Redcap (CTD)

Fear and violence spawn dreams as readily as kings or commoners, and the Redcaps are the kithain most closely tied to nightmares. They gain their name from their traditional headwear - a white cap, dyed red in their victims' blood. They are quick to anger and hungry. Always hungry.

In the Beginning
The first question everyone asks is "where did we come from?" You don't even have to ask it. It's also the first answer they hate and tends to set the tone for the rest of the talk.

Jut think for a minute. Think about where the redcaps all came from in the dim, distant past. What do you think it was like? Was it a wonderland where folks cavorted in the woods unafraid that umpteen types of wild creatures wouldn't drag them off as snacks? Some people think "sure." Others think of a primeval forest where the sun's afraid to peek through the trees to see the rotting corpses on the woodland floor and the nasties move from shadow to shadow just 'cause they can. Which one is true? Well, they both are, or both might as well be, because there's enough belief that they are true. You get the same for all sorts of situations and those pasts are very real to the right people.

That's not redcap history, though. If it works for other folks, great. More power to 'em. But it's not where redcaps come from and it's not something they can understand.

Take a guess what kind of past the redcaps look back to. It's wild. It's angry. It's not one most folks like to think about because it's not noble or illuminating or any of that crap. Instead, it's just cold.

Ever been to the mountains? Seen chunks of landscape looking like they were carved with a putty knife? Boulders big as houses half a mile away from any sort of rock face that might have made 'em? It took power to do that. Cold power. We're talking a world of ice rivers and a place so cold the oceans curled up and hid themselves. That's were redcaps come from: the wind that swept over the ice. Wind that flowed over people looking for bare skin to bite. Never resting. Never sleeping. Never going away. Probably seemed alive. Like a hungry animal with teeth and claws. Plus, if you wandered too far into that wind there was always predators to snap folks up and really eat them. That helped the myths along too. Wind was everywhere. Winter was everywhere. People started thinking about that wind but they couldn't put a face to it. Cave bears and sabertooths and dire wolves... there's an enemy you can see. Wind don't let you do that. It comes from nowhere and vanishes in a heartbeat with no tracks. It's invisible and silent and impossible to watch for. All you can do is build walls to try and keep it out and hope it ain't vicious.

Is it any wonder mortals put a face to it? It helped them fight it. Helped there little shamans make charms against it. Say things in the dark to make their holes feel a little warmer. Give 'em something to watch and stand guard for. Something to feel powerful against.

That's where redcaps come from. There faces were different then. They were white or gray... colored like the things they thought made the wind. They were tiny and vicious or huge, roaring beasts that could crush a tribe in a single blow. But they were hungry then just like they are now. That hasn't changed.

Why all this talk about Winter? The redcaps believe in Winter. Winter is their mother. Winter will return again. They're looking forward to it.

The Early Nights
The redcaps looked different then. The world wasn't ready for what they are now. But the things that would become them were there. As the ice retreated, some went with it and others went south the stories about it. They changed with their surroundings. Most stayed predatory packages but not all the same. The appetite didn't change, though.

They started running into the other kiths. There used to be a lot more types then. The redcaps are part of the reason there are fewer now and they're not ashamed to say it. The world was more savage then. Plus most of those kiths were local who would fight hard to keep their piece of world. Fighting hard isn't the same as fighting well, though. Picking a fight doesn't mean you can win it.

Most kiths knew not to tangle with the redcaps, at least not on that level. Not that they were all friendly, but they knew better than to get in a fight without thinking. The redcaps didn't make any attempts to make themselves more appealing and the others didn't make any pretense about liking their eating habits. Things were fluid in those days and they were all still trying to figure out how they fit together.

In those days all the fae were a lot closer to their primal nature and all the centuries of ritual and politics hadn't got put in place. Everyone knew each other well enough to know what to expect from each other on a basic level. Things were simpler then. Then it all went to pot and all because of the sidhe. Things as they bloody were back then, there was an understanding among the survivors. Everyone was on the same level, as it was. When multiple kiths had to organize for whatever reason, the redcaps say the trolls led the because 1. they were big, and 2. no one else wanted to do it. So the trolls were in charge, if not in charge of much, and they knew better than to press their luck.
 * The End of the Party

Everything changed when the sidhe showed up. They had definite ideas about social structure and society and order and set about putting those ideas in place, with themselves at the top of the heap, of course. Some folks didn't like it. Some folks didn't care. The thing was, the redcaps didn't have a better alternative so. The ones who fought the sidhe did it because they liked the status quo and the sidhe were trying to force an idea down their throats. The thing was, someone fighting for something will, assuming everything else is even, beat people who are fighting against something. A cause puts you over the top. The ones who fought the sidhe didn't know what they wanted, they just knew they didn't want what the sidhe wanted. It wasn't enough. On top of that, some fae just didn't care so it's easy to see why the sidhe won.

