Beastie

Beasties are one of the Unseelie commoners called Thallain. Their Kithain counterparts are the Pooka.

Overview

Wild and wicked Unseelie pooka regress toward their primitive states when their true seemings are revealed. The worst of these are not capable of shapeshifting into animals, but instead transform into hideous monsters. No two beasties are alike, and some exhibit physiological tendencies heretofore unseen in nature by mortals. Like pooka, beasties can only shift into or out of their true forms when no one is watching them.

Not all beasties have the stereotypical “fur and crooked teeth,” and not all of them are mammalian in origin. Some are reptilian or alien, while others speak of evolutionary routes that were never meant to be followed by sane sentients. Jagged teeth, matted fur, crooked nails, shining scales and wretched skin become more noticeable when a once-charming Thallain shifts into his beastie form. All of the aspects of the form don’t have to be fully functional, though; their main use is for scaring the bejeezus out of their enemies.

The very spirits of the Earth are ashamed of the secretive activities of beasties, and thus the Mists cover their activities within an hour after they are perpetrated. Mortal witnesses are consumed with madness: they succumb to terror and flee. After an hour has passed, they will remember very little. Seelie have an innate hatred of beasties, and will attack them on sight. Their battle lust will subside after an hour, however, and they will forget what has enraged them. Within an hour after a sighting, other fae or supernatural creatures remember these monsters as wild animals. Their true forms can only be remembered in nightmares, which often haunt their victims.

Once a month, for the duration of one night, entire packs of beasties will take on their true forms and Ravage. Childlings will refer to this as a Wild Rumpus, while grumps and wilders refer to it by making inhuman, guttural growling noises. Once enough destruction and suffering has been wrought, they fade back into their banal forms until summoned forth again. Some Ritualist cliques possess methods of directing these packs to enact their wills.

The humor of beasties is of the most vile and depraved variety, and it is almost always deadly. When a beastie Ravages a mortal, her prank will usually culminate in the death of her prey. Pooka find them oafish and gross, but there is, unfortunately, one further complication: When not associated with the Shadow Court, they can still disguise themselves as Unseelie pooka. They will keep the darker part of their natures in check until the time to Ravage comes again.

Appearance

In mortal seeming, they are wild-eyed and undisciplined. Their primal nature is difficult to mask, even in a mortal seeming. In faerie mien, they are easily mistaken for Kithain pooka, and will even have a few animal characteristics. In beast form, they are the stuff that nightmares are made of. Few outside the Shadow Court have the sanity to elaborate beyond that.

Birthrights & Frailty

Birthrights

• Beastie Form — Like pooka, beasties can spend a point of Glamour to shift into their true forms. They must be alone to do so. Shifting back doesn’t cost a point of Glamour, but it still must be done alone.

• Gaia’s Mercy — Within one hour of the perpetration of beastie violence, witnesses will forget what they have seen, remembering only distorted stories of wild animals.

• Affinity - Nature

Frailty

• The Hunt — Seelie have a innate hatred of beasties, and any who cannot score at least three successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty 9) will attack them on sight — assuming they recognize them for what they are.

Other

Quote: Grrrr…

Gallery

References

1. CTD: The Shadow Court, p. 66-67