for all, and by it's end rather than simply promising to leave empty handed and never return she promised to never leave at all.

On the first day Gretchen locked herself in the bathroom. On the second and third day she only crept out to try and find some food other than raw meet, finding that Philip had filled the fridge with sandwiches. On the forth day she actually saw Philip and asked to leave, and he made it clear that it was never going to happen, but then he explained how he was magically bound to his word in a slightly less threatening tone. On the second week Philip knocked on the door of the spare room Gretchen had claimed as her own and offered to fetch her things. He was as good as his word. Two weeks after that he gave her his debit card, saying he hardly had any use for it.

As time passed familiarity ate away at Gretchen's fear, but in it's place came isolation. It was harsh but it was an old enemy Gretchen knew how to cope with. Only the changing of the seasons and the gradual changing of Philip himself marked the passage of time. His mannerisms became more human and his home first began to receive visitors and then expand into a hub of the local freehold. Yet it was not until Philip was awarded the title of Duke and his own estate within the Hedge that he, by now an entirely different and altogether better person, first asked Gretchen to dance.

She had her faerie tale romance after all.

Appearance: With the important exception of Philip few people would actually consider Gretchen a beauty. She's got a somewhat flattish face and a rounded body, still retaining her baby fat well into adulthood. She makes up for it with the sweetest slightly shy smile and on formal occasions faerie fashions and faerie beauticians can turn anyone into a radiant beauty who puts supermodels to shame.

Storytelling Hints: Gretchen is living the life Disney princesses have been marketing to little girls for over seventy years now. She resides in a vast mansion, is married to a handsome Duke and lives in the lap of quiet luxury. Idling away with the sweetest foods and her books in-between hosting formal balls and soirees for the freehold.

Even the life promised by Disney is not ideal, but at least it is an interesting and luxurious unideal life, instead of the dull unideal life she lived before meeting Philip. Chief among her complaints is that her pledge still holds; she cannot leave Philip's estate. Gretchen has actually figured out a loophole, in that she cannot leave while she “still draws breath”. Magic or even medicine could keep her alive without breathing for long enough but she knows how Philip would take it. He's still scared of feminine wiles, and when one is married to a changeling allowances must be made for the scars they carry from Arcadia.

To hunters Gretchen represents an enormous opportunity. Removing her from play (or just abducting her from her home, the pledge still stands) would neutralise a key changeling in both New York and Philadelphia, and she knows more than enough to threaten the changelings of both cities. Though she is loyal to the freehold she wouldn't last that long against a vicious interrogation. To those who don’t know better Gretchen also represents a mortal woman held prisoner by monsters, and many hunters would consider it their duty to rescue her. If she protests, well it's hardly the first time a monster had the power to control people's minds (Philip can't, his powers over the mind only affect anger, but tell that to the shotgun wielding cell holding her). With effort the Deprogramming Tactic works just as well against honest loyalty as it does against mind control, it could forcibly bring Gretchen round the hunter's side. This would of course provide the hunters with a wealth of information on the changelings of two cities.

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 2

Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2

Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Academics 2 (Literature), Crafts 1, Occult 2, Politics 1 (Faerie)

Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Firearms 1, Stealth 1, Weaponry 1 (Rapier)

Social Skills: Animal Ken 2 (Felines), Empathy 3, Expression 2, Persuasion 3, Socialise 3 (Formal events), Subterfuge 2

Merits: Resources 5, The Sight 2, Status 2 (New York Changeling Freehold), Library 4 (Classic literature, paranormal romance, biographies, history)

Willpower: 6

Morality: 7

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Lust

Initiative: 5

Defence: 2

Speed: 10

Health: 7

Dr. Victor Marsella

“''The digestive system here appears to work in reverse. Gives a new meaning to the term ‘talking shit’.''”

Victor Marsella grew up in a heavily Catholic household. So heavy, that his grandmother was adamant that he “protect himself from the demons” with prayer. Nearly 24/7 prayer according to her. The other kids laughed at him, covered in rosaries and religious medals when he went to school. It only got worse as he grew up. His grandmother became almost obsessive with her religion, one time dragging Victor to his local priest for an exorcism. The police found the grandmother trying to force the priest to perform the exorcism, Victor huddled under a pew crying.

