The Faerie Realm

Faerie is the place where stories are born, live, and die. It is a realm of possibility rather than actuality, where one's perceptions are as important as the scenery. There is no moral dimension to the Faerie Realm, nothing is either right or wrong, good or bad. What is paramount is the story: those things that capture the imagination are powerful in faerie, whereas the banal and mundane is impotent.

This chapter describes the Faerie Realm — how to get there, what to do while there, and how to get back. Stories that take place in Arcadia are unusual in that the characters can often determine the shape of the story affecting them, and so while a storyguide might plan the story, the player can adapt the outline to give the most enjoyable experience for all. Adventures that take place in the Faerie Realm can therefore be challenging, but also rewarding.

The Faerie Realm is an equivalent place to Heaven, Hell, or the mysterious Magic Realm, if these realms can really be referred to as "places." Unlike a faerie regio, it is evermutable, and perhaps infinite in variety. However, the types of stories experienced there fall into one of three sorts, just as the purpose of all stories ultimately falls into one of three categories. These three paradigms of the Faerie Realm are sufficiently different from one another that they are referred to as "worlds" or realms in their own right, although they all partake in Faerie's nature. Some stories are designed to entertain, and Arcadia is the name given to that part of Faerie in which these new stories are made. It is the one with which players of Ars Magica may be most familiar. Other stories recount tales of great deeds, and while these can be entertaining, their prime function is to remember and record a culture's history. Elysium is the land of these myths, where characters can interact with the heroes and villains of familiar stories, and perhaps even meet with the faerie gods. Finally, stories can be teaching tales, exploring wisdom and stupidity in equal measure to provide guidance, both in ethical decisions and life stages. Eudokia is a realm where one's personal story is told, where an insight into a dilemma can be achieved, or a difficult life transition resolved. The circumstances of one's journey to the Faerie Realm dictate which of the three worlds is experienced.

Some magi of House Merinita refer to the three worlds as paths or roads, as if one's visit to the Faerie Realm was a journey rather than a destination. They acknowledge that just as roads in the mundane world cross, so do the roads through Faerie. One might find oneself changing paths without realizing it, and stepping into a different world. Some who have studied the byways of the Faerie Realm claim to have found further, unfamiliar paths, and say that there are more than three worlds. Others argue that all roads are actually one, and that the so-called "paths" of the Faerie Realm are matters of perception only, and that all travelers in Faerie tread the same path, but experience it differently. Another point for debate is the existence of these roads — or even the worlds themselves — when there is no-one to observe them. All these ideas are hot topics in House Merinita. But regardless of the hypotheses, the three most commonly recognized routes through the Faerie Realm are the Path of Chance, the Path of Destiny, and the Path of Choice.

The Path of Chance wends its way through Arcadia, a realm populated by the fragments of stories yet to be told. This is the land of pure adventure, where characters may be simply in search of excitement and wonder, or may be questing for a specific reason — embassy, retrieval, revenge, investigation, and so forth.

The Path of Destiny leads through Elysium. It is a straighter road than the rambling path through Arcadia, and here characters seek answers to their problems in the mundane world by reliving allegorical stories that have already been told. Such stories are driven by necessity, since their outcomes have already been established by human consensus. Nevertheless, by reenacting these stories, mortals can earn insights, discover knowledge, or win faerie gifts.

The Path of Choice, or the Forked Path, twists its way through Eudokia. This is a place where the character's morals and emotions play an important role, and the inhabitants ape the attitudes and fashions of the mundane world. Here, the plot of the story is not as important as the development of the characters caught up within it. Many adventurers in Eudokia arrive here by accident, and seek only to escape. By doing so, they can affect the direction of their own personal change.

The Faerie Realm is ever-present in the sub-lunar world, and yet just out of reach. It is described in folk tales as being "just over the next hill," or "beyond the ninth wave," or "between the beating of the heart and the breath," and so forth; all are metaphors for its simultaneous closeness and distance. The mundanity of the world repels Faerie just as humanity attracts it. As a result, humans can only reach the Faerie Realm if they can reject (albeit temporarily) the routine of their banal life and accept the fantastic and fabulous as the rules through which the world works. Every time a mortal becomes lost in a story, entranced by a sunset, or is overcome by celebration, he can be touched by the Faerie Realm; and sometimes it only takes a small nudge to push him the rest of the way into the Realm of Enchantment.

Scholars of Faerie refer to the simultaneous attraction and repulsion of Faerie for the mundane world as the Threshold. In certain places, at certain times, the attraction is greater than the repulsion, and Threshold comes closer. For example, the unfettering of the human mind through artwork designed to invoke wonder can attract the Threshold closer, as can an individual who is on the verge of a personal life change. Finally, the Threshold can be crossed with supernatural assistance; some faeries can assist the passage into Faerie, as can practitioners of Faerie Magic. Those learned in the ways of the faeries (i.e. who have Faerie Lore) can deliberately attract a Threshold by manufacturing the right set of conditions, but some visitors to the Faerie Realm get there entirely by chance.

