Latest revision as of 11:52, 25 April 2018

Mien Guidelines

For those of you who are less familiar with the effects of the Wyrd on Changelings' forms, here's a quick reference guide. For those of you who ARE familiar with the changes, take it as read that this is the set of guidelines staff will use during CharGen to gauge whether your description of a giant teddybear-like man with full-body fur is crazily inappropriate for someone at Wyrd 2 (hint: it is).

In terms of extra body parts, staff's stance toward tails and wings tries to preserve the realism of the game. As is said elsewhere, Fate's Harvest (and Changeling in general) is not High Fantasy. You can totally be someone who looks like a normal girl and happens to have cat ears and a tail. An anthropomorphic full-body flying dragon who breathes fire and lays eggs? Not so much.

The Mask covers a lot, but it can only cover so much.

Tails
They may be short and fluffy lapine/caprine stubs, feline, feathered, devil-like, scaled, but even at High Wyrd, their length and thickness can't exceed what could reasonably be covered by your clothes. If you strip naked in front of mortals, be prepared for fully staff-supported OH MY GOD what's on your BUTT?!? moments. Maybe you have a really tacky ass tattoo! .. to them.
For bird tails longer than stubs, expect to wear a lot of skirts/jackets, or expect have people mistaking you for having a coat tied around your waist a lot. Sorry. Peacocks are a bit too blatantly Mask-breaking. There ARE rules in the book against characters who are just too inhuman to escape.

Wings
These are a sticky wicket. As a general guideline, for people who are bird-like, staff prefers that 'wings' be feathers on the arms and back; birds' arms ARE their wings. They don't have separate limbs.
Staff is not going to poop on your concept or deny you approval for having more traditional fantasy wings at the appropriate Wyrd level, but please bear in mind that the preference is there. For more abstract concepts, mechanical characters, insectile characters, characters who are specifically supposed to look like the traditional Judeo-Christian angels of the world, yes, wings sticking out of your back are totally fine. This goes for ephemeral wings as well, should there be anyone inclined toward creepy shadowy mantles or Bright Ones with feathers of gleaming light.
Your wingspan may not exceed your armspan. This means the wrist will not be rising high above your head; your feathers will not be touching the ground, because that would mean your wings were longer than your arms when spread; you can't wrap someone in your wings any better than you could with your arms, and worse, overall, really. Your arms are still there, and in the way. The wings are SMALL.
To put this in perspective, the average eagle has wings as large, or multiple feet larger than, we are talking about here. You may have feathers stuck in your belt if you aren't careful, but you are unlikely to have significant problems with most clothes. Insect wings are somewhat of an exception, given that they don't conveniently fold up the way birds' will. Thigh length = arm length when spread, more or less.
Now, this does not preclude you from getting yourself a Token to make them larger when you use it. Go right ahead. Grant yourself full flight, while you are at it. Staff encourages creative ways of getting around physical limitations! Just don't go posing massive wingspans, because you don't have one.

Horns & Antlers / Antennae
Devil horns, goat horns, ram horns, deer antlers or moose, dripping with blood or moss or light effects or not, these, too, are subject to general sanity. Just because the Mask covers them, that doesn't mean you don't have problems wearing hats. Someone groping your head may not feel them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there.
Insect antennae fall under these lines as well, given that they, too, poke up from your scalp. They have a bit more leeway where length is concerned, since they are inherently more flexible/able to hide in hair, but please don't abuse it.

Wyrd 1

You're essentially human. The Wyrd doesn't have much pull on you. A Fireheart's hair may have flickers of flame at its tips, a cat Beast may have slit-pupiled eyes, an ogre's skin may be subtly blue-tinged, but it typically takes effort to see that you are something else. As a general guideline, pick ONE feature to make inhuman. You're 9/10ths human.

Tails/Wings: No.

Antlers/Horns: No.

Wyrd 2

You're still mostly human, but the Fireheart's skin is always a bit too warm now, the cat Beast's ears are pointing, getting tufts of fur, and the Ogre's skin is unmistakably a dull sky blue. The Wyrd still doesn't influence you much. People seeing through the mask might think you were a lazy cosplayer. 8/10ths human.

Tails/Wings: No.

Antlers/Horns: No. At most bumps on your head where they will one day grow.

Wyrd 3

You're a little less human than before, but you look like a great cosplayer. The Wyrd is getting more influence, but you're still more human than not. The Fireheart's eye colour may have changed to a glowing ember gold, the cat Beast's nose may have subtly flattened, face angles more feline, and the Ogre's hands grown larger and stronger, but you're still not too inhuman.

This is the first point where, if it's more or less the only change you have, a full pelt of thin fur or skin of scales etc. is reasonable. The examples throughout are predicated on the fact that most players like to have other changes, too, along with that.

This is also the first point where, if you want to be a tail-less neko (i.e. a mostly-human with cat/rabbit/whatever ears), that is fine. 7/10ths human.

Tails/Wings: No. You may feel the occasional ache where one will grow, however.

Antlers/Horns: Yes. Nothing over an inch high.

Wyrd 4

You're starting to get closer to the tipping point, here. It's easy to see that you're a fae, but you still have enough visible humanity not to make people nervous. Glamour is a lovely rush, but the Wyrd hasn't threaded its fingers deeply enough into your fate to make it more than that: a pleasant high. The Fireheart's veins may be beginning to glow through his flesh, the cat Beast may wake up to find patches of soft fur along her arms, and the Ogre may notice her canines are starting to protrude farther than they should. People seeing through the Mask are going to get nervous here, or think you're some seriously crazy professional costume/makeup artist.

Tails/Wings: Yes. They will be very stubby at this point, barely in existence.

Antlers/Horns: Yes. Nothing over five inches high.

Wyrd 5

You're at the tipping point. You're half fae, now, and half human. The Wyrd's allure is starting to catch you, but you aren't an addict. Yet. Still... it's getting harder to _want_ to resist harvesting Glamour for no good reason. The Fireheart's skin may grow ever more translucent, like fine porcelain, the cat Beast's palms and soles may thicken into pads as fur spreads over more of her body, the Ogre's teeth may keep growing, ever more tusk-like. It is at this point that your ties with the Wyrd may prompt you to "evolve" into an extra kith. Wyrd evolution is explained in more detail at the bottom of this page.

Tails/Wings: Yes. They are still small, still not at the maximum allowable size.

Antlers/Horns: Yes. Nothing over eight inches high/wide.

Wyrd 6

You're officially more fae than human, now, and your body shows it. You NEED Glamour. You need it like a plant needs sunlight, and whether or not you feel shame for this need, it does exist. You can't help it. You'll die without it, withering from within, and worse, the Wyrd is starting to have more influence on your story. You find that crossing streams without a bridge suddenly burns your feet, or that you can't walk past spilled milk without cleaning it up. The Fireheart's hair may burst into a rippling conflagration of bright flames over his flesh, the cat Beast's nails may harden into wicked claws, the Ogre's features may grow ever more brutish.