3 Sojourners
Abilities
There are four abilities that represent your sojourner’s characteristics and capabilities.
- Vitality (VIT) - prowess and endurance
- Resolve (RES) - personality and purpose
- Reason (REA) - knowledge and logic
- Charm (CHA) - persuasiveness and charisma
Assign a die type to each of these abilities. The higher the die type, the more likely your sojourner is to succeed when they attempt an action using that ability. You can choose between two arrays:
d12, d8, d6, d4
or
d10, d8, d6, d6
The Callings, below, include suggested score arrays, but you can certainly redesign these to your liking, as long as you use one of the arrays above.
Once you have decided on your score arrays, calculate your pool as follows:
Max Health: maxVIT + maxRES
Max Grit: maxREA + maxCHA
If you use or lose all of your pool - that is, when both go down to 0 - you are lost. You and the GM decide what befalls you: perhaps you are claimed by the holder of a word you gave too freely, or your soul fractures under the weight of too many unfulfilled promises.
Callings
Your sojourner’s Calling not only is what they do and are, but also describes the origin and nature of their connection to the Fair Folk. This includes a Gift for each Calling that allows your sojourner to interact with and affect the Fair Folk in ways few mortals can.
By the very fact of having a Calling, you are already deeply enmeshed with the Fair Folk, whether you will or no; so every Calling includes existing agreements that you have already made before the telling of your story begins. For each agreement, decide with the GM’s input whom the agreement is with and how it came to be made. These agreements define your history with and relationship to particular members of the Fair Folk, as well as to Fairy itself.
Changeling
A changeling is two creatures in one, two sides of the same coin, two halves of the same life: the mortal, euphemistically named foster-changeling, taken into Fairy; and the fairy cuckoo-changeling, left in their place in the mortal world.
Foster
Suggested scores: any
Suggested marks: any
You are of Fairy as much as any mortal can be. Taken from your mortal family, likely in infancy, and replaced by one of the Fair Folk, you have grown up in Fairy and think and feel as they do. You consider yourself to be one of them in all the ways that matter — but although some may treat you well, and even show you respect, many do not feel the same, and make no effort to hide their sneering.
You begin with one additional mark from your time growing up in Fairy.
Gift: Favoured Child
With the GM’s input, decide on a greater boon granted to you by one of the Fair Folk. This could have been in thanks for services rendered, or simply as an expression of their favour (welcome or not). The boon can be anything you can get the GM to agree to, but should cost some amount of GRT to use and be permanent, freely given, and on par with the other Gifts in scope and power.
Cuckoo
Suggested scores: any
Suggested marks: Heartless, Heartsick, Homesick, Unsettling
You were of Fairy but now you’re no longer sure. Given to a mortal family, likely in the form of an infant, and taking on unknowing the face of a stolen child, you have grown up in the mortal world and think and feel as they do…mostly. You consider yourself at home with them, and may even love them, insofar as you can — but you know you do not entirely belong.
You begin with one additional lesser promise you made to someone in the mortal world.
Gift: Swap Faces
Swap Faces: Burn X GRT and….maybe take on the same face as someone else? step into their life? Make a copy of them? Split yourself in half?
Define your Calling
What is your relationship with the fairy who swapped you?
They may be your parent, liege-lord, lover, adversary, or many of these, or none. Did they protect and treasure you, keep you as a pet, or expose you to contempt? Perhaps they swapped you on a whim and left you behind to fend for yourself; perhaps you don’t even know who they are.
How do you feel about your other half?
Somewhere in another world, with the family or the Court or position or community that should have been yours, is your other half, a you-that-is-not-you. They have your face but they are not your blood – but does that really matter? Do you want to find them, or are you desperate to ensure that they never find you?
What do you have of your other half?
Something ties you to the other-you, a powerful bond that links you across time and across worlds: a lock of hair, a tooth, an eye, a heart or tongue, or something less tangible. What is the effect of this vestige of your not-self, your other-life?
Agreements
Begin with one greater pact with a member of the Fair Folk, and one lesser pact with your other half.
Ensnared
Despite the warnings of your parents, the wise-women and clergy, and against your own better judgment, you simply could not resist the lure of Fairy. You may have followed the lights in the woods at twilight until you found yourself in the midst of the Fair Folk, or you were chosen specially for some reason: your talents, your beauty, your foolhardiness. Now you have been in a fairy Court a few short days, or perhaps much longer; do you even know anymore? You have tasted the meat and wine and wind of Fairy and now belong to it, more than mortals should.
Courtier
You have danced attendance on the Fair Folk in one of their Courts, or in many, until your feet are broken and bleeding and long after. You may serve them food or drink, or keep them company, or entertain them, at least for a time – until they tire of you, or the Court moves on, and leaves you in the mortal world untold time later.