The Faerie Realm can be entered anywhere, even in regions under the Dominion, if the conditions are right. Practically, however, unless one is in a powerful Faerie aura it is exceptionally difficult to access the Faerie Realm unless many factors align perfectly to attract a Threshold. To enter the Faerie Realm, the characters — through circumstance or action — must accumulate a number of Threshold points equal to the Threshold strength:

Threshold Strength: (13 – aura modifier) x 3

The aura modifier is the strength of the local aura, multiplied according to the Realm Interaction Table (ArM5, page 183) as if this was a Faerie Power in action. For example, in a Faerie aura of 3 the Threshold strength is 30 (13 – Faerie 3) x 3, whereas in a Dominion aura of 3 the Threshold strength is 75 (13 – (–4 x Dominion 3)) x 3. Thresholds are closest to the world in Faerie regiones: add the aura modifier for any base Faerie aura to the aura modifier of the regio before determining the Threshold strength, but ignore the existence of any aura other than a Faerie one. Thus, a Faerie regio of aura 5 that overlays a Faerie aura of 2 has an aura modifier of 7 (for a Threshold strength of 15), but if the regio instead exists over a Dominion of 3, the aura modifier is still 5 (for a Threshold strength of 24). Note that the mechanics for entering the Faerie Realm are wholly different from those for entering a regio — Abilities such as Second Sight or Intellego Vim spells do not help at all.

Threshold points can be accumulated from a number of different sources: geography, time, changes in personal circumstances, artistic endeavor, assistance of Threshold faeries, faerie magic, and so forth; each of which is detailed in the following section. Only one attempt can be made to enter Faerie for any given set of circumstances, and if the Threshold fails to arrive, then this set of circumstances cannot create a portal into the Faerie Realm. If the characters are knowingly trying to enter Faerie, they must change the composition of one of the elements before trying again, and their attempt cannot be made sooner than the next moonrise. If the character is ignorant that circumstances nearly spirited him away, he will simply feel brush of the Threshold passing as a feeling of strong emotion appropriate to the circumstance — awe, joy, or even terror.

A character or group of characters who successfully enter the Faerie Realm immediately find themselves on one of the Three Paths, and will soon be confronted by a Guardian of the Threshold. Which Path they find themselves on depends very much on the manner in which they attracted the Threshold; see later for details on the Three Paths.

Example Threshold

Branoic is a young man on the night before his marriage to his love. His friends ply him with alcohol and then dare him to climb Goat Hill; a traditional challenge for local men on their stag night. The hill has a Faerie Aura of 5, so the Threshold strength is 24. He is on the verge of a major life change to be reinforced by a church ceremony, so he's very susceptible to stumbling into the Faerie Realm (18 Threshold points). On his journey up the hill he fords a stream where it is joined by two others (6 Threshold points), and he emerges from the other side of the stream into the Faerie Realm.

Geographical Thresholds

As described in Chapter 1: The Nature of Faerie, faeries are the spirits of the borders, and in places that are traditional haunts of the fae, humans can sometimes slip through the cracks and end up in Faerie. This is especially true if the characters are lost — add 3 Threshold points for a border crossed when the travelers truly have no idea where they are. Even without a Faerie aura, a geographical boundary is a potent attractor of the Threshold, and the sharper and more distinct the border crossed, the larger effect it has on the Threshold points of the travelers.

Border Crossed: Insignificant

Threshold Points: 3

Examples: A road, stream, or fence.

Border Crossed: Minor

Threshold Points: 6

Examples: A crossroads, confluence of rivers, edge of a wood, or city wall.

Border Crossed: Significant Threshold Points: 9

Examples: An oasis in a desert, beyond the treeline of a mountain, or a trod.

Border Crossed: Major Threshold Points: 12

Examples: A significant border that is also a boundary into a Faerie regio.

Border is Crossed While Lost: +3

Trods

A trod is a geographic boundary — a river, shoreline, edge of a forest, and so forth — that has a Faerie Aura. In a trod, just the liminal space of the border itself has an aura, not the surrounding landscape, so the edge of a faerie forest is not a trod. A Faerie Road (see Chapter 1: The Nature of Faerie) is a particularly effective trod, since regiones in general are highly amenable to passage into Faerie.

Trods are potent paths into Faerie; as well as their inherent Faerie aura, they are also always accounted to be at least a Significant Threshold. Those entering the Faerie Realm on a trod often find themselves on the Mother Road (see later), and the locations of trods are highly sought by those who use the Mother Road.

Trods also connect the different levels of a Faerie regio with one another, and characters with Second Sight, Magic Sensitivity, or suitable Intellego Vim spells can see them as winding paths, and follow them between the levels of reality (see ArM5, page 189). No trod has verifiably connected a layer of one regio to a layer of a different regio; those who claim to have made such a journey are believed to have briefly used the Mother Road.

Temporal Thresholds

Certain times of year mark Thresholds in time, such as the turning of the seasons. At these times, the border between the mundane world and Faerie becomes thinner and more easily traversed. Such times are worth a number of Threshold points determined by the table. Note that if the characters are potentially crossing into Faerie from a Faerie Aura, they may benefit twice from the time of year, since the Faerie aura may be increased, thus decreasing the Threshold strength as well as adding Threshold points.

