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Old 03-17-2017, 06:54 PM   #41
KarlKost
 
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

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Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
Now one more thing: suppose these Sidhe actually can permanently die...from contact with iron...

All of a sudden a lot of legends about Sidhe behavior suddenly make sense.
I was thinking in another possibility... What I call "oathbreaker", the only fate that the Fae fear.

Basically, one Fae can "consume" the Fate of other Fae... When a Fae consumes another, it "breaks away from the cycle of Fate". In game terms, the Fae consumes all the permanent IP of another, including them to its own. It makes the Fae VERY powerful, but at a terrible cost: it can no longer get Fate's aid (meaning: it no longer gets extra Fate Points to buy off disadvantages). It can use temporary IP points to buy or improve its traits, at the cost of more disadvantages, and it can increase its levels of permanent IP by consuming other Faes, but in time, those cursed beings end up as terrible monsters of pure instinct, malice, madness and brute power.

Also, an oathbreaker is considered the greatest danger in Fae society; becoming one means that all Fae will hunt it down to the end of the multiverse (the tradition the Fae call "The Wild Hunt").

The Hunters that put down an oathbreaker can consume the creatures Fate without dooming themselves; the Wild Hunt, thus, is very attractive to all Fae, because its the only way they can increase their own power without needing to relly on Fate's aid (and, to successefully put down an oathbreaker would surely get a HUGE favor from Fate, on top of any permanent IP points that the hunters may absorb from the creature).

There are only three ways to become an oathbreaker:
- willingly consuming the Fate of another Fae, thus permanently destroying - this is VERY uncommon, and only the deepest insane hate could compel such a thing, or the most absolute maniac powermongering that believes that it could consume the world or something like it.
- being killed with Iron will turn the poor Fae into a oathbreaker
- when a Fae kill another using Iron, both turn into oathbreakers... That means that the Fae will NEVER use Iron against each other (again, such circumstances are the stuff of the legends)

So, the most common source of oathbreakers are... The ignorant mortals.

And that's one of the reasons why some machiavelic Fae manipulate mortals to use Iron against its enemies... Its the only way the Fae can vanquish its enemies (plus, it can call a Wild Hunt and increase its powers)
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Old 08-20-2017, 08:12 PM   #42
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

I've been thinking of Winter as "predator and prey" (dominance and predation), and Summer as "testing to destruction" (encourage others, sometimes to the point of catastrophic failure).
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Old 08-21-2017, 12:57 AM   #43
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

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I've been thinking of Winter as "predator and prey" (dominance and predation), and Summer as "testing to destruction" (encourage others, sometimes to the point of catastrophic failure).
Actually, 'predator and prey' can fit either Court pretty well. Summer is just as much about predation and evading it as Winter, after all. Wolves hunt moose in winter time, but they don't cease to hunt in summer time.

One way to metaphorically distinguish them that touches on your view would be 'less and more'. Winter is about 'less', it's spare, austere, cold. Summer is about 'more', it's about plenty, riches, but it can overwhelm. Winter is a simplifying time, summer a complicating period.

In Winter, there might only be one or two active predators in your world, but they are really driven, because you're the only prey, too. It's you or them so the intensity rises. In Summer the predators might be less motivated but there are more of them about, too.

Another contrast: winter is open, summer concealed. In winter time, there's less foliage, less cover, the snow reveals your tracks long after you pass, it's harder to hide or deceive. In summer time, it's easier to hide, there's more cover, more distraction, no snow to hold your tracks.

So Winter Fae might actually be more honest with you about their intentions than the Summer Fae, in accordance with that metaphor. Their intentions and thinking might not be nice, but they may be up front with you about it. While Summer Fae (even if they can't tell a lie) may dissemble, distract, hide their real meaning behind indirect statements, etc.

The Winter Fae may tell you up front: "If you do 'x' I'm going to torture you to death and enjoy your screams."

The Summer Fae might have exactly the same intentions, but say it 'diplomatically', or through such indirect comments that you don't understand the meaning, or just keep silent and let you find out by doing 'x'.

Metaphors can be spun many ways, some of them contradictory.
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Old 08-21-2017, 01:32 AM   #44
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

Except that many cultures have major feasts for mid-winter almost like a big F-you to nature and famine. So paucity with periodic bursts of plenty.
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Old 08-22-2017, 09:05 AM   #45
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

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Except that many cultures have major feasts for mid-winter almost like a big F-you to nature and famine. So paucity with periodic bursts of plenty.
Uh-huh. It is also associated with the fact that only your breeding stock can be kept through the winter so you might as well eat it.

Maybe the Winter Fairies go on a Wild Hunt during Slaughtertime, or Yule. That would add another dimension, making everyone stay inside and keep the fire lit all night. Maybe there is a sacred fireplace poker to heat up the punch which is not only made of iron but marked with runes.
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Old 08-22-2017, 12:41 PM   #46
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

Ooh yeah. Proper thematic reason for the dead of winter fairy hunt.

Locals would likely have a post Yule-feast to say, "Whew, we ain't dead. Let's eat."
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Old 08-22-2017, 10:14 PM   #47
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

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Uh-huh. It is also associated with the fact that only your breeding stock can be kept through the winter so you might as well eat it.

