House Rules/Custom Contracts

Treatment of Custom Contracts

Perks of being a Creator

Your mien is permanently changed. If you created a Contract with Light, you might always glow faintly, or light might always strike you from your best angles. If you created a Contract with Reflections, your clothing might always be reflective, or your reflections might always show up more cleanly than they should, even if the surface were dingy. These effects are always beneficial. Any attempts to use the "Light" against you will forever suffer a -1. This includes uses of the Contract itself, or trying to blind you, etc. See WM p.30 sidebar "Side-Effects" for more details. You get a permanent +1 to all clauses. As a little perk for all of your hard work, the aspect of reality is always slightly more willing to work with you than it is to work with others.

Players are welcome to work with staff to create new, custom Contracts.

As a general rule, if you want YOUR character to be the one who forged the Contract, YOU are the one who is going to have to go through months of RP to build it.

If you just want a Contract added to the game, we can say a generic NPC created it. You don't personally have to do any specific RP related to it, and you have no IC or OOC rights to dictate who may/may not purchase it.

Getting Started

Our rules for forging new Contracts are based on those found in the Equinox Road book, p.30 onward. This page is a summary, and the book has much fleshier writeups. Please read the book! Do NOT just build a Contract based on this wiki page. :)

Step #1

Decide what the Contract will control.

Contracts must be focused on a single, specific aspect of reality. Time, dreams, darkness, light, etc.

Step #2

Create five clauses.

Effects can be physical or metaphorical, but they must be easily recognized as being connected to that aspect of reality.

Abilities you create must, additionally, fit the theme of Faerie. Symbolism is important. Look at fairy tales and see the sorts of things which are possible there for inspiration. Changelings don't cast spells from dusty books or runes; they ask reality to change for them, according to pledges written into Fate. They don't fire balls of stone from their hands -- instead, a stone rises up from the earth and flings itself.

Clauses should never render previous clauses pointless. If you have the third clause, you should still have reasons to use the first.

See the book, ER p.32, for more details and a clear explanation of what sorts of limitations are reasonable.

Step #3

Determine affinity.

Who gets to use this Contract at affinity cost, and who doesn't?

By default, the Contract's creator always has affinity, but it is up to creator and staff to determine what is otherwise logical.

You may NOT dictate that only your motley has access to the Contract, or a narrow group of your friends, etc. Affinity must tie into a particular Seeming (typically your own) or Court, be Universal, or be non-affinity to everyone except you yourself.

What Does My Character Need To Do?

The process of forging a Contract with an aspect of reality is not an easy one, and it is not a quick one.

Step #1

Make a lesser alliance pledge with the aspect.

This will assure the aspect that you mean it no harm, and that you will not actively work against it.

(HR) This pledge must be at least a moon in duration.

• During that month, log at least 1 PrP demonstrating that you have upheld your side of the alliance.

Step #2

Pledge to perform a single greater endeavour for the aspect, and sacrifice 1 permanent dot of Willpower (you may purchase this back for 8xp).

This endeavour may take many forms, but it must involve creating one or more new or particularly large methods of benefiting the aspect, or be something which causes a large number of people to pay attention to the aspect.

(HR) This pledge must be at least a season in duration.

• During the season, log at least 5 PrPs demonstrating that you have upheld your side of the alliance.

Step #3

Bind the Contract into reality by going into the Hedge and sacrificing something of great value.

Options:

• A dot of an appropriate Attribute.

May be re-purchased after one (1) month of ICly working yourself back into shape.

• A 5-dot token.

The token is destroyed beyond repair.

• Convincing a True Fae to bind it into reality for you.

Good luck...