Suggested scores: VIT d6, RES d8, REA d6, CHA d10
Suggested marks: Enthralled, Forgetful, Glamourous, Haunted, Heartsick, Timeless
Gift: Whispers
Hunter
You have run with the Wild Hunt and lived to tell the tale, though many have not. You may have been taken for your skill with a bow or a snare, but in Fairy you were trained to bring down strong and clever prey with your hands and teeth. You still dream of the long loping strides that carried you effortlessly through the endless hunting-woods of Fairy, and you still long for the taste of blood, for the quickness of your body and sharpness of your teeth, that are slow and dull in the mortal world.
Suggested scores: VIT d12, RES d8, REA d4, CHA d6
Suggested marks: Bold, Haunted, Heartless, Homesick, Unsettling
Gift: Tooth and Claw
The feral and vicious savagery that served you well in Fairy is always there, just below the skin, until it bursts forth in shocking violence. Burn 6+2X GRT, where X is any number of effects on the list below (or others with the GM’s input), including duplicates. Then, describe how your body changes as you embrace the call of the Hunt.
Whenever you first draw blood, or kill, roll a difficulty 5 RES check, subtracting X from the final total. If you fail, you lose your mind for X minutes.
Increase your unarmed damage die by one die type
Define your Calling
Who is your polestar?
During your time in Fairy, a particular member of the Fair Folk drew your eye more than any other. Perhaps they lured you away from the mortal world, or you felt their irresistable magnetism even from beyond Fairy, an undertow that pulled you to your doom. What drew you to them? Have they even noticed you?
Why have you left the Court?
What do you desire and dread?
Agreements
Begin with one lesser pact with a member of the Fair Folk, and one greater promise owed by you to another. At least one of these is likely to be your polestar, or related to them in some way.
Intermediary
You have long and hard-won experience making deals with the Fair Folk, standing between them and hapless mortals ensnared by them.
Broker
You specialise in commerce or communication between the mortal world and Fairy. Perhaps you deal in particular delicacies, or in secrets and scandals. You may travel frequently between both worlds, or rely on an extensive network of contacts and connections to obtain and exchange your wares.
Suggested scores: VIT d4, RES d6, REA d8, CHA d12
Suggested marks: Cunning, Heartless, Obsessive, Timeless
Gift: Drive a Hard Bargain
Scrivener
Your expertise is sought out to mediate the striking of new accords, or for assistance in finding loopholes in a regrettable pledge, or as a last hope for those pursued by the Fair Folk to extract the consequences of a promise. These last you can often do nothing for but comfort them until their fate arrives, but they haunt you nevertheless – as do the ones you have tried to save, and damned in the process.
Suggested scores: VIT d4, RES d6, REA d12, CHA d8
Suggested marks: Cunning, Enthralled, Heartsick, Obsessive
Gift: Reword Reward
If you are careful, and very very clever, you can change the terms of an agreement already made. You must have the consent of at least one of the parties involved in the agreement in order to attempt this.
Choose a number Z and burn X*Y+Z GRT, where X is the level of the agreement (2 for lesser, 5 for greater) and Y is the type of agreement (3 for a promise, 6 for a pact). You change, add, or remove Z total letters (counting multiple uses of the same letter individually) to reword the terms of the agreement as you like, as long as it is coherent and grammatical.
Then, make a REA check, with the difficulty set by the GM based on the power and disposition of the other party in the agreement (i.e., not the consenting party). If you succeed, the agreement immediately becomes binding as you have worded it, although any Fair Folk involved in the agreement will know immediately that it has changed. If you fail, something goes wrong: the other party becomes aware of the changes as you are making them, and may attempt to stop you, or impose their own wording changes while the agreement is in flux, in which case the agreement must be renegotiated in hostile circumstances.
Suggested Difficulties
6+: Most mortal folk; Fair Folk who are friendly or inconsequential
9+: Powerful or marked mortal folk; Fair Folk who are indifferent or of some consequence
12+: Archfey or hostile Fair Folk
Define Your Calling
How did you come to stand between?
Why do some of the Fair Folk trust you particularly?
Why do some other of the Fair Folk hate you particularly?
Agreements
Begin with two lesser promises owed to you, and two lesser promises that you owe to the Fair Folk.
Knight
You are the vassal of one of the Fair Folk, or perhaps wish to become one, forging your way in the world through courage and strength of arms. You may be the sword and shield to defend the helpless, or the death that comes for the weak and unwary, depending on the disposition of your fairy liege-lord and the pact that binds you to their service. Their blessing — or curse — rests heavy on you.
Suggested scores: VIT d10, RES d8, REA d6, CHA d6
Suggested marks: Bold, Forgetful, Haunted, Heartless, Honest, Timeless
Gift: To Service Bound
Your strength and might come from a greater pact between you and your fairy liege-lord. Agree on the terms of this pact in detail with the GM.