Time	Points Threshold
New Moon	1
Full Moon	3
Pagan Holiday*	3
Solstice	6
Equinox	9

* If observed locally

Personal Thresholds

Characters who are in a state of personal change are more prone to entering Faerie than others. Such people can act as conduits, allowing others to pass into Faerie with them. Such portals invariably lead to Eudokia, and Threshold points from personal circumstances usually apply where a single person enters the Faerie Realm. However, a group of characters who are all experiencing the same personal circumstances might attract a Threshold as a group. Alternatively, one character might attract such a Threshold, but his friends also travel with him into the Faerie Realm. In the latter case use only the focal character's personal Threshold points, but remember that this character will also be the focus of any stories played out in Faerie. If a religious ceremony — such as one of the sacraments — accompanies or marks a particular life change, then it is a source of more Threshold points than one without such significance.

Characters who already straddle the boundary between the mundane realm and Faerie are more prone to cross the Threshold. Characters who only have Minor faerie-derived Virtues or any faerie-derived Flaws have only a small connection to Faerie, whereas those with Major faerie Virtues must be more careful in strong Faerie Auras if they want to avoid accidental trips to the Faerie Realm. Threshold points from Virtues and/or Flaws are not cumulative: choose only the highest.

Characters experiencing extreme emotions such as overwhelming rage, fear, or grief are also more likely to slip into the Faerie Realm. They need not have a Personality Trait for such emotions — just the current expression of that emotion in an intense fashion — but an appropriate Personality Trait brings the Threshold closer still. If the character has an appropriate Personality Flaw, consider him to have a Personality Trait of +3 (if it is a Minor Flaw) or +6 (if it is a Major Flaw).

The magnitude of the change that is occurring within the individual determines how many Threshold points he contributes:

Circumstance: One or more Minor

faerie Virtues Threshold Points: 3 Examples: Faerie Blood

Circumstance: One or more Major

faerie Virtues Threshold Points: 9

Examples: Strong Faerie Blood

Circumstance: One or more faerie Flaws

Threshold Points: 3 Examples: Faerie Heritage

Circumstance: Extreme emotion Threshold Points: 3 + Personality Trait Examples: Lust, anger, anxiety, or fear

Circumstance: Minor life change

Threshold Points: 9

Examples: Menopause or puberty

Circumstance: Minor life change marked by a celebration Threshold Points: 12 Examples: Betrothal

Circumstance: Major life change

Threshold Points: 15

Examples: Common law marriage or birth

Circumstance: Major life change commemorated with religious ceremony

Threshold Points: 18

Examples: Wedding or baptism

Artistic Endeavor

The products of human industry — specifically human creative thought — can assist in the transition to Faerie. The work of art must specifically commemorate Faerie, and enhance the sense of wonder of those on the Threshold . However, the work of art need not have been created for the purpose of reaching Faerie; it just allows the audience of the art to temporarily be lifted from their mundane existences and be transported into the fantasy created by the artist. Examples of works of art that promote the transit to Faerie include: songs, poems, and dramas about a fantastic adventure; music that invokes unfamiliar emotions; and sculptures, paintings, and engravings detailing scenes of fantasy.

Add the Aesthetic Quality (either Dexterity + Craft Ability or Communication + Profession Ability of the Artist; for more details, see Art and Academe, Chapter 8: Artists) to the Threshold points for a transit into Faerie. The artwork must be viewed or performed by the prospective travelers for it to assist transport. The subject of the artwork can affect the path embarked upon by the travelers; a hymn praising marriage is likely to lead to Eudokia, whereas a woodcarving of a pagan deity doubtless leads to Elysium.

Assistance of Threshold Faeries

Some types of faerie achieve Vitality through assisting humans to cross a Threshold of some description. They might seek to trick characters into attracting the Threshold, or assist those who are intending to do so. These faeries all possess a Power called Spirit Away (see insert) that allows it to assist an individual or group in crossing the Threshold. Note that not all faeries can assist the transit to Faerie; see Chapter 4: Faerie Bestiary for examples of Threshold faeries. A Threshold faerie cannot attract the Threshold to the mundane realm on its own even if its Might exceeds the Threshold strength.

Many Threshold faeries also serve as the Guardian of the Threshold (see later).

Assistance of Faerie Magic

The Faerie Power of Portage allows a faerie magician entrance into the Faerie Realm. See Chapter 6: Faerie Wizardry for more details.

Arcadian Mysteries

There are members of House Merinita who possess the Mystery Virtue of Arcadian Travel (see Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 92). They must construct an appropriate charm (a physical object or a performance) to enact this ability, requiring either a Dexterity + Ability roll (for an object) or a Communication + Ability roll (for a performance) against an Ease Factor of 18. Making the charm takes at least 10 minutes. If the charm is successful, the magus gains his Arcadian Travel Total in Threshold points:

Arcadian Travel Total: stress die + Perception + (Ability used to make the charm) + aura

The magus can take a number of people with him by using this charm that is equal to his Faerie Magic score, so long as they all participate in the activation of the charm. This variety of charm is only available to those with the Mystery Virtue of Arcadian Travel.

New Power: Spirit Away

Greater Faerie Power, variable points, Init 0, Vim

The faerie can add Threshold points to the total accumulated by a mortal individual or group, at a cost of 1 Might Point per Threshold point. The characters affected by this power must already have a Threshold total; the faerie cannot be the only source of Threshold points. The characters must still face the Guardian of the Threshold (see later) — who may indeed by the faerie with this power — but if the faerie wants them to enter the Faerie Realm, then it may well indicate the right path. This power can also be used to send characters away from the Faerie Realm as well; this costs 3 Might Points per character.