In such a climate, few in his family and friends were surprised that he drifted towards a scientific background. His grandmother, for her part, screamed and ranted for hours at him, telling him that the creatures would take him without God’s protection. That was the first time that Marsella told his grandmother to, “Fuck off with your Goddamn superstitious bullshit”. He hasn’t talked to his family since, preferring the comfort of a lab to their noisy and crowded gatherings.

Only his grandmother had a better argument than he imagined. He was studying for his graduate degree when he found his first fairy. The monster had tried to slip Victor drugs, but when he turned the creature down it kept trying to force him. Things got physical, and Victor saw the truth when the creature sprouted a third arm to force the drugs down his throat. Thanks to the friend he’d made named Malcom Yee, he managed to fight off the creature, and saw it all. That was when Malcom offered to let him into Null Mysteriis.

He’s become the closest thing the Rationalists have to an expert on Homo Sapiens Aculeus, the biologist the group turns to when they find a body that doesn’t add up. Sometimes, it’s not a fae, and he sends it off to another Rationalist, uninterested in the results. When it is a fae he gets down to business with his scalpels.

Appearance: Victor isn’t overweight, but he’s no featherweight either; he’s healthy in his extra pounds. Outside of the lab, he’s a foul-mouthed joker who loves tearing into religious zealots and the current (to his mind) anti-science climate in the political world. Inside the lab, his eyes narrow, he throws on his scrubs, and starts going to town on whatever sample he received that day. He can’t explain where they come from, and he doesn’t care. His focus is the changes they undergo.

Storytelling Hints: Victor has come to admit that maybe his grandmother had the right information, but clouded it with religion that prevented her from taking proper action. Instead, he wants to cut through the ages of folklore and myth that surround fairies, and burn down the aged beliefs that have harmed other children, both from fairy predations and human stupidity. Victor’s vendetta doesn’t preclude being an actual scientist, however. His meticulous record keeping has allowed Null Mysteriis members to find out as much about fairies as they could need. He’s their best source of biological information on the fae, but he won't get his own hands dirty if he can help it. He's a biologist, not a killer, meaning that if a hunter wants Victor to get them something useful, they'll need to bring him something in return.

Virtue: Persistence

Vice: Gluttony

Compact: Null Mysteriis (Rationalists)

Profession: Scientists (Investigation, Science, Occult)

Mental: Intelligence: 3, Wits: 3, Resolve: 2

Physical: Strength: 2, Dexterity: 4, Stamina: 2

Social: Presence: 2, Manipulation: 2, Composure: 3

Mental Skills: Academics: Parapsychology: 3, Computer: 3, Medicine: Anomalous Autopsy: 4, Occult: 2, Science: Homo Sapiens Aculeus: 4

Physical Skills: Athletics: 1, Drive: 1, Weaponry: Surgical Tools: 2

Social Skills: Intimidation: 2, Socialize: 2

Merits

Eidetic Memory, Holistic Awareness, Language: Italian, Contacts: 3: Microbiologists, Viroligists, Anthropologists, Allies: Null Mysteriis: 1, Status: Null Mysteriis: 3, Fame: Rationalists: 2, Resources: 3, Professional Training: 3

Morality: 7

Story Seed

Body Snatchers

A rumor is circulating; there's a doctor at U Penn who's paying good money for a confirmed body of a fairy creature. The more intact the specimen, the more money there is. Cells across the city are stacking up fairy bodies like cord wood outside the medical building. You thought about getting into it, but you're hearing that the bodies are drying up, and that there's cells starting to fight each other over bodies. Even with this, the "nutty professor" still won't give up the money.

Samantha “Sam” Cassady

“''The Waldensteins have three kids. Franklin, Susan and Helena. Susan is a faerie, she doesn't like going out much. All she does is watch her spiders while her family does everything for her.''”

Background: There are two people who have influenced Sam's life more than any other. The first is her mom, Rachel Cassady, a reporter for University City Review who gave Sam her love of writing. The second her full time au pair is Glinda Moonsdaughter (real name Catherine Johnson), a practising neo-pagan “witch” who knows practically nothing about real magic but quite a lot about alternative lifestyles and who's desire to broaden Sam's horizons gave her a healthy open mind and awakened her latent Sight.

