Rules of Enchantment [ooc, game rules info]
The Experience of Enchantment
The result of enchantment is unpredictable at best. It's impossible to tell how any given mortal will react to experiencing the world of the Kithain for the first time. Some see their dreams brought to vivid life, while others find only horrors or weird hallucinations that challenge their beliefs in mundane reality. Changelings are advised to "cultivate" carefully before planting their seeds of Spring, but in the end, even they can never really tell what's going to happen. It is enough to make some changelings at least a little cautious about enchanting their friends and loved ones for the first time.
Enchantment can be a good trip or a bat trip, but it's always a trip. Some are inspired by their experience, and some are driven mad. Being exposed to the Dreaming is certainly never a dull ride. Only the most banal mortals can react to being enchanted with disregard, and even they may find themselves somewhat shaken by the experience.
Of those mortals who are aware of the existence of changelings, many see enchantment as a threat. The rationalists among the Autumn People consider enchantment to be some kind of delusion created through hypnosis or some kind of chemical. They, like Ebenezer Scrooge, doubt evidence of their own senses, and attribute enchanted experiences to "a bit of bad beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato," or something else they can understand rather than admit that faeries exist.
Changeling hunters who believe all Kithain to be threats to humanity consider enchantment to be an attack, a means for changelings to gain control of a helpless mortal's senses and drag her into their own shadowy realm. These hunters avoid contact with any potential tokens with considerable paranoia, and will either attack or flee from changelings who forcibly enchant them.
Inspiration
Many mortals find the experience of being enchanted awakens their imagination and fires it with the powder of Glamour. They feel refreshed, renewed and inspired by the experience to create new things. The crushing weigh of Banality is lessened on them, for at least a little while.
Enchantment can be used to "jump start" a mortal's efforts to create and produce a Reverie. It is somewhat like priming a pump, in which a changeling invests a bit of Glamour to enchant the mortal in home of a greater return of Glamour when the enchantment help inspire the dreamer. If a dreamer is enchanted, she may make an appropriate Attribute + Ability roll (dif 6) to determine when she will feel inspired to create again (see core book for more).
Of course, regularly enchanting a mortal produces potential problems of its own. Changeling muses may find dreamers they frequently enchant in danger of becoming Dream-struck or slipping into madness from their experiences with the fae world.
Madness
Some mortals are driven mad by the experience of being enchanted. Their banal minds simply cannot deal with the Dreaming, and they snap. This is generally judged by the amount of Banality the mortal possesses; the more banal the mortal is, the more likely that enchantment is a threat to his sanity. Some Unseelie enjoy driving mortals mad; other fae are more careful about who they enchant since there is always some risk.
As always, the Storyteller has final say on which mortals are driven mad by the experience of being enchanted. As a general rule, such madness is fairly rare, and happens only to the most banal mortals. Whenever a mortal is enchanted, the Storyteller should roll the mortal's Banality against a difficulty of 10. Each success causes the mortal to experience one level of Bedlam. One success results in the first threshold of Bedlam, two in the second, and three successes push the mortal over the third threshold into total madness.
Worse yet, the effects of this madness are cumulative. A mortal is enchanted once and gains one success on the Banality roll, causing him to slide over the first threshold of Bedlam. If he is enchanted again at a later date and scores two successes on the Banality roll, he is pushed over the edge into madness.
The unsettling effects of madness wear off over time as the mortal's memory becomes obscured by the Mists. Storytellers can use the Mists Chart as a guideline for how long it takes for one success from the Banality roll to fade. A mortal with a fairly low Banality will get over the mind-wrenching experience more quickly than someone with a high Banality, who might require years to recover rully from the experience.
from The Enchanted, page 27
The Enchanted in Freeholds
Life in a freehold can allow an enchanted mortal to remain that way effectively forever, although most mortals rarely last so long in the fae world. Mortals brought to dwell in a freehold with their changeling patron are especially favored, for they do not age while within the confines of the freehold.
Some mortals have lived in freeholds for a very long time, and would hardly recognize the outside world. Others are eventually returned to the world many years later with little or no memory of what happened to them courtesy of the Mists, a mystery that baffles many health professionals treating these former enchanted and fuels the fire for faerie hunters who believe that the kith prey on humankind.
Because space in many freeholds is limited, mortal residents of a freehold are not too common. Usually they are the servants and retinues of the important sidhe nobles of the freehold along with a handful of well-liked mortal advisors, allies or champions.
Fortunately enchanted humans do not draw any Glamour from the wellspring of the freehold, so they represent a minimal drain on the freehold's resources. This allows more mortals to dwell in the freehold than would ever be allowed for Kithain. The larger and more important the freehold, the larger the pool of enchanted servants and helpers in residence. The sidhe insist on maintaining a certain standard of living for themselves if at all possible.
An enchanted mortal who has dwelled in a freehold for any length of time learns a fair amount about Kithain society, the customs of court and even some of the intricacies of court politics and gossip. According to the sluagh, there is no better source of court gossip than the wagging tongues of the court's human servants (unless they have been spellbound not to speak of what they hear, but there are always ways around that).