The Guardian of the Threshold is always the first entity encountered when a character (or group of characters) gains access to the Faerie Realm. Until the Guardian has been passed, the crossing to Faerie has not actually occurred. The purpose of the Guardian is to test the resolve of the characters. Faerie protects its own borders, and the Guardian is there to ensure that people do not slip through its bounds whenever they cross into a Faerie aura. The Guardian presents a choice (in reality or metaphorically) — carry on or go back. It should usually be obvious to the characters which choice indicates passage into the Faerie Realm. If they are struggling, a successful Intelligence + Faerie Lore roll against an Ease Factor of 6 will provide additional hints. In general, choices that lead to adventure, danger, or wonder take the characters into the Faerie Realm; whereas those that suggest safety, routine, or mundanity take the characters home.

Faerie Adventurers

A faerie must go through exactly the same procedure as a mortal character to enter Faerie. Cognizant faerie characters can often pinpoint specific conditions that grant the best chance of attracting a Threshold, and consequently are more adept at entering the Faerie Realm. Highly cognizant faeries automatically have a number of Threshold points equal to the magnitude of their Might. Narrowly cognizant faeries can add the magnitude of their Might to Threshold totals that evoke liminal conditions related to their understanding of their role. Thus a narrowly cognizant night terror can assist in Threshold totals that occur at night or rely on strong emotions of fear. Incognizant faeries get no bonuses to Threshold totals. Note that these extra Threshold points are different than the Spirited Away power; in this case, the faerie itself must be crossing the Threshold, rather than assisting others to do so.

All faeries intuitively know which of the choices provided by the Guardian of the Threshold leads to the Faerie Realm, and which one goes to the mundane world.

When in the Faerie Realm, faerie characters retain the same role that they possessed in the mundane world, but often find it easier to gain fable points (see later) since they understand the rules of the game better than humans. Assume that all faerie characters have the Common Sense Virtue while in the Faerie Realm. Since they have a Might Score, they are also immune to any Warping acquired when leaving the Faerie Realm (see Leaving Faerie, later).

The form of the Guardian of the Threshold varies wildly between trips, and is also dependent on the circumstances of the journey. It is not always even a faerie being. For example, the Guardian could take the form of a physical barrier (such as a bramble thicket) or a monument. As a barrier, the traveler must make a choice to cross; the monument might have a foreboding aspect or bear dire words to repel the unready. Passive Guardians of this type may be incorporated into the Threshold itself, particularly if it's a geographic boundary. Characters can therefore slip inadvertently into Faerie by trying to overcome the obstacle presented by a passive Guardian.

More commonly, the Guardian takes the form of a human or animal who attempts to halt the journey, through threats or friendly counsel. Such characters are never purely mundane, and there is always something unusual about them. Most obvious, for animal Guardians, is the ability to speak; more rarely the animal takes on human mannerisms or even clothes. Guardians who take the form of animals are usually creatures who straddle a border — often waterfowl such as geese, storks, herons, or ibis — which all partake in both water and air. Amphibious creatures such as frogs and otters are also common Guardians. Another type of animal guardian is those that have undergone a role reversal, such as a domestic animal that has clearly gone feral, or a wild animal that has adopted the trappings of domesticity. Fierce animals such as wolves and bears usually come under the category of the kerberoi (see later).

Human Guardians often have a deformity, such as giant size, excessive amounts of hair, or the feet of a duck. The color of the skin may be particularly vivid, with green being the most common. Human Guardians are more often women than men, and more often old women than maidens. The shape that they take is again is that of a person who traverses multiple human realms, such as a wanderer or outcast, a prophetess or madman.

The last type of Guardian is a fearsome monster that blocks the way. This sort of Guardian is referred to as kerberoi by the followers of Merinita, and many travelers make the mistake of trying to fight the monster, assuming that the only progress can be over its corpse. This is certainly one way; however, a kerberos is always restrained in some fashion, and can always be bypassed through trickery or courage. The fearsomeness of the monster is usually sufficient to repel the casual traveler.

The Power of God in the Faerie Realm

As the home (and perhaps source) of all things fay, the beings found in the Faerie Realm are subject to the same restrictions as those found in the mundane realm. Faeries with traditional or sovereign wards (see Chapter 3: Faerie Characters) involving religious symbols are affected by them just as strongly on their home turf. The power of God permeates the Faerie Realm just as it does all creation, so characters with True Faith, miraculous powers, or relics find these things just as potent as they are elsewhere.

All Guardians of the Threshold have a Faerie Might at least equal to the Threshold total of the group, although Guardians at famed entrances to Faerie (such as a powerful aura or regio) may have much higher Might. The other details must be determined according to the situation, but some of the statistics of faeries in Chapter 4's Faerie Bestiary can be used for inspiration. However, the Guardian is supposed to be a roleplaying challenge rather than a battle, and a fight should never be inevitable. The sections below about the different aspects of Faerie give typical Guardians.