When they won, the sidhe started chopping up the land into this and that duchy and barony and such and making sure they had the power. Give credit where it's due, they had a plan and knew how to execute it. Then they pressured everybody else to believe their nobility garbage. Eventually enough idiots believed it to make it real and set the sidhe at the top of the food chain. They've been there a very long time.

A very long time isn't forever. Once upon a time there were a people called the Picts. No one knows much about them, really, but they had these things called Peel Towers: watchtowers or defensive battlements or whatever they were built without doors, just one window way at the top and a ladder let down so friendlies could get access and unfriendliness couldn't. They were kind of a good idea but the stupid things were easy to reduce by siege and not easy to resupply.
 * Red Caps and Peel Towers

That's not the point, though. The Picts were funny about architectural standards: they used exact measurements, quality materials, and a dead guy under each tower. Seems they thought blood from the sacrifice strengthened the tower. Or maybe they didn't. Who knows.

Still, as a result, these peel towers had a bad reputation, especially once they were abandoned after a battle. Who wants to man an indefensible fort? Instead they became lonely, haunted places and bad stories sprang up around them. The bad stories, plus the bad real estate, attracted bad things. It didn't take long for the towers to become homes to a lot of nasty creatures who liked eating whatever came by, including travelers who didn't look closely enough before camping for the night in their ruins.

Locals had no idea what was there but they tied together the notion of the bodies in the cellar with the reports of the few survivors and came up with, surprise, the Redcaps... the classic model. This is also about the time the redcaps started dyeing their caps red, too. It was sort of like a merit badge. Having a red cap, dyed the right way, of course, told others you'd made it. It said, "I'm big enough to handle myself and anyone who comes my way." It also told those outside the kith that the redcap was big and bad enough not to screw with. After that it got to be ritual. They re-dyed their caps to let other 'caps know their hand was still in. A fresh cap let them strut a bit, gave them bragging rights, and told others to clear a space for them to let let the little gourmet tale be told.
 * The Red Cap

Interestingly enough, the part of the process that no one comments on is that the caps come out red. After all, dried blood is brown and crusty and makes bad fabric dye. Redcaps caps always come out just the right shade of red to let others know what they're looking at. Convenient, right?

The Shattering
There are three big events in Kithain history. How they get ranked depends. Some fae don't even remember the sidhe taking over. They've been brainwashed by the party line and too many stories. They all remember the third one, though, and have different understandings about what it means. You won't believe the redcaps if they tell you they saw it coming. They even tried to tell everybody but no one listened. The sidhe were too busy setting up an adversarial relationship with the mortal world to care what that meant. They wanted mortals to know something strange and wonderful was under the hill way out there; something they shouldn't come near. They did that. How did they do it? By making the rest of the fae, or most, buy into it. By portraying themselves as noble and righteous and convincing twits to march under their banners. By giving fae pretty little titles like "Seneschal" and such so they don't notice they don't have the real power. And it was all a snow job. And they've kept doing it.
 * 1) The Sidhe taking over
 * 2) The Sidhe coming back
 * 3) The Sidhe running like scared children when the Shattering hit.
 * Warning SignsRedcap42.png

