Los Orcos despejan el camino de las cavernas y se dirigen hacia al jardín

The Man in Black with a Sack on His Back is not designed as a player character.

Faerie Might:

10 (Herbam)

Characteristics:

Int 0, Per +3, Pre 0, Com 0,

Str –2, Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik +1

Size:

0

Virtues and Flaws:

Greater Faerie Powers,

Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Humanoid Faerie, Increased Faerie Might, Immune to Bashing Weapons*, Personal Faerie Powers; Incognizant, Restricted Might (minor – direct firelight).

Personality Traits:

Gregarious +3, Likes

stealing things +1

Combat:

Brawl (hands)*: Init +1, Attack +2, Defense +2, Damage 0

Brawl (2 x Bludgeon)*: Init +2, Attack +4, De- fense +2, Damage +1

Soak:

+2 against slashing weapons. Immune

to bashing weapons.

Wound Penalties:

–1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–

15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Pretenses:

Brawl 2 (children), Carouse 3

(suspicious adults), Faerie Speech 5 (sus- picious adults)

Powers:

Appear Human, 1 point, constant, Imaginem. Immure to Bashing Weapons:* 0 points, constant,

Herbam: This faerie has the body of a scarecrow, and is undamaged by weapons that cause harm through crushing force. Invisibility: 1 point, Init –1, Imaginem (1 intri-

cacy point on cost)

Squirming Sack: 1 point, Init –1 Corpus: Moves a child up to 50 paces away who has made eye contact with the man into his sack. (Base 15 + 1 Eye, 1 intricacy point spent on cost)

Still Sack: 0 points, Init –1, Mentem (2 intri- cacy point on cost): A powerful version of the Cause Drowsiness Power that keeps children unconscious until they are removed from the sack. (Or Sun, whichever comes first)

* Hands do damage as gauntlets because_{they are made of wood. When not pre-} tending to be human, the man uses his forearms as if they were wooden clubs, using his Brawl skill.

Equipment:

Clothing, large sack, an endless

supply of straw.

Vis:

2 Herbam in a tattered old sack.

Appearance

: The Man in Black with a Sack

on His Back always a ppears foreign, and seems to be able to blend into darkness. He often takes the form of a scarecrow. He carries a sack, or sometimes a back- pack, and he puts naughty boys and girls in it, and carries them away. People are not entirely sure what he does with them, but eating is a distinct possibility. The Man in Black with a Sack on His Back is found in a surprisingly large area of Mythic Europe. In most areas he is a nursery terror, but in others he steals children. He is a dark mirror image of the pleasanter Yuletide faeries, who carry presents for good children.

F

AERIESTHAT

P

REY ON

N

EW

M

OTHERS

Most fairies interested in the threshold of birth want to seize the vitality that flows

forth from the newborn child, but some faer- ies prefer, instead, to steal nurturing from the new mother.

Changeling (Gerontified Faerie):

Some fa-

eries steal a child so that there is a place in a mortal household for a changeling. A changeling is a faerie who has be- come so withered and unhealthy that it is exchanged for a mortal baby. The changeling appears, using illusions, to be the stolen child, but it becomes needy, sickly, and forever hungry. The nurtur- ing given by the mortal mother rejuve- nates the faerie, allowing it to resume a younger version of its form. The stolen child is usually not killed or neglected, so there may still be some sort of con- nection between the life of the child, and the usefulness of the life the change- ling has stolen.

There are several traditional ways of forc- ing changelings to reveal themselves. Many of these, if accidentally performed on a hu- man child, are horrific forms of child abuse. The torture continues until the changeling agrees to bring the child back, in exchange for its safety and freedom. In many cases, the changeling is left in an abandoned place so that the faeries can trade the children back. The Church has passed strict laws against leaving children in deep holes in the earth or on roofs because they are sickly, but the practice continues.

In some cases, the faerie can be tricked into speaking by showing it something marvelous: these faeries usually accept the marvel as a trade for the return of the child. These items tend to contain vitality or express human craftsmanship. A returned child, particularly one returned through trade, is likely to have future dealings with his or her fairy twin.

