Changeling Facts (Abigail's Powers and Abilities)
"What changeling magic, the active magic is, is asking the world to break for us. We create contracts with aspects of reality that allow us to do things with them that no one else can. The girl in the fireplace can get fire to act for her, as sword and shield. The hound can invoke the senses of a 'real' hound.
And me? I have an agreement with Time."
--Abigail to Mairi
Seeming: Wizened
What marks Abigail as Wizened is the nimbleness she picked up in Arcadia. When she chooses to let her fae nature take over, she shows an inhuman grace, which is only benefited by her relationship with time (see Kith: Telluric, below). However, constantly putting on a servile mask left her a little diminished and more likely to blend into the background. It is extremely difficult for Abigail to command the attention of a room. She simply suffers in the realm of social presence and "pull".
Kith: Chatalaine
Abigail's job as castle staff in Arcadia left her extremely organized and aware of social protocol. When in doubt, she has a talent for pausing to look at a situation and not make an utter fool of herself due to poor manners. In addition, she can use a small measure of Glamour to bolster her presence and manipulation for a short time. This can counter her Seeming's curse in a small way.
Kith: Telluric
Due to the time-limited nature of her durance, Abigail was counting the seconds in Arcadia, adding them up to minutes, to hours, to days until she was free. This, when combined with Arcadia's power to influence people, tied her to Time on a permanent basis: wherever she is, she can sense the time and date as it's measured locally, and she still can count second as they tick, as accurately as a stopwatch.
Mask/Mien:
Abigail has a fae form (to be described in a later post) that can be seen by others who have been to Arcadia and certain beings with supernatural powers (PM to ask if you can see it). Most humans, however, will see her as she was before her durance, her Mask. She can strengthen her Mask with Glamour so that no one can pierce it or use all the Glamour she has to burn through it so anyone can see her Mien. The latter is risky, because the Mask will not return to her until she has Glamour in her system.
Harvest Emotion:
In the presence of strong emotion, Abigail can draw some of the strength of it into herself, converting it to Glamour. To harvest from a person or group in such a way cannot be felt, and doesn't diminish what they feel in any way. However, the "flavor" of the Glamour collected can have an effect on Abigail herself.
Merit: Brownie's Boon
Sometimes, you really do rely on PFM to get shit done: Pure Fuckin' Magic. When no one is watching, and Abigail is working on a strictly mundane task, it gets finished in half the time another would require to do it. If she really wants to impress, Glamour can be channeled into this talent to halve the required time again.
Merit: Perfect Stillness
There are times when a servant is required to be seen and not heard--and even seen is questionable. Abigail is able to remain completely still for hours on end, doing nothing more than breathing silently. While she is still and silent, it can sometimes be nearly impossible to notice her.
Merit: Rigid Mask
Hiding her emotions is second nature to Abigail. When she doesn't want to show her hand, or when she attempts to lie, it's not always easy to see past those big gold eyes to the truth. Even strange creatures who listen for a faster heartbeat or polygraph machines may be fooled by how steady and even-keeled she can be.
(Note: the following, Contracts, are all powers that require Abigail to use Glamour, the fundamental force behind fae magic. They're not unlimited in use, and the latter clauses of a particular Contract have greater costs.)
Contract: Hours
(Note: for the purpose of this Contract, an "object" is smaller than a Labrador retriever and not alive. A dead cat can be made "freshly dead" with the first clause, but cannot be brought back to life.)
1. Restoration of Dawn Beauty: Abigail can 'turn back the clock' for an object, restoring it to a like-new state.
2. Frozen Moment: With a touch, Abigail can freeze an object in time--while frozen, an object cannot be moved from where it is. However, this works only for a few minutes.
3. Thief of Days: An object can be rapidly aged to the point of destruction or uselessness. Constant physical contact is required to age something--a quick brush of fingers over someone's shirt isn't enough to rot it to the point of falling off in tatters.
4. Flickering Hours: Abigail can, when traveling in the Hedge or other realms with variable time compared to Earth, influence how the time away syncs up with her time spent, allowing her to spend hours 'away' and return in an instant or the reverse.
Contract: Artifice
1. Brief Glamour of Repair: Abigail can fix a broken object so that it will work for a short period of time. However, once that time elapses, it is broken for good and cannot be repaired by mundane means.
2. Touch of Workman's Wrath: Like a gremlin or a computer virus, Abigail can cause a device to malfunction. To get it back to working condition will require at least a few minutes of work.
Contract: Den
1. Trespasser's Spoor: Within a space designated as "hers", Abigail can sense the presence of a threat entering the area.
Contract: Separation
1. Tread Lightly: Abigail can walk across surfaces that wouldn't normally support her weight, without a sound. Thin ice, snow, mud--they won't show mark of her passing, as though she only weights a couple ounces.