That Sight appeared before Sam even knew about Philadelphia. It first manifest when she was six years old in Ohio, and she happily recorded the small fairies and sprites onto her blog / online secret diary (“it’s secret if no one you know reads it”), “Things I see by Samantha Helena Cassady”. Her big break came when she witnessed a minor formal duel between two fairies that was also recorded by a popular member of Network Zero. Writing about the same incident caused her blog to show up on the google searches of several Network Zero members, a few of whom stayed as fans of her innocent just-what-I-saw style of reporting the daily life of the fae. Though one of her regular commenters did take it upon themselves to hack Sam off Wordpress then offer to set her up on a new and much more secure site, for her own safety.

Then her mother moved to Philadelphia to write for the Review, and things have...shifted somewhat. Philadelphia isn't like the quiet farm fields of her home. The big city is new and exciting, but infinitely more terrifying as well. She peeks at her mother writing stories about shootings and drug murders. Her father comes home from work tired and a little grumpy. Even Glinda seems on edge, always looking over her shoulder and talking about how the fringe community in the city is more gritty than she's used to. Sam hasn't noticed anything herself, only that there aren't as many fairies as there are back home.

What she has noticed, though, is that some of the Network Zero members commenting on her blog seem a lot more nervous about a young girl on the Vigil. Of course this is Network Zero, so for every concerned commenter there’s at least one other who finds the idea of a young girl at large in the battlefield of Philadelphia to be awesome or hilarious. The Vigil in Ohio's farms might have been a mystical adventure, but in Philadelphia, the Vigil isn't quite so happy-go-lucky.

Appearance: Like most girls of 11 Sam looks adorable. She has a narrow face with widened features that dramatises her expressions. Sam normally wears glasses with no lenses to make herself look smarter and simple practical clothing found in charity shops, which is as far Glinda can push things before Sam's parents put their foot down.

Storytelling Hints: Sam lives in a much more innocent world than most hunters would believe possible, a world where the Vigil is actually fun and requires nothing more than a short detour on the way home from school. A world where the monsters exist on a comfortable gradient covering boring white collar professionals like her dad on one end, quirky but nice alternative types like Glinda in the middle, and the fae on the far end. A world where the monsters always seem to be in the middle of strange faerie domestic life or preparing for some otherworldly ball, never patching up bullet wounds or plotting curses and Earth to their enemies. A world where it's actually safe for a child to go spying on faeries with nothing more than a notebook.

Most of this is situational. Even with Glinda's very relaxed attitudes towards discipline Sam only gets to go spying during midday and she lives right in the middle of Philip Greyback's strongest territorial holding. For the sake of his people's safety Philip tries to keep the violence and unsavoury business away from his own backyard. The part which is not situational is down to the Wyrd. When Sam awakened her Sight the Wyrd became convinced that she was an “innocently curious child”. Ever since that moment the world has tried to keep her that way, with as much power as minor coincidences can manage. Even the fae are affected; on a couple of occasions she has been spotted by the fae and dismissed as no danger, in stark contrast to the fae's usual paranoia.

The word “child” is built into the Wyrds perspective of Sam, but time will tell what happens when she gets older. Either the Wyrd will adapt, forget about her, or Sam will be unable to grow mentally, physically, or both.

Even with the protection of the Wyrd Philadelphia is taking it's toll on Sam. The kids in school are still nice, but they’re rougher around the edges than Sam’s old friends. There are few wide open spaces to run through in bare feet. The streets are dirty with litter and filth, compared to her nice little town, and the Wyrd is a lot better than protecting her from faeries than it is from humans. She hides her feelings mostly, but her grades are suffering and she’s become more prone to aggressive outbursts.

Profession: Journalist (Investigation, Expression)

Compact: Network Zero (Record Keeper)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 1

Physical Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 1

Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 1

Mental Skills: Academics 1 (Journalism), Computer 1 (Multimedia), Investigation 1

Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Stealth 2 (spying into buildings), Survival 1

Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 1, Expression 2 (Writing), Persuasion 1, Socialise 1, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 1

Merits: Contacts 1 (University City Review), Direction Sense 1, Fast Reflexes 1, Favoured Weapon 2 (her notebook), Mentor 1 (Rachel Cassady), Mentor 1 (Glinda Moonsdaughter), Professional Training 1, The Sight 2, Wyrd Image 1 (innocently curious child).