Maybe the Winter Fairies go on a Wild Hunt during Slaughtertime, or Yule. That would add another dimension, making everyone stay inside and keep the fire lit all night. Maybe there is a sacred fireplace poker to heat up the punch which is not only made of iron but marked with runes.
That would fit with Sidhe themes in another way. The Fae are traditionally associated with outdoor settings. (Yes, there are indoor Fae, the helpful/dangerous creatures and do housework and the like, but the majorly potent ones tend to be seen as outdoor.)

So it might be that a super-powerful Hunt, made up of Fae nobility or royalty, could be a deadly threat to anybody outdoors, but unable to enter homes or buildings, even dilapidated ones that couldn't stop a human from kicking the door in.

Or maybe they can enter, but only through an unbarred door or window, so part of the ritual of dealing with that time of year is to systematically check every door and window to make sure it's locked. Or something on that order.

So if the Hunt is after you, you're screwed...unless you can reach a building and lock it. You might be seconds from being rent to pieces by the Faerie Queen's monster-hounds, but if you reach your house and lock yourself inside, you're 100% safe! Or maybe you have to make sure there's a fire on the hearth, they might could enter via a chimney. But still, the irony of such a limitation on such potent entities is fun.

That could make an interesting gaming scenario...
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Old 08-23-2017, 01:28 AM   #48
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

Human hunting has arbitrary, from the prey's perspective, rules wherein we don't use our full power and abilities.
The deer don't know why females are safe from bullets at certain times of the year, for example. Or why humans encountered in the wild will kill, but those around homes, ooh and ahh giving food and petting.
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Old 08-23-2017, 03:09 AM   #49
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

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That would fit with Sidhe themes in another way. The Fae are traditionally associated with outdoor settings. (Yes, there are indoor Fae, the helpful/dangerous creatures and do housework and the like, but the majorly potent ones tend to be seen as outdoor.)

So it might be that a super-powerful Hunt, made up of Fae nobility or royalty, could be a deadly threat to anybody outdoors, but unable to enter homes or buildings, even dilapidated ones that couldn't stop a human from kicking the door in.

Or maybe they can enter, but only through an unbarred door or window, so part of the ritual of dealing with that time of year is to systematically check every door and window to make sure it's locked. Or something on that order.

So if the Hunt is after you, you're screwed...unless you can reach a building and lock it. You might be seconds from being rent to pieces by the Faerie Queen's monster-hounds, but if you reach your house and lock yourself inside, you're 100% safe! Or maybe you have to make sure there's a fire on the hearth, they might could enter via a chimney. But still, the irony of such a limitation on such potent entities is fun.

That could make an interesting gaming scenario...
...and naturally, your "first footing" ceremonies around that time of year will involve handling iron to demonstrate that the person you're about to invite over the threshold isn't a fae. Expect decorations for Yule to include the traditional anti-fae elements ... rowan, iron, red cords, and maybe a loaf as well...
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Old 08-24-2017, 12:51 AM   #50
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Default Re: [Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

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That would fit with Sidhe themes in another way. The Fae are traditionally associated with outdoor settings. (Yes, there are indoor Fae, the helpful/dangerous creatures and do housework and the like, but the majorly potent ones tend to be seen as outdoor.)

So it might be that a super-powerful Hunt, made up of Fae nobility or royalty, could be a deadly threat to anybody outdoors, but unable to enter homes or buildings, even dilapidated ones that couldn't stop a human from kicking the door in.

Or maybe they can enter, but only through an unbarred door or window, so part of the ritual of dealing with that time of year is to systematically check every door and window to make sure it's locked. Or something on that order.

So if the Hunt is after you, you're screwed...unless you can reach a building and lock it. You might be seconds from being rent to pieces by the Faerie Queen's monster-hounds, but if you reach your house and lock yourself inside, you're 100% safe! Or maybe you have to make sure there's a fire on the hearth, they might could enter via a chimney. But still, the irony of such a limitation on such potent entities is fun.

That could make an interesting gaming scenario...
...and naturally, your "first footing" ceremonies around that time of year will involve handling iron to demonstrate that the person you're about to invite over the threshold isn't a fae. Expect decorations for Yule to include the traditional anti-fae elements ... rowan, iron, red cords, and maybe a loaf as well...
It occurs to me that if those were the rules, people who are regularly outside at night might take a few precautions. For ex, you might build a little hut or shed somewhere out in the countryside where you regularly operate, with a lock on it, as an 'emergency shelter' in case you got caught outside on the wrong night.

On the day before the Big Night, too, you'd probably see people out gathering firewood, cleaning up the grounds, making sure the barn is secure, etc...but constantly checking the time, too, and watching to see how close to sunset it is. You'd probably want to be indoors at least an hour before the time, I'd think, for a safety margin.

Speaking of the barn...there might be some people who have to stay outdoors to guard the herds, I wonder what precautions they might take?

Somebody might need to stay in the barn with the animals there, too, but you can lock a barn door. A barn might make a perfectly adequate shelter.
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