Contract: Reflection
1. Reflections of the Past: Abigail can look into a reflective surface and see what has been reflected in it recently. This is a method of seeing what has happened at a location in the past, and only Abigail can see what is shown.
2. Glimpse of a Distant Mirror: By looking into a mirrored surface, Abigail can gaze through it and see what is happening at the present moment in front of any other reflective surface her face has ever been reflected in. Those with supernatural abilities and senses will feel themselves being watched, and may even be able to see her silhouette.
Contract: Eternal Spring
1. Gift of Warm Breath: Like a breath of fresh spring air, Abigail can revitalize another person. They feel as though they've just ate a satisfying meal, drinken from some clear spring, and had a good night's sleep. In addition, minor injuries (bruises, scrapes) are healed by use of this clause.
2. New Lover's Kiss: Abigail can call a cool spring shower down in her vicinity. The rain is gentle, and comes without thunder or lightning, washing over the land refreshingly.
3. Warmth of the Blood: With a touch and a good deal of Glamour spent, Abigail can finally give true healing to the ill or wounded. While she can't regrow lost limbs, her powers allow her the ability to aid most living beings with their pains. However, she's left more tired the more she heals.
4. The Mother of All Deaths: The greenery around Abigail will come to her defense in a fight, trees and grass and vines animating themselves to hinder and harm those who would do her ill.
Contract: Hearth
1. Fickle Fate: Abigail can minorly curse another to bad luck. It's usually not much, and wears off quick--an acute flash of ill-fortune, one might say.
2. Favored Fate: As easily as she can curse, she can slightly better someone's luck. Again, this isn't a lasting effect--it'll simply bless the next endeavor her target undertakes with better chances of success.
3. Beneficent Fate: Abigail can ensure that another person succeeds in a venture. This isn't just an increase in luck, it's an assurance that they will not fail. Of course, it's not always a triumphant success, but it is always significant.
Contract: Vainglory
1. Mask of Superiority: When speaking from a position of authority, Abigail is able to invoke that authority to make others trust her words. She seems to be of high standing, and for that reason alone few will stand in her way.
Goblin Contract: Healing Sacrifice
Abigail is able to heal others of all their injuries and illness through the use of this contract. However, it leaves her weak and exhausted, and she feels the pain and suffering they'd been through for days afterward, until she renews her will.
Goblin Contract: Blood Binding
Abigail can drain a person of all magical energy, particularly glamour. The drawback? She becomes empty of it herself, and her fae mien is instantly revealed as her mask cracks. Also, the invocation of this contract requires a significant amount of her blood be spilled.
And me? I have an agreement with Time."
--Abigail to Mairi
Seeming: Wizened
What marks Abigail as Wizened is the nimbleness she picked up in Arcadia. When she chooses to let her fae nature take over, she shows an inhuman grace, which is only benefited by her relationship with time (see Kith: Telluric, below). However, constantly putting on a servile mask left her a little diminished and more likely to blend into the background. It is extremely difficult for Abigail to command the attention of a room. She simply suffers in the realm of social presence and "pull".
Kith: Chatalaine
Abigail's job as castle staff in Arcadia left her extremely organized and aware of social protocol. When in doubt, she has a talent for pausing to look at a situation and not make an utter fool of herself due to poor manners. In addition, she can use a small measure of Glamour to bolster her presence and manipulation for a short time. This can counter her Seeming's curse in a small way.
Kith: Telluric
Due to the time-limited nature of her durance, Abigail was counting the seconds in Arcadia, adding them up to minutes, to hours, to days until she was free. This, when combined with Arcadia's power to influence people, tied her to Time on a permanent basis: wherever she is, she can sense the time and date as it's measured locally, and she still can count second as they tick, as accurately as a stopwatch.
Mask/Mien:
Abigail has a fae form (to be described in a later post) that can be seen by others who have been to Arcadia and certain beings with supernatural powers (PM to ask if you can see it). Most humans, however, will see her as she was before her durance, her Mask. She can strengthen her Mask with Glamour so that no one can pierce it or use all the Glamour she has to burn through it so anyone can see her Mien. The latter is risky, because the Mask will not return to her until she has Glamour in her system.
Harvest Emotion:
In the presence of strong emotion, Abigail can draw some of the strength of it into herself, converting it to Glamour. To harvest from a person or group in such a way cannot be felt, and doesn't diminish what they feel in any way. However, the "flavor" of the Glamour collected can have an effect on Abigail herself.
Merit: Brownie's Boon
Sometimes, you really do rely on PFM to get shit done: Pure Fuckin' Magic. When no one is watching, and Abigail is working on a strictly mundane task, it gets finished in half the time another would require to do it. If she really wants to impress, Glamour can be channeled into this talent to halve the required time again.