In some areas it is believed that the faeries make a tithe of souls to Hell. They give their children away, as changelings, so that when the demons come to collect they take human children instead. The faerie horrors that lie at the edge of Infernal spaces also appear around Magical places that local custom mis-assigns to the Infernal realm.

N

URSERY

T

ERRORS

Adults use tales of these faeries to guard the border between civilized and wild be- havior. These faeries also lurk around bud- ding adolescents because adults, generally,

Realms of Power: Faerie

Realms of Power: Faerie

do not truly believe that they exist. Nursery terrors usually do not kill children; they pre- fer to terrify them night after night.

Black Terrors:

The weakest faeries ever

observed by a member of the Order. They are dark, ghastly shapes, lack- ing mass, that form worrying patterns on the walls of children’s bedrooms. They gain vitality from the fear they provoke. Each has 1 point of Faerie Might, lacks the power to become ma- terial, and has no powers beyond those common to all faeries. Black Terrors contain 1 pawn of vis each, so magi are keen to find them. Some magi find it profitable to enslave these creatures, to use as messengers.

The Cyclopes:

Used by the ancient Greeks

to scare their children into submission. They are cannibalistic giants with a single eye in the middle of their heads. They use the statistics for any other gi- ant, with a –3 on all rolls requiring depth perception. Some magi say that these cyclopes are mere reflections of the real cyclopes, which are primordial giants as- sociated with the Magic realm. A kind of cyclops, the licho, is still used as a nurs- ery terror in Slavic lands. It is described later, in the section on Roads.

Jenny Greenteeth:

Jenny is one of the many

nursery terrors that are encountered out- side the house. They represent both the boundary between obedience and dis- obedience, and the boundary between safe places and dangerous ones. When adults say “If you lean too far over the well, Jenny Greenteeth will catch you in her claws and drag you under,” they do not believe the story they are tell- ing. The story is only effective, however, because children do. Regional variants include: the Grindylow of Yorkshire, which inhabits pools and marshes; Nel- lie Long Arms, who is much like Jenny but has incredibly long arms; the Mor- gan of Wales, which is a freshwater mer- man; and the Pontarf of Ireland, which is a giant fish.

Lammikin:

An ugly, humanoid faerie from

Scotland. He torments children by stab- bing and pinching them. If they cry out, it waits and ambushes their mothers, slicing their throats and drinking their blood while the children watch. His story is told to children to prevent them from waking their parents.

Gorgon

Gorgons are not designed as player characters.

Faerie Might:

25 (Mentem)

Characteristics:

Int +1, Per +6*, Pre –3,

Com 0, Str 0, Sta 0, Dex 0, Qik +3 * Due to Dozens of Eyes power.

Size:

–1

Virtues and Flaws:

2 x Greater Faerie Pow-

ers, 4 x Increased Faerie Might, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Hybrid Form; In- cognizant, Small Frame

Personality Traits:

Vain +3, Iconoclastic +1

Combat:

Brass Claws: Init +2, Attack +5, Defense +7, Damage +2

Tusks: Init +3, Attack +7, Defense +6, Dam- age +5

Serpent Hair: Init +2, Attack +8, Defense +5, Damage +1*

* Gorgons have mid-back-length hair, so they may only use their hair snakes to engage targets close together. Theoreti- cally, she has 18 snakes able to strike at any time on her head, although usually she only uses three at a time. See also the venomous bite power.

Soak:

0

Wound Penalties

: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9

–12), Incapacitated (13–16) Dead (17+).

Pretenses:

Brawl 3 (humans)

Powers:

Enthralling Sound, 3 points, Init 0, Mentem: A gorgon can utter the scream of the dead, creating terror in those who hear it. The low hissing of her snakes can create the same effect.

Deadly Gaze: 1 point, Init –2, Terram: (4 in- tricacy points on cost) The gorgon can transform into stone any person or ani- mal with which she makes eye contact. Creatures so changed revert to life if the gorgon dies or is stripped of its Might. (Base 25, +1 Eye, +4 Until)

Dozens of Eyes* , 0 points, constant, Animal: The gorgon has dozens of pairs of eyes, which scan her surroundings, in all di- rections, constantly. This grants her ex- traordinary Perception.