Your Gift-pact should grant one greater boon that defines the core of the pact, as well as at least one lesser boon. These boons should reflect the nature of the pact itself and the service your liege-lord requires from you, as well as empowering you to perform that service in their name.
Should you begin to stray from the terms of your pact, you will acquire at least one lesser bane that will continue until you appease your liege-lord. Should you break the terms of your pact altogether, you will suffer a greater bane, which may turn out to be the least of your problems.
If you need inspiration for the flavour or boons that a Gift-pact might entail, have a look at Mythic Bastionland for a multitude of examples.
Define your Calling
How did you come to make a pact with your liege-lord?
Perhaps you dreamt your whole life of becoming a knight-vassal to a fairy. Perhaps you were pledged to their service from infancy. Perhaps you fled a terrible act and sought out any of the Fair Folk who would give you the power and protection to make something new of yourself. Or perhaps your liege-lord came upon you in the darkest of moments, and offered you a way out…What great task do you someday hope to achieve?
What mortal fear haunts you, no matter how much valour and renown you earn?
Agreements
Begin with two lesser promises owed to you by someone else, perhaps in thanks for your aid or to stay your wrath, in addition to your Gift-pact.
Artisan
You have learned something of the art of the Fair Folk in their dealings with the natural world, through long and dedicated study – or at least, so you might claim, although where, how, and with whom you studied are your own business. You might use these skills and knowledge to serve your community, gain money or power, or simply to follow your own whims. Mortal folk visit you with both high hopes and trepidation for problems fantastical and mundane, not all of which you can solve.
Smith
You are skilled at the forging of everyday useful items, such as horseshoes and farming tools, but your particular skill lies in fairy-smithing. You might make trinkets or talismans, or perhaps even weapons, working with cold iron and fairy-silver. Think carefully about whom your work protects, and whom it protects from.
Suggested scores: VIT d8, RES d10, REA d6, CHA d6
Suggested marks: Fearful, Haunted, Honest, Obsessive
Choose one of the following, which you have as you begin your journey:
a less powerful trinket or talisman, mundane or fey-touched;
a more powerful one, or a weapon, but you incurred an additional lesser promise to a member of the Fair Folk during its making.
In either case, describe the item, its history, and its powers, as far as you know them.
Witch
Your knowledge of the natural world is equaled only by your curiosity and creativity in applying it. You may be an apothecary, healer, poisoner, brewer, midwife, chemist, baker, or some combination of these and others.
Suggested scores: VIT d6, RES d10, REA d8, CHA d6
Suggested marks: Forgetful, Glamourous, Heartless, Obsessive, Unsettling
Choose one of the following, which you have as you begin your journey:
dREA+2 potions, poultices, and posies, each of which conveys a minor boon or bane of your choosing;
an additional lesser pact with a member of the Fair Folk who has had a hand in your training.
Gift: Create Enchantment
Over 10-dVIT hours of hard and skillful labour, you work the magic of Fairy into an object as you create it from raw materials. Burn X*Y GRT, where X is the type of object (see the table below for suggestions) and Y is the strength of the enchantment (2 for lesser, 5 for greater). You can add more enchantments by adding together the GRT cost; for example, to create a shield with both a greater and a lesser boon, you would need to spend 4*(2+5) = 28 GRT. You must have the correct tools and/or resources to create the object, and at the GM’s discretion, you may also need to procure rare or expensive materials.
| Cost | Smith | Witch |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Small tool or utensil | Small draught or poultice |
| 3 | Large tool, simple weapon | Multi-use draught or poultice |
| 4 | Armour or shield | |
| 5 | Martial weapon | New limb, |
If you choose to create an object with lesser enchantments only, once you spend the time and GRT, the object is finished as you intended – describe it!
If you choose to create an object with at least one greater enchantment, roll RES with a difficulty of 6 + the total number of enchantments, greater or lesser. If you succeed, once you spend the time and GRT, the object is finished as you intended it.
If you fail, you still create the object, but something goes awry; the GM may decide what happens, or roll 2d4 on the table below.
- You immediately incur a new lesser promise to a member of the Fair Folk who helped you learn the skills to create the object.
- A powerful fairy becomes aware of the object and wants it for themself.
- The object is finished as desired, but the greater enchantment has a flaw of the GM’s choice.
- The object gains a lesser enchantment of the GM’s choice, of the opposite type of the greater enchantment.
- The greater enchantment is finished as desired, but the object has a flaw of the GM’s choice.
- A powerful fairy becomes aware of the object and wants it to be destroyed.
- The object gains a greater enchantment of the GM’s choice.
Define Your Calling
- For what are you renowned, such that people travel from far and wide to seek you?
- What did you have to sacrifice in order to gain this knowledge?
- Which of the Fair Folk have you gained the enmity of, and how?
Agreements
Begin with the following:
Two lesser promises that are owed to you.