Merit: Perfect Stillness
There are times when a servant is required to be seen and not heard--and even seen is questionable. Abigail is able to remain completely still for hours on end, doing nothing more than breathing silently. While she is still and silent, it can sometimes be nearly impossible to notice her.
Merit: Rigid Mask
Hiding her emotions is second nature to Abigail. When she doesn't want to show her hand, or when she attempts to lie, it's not always easy to see past those big gold eyes to the truth. Even strange creatures who listen for a faster heartbeat or polygraph machines may be fooled by how steady and even-keeled she can be.
(Note: the following, Contracts, are all powers that require Abigail to use Glamour, the fundamental force behind fae magic. They're not unlimited in use, and the latter clauses of a particular Contract have greater costs.)
Contract: Hours
(Note: for the purpose of this Contract, an "object" is smaller than a Labrador retriever and not alive. A dead cat can be made "freshly dead" with the first clause, but cannot be brought back to life.)
1. Restoration of Dawn Beauty: Abigail can 'turn back the clock' for an object, restoring it to a like-new state.
2. Frozen Moment: With a touch, Abigail can freeze an object in time--while frozen, an object cannot be moved from where it is. However, this works only for a few minutes.
3. Thief of Days: An object can be rapidly aged to the point of destruction or uselessness. Constant physical contact is required to age something--a quick brush of fingers over someone's shirt isn't enough to rot it to the point of falling off in tatters.
4. Flickering Hours: Abigail can, when traveling in the Hedge or other realms with variable time compared to Earth, influence how the time away syncs up with her time spent, allowing her to spend hours 'away' and return in an instant or the reverse.
Contract: Artifice
1. Brief Glamour of Repair: Abigail can fix a broken object so that it will work for a short period of time. However, once that time elapses, it is broken for good and cannot be repaired by mundane means.
2. Touch of Workman's Wrath: Like a gremlin or a computer virus, Abigail can cause a device to malfunction. To get it back to working condition will require at least a few minutes of work.
Contract: Den
1. Trespasser's Spoor: Within a space designated as "hers", Abigail can sense the presence of a threat entering the area.
Contract: Separation
1. Tread Lightly: Abigail can walk across surfaces that wouldn't normally support her weight, without a sound. Thin ice, snow, mud--they won't show mark of her passing, as though she only weights a couple ounces.
Contract: Reflection
1. Reflections of the Past: Abigail can look into a reflective surface and see what has been reflected in it recently. This is a method of seeing what has happened at a location in the past, and only Abigail can see what is shown.
2. Glimpse of a Distant Mirror: By looking into a mirrored surface, Abigail can gaze through it and see what is happening at the present moment in front of any other reflective surface her face has ever been reflected in. Those with supernatural abilities and senses will feel themselves being watched, and may even be able to see her silhouette.
Contract: Eternal Spring
1. Gift of Warm Breath: Like a breath of fresh spring air, Abigail can revitalize another person. They feel as though they've just ate a satisfying meal, drinken from some clear spring, and had a good night's sleep. In addition, minor injuries (bruises, scrapes) are healed by use of this clause.
2. New Lover's Kiss: Abigail can call a cool spring shower down in her vicinity. The rain is gentle, and comes without thunder or lightning, washing over the land refreshingly.
3. Warmth of the Blood: With a touch and a good deal of Glamour spent, Abigail can finally give true healing to the ill or wounded. While she can't regrow lost limbs, her powers allow her the ability to aid most living beings with their pains. However, she's left more tired the more she heals.
4. The Mother of All Deaths: The greenery around Abigail will come to her defense in a fight, trees and grass and vines animating themselves to hinder and harm those who would do her ill.
Contract: Hearth
1. Fickle Fate: Abigail can minorly curse another to bad luck. It's usually not much, and wears off quick--an acute flash of ill-fortune, one might say.
2. Favored Fate: As easily as she can curse, she can slightly better someone's luck. Again, this isn't a lasting effect--it'll simply bless the next endeavor her target undertakes with better chances of success.
3. Beneficent Fate: Abigail can ensure that another person succeeds in a venture. This isn't just an increase in luck, it's an assurance that they will not fail. Of course, it's not always a triumphant success, but it is always significant.
Contract: Vainglory
1. Mask of Superiority: When speaking from a position of authority, Abigail is able to invoke that authority to make others trust her words. She seems to be of high standing, and for that reason alone few will stand in her way.
Goblin Contract: Healing Sacrifice
Abigail is able to heal others of all their injuries and illness through the use of this contract. However, it leaves her weak and exhausted, and she feels the pain and suffering they'd been through for days afterward, until she renews her will.
Goblin Contract: Blood Binding
Abigail can drain a person of all magical energy, particularly glamour. The drawback? She becomes empty of it herself, and her fae mien is instantly revealed as her mask cracks. Also, the invocation of this contract requires a significant amount of her blood be spilled.