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.