Having negotiated with the Guardian of the Threshold, the characters enter the Faerie Realm proper. The sections later in this chapter detail which of the Three Worlds the characters find themselves in, and what they encounter there. This section discusses more general aspects of a visit to the Faerie Realm.

The environment of the Faerie Realm is superficially the same as in the mundane world, but there are a few important differences. The rules of nature, which characters normally take for granted, cannot necessarily be relied upon in the Faerie Realm, since they follow the dictates of the story. For example, if the lake is home to an underwater castle, then its water can be breathed as easy as can air, and it does not impede movement. The water is still water, though — characters can swim through it, and float on top of it. Similarly, a fire might be solid, and yet still burn those who touch it. It could be possible to walk on clouds, or ascend a stairway of smoke, if the story demands it. However, this is not to say that these things are always true in Faerie. If the purpose of a lake is to act as a barrier, it will drown those who try to breathe it just like a lake in the mundane world would do.

The Faerie Realm has a pervasive Faerie aura of 10, meaning that most magi receive a +5 bonus but roll an additional ten botch dice in any magical actions. The extra botch dice for the Faerie aura should be rolled separately from any other botch dice, because any botches that result from these dice tend to be strange or bizarre rather than dangerous. A typical effect is for the spell to become a sentient faerie. The rules for Animae Magic (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, pages 92–96) give guidelines for creating faeries with magic, and a Momentary Duration is sufficient to permanently create a faerie in the Faerie Realm. For example, a magus botches a Ball of Abysmal Flame in the Faerie Realm. This is a 35th-level spell, which is sufficient to create an Ignem Anima of Might 15 (base 15, +1 Touch, +15 levels for a Might of 15). It takes the form of a standard Ball of Abysmal Flame, but one that follows the magus around offering unwanted criticism. If a standard botch occurs as well as a botch from the Realm dice, then the effects can be truly spectacular.

The Mother Road

The imagery of the Faerie Realm as a road, and adventures therein as journeys, is a pervasive metaphor. After all, stories themselves are journeys that bring the hero from boring mundanity, through a place of fantasy and adventure, to attain some wondrous prize at his destination. Furthermore, a road — like a story — is a method of communication. Some storytellers tell of a Mother Road, the source of all roads, whose highways and byways may be traveled by those who know its secrets. This Mother Road is the Faerie Realm, and it can be used to swiftly traverse vast distances in a short space of time.

Practitioners of the Faerie Power of Portage have learned to exploit the Mother Road as if they were a native. Hermetic magic is more limited in this regard, and expertise with the Mother Road is largely the expertise of those members of House Merinita who belong to the group known as the Wayfarers (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 80). By stepping onto a trod, a maga deliberately invokes the Threshold and enters the Faerie Realm. She must then strike a bargain with the Guardian of the Threshold to allow her to immediately leave Faerie, but at a point of her choosing (although the exit must also be onto a trod). The stay in the Faerie Realm is often so brief that she see little more of it than a road, which supports the hypothesis that all paths in Faerie are really one. Since the traveler spends no time interacting with story elements, she accumulates no fable points (see later) and the whole journey might take a fraction of the time that it appears to (typically one minute passes for every 24 minutes spent in the Faerie Realm; see Leaving Faerie, later). This method of travel is not without peril, since the Guardian of the Threshold may be her only way out of the Faerie Realm. Since her purpose is the journey itself, she cannot complete her story, which is the usual method for leaving the Faerie Realm. Without possessing another exit (such as the Arcadian Travel Mystery Virtue), she is dependent on pleading, bargaining with, or forcing the Guardian to let her return to the mundane world. Nevertheless, the advantages of being able to travel to a place to which one has never been, nor owns an Arcane Connection, is worth the risk in the opinion of some magi.

Some believe that the Faerie Realm is mere dream — clever illusions that beguile the senses of the unwary. However, most who have direct experience of the Faerie Realm deny this vehemently. They know that what they have seen, heard, touched has as much reality and solidity as anything they have experienced among mortals. Yet it cannot be denied that the stuff of Faerie — whatever that is — is more transient and malleable than normal stuff. The very fact that the environment cannot be relied upon as it can in the mundane world (see earlier) lends credence to this. It is usually assumed that the Faerie Realm is made of glamour (see Chapter 1: Nature of Faerie, Glamour). And indeed, that it is perhaps the source of all glamour.

Lands of Story and Fable

The landscape of a region of Faerie is written by its glamour. Every story should be considered to be a kingdom within the greater Realm, and these kingdoms are bordered by high mountains, fierce seas, and swift-flowing rivers. Suffice it to say that one cannot travel between kingdoms; there is nothing beyond the landscape dictated by a story. These kingdoms are not to be taken literally — there are no lands such as Avalon, Olympos, or Vanaheim that have an existence independent from the stories in which they dwell. It is impossible to travel between stories, for the kingdom is as big as the story needs it to be. One cannot begin in a story about swan-maidens and then take a side trip to the vineyards of Dionysios, since the latter place does not exist in the stories of swan-maidens. A legendary location is merely a collection of story elements that makes it fit the character's perceptions of what that location is like, and the location does not go outside the parameters of the story. For example, if a group of characters visits the Giant's Dance (Stonehenge) in the Faerie Realm, they cannot cross the Salisbury Plain and visit Glastonbury Tor while they are there, if the latter has no place in the story they are visiting.