And then they got greedy. They wanted to separate the worlds to keep distance between mortals and fae. It wasn't good enough for them to mingle like faeries had always done. They had to have their place and the mortals, theirs. In the end, that little dividing line got bigger than anyone could have imagined. Everyone knows how the sidhe high-tailed it back to Arcadia before the gates shut, leaving the rest of the kithain to rot. What do they say? If you and your friend get caught by a bear, you don't have to outrun he bear, just the other guy. The Gates slammed shut and the rest of the fae had to deal with the Shattering. And you know what? They survived. They figured out how to protect themselves and how to prosper. But many of the fae, especially the redcaps, never forgot the sidhe left them in the Autumn World to die. What more can be said about it? One thing for sure is that it isn't like everybody got together to figure out what to do. There was no faerie reune to plan. It was instinctual. They all knew what had to be done (the changeling way) and they knew they had to do it together or not at all. Not everyone made it. That happens. Why do the Redcaps complain about it? Don't they want the whole thing to go up in flames? (Or frost?) Well, yes and no. They want Winter back. They don't want a cold snap that leaves things normal. All things happen in its own time and naturally. Winter will as well. Maybe they just don't want the sidhe getting credit for accidentally doing their job for them.
 * It Happens
 * The Aftermath
 * A Question of Motives

The Long Years Between
The dust took a long time to settle but that's to be expected when you turn the world upside down. It took years for anyone to poke their heads out. They were too tired, hurt, and scared. The pressure of Banality was still palpable and no one wanted to feel it for any reason.

Eventually they got used to it. Messengers started going between the few freeholds left. Contacts were re-established. Search parties went looking for survivors and to get the lay of the land. The places the sidhe walled off became places to hide, which was good, but it would never have been necessary if they hadn't done it in the first place. Everyone was equally scared and angry in the early days of the interregnum. Many of the kith were mad that mommy and daddy sidhe left them on their own. It wasn't a productive time as they ran around in circles chasing their own tails. Most of the survivors had one of two reactions. They either made friends with everyone else or decided to tell everyone off and go every elf for themself.
 * The First Years

Needless to say, the redcaps went with the latter. While everyone was making nice and singing Kumbayah, the redcaps were mad. They knew what had happened, more or less, and were mad at the sidhe for leaving them to clean up the mess. And since the fancypants weren't around to take that displeasure, the redcaps laid it on everyone else; the idiots who helped it happen. This didn't help them win friends and influence people, not that they wanted to be friends, not in those days anyway.

Most set off on their own. A good deal of the early post-Shattering exploration and mapping was done by redcaps who weren't about to stay in little refugee communities. Communication wasn't good, though, and tended to be something like: "All clear on the other side of the big mountain at the south end of the valley. I'm claiming it for myself. Don't come visit or I'll kill you." They weren't even rally talking to each other in those days. Suspicion was rampant. Life was solitary. Meetings were infrequent, formal, and cagey.

To make things worse, the landscape was screwed up too. There were... things... out there; chimera that were just as messed up as the fae. Mortals got hit too, though they didn't know it. Nightmares were taking shape all over and those things were both hungry and hurting and that's a bad combo. This is all to say that the Dreaming was a dangerous place for any lone Kithain, including a redcap. Drop your guard and you were toast. The difficulty was that no one trusted anyone else among the 'caps so there was never anyone to watch their back. So the redcaps became lone monster hunters.

It makes sense, really. They could either sit on their butts and wait for trouble to find them or go and be the nasty thing themselves and let the monsters learn to be afraid of them. Of course, once they made a kill, they made sure everyone else knew. Once they got a reputation, they started hiring themselves out to the kithain too afraid to leave their houses and boy would they pay well. And the redcaps wouldn't sell themselves cheap.

But things snowballed and they started getting called in on things no lone redcap could handle... dragons and such, and while some redcaps will get their head bit off to make a point, they don't tend to pass down the trait, if you get me. So the redcaps started banding together again. They actually appreciated the renewed sense of community and if the sidhe weren't coming back, well the redcaps needed to have a say in fae society as well. These monster hunting teams are what eventually became the redcap Corby. The Corbies got stronger and the redcaps settled into a place in Kithain society that was maybe no respectable but at least recognized. All in all the Interregnum wasn't a bad time, more than it was anyway. Things went back to the way they were before the sidhe, with decisions being made based on strength and merit. It wasn't the same from freehold to freehold, but it worked pretty well anyway.
 * Slouching Toward Society

Redcaps still stayed outside, though. Without the imaginary protection of the sidhe, the other kiths liked them even less and so they didn't play together often, but at least there was a sort of respect and easing of hostilities. If a headman came out to talk to a boss and their lieutenants, you can bet they had earned their position.