Most humans living in a freehold are happy with their lot. Many were rescued from unpleasant or banal lives in their own world, and brought into the world of the fae by their changeling patrons. Some still long for the world they left behind, but most consider themselves better off than their fellow humans by being closer to the Dreaming.
Other enchanted find themselves in a freehold at the whim of a changeling master who has spellbound the to serve as slaves. These folk (when allowed to have a thought of their own) are unhappy with heir captivity and desire escape or revenge against their masters. The Unseelie are very careful to keep control of their mortal slaves to prevent them from rising up against them.
Officially, the royal courts of Concordia do not allow enslavement of mortals by edict of High King David. However, the practice continues in the shadows, and is overlooked by the sidhe nobles of both Courts so long as it remains discreet and does not threaten the safety of the freehold.
from The Enchanted, page 33-34
Becoming Dream-struck
The main reason a mortal leaves a freehold (other than her changeling patron becoming bored with her) is when she becomes Dream-struck. The nature of the Dreaming can eventually overwhelm mortal or kinain minds when they are exposed to it for too long. Like Bedlam, the victim lasses three thresholds of becoming Dream-struck, slowly losing herself in the warm embrace of the Dreaming. Eventually, the victim lapses into a state like a waking dream, where she does nothing but sit and stare dreamily off into space with a silly smile on her face. The amount of time this takes to happen is generally based on the mortal's Banality. Which mortals will become Dream-struck is difficult to determine. Some mortals live in freeholds for years without problems, while others becoming Dream-struck quite rapidly.
Just as with Bedlam, the Storyteller has complete control over the process of a mortal becoming Dream-struck (even more so if the mortals are not player characters). It can be used as a means to balance the powder of enchanting and to make a changeling pay close attention to the status of his mortal retinue.
As a general guideline, the Storyteller should make a Banality roll for the mortal for each month he is kept enchanted (dif 8). This includes time spent in a freehold. A failure indicates that the mortal enters the first stage of being Dream-struck, while a botch indicates that he immediately falls into the thirds stage and becomes completely Dream-struck.
This means that, generally speaking, more banal individuals are less vulnerable to being swept up and lost in their inner Dreaming. Exposure to a great deal of Glamour or many chimera might require more frequent Banality checks; a mortal who is "insulated" from some of the more fantastic elements of life in the freehold may not need Banality rolls so frequently.
from The Enchanted, page 34-35
The result of enchantment is unpredictable at best. It's impossible to tell how any given mortal will react to experiencing the world of the Kithain for the first time. Some see their dreams brought to vivid life, while others find only horrors or weird hallucinations that challenge their beliefs in mundane reality. Changelings are advised to "cultivate" carefully before planting their seeds of Spring, but in the end, even they can never really tell what's going to happen. It is enough to make some changelings at least a little cautious about enchanting their friends and loved ones for the first time.
Enchantment can be a good trip or a bat trip, but it's always a trip. Some are inspired by their experience, and some are driven mad. Being exposed to the Dreaming is certainly never a dull ride. Only the most banal mortals can react to being enchanted with disregard, and even they may find themselves somewhat shaken by the experience.
Of those mortals who are aware of the existence of changelings, many see enchantment as a threat. The rationalists among the Autumn People consider enchantment to be some kind of delusion created through hypnosis or some kind of chemical. They, like Ebenezer Scrooge, doubt evidence of their own senses, and attribute enchanted experiences to "a bit of bad beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato," or something else they can understand rather than admit that faeries exist.
Changeling hunters who believe all Kithain to be threats to humanity consider enchantment to be an attack, a means for changelings to gain control of a helpless mortal's senses and drag her into their own shadowy realm. These hunters avoid contact with any potential tokens with considerable paranoia, and will either attack or flee from changelings who forcibly enchant them.
Inspiration
Many mortals find the experience of being enchanted awakens their imagination and fires it with the powder of Glamour. They feel refreshed, renewed and inspired by the experience to create new things. The crushing weigh of Banality is lessened on them, for at least a little while.
Enchantment can be used to "jump start" a mortal's efforts to create and produce a Reverie. It is somewhat like priming a pump, in which a changeling invests a bit of Glamour to enchant the mortal in home of a greater return of Glamour when the enchantment help inspire the dreamer. If a dreamer is enchanted, she may make an appropriate Attribute + Ability roll (dif 6) to determine when she will feel inspired to create again (see core book for more).
Of course, regularly enchanting a mortal produces potential problems of its own. Changeling muses may find dreamers they frequently enchant in danger of becoming Dream-struck or slipping into madness from their experiences with the fae world.
Madness
Some mortals are driven mad by the experience of being enchanted. Their banal minds simply cannot deal with the Dreaming, and they snap. This is generally judged by the amount of Banality the mortal possesses; the more banal the mortal is, the more likely that enchantment is a threat to his sanity. Some Unseelie enjoy driving mortals mad; other fae are more careful about who they enchant since there is always some risk.
