Contract

A Contract is a mystical pact struck between the fae and a living embodiment of natural force, allowing the fae to call on supernatural powers.

First Edition

Contracts are ancient agreements made between the True Fae and living embodiments of the natural world; as with most such magics (like the Mask), these bargains extend to all creatures touched by Faerie, and thus may be learned and used by Changelings.

Each Contract is a collection of related powers, or clauses, which were agreed upon in the same bargain. Usually a Changeling must use Glamour to empower the use of most clauses, but every clause has a "Catch", a loophole in the original agreement which allows use of the power without the magical price having to be paid.

Universal Contracts

Changelings have an affinity for a number of common Contracts, which they find easier to learn than others. Any changelings can learn these contracts without any added difficulty.

Contract	Description	Book/Page
Blades	Non-iron blades	DE 348
Board	Alter games	SD 46
Dream	Oneiromancy	CL 124
Hearth	Blessings and Curses	CL 127
Hours	Time	RS 102
Lucidity	Eludes delirium	DD 69
Mirror	Disguise	CL 129
Moon	Madness	RS 105
Omen	See Past and Future	RS 108
Smoke	Stealth	CL 132
Thorns and Brambles	Hedges and Thorns	SD 49

Seeming Contracts

Each Seeming also has an affinity for certain Contracts that grants powers associated with that Seeming. While any changeling can learn any Seeming Contract, they find it much harder to learn Contracts that do not match with their Seeming.

Contract	Seemings	Description	Book/Page
Animation	Wizened	Animate Objects	WM 52
Artifice	Wizened	Manipulate Objects	CL 134
Communion	Elementals	Communicate with Elements	WM 32
Darkness	Darklings	Darkness	CL 136
Den	Beasts	Home Safety	WM 19
Elements	Elementals	Manipulate Elements	CL 138
Fang and Talon	Beasts	Animals	CL 142
Forge	Wizened	Alter and Shape Reality	RS 99
Reflections	Fairest	Manipulate reflective surfaces	ER 34
Oath and Punishment	Ogres	Deal with Oathbreakers	WM 47
Separation	Fairest	Transcend the Physical	WM 40
Shade and Spirit	Darkling	The Dead	WM 26
Stone	Ogres	Might	CL 144
Vainglory	Fairest	Awe	CL 146
Wild	Beasts, Elementals	Nature	RS 111

Court Contracts

Changelings who belong to a seasonal Court have an affinity to further two Contracts associated with their season: the "Fleeting" Contracts deal with manipulation of the Court's dominant emotion, while the "Eternal" Contracts invoke physical manifestations of the season itself. Due to the mystical connection granted by a Court's Mantle, the more advanced clauses of these Contracts may only be learned by Changeling's with a strong Mantle for the appropriate Court. The less powerful clauses may be taught to other Changelings, but such tutelage is generally only given to those who have proven their friendship to the Court.

Contract	Description	Book/Page
Eternal Autumn	Harvest and Withering	CL 159
Eternal Spring	Growth and Rejuvenation	CL 151
Eternal Summer	Heat and Light	CL 155
Eternal Winter	Cold	CL 162
Fleeting Autumn	Manipulate Fear	CL 156
Fleeting Spring	Manipulate Desire	CL 149
Fleeting Summer	Manipulate Wrath	CL 153
Fleeting Winter	Manipulate Sorrow	CL 160
Four Directions	Direction	WM 134
Verdant Spring	Manipulate Passion	LoS 39
Punishing Summer	Tools of War	LoS 59
Spell-Bound Autumn	Sorcery	LoS 79
Sorrow-Frozen Heart	Personal Sorrow	LoS 99
Potential	Positive change (Dawn court)	SD 138
Entropy	Negative change (Dusk court)	DD 141

Goblin Contracts

Finally there are the Goblin Contracts, Black Market contracts that can be obtained from the Goblin Market in exchange for various things. While these contracts are powerful, they usually come with a huge penalty for using them, and cannot be relied on as much as the other types.

Contract	Level	Description	Book/Page
Sight of Truth and Lies	1	Truth-saying	RS 114
Shooter's Bargain	1	Accurate Shooting	CL 164
Trading Luck for Fate	1	Predict Random Events	CL 164
Calling the Guardian	2	Summon Protective Force	RS 114
Diviner's Madness	2	See Past or Future	CL 165
Fair Entrance	2	Open Doors	CL 165
Fool's Gold	2	Disguise Objects	CL 166
Blessing of Forgetfulness	3	Erase Memories	RS 115
Burden of Life	3	Healing	CL 166
Delayed Harm	3	Avoid Attacks	CL 167
Hospitality's Hold	3	Mark Hospitality Violators	GU 28-30
Goblin Oath	4	Pledges	RS 115
Good and Bad Luck	4	Lucky Guess	CL 167
Call the Hunt	4	Summon True Fae	CL 167
Blood-Binding	5	Strip Enemy's Defenses	RS 116
Lost and Found	5	Escape	CL 168
Contract of Wyrd	1-5	Wyrd's powers	DD 64

Contracts of Sacrifice

Contract	Description	Book/Page
Goblin Fortune	Blessing or Curse	RS 117
Goblin Transformation	Changes	RS 120
Goblin Sacrifice	Sacrifice in exchange of benefits	RS 120

Lost Contracts

As mentioned in The Fear-Maker's Promise, there exist contracts that have since been lost to time. The only known example of this are the Contracts of Land and Domain, the only remnant of which is the Children's Contract.

