Changeling the Lost Second Edition: Elementals

Changeling: The Lost, Open Development

Almost done with Seeming previews here. What would you like to see next?

The Elementals are in-line. Normal rules apply. This is a first draft, unedited. Here’s the thread to discuss them.

Elementals

“We don’t do, we just are!”

– Michael Alig

They appear to have skin, just like the rest of us, but that’s just a sack, a shape to hold in the storm. The Elemental is the coming storm, the deluge, the forest fire, the one who leaves nothing in it his wake. Sometimes, instead of being overt destruction, instead, the Elemental is a sort of existential ‘place’ where other people go missing. The saying goes something like this, spend too long in the arms of an Elemental, means dying of exposure. That’s not entirely true, of course, some people learn to survive, and are, arguably, better for it. As for the Elemental himself? Eh. It’s all nature, after all.

Appearance: They are dangerous and beautiful or dangerous and unrelenting, but an Elemental is never repellant. He’s intense, takes all the air of out the room, and when anyone else is in his presence, they’re looking for exits. Not because he’d directly threatening anyone, but because in presence of an Elemental triggers all sorts of survival instincts in a person. He sets alarm bells that tells anyone else; conserve water, prepare to run, find a safe place to weather the storm. To those who like a challenge, adrenaline junkies and the like, flock to the Elemental. Everyone else just burns out, for freezes solid in their presence.

To the Changling eyes, the Elemental is an embodied manifestation of the Element they claim. He might be a man-shaped fire with wings. She may be a tree, with roots for legs who whips about, tossed by unfelt storms, a young green thing. She is a sculpture of ice who leaves foot prints of frost. He seems mostly normal, though his skin is dry and his lips parched, but when you look into his eyes, into his mouth, you see inescapable death of a hundred fifty degree sun and nothing but sand further than a person can walk in a lifetime.

Background: It can be said of those who would be Elementals, that in their first life, they could not see the forest for the trees. In mundane life, she had no peripheral vision, had no environmental awareness, both literally as well as an ignorance or innocence about cultural and social climate. As such, in many cases, she simply never saw ‘it’ coming. This is not to say that the Elementals are, before, innocent and wide-eyed, virtuous and guileless. In fact, most Elementals believed that he was the single most interesting person he knows. Usually, he’s a big fish in a small pond, and because of his blindness, he has no idea how truly small that pond is. Until, one day, he met someone considerably more interesting, someone amazing, someone that made him begin to realise how small his pond was, and how much he’d missed. So, he tried to make himself more interesting, more unique, the bigger fish, and somehow, this all pushed or pulled him through the Hedge.

The Escape: Maybe the Elemental-to-be stayed on course, attempting to be the most special, the most important, the most unique of all the captives at the Keeper’s hand. Maybe she determined to burn the brightest, even in hell. Or maybe she went dim, fading, beginning to become nothing since she could never hope to matter anymore. And yet, at some point, brutal winds toughened her skin, or else the pain of hot steel dimmed and she felt only the sensation, not the agony. She saw, for the first time, the elements around her, and realised how big and wild nature itself was, the biggest most important thing. In that moment, she decided to release her ego, her need to be special vanished in an instant, and her heart fell out, hitting the ground, and shattering to a thousand useless pieces all at once. Quickly, she filled that hole, her heart, herself, with the raw possibility of the elements, embodying fire, electricity, ice, light, any such overwhelming force. And in making that choice, she used the element itself to escaping, becoming it’s child in the real world, free of the Hedge.

Character Creation: To say that Elementals focus on survival is a bit of an understatement, and runs the risk of narrowing their focus too much. The Elemental survives in her environment, whatever that environment is. If they find that they have fallen into science or politics, the Elemental studies, learns, or learns how to fake exactly as much as they need to survive that environment. Many Elemental’s are fickle, after a fashion, though, and will be content with only what they literally need to survive. No more, no less. Why waste time, in the off chance the wind changes, and his environment changes? Occasionally, an Elemental will find themselves in a literal position that ties well into the element they embraced, a water Elemental making a living as a professional surfer, an ice Elemental doing research in Alaska. In these situations, Elementals are more likely to specialise and not just survive, but thrive.

Blessing: Clarity of Forces. Elementals appear to be creatures of whim and devastation, burning bridges, throwing caution to the wind, and storming through life without a thought or concern. That’s not exactly true, as the Elemental knows instinctively, their chaos has a pattern, and there’s order behind the destruction. Once per story, when the player of an Elemental can bring meaning and purpose to what appeared to be an act of pure chaos earlier in the story, that character gains a point of Clarity for free. The player did not have to be planning for this meaning at the time the character created the chaos, it can be completely reverse causality.

Curse: Burning without Ego. To Escape, the Elemental needed release his ego and become one with the force she choose to accept into herself. The freedom to be without self often means forgetting that others are still tied to tiny notions like ‘me,’ and ‘now.’ Therefore, whenever an Elemental is confronted with the damage in her wake, and sees a good example that not everyone is a raw force like she is, it’s a Clarity Break. Additionally, Cold Iron, in its ability to make the etherial static, is particularly harmful to the Elemental. Any time she is injured by cold iron, she suffers an additional and specific Condition unique to her elemental nature. So, an ice Elemental may choose that her character also becomes Lethargic when hit by cold iron. An Elemental of wind might become Spooked after a cold iron injury. This Condition should be picked at character creation, but can be changed through play with Storyteller approval.

Concepts

He’s a party monster, he came crashing into the party like a bolt, and the air’s just electric anytime he’s there, rolling. The parties get more intense, more excited, more extreme with every new party, and at this trajectory, it’s only a matter of time before someone dies.

She spent her life holding it in, hiding what she knew herself to be, to protect her friends and her family. Things are different now. She’ll burn them all with the bitter cold inside of her. She’ll create her own world of ice and snow where she’s completely free, and who cares who freezes to death in the process.

His voice crashes like waves against the shore, cool and crisp and ageless. “He’s not good enough for you, Laura,” he tells his listener over the radio, a thousand house wives listen in, swatting away their husband’s attention or anger. “No one would blame you if you left, hell, no court would convict you if you killed him, Laura.” A pregnant pause. “Come down to the studio some time, Laura. I’d like to talk to you some time.”