Dancer (CTL)

Dancer is one of the sub-types of the Fairest seeming. Whether entertainer, courtesan, artist or murderer, the Dancers are happiest when moving to the sound of their inner rhythms. As creatures of particular agility and grace for whom motion is itself beauty and art, theirs is the blessing of the Fae Grace.

Overview
One aspect of beauty is grace. Dancers embody this aspect in ways that many Fairest emulate, but few can reach. Lightfooted, elegant and swift, a Dancer is the very archetype of the faerie as something more graceful than  a  human  can  hope  to  be. Though Dancers’ durances  were  no  more  pleasant  or  fondly remembered than those of any other Lost, Dancers are unable to fully resent the gifts of agility and poise they received  in  Arcadia.

The process  of  attaining these gifts may have been tortuous and best forgotten, but the grace lingers with them every minute of every day. Therefore, a  Dancer  is  often  among  the camp of Lost that tries to see the best of what they’ve become, making the most of their blessings even if they regret having to go to Arcadia to receive them. Of course, for those not as beautiful and elegant as a Dancer, it’s a hard line to swallow.

The most  distinguishing  feature  of  a  Dancer  is her agility. Every physical motion is imbued with added grace, no matter how small. This is a quality that cannot be entirely disguised by the Mask — Dancers stand out in a crowd, if anyone is watching. Even the way they neatly place their feet when walking is an indication  of  their  instinctive  agility  and  precision. Beyond that shared preternatural grace, though, Dancers vary  widely  in  appearance. Some are  pale and faintly luminescent, almost ethereal; others have pale skin marked with whorls of color.

Durance
Many Dancers were literally taken to dance. They spent endless nights in glass ballrooms, waltzing with  the  Fae  until  the  Dancers’  feet  bled. They capered on stages, tied to invisible strings. They were placed  on  red-hot  bronze  so  that  their  Keepers could watch their cavorting. Sometimes Dancers were taken  to  act  as  partners,  sometimes  just  to  be display objects.

Other Dancers were given the blessing of great agility for  other  purposes,  perhaps  salacious. A human taken as a sexual slave may not have been sufficiently… limber to entertain a Keeper without some modifications. The castle  of  a  Keeper  might  have been built of narrow swords laid across deep chasms, where the  servants  were  required  to  learn  exquisite balance simply to keep their lives. Whatever the  reason  a  Dancer  was  taken,  his preternatural grace may have been the result of arduous effort, odd elixirs or bizarre surgeries.

Folklore
Dancing is a common element in faerie folklore. Traditional fairy-tale elements may make interesting components  when  recast  in  the  shadowed language of the Gentry — red shoes, rings of white mushrooms, secret  dancing  halls  deep  under  the earth. Many faeries are described as dancing rather than walking when seen, and a Dancer may have had to become what she is simply to keep up.

Frailties
May only wear cloth shoes, cannot wear gold jewelry,  enraptured  by  harpsichord  music,  may not eat beef or mutton, must laugh when hears laughter, must keep a feather on her person at all times