Travel within a story can vary according to its own dictates. Many stories involve heroes who strike out from home in search of adventure, and like them, visitors to Faerie might simply walk from scene to scene. Characters can decide the direction of travel and the means as they see fit, but it is rarely geography that determines where they end up. Their hopes, fears, the choices they make, and their treatment of the other participants in the story — all these things dictate the flow of the story, along with, more prosaically, the dramatic requirements of the storyguide. It matters not whether they set off on the rose-strewn path rather than the cobbled road — the Summer Kingdom that they seek will come to them no sooner.

This is not to say that a story in the Faerie Realm is a linear path. The decision to set out on the rose-strewn path has a symbolic meaning to the story that influences future events. It might affect the order in which they encounter the obstacles set in their way, and thus the ease with which they are dealt. However, the Summer Kingdom comes no quicker merely because they have chosen a road that corresponds to summer. A good story in the Faerie Realm has many options for the characters to affect the outcome, based on choices they make earlier on.

Any story, or element of a story, told in the mundane world has a reflection in Faerie, although the relative contributions to cause and effect is a matter of disagreement among scholars versed in fay matters. Merinita magi who have told wholly new stories have found their version in the Faerie Realm almost immediately. Faeries themselves are incapable of creating new stories, suggesting that they are the product rather than the authors. Although stories in Faerie are not immutable, changing a story in Faerie does not effect changes in the mundane world; the story does not change because the characters have changed it in Faerie. This is perhaps because the modified story exists in the minds of the authors of those changes, so in effect the "real" story has been changed. Of course, all stories are re-invented by the teller, and regional variations exist in all tales, so who is to say that the "real" story is anyway. Finally, the Faerie Realm has a long memory: even stories that have been forgotten in the mundane world are remembered here.

Characters are not bound to obey the laws of the Faerie Realm in the same way that its inhabitants are, but if they deny the fantasy of what they are experiencing in favor of a mundane solution, they exert less control over the outcome than those who revel in the experience. Vitality is the power of stories that nourishes faeries (See Chapter 1: Nature of Faerie). While they are in the Faerie Realm, humans can spend some of their vitality by partaking in stories, and receive in fair exchange a measure of control over those stories. Characters adventuring in the Faerie Realm accumulate fable points when they accept the glamour of the realm as reality and play along in the story they are experiencing (and writing!) — that is, whenever they spend vitality. These fable points contribute to a fable score that represents the control that the character has over the Faerie Realm itself through the vitality he has spent. The first fable point gained by a character is immediately converted into a fable score of 1. Further points can be used to increase one's fable score further, or to exert influence over Faerie. To increase one's fable score requires the expenditure of a number of fable points equal to the current score plus one. Thus, if a character's fable score is 5, it takes 6 fable points to increase the score by 1 point.

To influence the glamour of the Faerie Realm, a fable point can be spent to gain a bonus to one roll equal to the character's current fable score:

Fable Point Expenditure: +(fable score) to one roll

Increase Fable Score: fable points equal to 1 + (current fable score)

Fable points can also be spent on enacting more-substantial changes to the story; see Creativity in the Faerie Realm, later. In addition to influencing Faerie, the fable score reflects how much faerie has influenced the character. See Becoming Faerie Through Fable, later.

A human character cannot have a fable score unless he is in the Faerie Realm — all fable points and fable score disappears upon leaving Faerie. And if a character returns to Faerie he begins with no fable points or fable score, regardless of whatever total he achieved on a previous visit.

Gaining Fable Points

Broadly speaking, every time the character is presented with a choice as to whether to act with or against a faerie story and he chooses the former, he expends vitality and gains a fable point in return. Acquiring fable points often requires acting according to dramatic necessity rather than common sense; some examples are given below. Note that these are one-time awards; a character who has decided to eat fay food while in the Faerie Realm does not gain a fable point every time he eats a meal, just when he first makes the decision to do so.

• Eat food originating in the Faerie Realm;
• Accept fantastic or unusual means of travel;
• Contest with an obstacle on its own terms (for example, a riddle contest with a dragon rather than a battle);
• Identification with the Hero (see The Road to Destiny, later);
• Show a defeated villain mercy even though you know he'll be back to cause trouble later in the story;
• Deliberately breaking an interdiction (see Acts, later);
• Use a plot device (see Player-Influenced Stories, later).

This list is non-exhaustive; any dramatic and entertaining event should be rewarded with fable points, and players should find it easy to earn their characters 10 or more every session in Faerie, if they want to.

Managing fable points is an important consideration for a player in an adventure that's set in Faerie. The character is rewarded for taking part in the story by bigger and bigger bonuses to his actions; but upon the completion of the quest, the character's final fable score determines the amount of time that has passed in the real world and the amount of warping that the character has gained from his stay in Faerie (see Leaving Faerie, later). Experienced travelers in the Faerie Realm show far less enthusiasm for a high fable score than novices.