Willpower: 2

Morality: 7

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Wrath

Initiative: 5

Defence: 2

Speed: 8

Health: 5

Flaw: Still a child (-1 Size, fewer starting Attribute dots, many social effects)

Sidebar: Innocents

'''If you have the book World of Darkness Innocents and wish to use it's rules here's an alternative statblock for Samantha Cassady. As Innocents gives less value to each Attribute dot her stats appear significantly higher, where possible Merits have been used to try and keep her advantages synchronised.'''

Profession: Journalist (Investigation, Expression)

Compact: Network Zero (Record Keeper)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3

Physical Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2

Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Study 1 (Journalism), Computer 1 (Multimedia), Investigation 1

Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Stealth 2 (spying into buildings), Survival 1

Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 1, Expression 2 (Writing), Socialise 2, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 1

Merits: Contacts 1 (University City Review), Direction Sense 1, Favoured Weapon 2 (her notebook), Fleet of Foot 1, Mentor 1 (Rachel Cassady), Mentor 1 (Glinda Moonsdaughter), Professional Training 1, The Sight 2, Wyrd Image 1 (innocently curious child).

Willpower: 5

Morality: 7

Asset: Creative

Vice: Brash

Initiative: 5

Defence: 3

Speed: 8

Health: 6

SUBURBAN PHILLY

Haverford Township Searchlight

Philadelphia's cell of Searchlight, based in Haverford in Delaware County, is led by Madison West, one of Searchlight's longest serving hunters, a pillar of the community and a Stalwart who will stop at nothing in her hunt.

Madison's second in command is Anthony Jullian, a Prior seeking to rescue his brother from the fae. Anthony is the brains behind the cell, both for faerie mythology and for managing what little infrastructure they use.

Lance and Bree Oswald are a husband and wife team both Stalwarts. They witnessed two of their children walking into a small corpse of trees and never saw them again despite the corpse being barely bigger than a house. They have turned to Searchlight for help in finding their children, and help with balancing the Vigil and their responsibilities to the rest of their kids.

Ashley Brown is the group's Councillor. Originally a Stalwart himself, he has come to some form of closure ever since the true fae that took his wife mysteriously stopped it's periodic appearances and the trail went cold. Now he helps keep the cell together when Madison is “leading from the front”.

Destiny Washington is the only one of the cell who's sure there's no faeries behind her sister's disappearance. The pair fled their abusive family together, but living on the street Destiny's sister fell into drugs and was eventually trafficked abroad. Or so Destiny believes. In fact she has willingly joined the Jagged Crescent and is perfectly safe transporting various “products”. She's not even taking any drugs, not for recreation anyway. Time will tell if the two can reconcile of if their respective secrets will drive their factions to war.

The group meet in a Safehouse below Anthony's bookshop. Size 1, Cache 2, Secrecy 0. It has a couple of Traps: A spring loaded iron knife is built into the door (Trap 2), and a false section of the floor is rigged to collapse into an iron spike pit (Trap 4). The Safehouse is equipped for integrations and examining loved ones to see if they're a Fetch (Torture Suite 1) and contains the books too useful to be put for sale (Library 2, Faerie Tales, Medieval Superstitions)

The cell knows the following Tactics: Arson, Moral Support, Search Party.

Madison West

Background: Madison's story begins only one week into the life of her first and only child. Her husband was at work. She was alone at home feeding the baby when a sudden and enormous sense of deja vu came over her. When it was over the baby felt alien and wrong against her breast. Madison couldn't understand what had happened and when she raised her concerns with her husband he was supportive but thought the problem was Madison, not the baby. When the poorly designed fetch died not a week later, unable to take sustenance from human food no matter what the doctors tried, Madison's feelings were reinterpreted as a mother's intuition.