As always, the Storyteller has final say on which mortals are driven mad by the experience of being enchanted. As a general rule, such madness is fairly rare, and happens only to the most banal mortals. Whenever a mortal is enchanted, the Storyteller should roll the mortal's Banality against a difficulty of 10. Each success causes the mortal to experience one level of Bedlam. One success results in the first threshold of Bedlam, two in the second, and three successes push the mortal over the third threshold into total madness.
Worse yet, the effects of this madness are cumulative. A mortal is enchanted once and gains one success on the Banality roll, causing him to slide over the first threshold of Bedlam. If he is enchanted again at a later date and scores two successes on the Banality roll, he is pushed over the edge into madness.
The unsettling effects of madness wear off over time as the mortal's memory becomes obscured by the Mists. Storytellers can use the Mists Chart as a guideline for how long it takes for one success from the Banality roll to fade. A mortal with a fairly low Banality will get over the mind-wrenching experience more quickly than someone with a high Banality, who might require years to recover rully from the experience.
from The Enchanted, page 27
The Enchanted in Freeholds
Life in a freehold can allow an enchanted mortal to remain that way effectively forever, although most mortals rarely last so long in the fae world. Mortals brought to dwell in a freehold with their changeling patron are especially favored, for they do not age while within the confines of the freehold.
Some mortals have lived in freeholds for a very long time, and would hardly recognize the outside world. Others are eventually returned to the world many years later with little or no memory of what happened to them courtesy of the Mists, a mystery that baffles many health professionals treating these former enchanted and fuels the fire for faerie hunters who believe that the kith prey on humankind.
Because space in many freeholds is limited, mortal residents of a freehold are not too common. Usually they are the servants and retinues of the important sidhe nobles of the freehold along with a handful of well-liked mortal advisors, allies or champions.
Fortunately enchanted humans do not draw any Glamour from the wellspring of the freehold, so they represent a minimal drain on the freehold's resources. This allows more mortals to dwell in the freehold than would ever be allowed for Kithain. The larger and more important the freehold, the larger the pool of enchanted servants and helpers in residence. The sidhe insist on maintaining a certain standard of living for themselves if at all possible.
An enchanted mortal who has dwelled in a freehold for any length of time learns a fair amount about Kithain society, the customs of court and even some of the intricacies of court politics and gossip. According to the sluagh, there is no better source of court gossip than the wagging tongues of the court's human servants (unless they have been spellbound not to speak of what they hear, but there are always ways around that).
Most humans living in a freehold are happy with their lot. Many were rescued from unpleasant or banal lives in their own world, and brought into the world of the fae by their changeling patrons. Some still long for the world they left behind, but most consider themselves better off than their fellow humans by being closer to the Dreaming.
Other enchanted find themselves in a freehold at the whim of a changeling master who has spellbound the to serve as slaves. These folk (when allowed to have a thought of their own) are unhappy with heir captivity and desire escape or revenge against their masters. The Unseelie are very careful to keep control of their mortal slaves to prevent them from rising up against them.
Officially, the royal courts of Concordia do not allow enslavement of mortals by edict of High King David. However, the practice continues in the shadows, and is overlooked by the sidhe nobles of both Courts so long as it remains discreet and does not threaten the safety of the freehold.
from The Enchanted, page 33-34
Becoming Dream-struck
The main reason a mortal leaves a freehold (other than her changeling patron becoming bored with her) is when she becomes Dream-struck. The nature of the Dreaming can eventually overwhelm mortal or kinain minds when they are exposed to it for too long. Like Bedlam, the victim lasses three thresholds of becoming Dream-struck, slowly losing herself in the warm embrace of the Dreaming. Eventually, the victim lapses into a state like a waking dream, where she does nothing but sit and stare dreamily off into space with a silly smile on her face. The amount of time this takes to happen is generally based on the mortal's Banality. Which mortals will become Dream-struck is difficult to determine. Some mortals live in freeholds for years without problems, while others becoming Dream-struck quite rapidly.
Just as with Bedlam, the Storyteller has complete control over the process of a mortal becoming Dream-struck (even more so if the mortals are not player characters). It can be used as a means to balance the powder of enchanting and to make a changeling pay close attention to the status of his mortal retinue.
As a general guideline, the Storyteller should make a Banality roll for the mortal for each month he is kept enchanted (dif 8). This includes time spent in a freehold. A failure indicates that the mortal enters the first stage of being Dream-struck, while a botch indicates that he immediately falls into the thirds stage and becomes completely Dream-struck.
This means that, generally speaking, more banal individuals are less vulnerable to being swept up and lost in their inner Dreaming. Exposure to a great deal of Glamour or many chimera might require more frequent Banality checks; a mortal who is "insulated" from some of the more fantastic elements of life in the freehold may not need Banality rolls so frequently.
from The Enchanted, page 34-35