Mundane Antagonists

Humans

Even by accident, ordinary, everyday people can be a tremendous challenge to the Kithain. The bare fact of being near something unusual when it happens is sometimes a trial, what with the mortals’ insistence on documenting, categorizing, and regularizing everything they get their hands on. A changeling who has the bad luck to see an automobile accident may find themselves having to deal with the police, with the ever-present media machine, with the court system — or find a way to avoid having to deal with it. Almost any interaction with ordinary humans can abruptly snowball into an encounter that will wear on the Kithain’s patience, mental fortitude, and social graces.

Boredom

It’s not easy to bore people. On the contrary, it’s actually pretty hard — it’s just that human society has gone to great lengths to make sure it’s not just a possible, but a common and even expected thing. The average mortal lives a life that involves doing the same thing over and over again well past the point where it can be expected to be interesting; even leisure activities have become things where endless repetition dulls whatever wonder they might otherwise produce. Finding ways to nurture the imagination of mortals is sometimes simple; it’s also sometimes fiendishly complicated, especially in London, where there’s a seemingly endless supply of attractions to dull the mind back into somnolence again.

Cynicism

The slow corrosion of cynicism damages not only society’s sense of wonder, but also society as a whole. That works to the benefit of some — arguably a majority — of the supernatural factions at work, but very few of them do it with the deliberate intent of harming the fae. That makes it both more and less difficult to deal with: less, because it’s rarely the result of active opposition, but more, because the changelings are badly outnumbered. Small and squalid stories of fraud, theft, infidelity, and betrayal are common currency in London at every level from gossip on council estates all the way up to the most-viewed print, televised, and internet news sources.

It’s not the acts themselves that the Kithain object to — some of the Unseelie actively encourage them! — it’s the petty and small-minded ways they happen. Epic betrayals and daring heists can fire the imagination as effectively as a stirring tale of true love or unimpeachable honor. There’s never any shortage of people pushing stories that encourage cynicism, no matter at what level of society or what part of the city, but the real challenge is as likely to be reaching agreement on how to fight it as it is finding people willing to fight it.

Stagnation

When boredom and cynicism combine, as they so often do, it’s very, very easy to just give up and go with the flow. If there’s nothing new under the sun and nothing you do will make a difference anyway, why bother? Stick to your safe, comfortable routine. Stay in your comfort zone. Even the fae sometimes fall prey to this urge, especially the older Grumps who can already feel the chill of winter settling into their bones — though fortunately, they’re much more likely than the average mortal to have friends who can recognize the symptoms, and help shake them out of it.

The great part about fighting stagnation is that it’s often a lot of fun. The way to fight back is to do — or help someone else do — something new, something that’s outside their comfort zone, something that’s surprising or intriguing or terrifying. And those things are great to play, whether it’s a PC or an NPC who’s the subject. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the players to stretch out their imaginations and try new things.

Supernatural Antagonists

Each Other

Given the complex politics, the tangled rivalries, and the web of alliances, betrayals and vendettas that link the Courts, the Houses, and the individual Kithain, it’s no wonder that changelings are most often thwarted by one another rather than by some outside enemy. While TowersMUX has rules regarding what sorts of things PCs can do to one another, they leave open a very wide range of possibilities — bearing in mind that this is meant to be a cooperative game, and that an IC rivalry should be fun for everyone who participates, not just one side. And, of course, that’s just PCs vs PCs; PCs vs NPCs is a whole other story.

Everything from tourneys, to contests over the favor of a handsome gentleman or fair lady, to politicking over which noble will be awarded a new freehold, to intriguing against a member of a rival House in an attempt to get them imprisoned, are all entirely in theme for Changeling. Since chimerical death is relatively easy to recover from — at least when compared with how difficult other sorts of death are to recover from — the Kithain have an even broader set of possibilities than most when it comes to this sort of thing.

Chimera

Given the multitude of size and shapes they come in — from mice to dragons and everything in between — it’s no wonder that chimera are often obstacles to the Kithain getting what they want, even as they’re also often the means by which they do so. Changelings might spend a casual afternoon on a hunt for a chimerical white hart, but they also might find themselves forced to battle with fearsome chimerical monsters in order to recover a long-lost Treasure, or answer the riddles of a chimerical sphinx to complete a quest. Their sheer diversity means they can take almost any kind of antagonist role needed, making them a tremendously versatile choice when challenges are being put together.

The Shadow Court

Agents of the Shadow Court can be anywhere; there’s almost no way to distinguish them from any other Kithain. Some of them are simple dupes, believing in the original Shadow Court’s mission of returning to the cyclical rule of Seelie and Unseelie Courts; others are well aware that the Shadow Court ultimately serves the Fomorians and their interests, and continue serving it anyway. This offers an opportunity for two different types of story — some Shadow Court fae in the former category can be turned from their allegiance if they’re made to realize whose agenda they’ve attached themselves to. But it can be incredibly difficult to tell which sort is which, and whether any “redemption” is real or feigned.

Shadow Court fae make excellent antagonists for storylines that revolve around plots, schemes, and intrigue — the Changeling equivalent of a modern-day suspense thriller. Direct confrontation with them is likely to be rare, and resolution is more likely to be thwarting their plans or at most unmasking them as agents of the Court, rather than combat … although the latter does sometimes happen. Players are welcome to use them in storylines, but major NPCs or high officials in NPC freeholds should not be outed as Shadow Court agents without an OK from staff.