To fill the gaping hole where her son once was Madison threw herself into every aspect of motherhood other than actually raising a child. She pushed her way onto school boards, volunteered with children’s charities and ran after school activities. One of these charities was Searchlight. Madison has been a member for a long time now, she was assisting the New York cell when the compact first invited Professor Everett to present his theories. The professor's lecture reminded her uncomfortably of her own experiences. Returning to Philadelphia in the dead of night she exhumed her baby’s grave to discover nothing but assorted household junk. Realising her son could still be alive she began to form her own chapter of Searchlight, surrounding herself with allies and loved ones of the vanished.

Appearance: Thanks to Searchlight's emotional training life on the Vigil hasn't outwardly changed Madison's appearance. She's always seems to find the time to clean her blond hair and do her make-up tastefully and subtly. For clothing she favours smart casual and often sporty clothing during the day, with tough practical gear for hunt.

Storytelling Hints: You could make a case that Madison is clinically insane by now. She has perfected Searchlight's emotional training to the point she's practically two different people. By day the horrors of the Vigil seem to have left her entirely untouched. She comes across as, even is, a happy healthy individual who genuinely cares about her charitable and community work.

On the Vigil Madison seemingly has no identity or feelings unrelated to her son at all. She is icy cold and driven with occasional bursts of berserker rage. She leads her cell through a mixture of reassuring certainty and bringing her daytime self to group meetings.

Recent events in Madison's personal life have driven her further into her dual identities. Originally one of her greatest supporters and the first recruit into her cell, Madison's husband recently left her after she broke several of his ribs for expressing concerns about her sanity. To him this was a wake up call. He left Searchlight, shed the emotional training and started a new family in Seattle. To Madison this marked the loss of her final link to her natural self.

Profession: Socialite (Politics, Socialize, Persuasion)

Compact: Searchlight (Stalwart)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 4

Physical Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3

Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 2, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Computer 1, Crafts 2 (gunsmith), Investigation 2, Politics 2 (School, parenting), Occult 1

Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 4 (All out), Drive 1, Firearms 3 (Rifles), Stealth 1, Survival 1, Weaponry 3 (Anything big and blunt, Improvised)

Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 4, Intimidation 2, Persuasion 3, Socialise 2, Streetwise 2 (Missing people, drug culture) Subterfuge 2

Merits: Allies 2 (Searchlight) Contacts 5 (Teachers, Mothers, Homeless Shelters, Charities, Social Services), Fast Reflexes 1, Fleet of Foot 2, Inspiring 4, Iron Stamina 2, Moral Compartmentalization 5, Resources 1, Safehouse (Cache 1, Trap 3), Status 4 (Searchlight).

Willpower: 6

Morality: 9

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Wrath

Initiative: 5

Defence: 2

Speed: 13

Health: 8

Code: It's OK to kill faeries, modifies murder. Collateral damaged is justified to rescue family, modifies manslaughter. Leaving a hedge gate standing is a Morality 5 Sin, replacing intentional mass property damage. Not supporting a victim is a morality 8 sin, replacing injury to another. Minor selfish acts can be excused if you're having a bad day, modifies Minor selfish acts.

Tells: Calling Card (major, the words “For Cory”), Overkill (major), Sadism (minor)

Safehouse: Madison's “Safehouse” is really nothing more than secret storage space for weapons. She has kept Cory's nursery unchanged ever since he died, except for the addition of a weapons safe hidden under the floor. Opening the safe improperly might trigger a crude home-made bomb.

Anthony Jullian

Backstory: When Anthony was young he and his brother Stewart went picking blackberries after supper. They were so engrossed in picking and eating the delightful fruit that they didn't notice how the thorny blackberry briers had grown around them into the walls of a maze. The two brothers wondered terrified when they came across an old gnarly begger-woman who asked for some food. Wordlessly the two boys handed over some blackberries and in return she told them they could get home safely, all they had to do was follow three simple rules.

“Don't leave the path.”

“Don't speak to the faeries.”

“Don't fall asleep.”

Even at a young age Anthony always delighted in books and he knew that in the stories it all turned out ok if you could just follow the rules. Stewart didn't know about books and found it more comfortable to laugh at the very idea of faeries. Only one brother made it out, but when Anthony arrived home distraught to tell his parents what had happened Stewart was there waiting for him.

