Glossary

The definitions below are a combination of the definitions in the Changeling books and some of my own definitions. The Kith are all faithful to the game system and the overall Realm of Concordia is the world established in the game system by White Wolf. The information on the people, places, and events of the Duchy of Cambria are inventions of mine.

Below are a few helpful definitions. Like most White Wolf games, this is a complex game with a lot of options for the mood and tone of adventures. Chronicles will run the gamut from dark and foreboding and whimsical and rather silly. I tend to like to run rather dark campaigns, but I firmly believe that darkness is much more effective when held in contrast to the light. Anyway, here's those definitions:

Arcadia: Land of the fae; home of all faeries within the Dreaming.

Autumn: The modern age. Autumn people are humans especially steeped in banality, like humorless psychiatrists who don't believe in imaginary playmates, and school principles, FBI agents, and the like.

Banality: Mortal disbelief, as it affects changelings and their Glamour. Banality is an active force in the world, helped along by well-intentioned mortals and by the schemes of the Technocracy, among others. Some feel that the growth of Banality portends the Long Winter.

Bedlam: A kind of madness that falls upon changelings who stray too far from the mortal world. Living for too long in a freehold is the usual cause of this progressive and deadly disease.

Cantrip: A spell created through Glamour. Changelings can cast spells using their knowledge of Arts (type of spells) and Realms (things that are effected by spells).

Changeling: a fae who spends most or all of her existence in the physical world, apart from Arcadia and the Dreaming.

Childling: A child come full into his changeling nature; this lasts until he becomes a wilder, around 13 years of age. Childlings are known for their innocence and affinity with Glamour and are well protected by other changelings.

Chimera: A bit of dream made real; unseen by mortals, chimera are part of the enchanted world. Chimera may be objects, like a magical sword, or beings, like a fire-breathing dragon. Fae and enchanted humans can see and interact with chimera.

Commoner: Any of the changeling kith who are not sidhe or who have not been risen to nobility by a monarch.

Courts: the manifestation of the Seelie and Unseelie natures of the fae. All fae have qualities of Seelie and Unseelie in them- the side currently dominant is considered the changeling's court. These courts are also loose political alliances of fae sharing the same court.

Dauntain: Human faerie hunters, deeply twisted by Banality. Very nasty.

Dreaming: The collective dreams of humanity.

Enchant: to imbue a mortal with the power to see chimerical objects and beings.

Fae, Faerie: A being indigenous to the Dreaming (although not always a current resident thereof.)

Freehold: A place that is infused with Glamour. Important to all changelings, freeholds are proof against the Banality - for a time.

Gallain: "The Outsiders", those who may be Kithain but whose origins, customs, and magical ways are not understood (like Nunnehi). Also: any inscrutable creature of the Dreaming.

Glamour: The living force of the Dreaming; changeling magic.

Glen, Glave: A natural repository of Glamour, usually an enchanted place. Most known glens are held as freeholds by the nobility.

Grump: A changeling of elder years, usually beginning at about the age of 35. Very few changelings reach this stage - most succumb to the Banality long before.

House: Divisions of nobles (mostly sidhe) by heritage. Houses include House Gwydion, considered by many to be the house of the best rulers; House Fiona, whose members approach politics and war as a game to be won; House Eiluned, a house notorious for its use of sorcery; House Dougal, gruff, honest, and practical; House Liam, an outcast household of sidhe who consider themselves the protectors of mortals; and House Scathach, whose members stayed on Earth during the Interregnum and are mistrusted by the other houses. All these Houses are considered Seelie Houses. Only one Unseelie house, House Aillil, is known to be active on Earth.

Kinain: Human relatives of a changeling who possess faerie blood and frequently have strange magical powers.

Kith: All the changelings of a kind. One's kith determines the nature of one's faerie guise and soul.

Kithain: Changelings' self-referential term.

Legacies: The Seelie and Unseelie natures of a fae. One or the other is usually dominant. In game mechanics, these are the two natures, one Seelie and one Unseelie, that a player chooses for her character.

Liege: One's sworn noble sovereign, whether baron, countess, duke, queen, or king.

Long Winter: The prophesied eradication of all Glamour. The triumph of Banality. Some believe that a spring will follow the Long Winter, bringing the fae back into prominence.

Mists: The tendency of mortals to forget the effects of Glamour and the presence of changelings after a very short time. The Mists protect changelings from being discovered.

Modernists: a political movement that advocates the acceptance of the modern world and treats mortals as equals. Popular among wilders and commoners.

Motley: A family or gang of commoners.

Noble: Any changeling raised to noble title; although nobles are traditionally sidhe, lately commoners have begun receiving noble titles.

Nunnehi: Native American Gallain, most of whom are on bad terms with the European fae.

Reformer: Supporters of a constitutional monarchy open to the will of the people. Basically political centrists.

Saining: a ritual performed on a newly awakened changeling to determine her kith.

Seelie: A Court of the fae. Seelie are guardians of tradition. They keep the peace, foster love, protect the weak and maintain the ideals of chivalry. They consider Glamour sacred and Banality the bane of all faeries.

Shadow Court: A secret court established by the Unseelie to advance their aims.

Traditionalists: a political movement that believes that the sidhe have a divine right to rule, that the Seelie Court is only proper court, and that all the other kiths of changelings should know and keep their place. A powerful movement, Traditionalists make up about 45% of the Parliament of Dreams, the governing body of the fae.

Trods: Magical gateways, faerie roads. some may lead to other freeholds, some to Arcadia itself. They are open only at prescribed times.

Undoing: the permanent loss of a fae's faerie seeming. A fae who has been Undone reverts to a mortal with no memory of his faerie existence. Considered a fate worse than death.

Unseelie: A Court of the fae. They mock tradition, advocate change and upheaval, foster madness and sometimes hatred, and uphold freedom and wildness over any chivalric code. They consider Glamour and humanity as tools to be used and discarded.

Wilder: A changeling of adolescent years, usually from age 13 to 35. Known for their wild undertakings and loose tempers, wilders are the most common changelings.

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