Becoming Faerie Through Fable

Fable can also leave an imprint on the character; those who have spent a lot of vitality in the Faerie Realm often take on a faerielike nature. A character's fable score represents the magnitude of the changes that overcome him. A player can choose to exchange a number of his character's Virtues equal to the fable score with Virtues listed in Chapter 3: Faerie Characters; Major Virtues count as three Virtues for these purposes. If a player makes the decision to do this, the storyguide and/or troupe should exchange an equal number of his Flaws for those listed in Chapter 3. Whenever the character's fable score increases, the player can decide to exchange a new Virtue, or else keep it in reserve — perhaps for the exchange of a Major Virtue, or to allow the character to develop a particularly useful Virtue as needed (see later).

When the character returns to the mundane world, his normal selection of Virtues is restored. But should he ever go back to the Faerie Realm, all Virtues and Flaws that were exchanged reassert themselves. Further, as he develops a new fable score on his subsequent trip, he can continue to exchange Virtues and Flaws. Consequently, the player should record all changes to the faerie version of the character on a copy of his character sheet that is only used in the Faerie Realm. Characters who make many repeated trips to the Faerie Realm gradually transform into faerie beings, and may eventually find it preferable to stay in Faerie and relish their new powers.

With the agreement of his troupe, the player can also choose Virtues that are not specific to faeries but are thematically appropriate. Any Virtues gained that grant experience points (such as Warrior) grant Abilities as Pretences, not real Abilities. If the character takes a Virtue that affects his physical form (such as Humanoid Faerie), he gains the benefits of having a glamoured body — such as immunity to Fatigue and Decrepitude — and the ability to banish wounds at the end of the scene (which, for characters who are still human, is when they leave the Faerie Realm). He must take one of these Virtues before he can take the Increased Might Virtue. For a human character in Faerie, this Virtue grants a Might pool rather than a Might Score; Might points can be spent on powers acquired through further Faerie Virtues, and the maximum pool is used to calculate Penetration. However, the character does not gain any Magic Resistance or immunity to warping. The character cannot take Virtues that require Might pool (such as Faerie Powers) until he has taken the Increased Might Virtue. All characters are assumed to be Narrowly Cognizant, in that they know that they are humans who have acquired the characteristics of a faerie.

When deciding upon Flaws, those that are swapped out first should be those pertaining to the mundane world, such as Feud or Outlaw Leader; other Flaws might be altered so that they pertain to Faerie. A mundane Mentor could be replaced with a faerie Mentor, and a magical Supernatural Nuisance could become a faerie one, for example. Other Flaws that are appropriate (such as Disfigured and Greater/Lesser Malediction) can also be used to replace the character's Flaws. A character who gains a faerie body (such as the Humanoid Faerie Virtue) must acquire a Traditional Ward.

Example: Coll the grog gains a fable score of 1 while visiting Arcadia. During the adventure he is nearly killed by some faerie wolves when he fails a Stealth roll. His player decides to exchange his Puissant Stealth Virtue (which is clearly not working!) for the Humanoid Faerie Virtue. The storyguide decides that he should acquire a Traditional Ward (wolves) in place of Branded Criminal (which is inappropriate among faeries). Later in the story, his fable score has increased to 2 during an encounter with a faerie lady, where he boasts about his sexual prowess. He decides to exchange his Social Contacts Virtue for a new Virtue, Reputation as Confidence. One of the other players suggests that he should also acquire the Disfigured (excessively priapic) Flaw in exchange for his Weakness for Women Flaw, and the rest of the troupe agrees.

Often the resolution of a faerie story relies on the ability to perform some magical act. For a man to scale a glass cliff, he needs to take lessons from the birds on how to fly. To escape a giant, the characters must make a comb transform into an impassable thicket. To rescue the princess, the hero must walk through flames. In the Faerie Realm one need not be a wizard to perform wonders: one can get such powers from glamour. Any character with a fable score that has not been wholly used to swap Virtues can learn from a faerie how to duplicate the effects of any power or Virtue it possesses. These powers are gained as Lesser or Greater Benedictions (see Chapter 5: Touches of Faerie) as appropriate. The Flaws acquired in exchange are often Lesser or Greater Charms (again, see Chapter 5: Touches of Faerie). The necessary instruction takes anywhere between a matter of minutes to several days, depending on the needs of the story, and often the donor has to give up the ability it is teaching: a bird who teaches someone how to fly loses the ability himself. Understandably, faeries are often loathe to teach such abilities, and may require persuasion.

The Faerie Realm is subject to human creativity, like all things fay. Characters with the requisite creative spark can in effect make a bargain with the Faerie Realm itself; in return for a creative performance the character can alter the environment of Faerie, the symbolism of the current scene, or the attitude of the faeries taking part in the scene. To make changes in the Faerie Realm requires a trade; the character expends vitality in exchange for the ability to change the nature of Faerie. Since the character's expenditure of vitality is charted by the acquisition of a fable score, any character with unspent fable points can attempt to enact a change in the story he and his companions are currently experiencing. To initiate a change, the character must make an offer — a description of the change that he wishes to cause, either in words or through another creative outlet such as performance or craft. Included in the offer is the promise of a service that supplies the necessary vitality to make the change. If the offer is accepted then the change occurs as described.

Crafting an Offer

Offers are usually made verbally, using either the Charm or Profession: Storyteller Ability. Performance artists may use other professional Abilities, and a crafter may work her hopes into an object, and offer it instead. Crafted offers take the same amount of time to make as a mundane object, and thus this is not a favored option while in Faerie, except for simple crafts like whittling. Although some items can be prepared before entering the Faerie Realm and finished in a fraction of the usual time. An offer constructed with insufficient skill always fails, because the faerie cannot comprehend its value.