Venomous Bite*, 0 Points, Init 0, Animal: When the gorgon’s hair attacks, compare its Attack Advantage to the victim’s armor Protection (not his Soak). If the gorgon’s advantage is higher, the victim suffers the effects of adder venom as listed in the Poison Table on page 180 of

ArM5

, regardless of whether the bite inflicts an actual wound. The storyguide may ad- just the required Attack Advantage for

special circumstances.

* This is a power of the gorgon’s Hybrid Form, and does not need to be paid for with the Personal Faerie Power Virtue.

Vis:

5 Mentem, a mask

Appearance:

A woman of slight build, with

a hideously deformed face, tusks, and brass claws. Snakes replace her hair. Some gorgons are stunningly beautiful (Per 0, Pre +6, lose the omnidirectional vision or spend a n extra Major Virtue),

and some can fly on bat–like wings. In ancient Greece, the gorgons were nursery terrors. The name gorgon means terrible, and terror is something a young boy would need to overcome to be a man. A true Greek warrior would learn to seize control of fear, and use it against his enemies, much as Perseus used the head of the gorgon. Af- ter achieving this, the head of the gorgon becomes a traditional symbol that wards off evil, called the gorgoneion. She is the faerie that humans use as a folk charm to scare away lesser faeries. Thus, the name Medusa means “protector.”

Mormo

Mormo is not suited for player characters.

Faerie Might:

15 (Mentem)

Characteristics:

Int +1, Per +1, Pre 0, Com

+1, Str 0*, Sta 0*, Dex 0*, Qik 0*. * These statistics are provided by Mormo’s

host.

Size:

0 (as host)

Virtues and Flaws:

Focus Faerie Powers (Pos-

session, see below), 2 x Increased Might, Loosely Material*; Incognizant. * Modified to a minor Virtue: may only

take forms using possession power.

Personality Traits:

Playful +3, Thinks chil-

Realms of Power: Faerie

Realms of Power: Faerie

Combat:

Bite*: Init +0, Attack +8, Defense +6, Dam- age +1

* Modified by the body’s statistics. The bite marks Mormo’s hosts leave are like those of horses.

Soak:

0

Wound Penalties

: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5

(11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Pretenses:

Brawl 5 (infants), but may use the

Pretenses or abilities of the host.

Powers:

Possession, 1 or more points, Init +2, Mentem: If this power penetrates, the victim is possessed by Mormo and is under her direct control. Any attempt to force the victim to act contrary to her nature, or to use any of the host’s own magi- cal powers requires that Mormo spends Might. A supernatural power (including spell-casting) requires 1 Might point per magnitude to produce. A questionable action that is contrary to the nature of the host requires Mormo to exceed the possessed being’s Personality Trait roll on a stress die + Might points spent. The storyguide may give a modifier to the Personality Trait roll based on the nature of the command (see the Entrancement power,

ArM5

page 65, for suggestions). Both Might costs must be met if the use of a supernatural power is also contrary to the victim’s nature. If Mormo is in di- rect control of its host’s actions, the host acquires Mormo’s Magic Resistance, but is also affected by wards that would nor-

mally exclude her. If the host is acting under her own free will, then she does not benefit from Mormo’s Magic Resis- tance, but may also walk through wards with impunity.

This power’s costs are not based on the Her- metic system of magic. It is instead based on material in Realms of Power: Magic.

Equipment:

Someone else’s body, all of their

material goods.

Vis:

3 Mentem, in the saliva of the possessed victim.

Appearance:

Mormo does not have a mate-

rial body, but if seen with Faerie Sight, or Second Sight outside a body, she seems to have a horse’s head. This i s incongru- ous with her lupine name, indicating that this was possibly changed at some time by a human. It may be, in some way, symbolic of her changed personality. Mormo is a faerie who bites children and babies who are being naughty. A mother, on the faerie’s behalf, often playfully delivers Mormo’s bites.

Mormo was initially a mother who lost her children, and became a werewolf (mormu- lukeion) to seek revenge. Somehow she lost her body, and became a possessing spirit, like the faerie that causes the tortoise game described in the nearby insert. In time, she became less dangerous and more playful. This may be the result of a human rework- ing her role with creativity, turning her at- tacks into a game like peek-a-boo between a mother and child. Mormo still possesses

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