One greater promise that you owe to a member of the Fair Folk.
Marks
When your sojourner begins their adventures, they have already had some life-defining contact with the Fair Folk, articulated by their Calling. This touch of Fairy has also shaped their psyche, body, personality, or mind, imparting a quality associated with the Fair Folk as an indelible mark on who they are. These Marks also convey both a lesser boon and a lesser bane.
Your sojourner also may acquire new Marks as they meet more of the Fair Folk and, if they are very lucky, survive the encounter. However, Marks are deeply transformative and should only be given rarely, and in connection with a powerful or life-altering experience.
Bold: With the might and favour of your fairy patron, who indeed can stand against you?
Boon: You are immune to intimidation from either mortal or Fair Folk.
Bane: You have no ability evaluate the danger of a situation or know when to back down.
Cunning: The twisting of meaning and sense intrinsic to the Fair Folk is now second nature to you as well.
Boon: You have advantage on rolls to spot or understand hidden traps or second senses in well-crafted words.
Bane: You are constantly looking out for those traps and loopholes, and see subterfuge even in simple and honest words.
Enthralled: You belong body, mind, and soul to a particular fairy, with whom you share a tumultuous history.
Boon: You can call on this fairy at any time to attend or aid you.
Bane: You have disadvantage on rolls to resist or deny their requests in return.
Fearful: The dread of Fairy has suffused your bones so thoroughly that you ???
Boon:
Bane:
Callings:
Forgetful: Your experience with Fairy was so terrible that you have pushed it down deep - along with many other memories that might be useful to you.
Boon: You have ??? but
Bane: You have disadvantage on all rolls to recount or remember any previous experiences with the Fair Folk.
Glamourous: You are preternaturally alluring or beautiful in the eyes of mortal folk, although the Fair Folk are less impressed.
Boon: You have advantage on all CHA checks against unmarked mortal folk, as they are enraptured by your beauty.
Bane: You have disadvantage on RES checks against the Fair Folk, as they are disinclined to take you seriously.
Haunted: You have attracted the notice of a powerful fairy whose fascination with you manifests constantly in large and small ways. Describe how this appears, in accordance with the fairy’s nature, or let the GM decide: distant bells on the wind, flowers blooming at your feet, the reek of rotting flesh, a euphoric high in all who gaze upon you, and so on. These signs of the fairy’s regard are constant and outside your control. This may be boon or bane depending on the disposition of those you encounter.
Heartless: The strange cruelty of the Fair Folk has taken hold of you. You think of yourself apart from unmarked mortal folk, and can find little empathy for their plights.
Boon: You have advantage on rolls to resist appeals to your better nature or emotions, or to keep your head under stress.
Bane: You have disadvantage on all rolls to convince unmarked mortal folk that you want to help them, or mean them no harm.
Heartsick: The mortal world holds little interest for you, compared to the wonders of Fairy: the colours dim, the music off-key, the food bland, the wine sour, the people grotesque.
Boon: You have advantage on rolls to resist temptations in the mortal world.
Bane: You regain 1d6 less pool every time you rest outside of Fairy.
Homesick: You long to return to Fairy, hearing its call at every moment. No matter where you wander in the mortal world, your heart is always elsewhere.
Boon: You have advantage on rolls to find or use gateways to Fairy.
Bane: You are unable to ever settle down permanently in the mortal world.
Honest: The way of will and word has swallowed you whole, and no matter how hard you try, the art of hidden loopholes and secret meanings eludes you. You always mean what you say, but you also always say what you mean. This may be boon or bane depending on the disposition of those you encounter.
Obsessive: You are consumed by fascination with Fairy: its workings, people, history, nature, or dangers. In discussion with the GM, choose a specific aspect of Fairy as the target of your obsession: for instance, the language of flowers in the Fairy courts, or the use of fairy-tongues in oaths of service.
Boon: You have advantage on rolls that make use of what you have learned about your obsession.
Bane: You have disadvantage on rolls to resist the temptation to find out more about your obsession, regardless of the danger to yourself or others.
Timeless: Your contact with Fairy has permanently changed your relationship with time.
Boon:
Bane:
Unsettling: Your appearance or demeanour reminds others of the most dangerous and deadly aspects of Fairy: eyes too bright, teeth too sharp, smile too wide…
Boon: You have advantage on rolls to intimidate the Fair Folk.
Bane: You have disadvantage on rolls to convince all unmarked mortal folk to help or trust you.
Discuss with the GM the nature of your sojourner’s Calling and how the experience changed them. Name the quality they now bear and describe how it manifests in their body or mind. Then, decide on one lesser boon and one lesser bane resulting from this quality, which endure as long as the Mark endures.
Inspiration: courteous, cruel, fair, hasty, loyal, mad, merciless, reckless, selfless, sly, vain, wicked, wrathful