Offer Total: Communication + Charm or (Profession) Ability or (Craft) Ability + Offer Modifier + Promise Modifier + Change Modifier + stress die

Making an offer requires the expenditure of a fable point and a Long Term Fatigue Level; along with the promise (see later), these sacrifices provide the vitality needed to enact a change to the whole realm of Faerie. The cost of fable points and fatigue are incurred whether or not the offer is accepted, but the character is not bound to his promise if the offer is not comprehended.

The Ease Factor required to make a change using creativity does not depend on the extent of the change. Instead, it depends on the size of the obstacle that the change allows the human protagonist to overcome. The more that a change simplifies the completion of the story, the greater the compensation the principal faerie's glamour demands for the vitality the human refuses to express when overcoming the obstacle.

The table given here classifies threats by the degree of harm they are likely to cause the individual human, if not overcome by the intended change. Faeries tell stories that suit the humans available, and scale the level of challenge so that it forces the human into an optimal emotional state. The ruggedness of individual humans varies, which means that a peasant with a fine singing voice may find a sprite a deadly threat, while a minstrel supported by a cadre of Merinita magi and their grogs might find a giant trivial.

Ease Factor: 6 Threat Level: Trivial Effect: A threat of this level causes discomfort and inconvenience, but rarely causes wounds.

Ease Factor: 9

Threat Level: Minor Effect: A threat of this level damages the equipment of the characters, or causes minor wounds, but rarely kills characters.

Ease Factor: 12 Threat Level: Serious Effect: A threat of this level often causes damage to characters, and seriously wounds or kills them in some encounters.

Ease Factor: 15 Threat Level: Major Effect: A threat of this level often seriously wounds characters, and kills them in about half of all encounters.

Ease Factor: 18 Threat Level: Overwhelming Effect: A threat of this level usually kills characters.

Offer Modifiers

Certain situations offer bonuses to rolls for making offers to faeries in the Faerie Realm. A character can only gain a single bonus from a Virtue, or for an offer of goods; use the highest bonus that applies. This includes Virtues not listed here; a character with Puissant Charm and Free Expression only gets a +3 bonus. Further modifiers may apply according to the environmental, attitudinal, or symbolic change desired; see the main text for details.

Stories taking place in Elysium are strongly resistant to this process due to the faithful repetition of legends by mortals in an unchanging form. Consequently, offer rolls to cause changes in Elysium have a penalty of 6. The exception to this is if the creative efforts are bent towards restoring an Elysian story back on track after it has gone astray through the actions of the characters; in this situation all Ease Factors are decreased by 3.

Offer Modifier: +1

Situation: Offering minor mortal goods that contain vitality, like bread, beer, milk, cheese, and wine.

Offer Modifier: +2

Situation: Offering mortal crafts that express creativity, like clothes, tools or ornaments.

Offer Modifier: +3

Situation: Free Expression Virtue, or offering highly desirable items like vis or human children.

If your troupe is using the rules for artistic creation in Art & Academe, the following bonuses can also be gained:

Offer Modifier: +1 per 3 points (or fraction) of Reputation Situation: Artistic Reputation

Offer Modifier: +1 per 5 points (or fraction) of Might Score

Situation: Might bequeathed by a Faerie Patron

The Promise of Service

In addition to offering mundane goods and one's personal gift of vitality, the human character must make a promise to perform some action that symbolically transfers the vitality to Faerie. This promise might be entirely symbolic and accomplished immediately, or may involve a complex scheme to grant a major boon, thereby enacting a story. It is this action — or the promise of the action — that negates the threat posed by the story. Naturally, the greater the promise, the bigger the bonus to the Offer Total, but woe betide those who renege on a promise made to Faerie!

Promise Modifier: –6

Situation: Mundane actions entirely overcome the threat.

Example: The giant blocking the pass agrees to lay down his weapons after shaking hands.

Promise Modifier: –3

Situation: The threat can be evaded with a series of simple symbolic actions.

Example: The giant blocking the pass agrees to kneel, and if a character can remove his head with a single blow he and his companions can continue.

Promise Modifier: 0

Situation: The character can follow a conventional story to overcome the threat.

Example: The giant blocking the pass allows passage if a character can inflict on him a wound in single combat.

Promise Modifier: +3

Situation: A cunning plan with a high chance of failure is still required to overcome the threat.

Example: The giant blocking the pass allows passage if the character promises to retrieve his heart from the clutches of the witch who has stolen it.

Changes in Environment

A character may use artistic Abilities to alter the environment of Faerie areas. Magi and highly cognizant faeries understand that what is really happening is that the artist is altering the glamour that the principal faerie has spread over the area. The faerie's glamour allows this to improve the story in a way requested by the human. In exchange, the faerie is able to harvest a little of the vitality of the human, when the story concludes, and may gain other benefits through negotiation.

Change Modifier: +3

Desired Change: Change a single object in the environment for the characters to use as a tool to overcome the threat.

Change Modifier: 0

Desired Change: Change the immediate environment so that the characters gain substantial advantage against the threat.