At first Anthony was relieved, but as the weeks became months he noticed Stewart was subtly different, but if anyone else shared noticed his concerns they were happier to ignore them, and tell Anthony to ignore his own.

Time passed, Anthony grew up, he became a moderately successful proprietor of a bookshop but he never forgot that fateful night and spent many hours wondering just what had happened. Answers came in the form of one of his most regular customers. Madison West, a member of Searchlight. She would buy anything he had on faeries and faerie tales. In time he began to place special orders for her, getting out of print texts and limited edition translations of foreign faerie tales. Their conversations became sprinkled with increasing hints of their own tragedies. When the truth came out Anthony was invited to join Searchlight.

Appearance: Anthony is a man who appears “bookish” in every way. He is middle aged, balding and bespectacled and appears to have a fine layer of dust upon him no matter how well scrubbed. When on the Vigil he appears to be a different person. He walks differently, he talks differently. Gone is the impression of dust, in it's place is a visible anger that has been festering since his childhood and finally given direction with the knowledge of what happened that day.

Storytelling Hints: By day Anthony is a quiet reserved bookseller. He delights in reading and is always willing to share a literary pun and a quiet chuckle with his customers. Only Searchlight’s emotional training keeps the quiet friendly man intact; on the Vigil Anthony is beginning to go off the deep end. He has little hope of finding his brother, the trail has been cold for decades. He tries of course, Anthony dedicates a lot of time to reading through faerie tales and faerie mythology looking for some hint as to how he might rescue his brother but that just isn't emotionally satisfying so he joins his cell on the street tracking down leads for their much warmer trails and actually delights in every opportunity to put a bullet in some faerie creature. Some small measure of self restraint remains. Anthony spares Changelings for are they not also someones family? That is, he spares Changelings if he believes they were once human and he’s not above aiming for the kneecap if they are getting in the way of his search.

Profession: Professional (Academics, Persuasion, Investigation)

Compact: Searchlight (Prior)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2

Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2

Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Academics 3 (Faerie tales), computer 2, Investigation 2 (rare books), Medicine 1, Occult 2, Politics 1

Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Firearms 2 (Shotgun), Stealth 1, Weaponry 1

Social Skills: Empathy1, Intimidation 1, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 2 (Not a Hunter honest)

Merits: Contacts 2 (Booksellers, Libraries), Emotional Compartmentalization 2, Professional Training 2, Resources 2, Status (Searchlight) 2.

Willpower: 5

Morality: 7

Virtue: Prudence

Vice: Wrath

Initiative: 6

Defence: 3

Speed: 10

Health: 7

Code: Killing born-Faeries doesn’t count, replaces murder. Leaving a hedge gate standing is a Morality 5 Sin, replacing intentional mass property damage.

Tells: Overkill (minor), Sadism (minor).

Bristol Borough Sons of Cú Chulainn

Michael Corcoran, Division 19, Bristol, PA, has been a centerpiece of the Irish-American community in suburban Philadelphia for decades. From supporting the area’s local Catholic schools (no easy task with the lack of new families sending their kids to the Church’s educational services) to providing meals for the shut-ins and disabled of society, only a select group of officers and members realize their duty to protecting their homes from the predations of monsters in their communities.

It’s tough going lately for the club in general, however. Fewer new members seem to join each year, as the more experienced get older and succumb to the predations of time. Only a small cell is carrying on the Vigil now, but they’re safely able to say they’re more “clean” than many other urban cells of the organization.

Garvin McCallister

''“I don’t care what you say, you’re not welcome around here. We’ll point you in the right direction, but you can’t ever come here again.”''

Virtue: Justice: Wrongs must be punished, and the wicked made to pay...

Vice: Wrath: But sometimes it’s easy to go over the edge when dealing justice.

Background: Garvin’s been fighting for those around him for longer than he’s been on the Vigil. A working man since he graduated high school, he worked with his father in the Bethlehem Steel plant until 1987. He became heavily involved in the United Steelworkers, a firebrand for keeping the bosses out of the worker’s paychecks no more than was necessary. He gained a small following of fellow workers in the plant, but didn’t want trouble. What he did want was the owners and bosses to realize that without the worker, their mills wouldn’t even have a chance.