Dauntain

Whatever things they may agree or disagree on, few Kithain, Seelie or Unseelie, can hear of a Dauntain without feeling a mixture of unease, sympathy, fear, and pity. Yes, they bring ruin in one form or another to the fae they come into contact with — sometimes intentionally, sometimes through their mere presence, whether they wish it or not. Yet they are themselves Kithain, however broken and twisted, ruined through ill fate rather than any choice of their own, and it’s rare indeed for another changeling to be able to look on them without thinking: there, but for the grace of the Dreaming, go I.

The Dauntain are not meant to be common, and encounters with them should always be memorable in some way — but they can span the gamut of possibilities as antagonists, from the Iconoclast who revels in the destruction of everything of the Dreaming that they can get their hands on, to the tormented Typhoid or Quisling who may long for a place among their faerie cousins even while their curses ensure that they can never do so for long. Even the worst of them carry an air of tragedy — unable to be other than what they are, they present the Kithain with a profound dilemma in how to deal with their threat. To drive them off only foists the threat on someone else, to subject them to banal death ensures that they will someday return just as cursed, but to destroy their faerie souls forever is itself a terrible crime that brings Winter closer. There are no “good” outcomes when dealing with the Dauntain, only tragic.

Autumn People

Unlike most of the other supernatural beings on this list, the Autumn People are more like walking natural disasters than actual enemies. Their effects on the Kithain, on chimera, and even on the ordinary people around them are (usually) unintentional, but that doesn’t make them any less destructive. They aren’t actively malicious, they don’t even realize there’s a Dreaming to cause harm to; many, possibly even most of them sincerely believe they’re helping others. And yet their mere presence corrodes imagination and wonder more effectively than almost any other being could manage if they tried.

How a changeling deals with one — on those unfortunate occasions when it’s necessary — is likely to say as much about the changeling as the Autumn Person. Because they rarely intend to cause harm, their roles as antagonists are almost always indirect ones; and because of the effect they have on Kithain, the resulting conflicts often happen at arms’ length. A storyline that revolves around dealing with an Autumn Person may resemble a covert operation, with the fae attempting various tricks and strategies to re-direct the threat somewhere else — all while their target goes on blissfully unaware that anything unusual is happening.

Denizens

Though they are themselves fae (of a kind), the Dark-Kin are very different from their cousins, and those differences often make mutual understanding difficult or impossible. Worse still, the shifting Aria of the Denizens mean that even on those occasions when an accord with the Kithain is possible, there is no guarantee it will be upheld, or that the same creature will be equally amenable to negotiations the next time they are encountered. As a result, while they are not always enemies, they are at best inconstant allies. Their ways are fundamentally different from those of other fae, and only a fool forgets it.

When they do appear as antagonists, Denizens tend to do so in ways that reflect their individual Adhene and Aria — seldom with any sort of unity beyond that. Acheri (who often do not care who or what their diseases claim) and the more violent of the naraka are perhaps the most obvious choices, but the others shouldn’t be overlooked: a jealous aonide setting out to destroy a treasured mortal artist, a proud fir-bholg who sees their sacrifices dwindling and lashes out in anger, a moirae whose vision for a particular Dreamer differs wildly from that of a sidhe lord, or a maddened fuath in the grip of Dioniae are all potential problems without simple answers.

Thallain

The army of the Fomorians has grown steadily over the past twenty-odd years, not just in numbers, but in their willingness to move against the Kithain. Although the areas around Boadicea’s Tomb and the Fallen Castle are still considered safe, almost anywhere else in the city is potentially at risk from the Thallain, their allies, or other pawns of the Elder Darks. While they keep to the shadows for the most part — there are none of their kind bold enough, or suicidal enough, to live openly in territory claimed by the Kithain — the times when a handful of raiders wreaking havoc in Chelsea was unthinkable are now long past.

The Thallain can play the role of brute-force antagonists, but they’re equally suited to subversive or secretive plots. The unfortunate revelation of a secret that could set two powerful freeholds at each other’s throats might easily be the result of Thallain working behind the scenes; so could the theft of a powerful Treasure that helps keep their kind at bay. Their kind work as much by turning dreams into nightmares as they do through physical violence. Storylines involving Thallain should not, without staff approval, involve long-running infilitration of changeling society; nor should they involve Thallain who are publicly known to be such. They will most commonly appear either as secretive forces of destruction, or as the equivalent of barbarians out to terrify and pillage.

Other Spheres

The Kithain are, by their very nature, somewhat isolated. While there are small numbers of vampires, werewolves, or magi who can perceive the Dreaming, the overwhelming majority of them cannot. Therefore, conflicts between them often arise in a manner similar to that of the Autumn People, where their actions cause damage to the fae without their intending to do so or even realizing that they are. Such problems call for great care and caution — the magnates of changeling society are united in wanting to ensure that the Prodigals know no more than is necessary about the fae, and asking them directly to stop doing something is unlikely to be excused.

Of the Prodigals, the vampires and the Technocrats are probably the most inimical to the fae, and both groups tend to hold the sort of power and influence in the mortal world that make that the area in which they are most likely to present a threat. Some rogue or maddened vampires are obsessed with the taste of fae blood, and such creatures can be a major challenge to even the most valiant fae knights — as can Technocrats who wish to capture “alien” or “extradimensional” invaders for … experimentation.

Please remember that, per the rules in Storytelling, members of PC factions should not be used as antagonists without staff approval — this means no Camarilla, Anarch, or Independent vampires, no werewolves from the 13 Tribes, no Traditions magi, and so forth.