Then the factories started to spring up and the redcaps decided they were in love. Whoever came up with the Industrial Revolution deserves a medal. It was the greatest thing to happen to the redcaps since sliced bread, bearing in mind the 'caps prefer taking bread in one gulp.
 * Trouble Down at the Old Mill

How could something like the Industrial Revolution be a boon to the fae? Well, its dreams were hungry ones. Rip stuff from the land. Feed the factories day and night. Those kind of dreams were a buzz for the redcaps. They went to the mill towns and mining towns in droves. They became pit bosses, factory foremen, teamsters, and so on. They went to feed the beast. Who else could know how the factories feel?

On the docks and in the pits, the 'caps were happy. On the factory floor they were ecstatic. In the middle of the soot and smoke they found their perfect time. They knew it couldn't last; that it was bound to devour itself sooner or later, but they enjoyed it while they could and it was everything they could have wished for. Of course, not every redcap stuck around to watch the smoke cover the sky. People like to move, especially if they think there's someplace better to go. For many this meant the New World, but once they got there it was more of the same. A factory is a factory wherever it is. So is a sweatshop. But the masses were hungering for something more so the redcaps went with them.
 * Gone West

The New World had its own circumstances. First, the melting pot effect which meant no one was quite sure where they stood on the streets of New York. Folks formed ethnic neighborhoods and with them came gangs and territorial scraps.

On top of that the New World was already inhabited by the Nunnehi, though they had mostly been pushed away by the time the redcaps crossed over. They were out there, though, and not happy with the 'caps. It made sense, therefore, to stay in the cities. Foreigners weren't welcome in most places, no matter what face they wore. Some people might think that the big wars of the 20th century were exactly what the redcaps wanted. They weren't. They made as much sense as the slaughter of the buffalo who were then left to rot. There has to be a point to slaughter. Redcaps deal in murder and hunger, not genocide. there is a difference in their minds.
 * The Twentieth Century

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
In 1969, the mortals went to the moon and the sidhe came back. Most redcaps would give up the one to get rid of the other. With the Resurgence, of course, the sidhe decided they had never stopped being in charge and wasn't it quaint the way the little commoners kept everything going while they were away. No surprise, some people were not interested in bowing and scraping again just because the sidhe thought it their due. And how did the sidhe respond? Assassination and terror. You might think a redcap would come up with something like the Night of Iron Knives but they consider it cowardly.

So it was war. And the commoners were winning until David Ardry came along. Plus, the redcaps didn't play by the ways the sidhe thought were fair. History is written by the winners and survivors. The survivors are generally more accurate. Fun time came to an end with Ardry, at least the killing part. The kid had presence. He played straight. That's why the redcaps gave him a chance. He did his best but those antiquarian sidhe nobles just wouldn't give it a rest. It's too bad he didn't succeed often.

War in Concordia
Then the High King disappeared and everything went to hell. Seems he was keeping the sidhe in check as much as he was keeping the commoners from their throats because the moment he was gone, all the old garbage happened again.

The redcaps aren't gonna take it anymore. They gave it one shot. One. It didn't work. They told Ardry they'd be good and the other sidhe sandbagged him for talking to them. It gets ugly now. The Accordance War was just the warm up. Here comes the main event.

The Wretched and Hungry
With history out of the way, we can get to the fun stuff: "What do those jolly fellows in their bright red hats do during their hours of leisure?" It's a good question but we need to talk about other stuff first.

What You Know
So what do people think they know about redcaps? Absolutely none of those hold true in all cases, though the last one comes close.
 * 1) Eat everything in sight
 * 2) Can be wacky funsters who'll munch on anything for a laugh
 * 3) Are all evil monsters
 * 4) Hate everyone else
 * 5) Are born spitting tacks and eating 2x4s for breakfast
 * 6) Dye their caps red in the blood of things they kill

Lets look at the mess. All together it makes no sense, though since when have the Kithain ever made sense. Most will believe anything that comes from Duke Fancypants or Baron Stickupbutt, especially if it keeps them from having to think on their own. It also saves them from asking why they need said duke in the first place... but that's a different matter.

Legends

 * Shabbyman
 * Simon Cold
 * Squire Desmond
 * Weedy Peg
 * Captain Wrack
 * Tathy Gams
 * Rat Breath
 * Grand Master of Disaster
 * Jenni Quick
 * Aelfric, Theodric, and Offa