Around 1975, he joined with the Sons in their Bristol house, but didn’t realize that there was more to the world until he was nearly run off the road on his way back from work by a six-foot tall bird-man. Telling his friends at the club what happened, they took down his story, and came back later with the body. Thanks to that night, he became all the more concerned for his brothers in the mill. The bosses at the mill were still his favorite targets, but the fairies gave him a way to really let loose.

He still has a family life, though with his daughter out of the house, his wife is finally starting to ask questions about his late nights now that she has the time. He also has to negotiate with the cells and Union contacts he has in the area, never mind the strong Malleus cell that watches over the area’s Catholic schools. Philadelphia’s problems are spreading to it’s suburbs, and Garvin doesn’t particularly like what that entails.

Appearance: Garvin is the very definition of aged blue collar, usually wearing t-shirts, jeans, and steel-toed boots. His short hair has started graying, and he has to start taking pills his doctor prescribes with names he’s given up on trying to pronounce.

Storytelling Hints: Garvin just wants peace. The spillover from Philly proper is starting to appear in towns like Bristol all along the border between Philadelphia and it’s neighboring counties. He doesn’t want to fight the other organizations, recognizing that to stand united is to stand strong. But seeing a group like the Union unwilling to even try to reach across the aisle and stand by “Workers First” mentalities is driving him further to drink. He’s a voice of reason shouting into a whirlpool of chaos and anger, and he’s about to fall in himself if he’s not careful.

Profession: Labourer (Athletics, Crafts, Persuasion)

Compact: Sons of Cú Chulainn (Hand of Ulster)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 4

Physical Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3

Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Crafts 3 (Steelwork), Investigation 1, Occult 1, Politics 2 (labour laws), Science 1.

Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Larceny 2, Drive 1, Firearms 2, Stealth 1, Weaponry 3 (Iron broadsword).

Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 2, Intimidation 2, Persuasion 3 (Oration), Streetwise 1 (Homeless), Socialise 1.

Merits: Allies 3 (Son's of Cú Chulainn), Allies 3 (Steelworkers), Contacts 4 (Steelworkers, labour unions, construction workers, mechanics) Inspiring 4, Professional Training 4, The Sight 2, Status 4 (Sons of Cú Chulainn),

Willpower: 6

Morality: 7

Virtue: Justice

Vice: Pride

Initiative: 4

Defence: 2

Speed: 11

Health: 8

Sidebar: Bristol Sons

Johnny McDermot: Johnny's a young buck with a lot to prove. He's fresh out of high school, but he's staying in the area because he doesn't want to go to college just yet. His mother doesn't know a thing, but Johnny's dad doesn't want his son focusing only on fighting this early in his life. Johnny, for his part, just wants to fight some monsters and make his father proud. Johnny is a Red Branch Knight.

Thomas McDermot: Johnny's father didn't have an easy life without a college degree, and seeing his son putting it off it wearing at him. He understands the importance of the Vigil, especially in getting people back on their feet after the monsters tear their lives apart, but he can tell his son only wants to fight. So Thomas is trying to have his son's geasa secretly annulled by Garvin until he goes to, and graduates, college. Thomas follows the Hand of Ulster.

'''Br. Lawrence Tierney: '''"Brother Larry" teaches at the local Catholic high school, but he's a Hound first, simply because he doesn't want to distance himself from those he's taught over the decades, including nearly every member of the cell. Not only does he know the area homeless, he also knows that the Malleus can't be fully trusted, and reminds McCallister of this often. Brother Larry follows the Hand of Ulster.

Molly Mitchell: Molly took up her father's Vigil after his death on the local police force led to her getting his diaries and files, as written into his will. Molly trusts Garvin to do the right thing, but secretly fears that one day, something will throw the entire cell into chaos. Molly is a Daughter of Cú Chulainn

Tommy McClusky: There's a reason the cell is so successful against the fairies; Tommy can sing like no one else can. The Bristol Sons challenge every fairy they come across to a singing contest with Tommy, and they always force the fairy out of the area by the end. But Tommy's keeping something from them all; a case of throat cancer from years of smoking. So far, though, he's kept it under wraps and still sings like an angel. Tommy sings the Song of Erin.