You came out through the Thorns, blinking in the new light. You bled in a hundred different places, where the Thorns had torn at your skin, at your soul. Do you hear the hunting horns behind you?
You found your way towards the lights, hurrying, unsure if you were being pursued. A street light, tall steel, reassuring after your time in the... It hurts to think of. Behind you, you no longer see the Thorns, the Hedge, just a stretch of paved road, a residential area after dark. It's an area you know, more or less. You get your bearings, head towards familiar terrain.
You are home. Or rather, you were already home. You watch in the window as another you eats dinner with your family - but it's not really you, but a construct your Keeper left behind when It took you. When it looks up and sees you, makes eye contact, you catch a glimpse of the soulless thing underneath the glamor. It's not pretty.
And you see how it sees you, reflected in its eyes. The mask falls away, the skin now different in tone and texture, your features twisted. Are you any better?
The Rule of Iron is a game inspired by White Wolf's game Changeling: The Lost, and using it as a primary source material. The game will be urban fantasy/horror and the players are the titular Changelings. The game is about how dark fairy tales can be, survival and politics. What will you do now you are free? What schemes will you uncover in the freehold? And why does Iron hate the Fae so?
The game will primarily be centered around the real-world city of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, in the modern day. Leeds has a long history, stretching back hundreds of years, though only relatively recently did it become a significant city, during the Industrial Revolution. Now it is the third largest city of the UK, a center of banking and finance.
Leeds, being quite far to the North, is generally temperate but tends to low temperatures - not arctic, but noticeably colder than the south. As such, the Summer and Spring courts tend to be the weaker courts in the city, while Autumn and Winter are the dominant forces. Every court gets a turn, but Autumn and Winter reign for longer than the others and generally have more members.
The traditional centers of the courts are the Brudenel Social Club (Spring Court), the Royal Armories museum (Summer), the Algernon Firth Pathology Building (Autumn Court) and the Armley Prison (Winter Court). There is known to be a Goblin Market accessible through a certain arch in Kirkgate Covered Market at midnight.
You are recent escapees from Arcadia, who must find their way in the new city and get involved in the politics of the courts, the changelings and the Fae. It is spring. You have found your way to the court of Kaiser Riot, King of the Spring Court, to join the freehold.
Once, you were taken by a True Fae, creatures of staggering power from Arcadia, the realm beyond our own. They took you, kept you, for their own reasons. Perhaps they made you their pet, their slave, their soldier, their lover, their torture victim and they were your Keeper. You were trapped in a fairytale, as written by H.P Lovecraft. Eventually, you returned from captivity - perhaps you broke free, slipped your chains, or perhaps your Keeper simply grew bored of you and threw you away, or perhaps by their nature could only keep you for a certain time.
You pushed through the Hedge, the wild boundary between Arcadia and our world, and found you had not been missed. When your Keeper took you, you were replaced by a Fetch, a soulless thing constructed of sticks and your shadow. But even your dearest loved ones cannot tell the difference. It took over your life seamlessly, for weeks or perhaps decades. Many Changelings attempt to reintegrate with their life and end up fighting their Fetch, either killing it or dying to it.
But you have been changed and cannot return to your old life. Many Changelings live off the mortal grid entirely, while others forge new identities in an attempt to at least partially reintegrate with the real world. It's quite a personal choice..
No two Changelings are alike; they have been changed by the unique circumstances of their time in Arcadia. Attempts to talk about kinds of Changelings therefore have to resort to general groupings more than anything. Seemings are the general categories of Changeling and Kith are more specific, but again each Changeling is unique in one way or another to a second member of their same Kith.
Beasts are changelings who were twisted into animal-like forms during their time in Arcadia. Perhaps they were used as hunting hounds, or lapdogs. They would have even changed mentally, perhaps lacking human mentality at all during that time. Their changed form resembles the beasts they once were, predator or prey, of the air or the field, feral or tame. Since their escape, they have returned to humanity, but still carry an element of the beasts they once were. They tend to be physically accomplished and have refined senses, but lacking in social or mental finesse.
Darklings are boogeymen and skulkers, most at home in the dark. Many were taken for transgressing and changed to survive or avoid their Keeper's punishments. Perhaps they took the shadows or learned to hide in mirrors. Some become somewhat predatory themselves, inspiring terror and becoming urban legends. On escaping Arcadia, Darklings have a hard time adjusting to society and prefer isolation, venturing out from their safe places (tunnels, tombs, bookshops) only rarely. They can blend in like no others, but are never quite at ease during daylight hours.
Elementals might be the most alien of the changelings, having lost the most of their humanity. They spent a long time in the deep parts of Arcadia, exposed to pure elements, or perhaps they were subjected to it by their Keeper. Others struck deals with spirits of the elements in exchange for freedom for their keeper, in exchange for much of their humanity. They are able to draw on the elements to power themselves, shrugging off damage remarkably easy, but have noticeably stunted social skills.
Fairest might have been taken for their beauty, or their artistic talent, or the random desire of a lonely Fae. They were made treasured and special during their time in Arcadia; perhaps they were playmates to a child-like monster, or made a living statue of gold, or an elegant dancer. While other Changelings might have labored at the Keeper's feet, Fairest were more like their deputies or at least their favorite toy. As a result, Fairest tend to be proud and beautiful, most like the Fae of any Changeling in appearance. They are beautiful in one way or another and tend to excel in the finer things; art, dance, politics, socializing, duels. But as a result, they also find sanity harder to hold onto and lose clarity faster than other changelings.
