Boggart

Boggarts are one of the Thallain

kiths. Their Kithain counterparts are the boggans.

Overview

Boggarts place the well-being of their kind above the concerns of all other creatures. With a talent for getting organized, a very industrious spirit and an endless amount of greed, Boggarts can swarm over any opportunity like a horde of rats. Although they are quite willing to help the Shadow Court, they serve themselves first and foremost. They’ll tolerate other fae; once they’ve been properly managed and organized, of course. A warren of Boggarts will only defer to the leadership of a fae of another kith as long as their demands are met and they’re compensated — in one way or another.

Although they’re no strangers to hard work, they have difficulty understanding the needs and ideals of other fae. Anyone who can’t understand productivity or the acquisition of wealth is in need of a reeducation. In particular, they have no sympathy at all toward humans. While Kithain boggans can be quite empathetic to the suffering of others, Thallain Boggarts delight in inflicting pain on mortal victims, either physically or economically. Trapped in a world of men, they see making humans suffer as just revenge. Traditional Boggarts used to make tricking men and enslaving Enchanted women top priorities, but they’ve learned another way of life over the last decade.

Contemporary Boggarts are inherently collectivist creatures, and they love to create warrens (also known as communes, cultures or communities). These were once burrows below ground, but modern Boggarts now gather in apartment complexes, condos or tract-housing developments. If only a few of them are present in a warren near a freehold, they’ll try to recruit Unseelie boggans to their cause (while disguising their true natures) and eventually convince them of their superior work ethic.

They love to create complex shifting hierarchies of politics among their kind, and remember them in great detail. As more Boggarts gather in a warren near an Unseelie freehold, they’ll want political power on that level as well, eventually electing a Foreman (or Administration) to watch out for their interests. Profit is the bottom line, and they stash what they can underground out of habit.

Once organized, the commune of Boggarts can hire themselves out to perform acts that are grotesque enough to make any human look twice — hence the name “Boggart.” The kindest of their Administrations can rationalize and justify the most ludicrous of options, and organize the manpower to make it a reality. The worst of them, the Freelancers, hire themselves out to disreputable sorts, and are capable of carrying out the most shocking atrocities without batting an eyelash. Need a wall painted in human blood? Do you need someone to prick the body of a sleeping beauty with 1000 pins? Send for a few Boggarts. Just make sure they’re paid on time.

Appearance

In mortal seeming, these creatures actually look like normal humans of average height. Away from mortal eyes, they’re thieving little dwarves with ruddy skin. As a Boggart gets more desperate for riches, his faerie mien will appear fouler and blacker. Ears get pointer, noses get longer, and bare feet get stealthier. The worst have to hide tails inside their britches.

Birthrights & Frailties

Birthrights

• Affinity: Actor

• Industrious Comrades — Like Kithain boggans, Thallain Boggarts can perform any physical labor in 1/3 the normal time, although they have learned to diversify their business opportunities. Choose a business specialty during character creation; that character gets a -1 difficulty on any roll that involves managing her chosen business. Boggarts only have to sleep about two hours a night, so many of them “moonlight” (during the day or night) in human jobs. As more of them gather together, their work will get shoddier and more dangerous. One Boggart might have the best of intentions, but a pack of them will ruin the poor saps they’re helping while they maximize short-term gains.

• Pack Mentality — These creatures have a way of tracking down others of their kind, and they’ll often try to recruit Kithain boggans away from their courts. They can “sniff out” an Unseelie boggan with three successes on a roll of Perception + Kenning (difficulty 5). Any Boggart character will also know how to get in touch with at least a half-dozen of his kind and, once per adventure, can recruit them to alter, “improve” or destroy a location with a successful roll of Intelligence + Politics (difficulty 7). This may not require hard labor. During downtime, it’s assumed that the character will perform similar tasks for the rest of his coworkers/comrades.

Frailties

• Greed — When presented with an unguarded item of wealth, they must roll versus Willpower (difficulty 9) to avoid stealing it. If they fail this roll, however, their fingers will take on an adhesive texture, lowering their difficulty for the Dexterity + Subterfuge roll that follows by one. In larger warrens, this is called “redistribution of wealth,” or, in some warrens, “new compensation programs.”

• Callousness — Boggarts cannot use the Empathy skill to understand humans, although they can use it to harm them. They don’t understand the social dynamics of humans or fae who live outside of corporations, although they do have alliances with the occasional opportunistic boggan. It’s useful to have scouts and headhunters.

Other

Quote: Here now, you’ve only got one woman in charge? And she wasn’t elected? Bah! We’ll soon sort that out, mate.

Quote Kithbook Boggans (p. 55) :

Thallain

Boggans loathe their Thallain cousins, and can identify boggarts at a glance. If boggans are the warmth of a cozy fire, boggarts are the shock of being dropped in Arctic waters. As the two kiths are hard for others to tell apart, boggarts can do a lot of damage to the reputation of boggans , which causes their Kithain cousins no end of frustration and grief. This loathing also stems from the boggarts’ mastery of manipulation, which has dragged many a boggan into a boggart’s schemes, fearing the consequences if they don’t go along with what is demanded of them.

In contrast to the modest dignity of boggans , nothing is too far or too shameless for a boggart, and they frequently threaten loved ones and Dreamers to get their way. Their slipshod methods and nasty ways grate on everything a boggan is, and bring out unprecedented levels of hatred and vitriol in such ordinarily pleasant folks.

References

1. CTD: The Shadow Court, p. 68-69