Quixotic Lycians are born from the intangible objects that permeate the world.
Overview[]
Likely due to their own insubstantial nature, they uncover the hidden and otherworldly. Secrets call them, and these Lycians answer with unbridled eagerness. Mysteries are fun puzzles to Quixotics. They probe and prod until they reach the heart of the matter. Each clue they discover fits with other scraps they possess until it all fits into a sublime whole. They also explore the realms just beyond the perceptible, always looking for new discoveries. Only the most seasoned changeling explorers know the hidden byways as well as a Quixotic. Even then, there are some places only an incorporeal being may travel.
Appearance & Lifestyle[]
As much as they have an insatiable curiosity about the hidden places of the world, they dare not spend too much time away from the realms of the Autumn world. Their intangible Guises need constant care to make sure they’re maintained. If one ceases to exist, so too does the Quixotic.
Quixotics are the private eyes, the information brokers, and the trail guides of the Lycians. Few beings know as much about what happens in the places they travel than these chimera. With their ability to blend in to places no one would ever think to look, it requires trivial effort for them to gather information. Secrets can’t hide from a Quixotic. They’re usually willing to part with their knowledge for the right price. It might be a trade for secrets they don’t already know. It might be in exchange for helping keep their Guise going — retelling their story, or renewing the registration on their website. Whatever the cost, both parties come away from the deal satisfied.
| “ | I know every passage in this city, even those obscured by the Mists. Wold you like me to show you? | ” |
- Humanoid: Humanoid Quixotics love gossip and secrets. They’re information hunters lying in wait for their prey to start talking. Humanoid Quixotics blend better into a room than a fly on the wall. It takes a keen mind and careful attention to detail to realize a Quixotic is hiding nearby. The insubstantial permeates every aspect of modern society, so they have nearly limitless places to hide. Backroom deals, clandestine trysts — nothing escapes their sight. They love joining boggan gossip sessions around the balefire, and certain humanoid Quixotics are even invited to High Tea with prominent sluagh. Less sociable humanoids might prefer to sell their knowledge to the highest bidder.
- Animal: Animal Quixotics are exuberant explorers, searching out all the nooks and crannies in their cities. Secret places can’t stay hidden long with these chimera on the prowl. No one knows the local Near Dreaming as well as an animal Quixotic who’s spent a little time there, and they’re the first to volunteer as guides for changeling expeditions into the Dreaming. Their ability to vanish comes in handy on their adventures: few beings enjoy having their hideouts uncovered and their secrets exposed, so animal Quixotics often need to make a quick and daring escape.
- Mythic: Mythic Quixotics explore the greater mysteries of the world. How do people create Glamour? What is the origin of Banality? Where do the Mists come from? Is there a way to reconnect Arcadia and Earth? Mythics follow every rumor, explore every lead, and tirelessly hunt down any scrap of lore they can find relating to the riddle they’re attempting to solve. So far, few have solved their primary question. As a result, they pursue answers to other, less interesting questions along the way toward the ultimate prize they seek. Their efforts in conjunction with those of faerie scholars have upended old assumptions and forced changelings to re-examine their own history with critical eyes.
- Example Guises: An electric dragon born from one of the last independent radio broadcasts soars over the city, promoting up-and-coming local musicians. An annual science fiction and fantasy convention awakened as a daring explorer and now brings its unique flavor of heroism to the dreams of local children. A niche website delves into the digital realms as a binary fox. A story passed among friends and never written down is a local gossip, always with some new, ever more outlandish tale to tell. The memory of a girl’s grandmother still watches out for her.
Birthrights & Frailities[]
Birthrights[]
- Secrets Can’t Hide — Quixotic Lycians don’t need much information to solve a riddle or figure out a mystery that’s right in front of them. They have an affinity for the unseen which leads them to the correct conclusion. Quixotics gain an additional 2 dots of Enigmas even if this raises their Enigmas rating above 5. Additionally, they can’t botch Enigmas rolls.
- Hiding in Thin Air — Quixotic Lycians are born of intangible objects, but are as solid as any other chimera. Under the right circumstances, they may become truly intangible themselves. By spending a point of Glamour and a point of Willpower they may enter something nearby that contains their particular Guise — a story, a video game, a memory, etc. While in the object, they can’t affect the tangible world, but nothing tangible can physically interact with them, either. They become a part of the intangible object as unobtrusively as possible. For example, they can enter a video game as a new character, but they can’t alter the gameplay or storyline. This effect lasts for one scene.
Frailities[]
- Fade Away — Quixotic Guises offer more protection from Banality than most chimera have, but it isn’t as much as most Lycians receive. Not only are Quixotic Guises insubstantial, they’re also less permanent than other Guises. Quixotics just don’t have the same life expectancy of other Lycians. Whenever they suffer a Banality trigger, the roll to resist gains a +2 difficulty.
References[]
- Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Player's Guide, p. 156, 157.