Ogres are the most monstrous of the lot, often with fairly simple stories of their durance; they were taken by monsters and so they became monsters. Ogres were often taken by troll-like creatures, cannibals, yetis, witches. They have been turned into hulking brutes and loping, lanky creatures of intimidating appearance and great physical power. However, like most trolls in the stories, they are gullible, malleable, prone to being manipulated by the clever and the quick.
Wizened Changelings were taken for one simple purpose - to work. They may have been taken for a special talent, or they may have been randomly plucked away to serve as fodder in the front lines of a Fae's army or to pour strange, thorny wines into crystal goblets at parties. Their work is the kind of thing that is not noticed when it is done well, but noticed immediately when done poorly; they might have been house servants, cleaners, brewers, craftsmen, soldiers and or surgeons. They are extraordinarily skilled and nimble, but spite and petty resentment has infected their souls and manners.
You have been changed by your Durance, your time in Arcadia and you have to find a new life. For this reason, Changelings form their own societies when they escape Arcadia, under the surface of the human society. They call these societies 'freeholds'. The freeholds are governed a system of courts, usually dictated by seasons. As the year changes, the courts change and so the power cycle remains fairly stable. For instance, during the winter months, the Winter Court is the dominant power in the freehold, but they hand power over to the Spring Court at the turn of the seasons and the head of that dominant court is functionally the King or Queen of the freehold.
The Spring Court believe that Changelings should not isolate themselves from their lost human ways, relishing in entertainment and beauty. They surround themselves in beauty and get over the trauma of their Durance by living well, opulently, decadently. How better to avenge themselves on the True Fae than to ignore them entirely? They are artists, socialites, event planners, aesthetes, party people. Their contracts concern the emotion of desire and the season of spring, warm and abundant. Their heraldry is a crown of antlers and their colors are blues and greens.
The Summer Court are the militant members of Changeling society, those who struggle day and night to resist being taken back to Arcadia again. They are the soldiers, generals, lobbyists, hot-bloods, thugs and brawlers. When they reign, the freehold practices contests of strength and combat, trials of athleticism and competition; if the True Fae come back, they will find the Summer Court ready and with their blades sharp. Their contracts concern the emotion of anger and the season of summer, hot and firey. Their heraldry is a spear of iron and their colors are bright greens and reds.
The Autumn Court are a strange bunch, even by the standards of the Fae-touched. They regard their changes as curse and blessing in equal measure, valuing knowledge, studying the nature of Arcadia, Glamor and the Fae to use their occult mysteries. Perhaps in some way they miss Arcadia's majesty and wish to return. They are occultists, investigators, archivists and detectives. Their contracts concern the emotion of fear and the season of autumn, decaying and mysterious. Their heraldry is a mirror of lead and their colors are oranges, browns and greys.
The Winter Court are those who flinch from the light, who believe the best way to approach the True Fae is not at all - they favor quiet, isolation and withdrawal, to avoid the Fae's notice entirely. They hold court in inconspicuous places, never the same place twice. They are commonly misconstrued as cowards; they are spies, skulkers, deceivers and tricksters. Their contracts concern the emotion of sorrow and the season of winter, cold and static. Their heraldry is an onyx dagger and their colors are white and black.
The magic of Changelings work around contracts, agreements and pledges, enforced with the magical stuff of Wyrd and Glamor. The power of Glamor fuels their magic and in order to invoke the clauses of contracts or forge pledges, at least some glamor must be spent. Changelings gain glamor by harvesting strong emotions from humans - typically the court emotions, desire, rage, sorrow, fear.
Contracts come from agreements forged between changelings and spirits; you don't need to be the changeling that forged the contract, but you need to know the conditions necessary to invoke the clauses of contract. So, they tend to require training in the occult or membership of certain Courts. Contracts tend to be themed; for instance, the Winter Court commonly uses the Contract of Eternal Winter, which have clauses to manipulate or create cold and wintery conditions, while the clauses from the Contract of Mirrors would allow them to perform feats of illusion and minor shape-changing.
"Contracts" cover multiple possible 'clauses' which are the specific spells Changelings use. A general rule with clauses is the bigger the effect, the more difficult the condition attached to it might be. A low-level clauses might simply have a time limit preventing you from using it more than once a day, which allows you to only use it once per day, whereas a powerful use of it might require a drop of the changeling's blood spilled into the sea, or for the changeling to eat a caterpillar's cocoon. If you can't meet the terms, you can't use the magic, pure and simple. Sometimes, Changelings can find Goblin Contracts, which are more powerful but only work once. You can buy Goblin Contracts at Goblin Markets, if you're willing to pay the goblin's price. Say, the memory of your mother? How about a lock of your hair?
Pledges are another form of magic changelings can use. This represents magical oaths groups of Changelings can swear between each other, bound by their own Glamor. These might be oaths of fealty, of mutual protection, of non-violence. So long as the members follow the conditions of the pledge, they receive boons - perhaps an increase to certain skills, or benevolent twists of fate - while breaking the pledge will bring curses upon the oath-breaker. As a general rule, the longer the pledge will last (a year and a day is a common duration) or the more difficult the conditions are to keep, the more powerful they can be; short, easy to keep pledges might not give you too much, but if you swear your lifelong service and the service of your children then you'll be reaping some major boons.