Second Edition

Contracts are bargains that fae creatures have made with various facets of reality. The Lost are able to take these bargains into themselves, enabling their use. To do so, a changeling must either spend Glamour or take advantage of a Loophole - a part of every Contract that permits its activation without Glamour expenditure. The caster can, in fact, do both in order to change an instant invocation to a reflexive one.

Arcadian Contracts

These are the oldest Contracts, hailing from the dawn of Arcadia. They are divided into six Regalia, each of which resonates with a particular seeming. An additional five Regalia are listed in Kith and Kin. Each Regalia further subdivided into Common Contracts, bargains originally struck on behalf of the servants of the True Fae; and Royal ones, struck for the Strangers' own sake.

Regalia	Description	Book/Page
Crown	Leadership and Rulership	CL 128-132
Jewels	Manipulation and Temptation	CL 132-135
Mirror	Perception and Self-transformation	CL 135-140
Shield	Defence and Protection	CL 140-144
Steed	Movements seen and unseen, as well as creatures	CL 144-147
Sword	Strength and Aggression	CL 147-150
Chalice	Emotion and Relationship	KK 34-39
Coin	Debt, Transaction and Exchange	KK 39-44
Scepter	Authority and Force: the Path to Power	KK 44-49
Stars	Navigation and Insight	KK 49-53
Thorn	Punishment of Transgression	KK 53-58

Court Contracts

Similarly to Arcadian Contracts, these powers can be divided into Common and Royal categories. Interestingly, when one Court is dominant, its Royal Contracts exceptionally succeed more easily. Meanwhile, subservient Courts find that their Common Contracts gain bonus dice.

Contract	Description	Book/Page
Autumn	The Last Harvest, Storms, All Things Dreadful	CL 156-159
Spring	Desire, Growth, Gentle Warmth, Soft Rains	CL 151-153
Summer	Sweltering Heat, Wrath, Enmity	CL 153-156
Winter	Sorrow, Loss, Ice and Snow	CL 159-162

Unaffiliated Contracts

These Contracts are either loosely affiliated or unaffiliated entirely with Courts or old Arcadian agreements.

Contract	Classification	Description	Book/Page
Abjuration		Banishing the supernatural	DE 288-289
Air and Darkness		Creating illusions	DE 289-290
Coming Darkness	Common	Creating darkness	KK 58-59
Companionship		Providing physical and mental support through a "comfort object"	DE 412-413
Cracked Mirror	Royal	Surveilling or swapping location with a fetch	KK 60-61
Dread Companion	Royal	Granting dominion over hedge ghosts	KK 60
Earth's Gentle Movements	Common	Reshaping areas of earth	KK 63-64
Earth's Impenetrable Walls	Royal	Raising a fortress of earth	KK 64
Inspiration		Spreading passions	DE 287-288
Listen with the Wind's Ears	Royal	Eavesdropping on a conversation when one's name is spoken	KK 61
Momentary Respite	Royal	Existing in the space between moments, forestalling harm	KK 61-62
Pomp and Circumstance	Common	Protecting an area for a private gathering	KK 59
Shadow Puppet	Common	Creating a living shadow	KK 59-60
Steal Influence	Common	Stealing an Influence from a target	KK 62-63

Goblin Contracts

A changeling isn’t limited to riding the coattails of pacts others made; she may enter into new Contracts of her own. These are called Goblin Contracts and, as the name implies, are struck between a changeling and a goblin. Every goblin bargain is different — the goblin merchant might ask for the changeling to retrieve a lost object for him, a strand of the changeling’s hair, or simply a future favor. Whatever he asks, payment should be within the changeling’s power, though it needn’t be easy to come by.

References

• CTL: Changeling: The Lost Rulebook, p. 16, 21, 24, 25, 33-34, 35, 41, 74, 76-77, 88, 124-169
• CTL: Changeling: The Lost Second Edition, p. 128-162
• CofD: Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras, p. 287-290, 348-350, 412-413
• CofD: Glimpses of the Unknown, p. 28-30
• CTL: The Fear-Maker's Promise, p. 2, 6, 10