FAERIE FATE:

The world in which a new changeling finds itself thrown into is complex and filled with dangers. Despite this, most of the Lost comfort themselves with the knowledge that at least they are free. With no Keepers to control their actions, they can make their own choices and decide their own destinies. Unfortunately, this perception is not entirely true,as many changeling elders are quick to remind them. The Courts follow rules, if none so complex as those forced on them in the past. They must learn the unwritten laws of the Wyrd, and the pathways of magic. And they must contend with Fate, which pushes and prods at changelings to live their lives in accordance with its strange patterns.

CURSES:

As a general term, a curse is any power which is set in place for the purpose of negatively affecting someone or something. Intent is key with a curse. They are directly focused to bring harm, bad luck, illness, or vulnerability to a particular person. The same power can be used as a curse in one situation and in another be used for other means. Thus Withering Glare is a curse, if used to blight someone's crops or sicken their animals, but not if used on an unowned tree or animal out in the wilderness. Likewise, Unmaker's Destructive Gaze is a curse if used to cause difficulties for the owner or wielder of the item, but it is not a curse if used on an item or object which the individual casting the curse does not know or is not trying to bring harm to (for example, if used to cause a lock to fail so that a changeling can enter a building). The intention must be to punish or inflict harm upon the object or creature's owner.

As well, curses are a personal matter. They are almost always a reaction to an insult, injury or affront (perceived or real). While they can be used capriciously, they are rarely cast for no reason, and must be focused on a particular individual (or that individual's personal property), rather than an area affect. Likewise, powers that enhance one individual are not considered curses against another, even if that enhancement is then used to harm the other party.

A curse can be a Contract that impairs someone's ability (like Fickle Fate or Faces in the Water), makes them more vulnerable to negativity (such as Creeping Dread), or damages their wealth, health (mental or physical) or possessions (like Touch of the Workman's Wrath or Theft of Reason). Contracts which do direct physical damage (in the form of dealing bashing, lethal or aggravated damage) to a person, such as The Lord's Dread Gaze or Brother to the Ague, are not considered curses; cursing is a more subtle art.

While Contracts may be the simplest and most direct way to curse someone (a fact that Witchtooth Ogres take full advantage of), it is not the only means. Curses can be delivered in the form of Nightmares, which sap their target of the ability to regain Willpower through sleep), goblin fruit or oddments (such as Walking Gertrude) or artifacts like the Cursing Box (pp. 146--147, Rites of Spring). A more subtle form of curse is invoked when an individual is tricked, coerced or trapped into a pledge designed specifically to make him violate the Task. Using pledges as a curse puts the responsibility for not activating the curse in the hands of the cursed individual — a moral loophole that curse wielders use to absolve themselves of responsibility for the harm which befalls those they bind in this manner. offensively by virtually ensuring that the other individual or individuals in the pledge will violate the task of the agreement and thus trigger the sanction. A pledge which is made specifically with the intent of the other individualbreaking it is sometimes known as a malediction, although mechanically they are identical to other pledges.Some manage to do this with normal pledges, by using mundane or supernatural means to push their adversary harder and harder towards violating that pledge. After entering into a seemingly beneficial pledge with their target, they might use Contracts to manipulate his emotions to make him not care about violating the terms of the vow, or to actively desire to take actions which would break the oath. Alternately, they might take advantage of a known weakness in the other individual's psyche — a phobia or addiction, perhaps, or just a predilection for a certain object, person or behavior — to use entirely mundane means to push, pull or pester their target into breaking his pledge.Those who frequently use such tactics, of course, are often looked upon with distaste by the Lost. Even more so are those who go a step further, tricking their victims into pledges they had no intention of swearing (see Unwitting Pledges, below.) This tactic is sometimes seen as the purview of the True Fae, especially when targeted towards those inexperienced in pledges or uneducated in the way of fae magic. However, in some circumstances, the end is viewed as justifying the means. When the target is an oathbreaker, a threat to Lost society, or when the curse is used in self defense against an obvious threat, few would argue the ethics of using any means available to deal with the situation.

MALEDICTIONS:

Ideally, a pledge is a Wyrdsworn agreement between two knowing individuals to accomplish some positive end. Both are bolstered by their pact, and neither enters into the bargain with the intention of breaking the deal. However, desperate times often produce desperate results, and the Wyrd cares nothing for the intention behind or morality of the pledges it binds.

Over the centuries, some Lost have taken advantage of this fact, developing a variety of pledges which can be used offensively by virtually ensuring that the other individual or individuals in the pledge will violate the task of the agreement and thus trigger the sanction. A pledge which is made specifically with the intent of the other individual breaking it is sometimes known as a malediction, although mechanically they are identical to other pledges.

Some manage to do this with normal pledges, by using mundane or supernatural means to push their adversary harder and harder towards violating that pledge. After entering into a seemingly beneficial pledge with their target, they might use Contracts to manipulate his emotions to make him not care about violating the terms of the vow, or to actively desire to take actions which would break the oath. Alternately, they might take advantage of a known weakness in the other individual's psyche — a phobia or addiction, perhaps, or just a predilection for a certain object, person or behavior — to use entirely mundane means to push, pull or pester their target into breaking his pledge.

Those who frequently use such tactics, of course, are often looked upon with distaste by the Lost. Even more so are those who go a step further, tricking their victims into pledges they had no intention of swearing (see Unwitting Pledges, below.) This tactic is sometimes seen as the purview of the True Fae, especially when targeted towards those inexperienced in pledges or uneducated in the way of fae magic. However, in some circumstances, the end is viewed as justifying the means. When the target is an oathbreaker, a threat to Lost society, or when the curse is used in self defense against an obvious threat, few would argue the ethics of using any means available to deal with the situation.

VARIANT MECHANIC: UNWITTING PLEDGES

Tricking, bullying or sweettalking someone into an unwitting pledge is an ageless Fae tradition. While many oaths are sworn of free will, with forethought and planning on all parts, not all are. Some are "caught" into pledges, having their freely given words or agreements which were not intended as a pledge turned into one. Others are actually tricked or manipulated into giving an agreement (which is then Wyrdbound), even though it was not their intention to do so.

Changelings can use their connection with the Wyrd to turn any agreement into a pledge. From a formal promise ("I swear, I will never tell you a lie") to a casual agreement ("Sure, I'll pick you up at the airport"), any commitment that is recognized by the Wyrd, through one or more parties involved in it having the Wyrd advantage, can be forged into a pledge. All it takes is the application of Willpower by someone involved.

Most Lost (and those who know about them from direct experience or legend) are extremely aware of making any promises, commitments or agreements — and rightfully so. While human society may see oathbreaking to be a serious matter only in extremelyformal instances (marriage vows, legal contracts and the like), the Wyrd cares nothing for "circumstances beyond your control." If you have promised to tend a Woodblood's plants while she is on vacation, and she locks your promise into a pledge, the Wyrd does not care if her house burns down while you're away or if you are taken into an alternate dimension where your demonic overlords won't let you loose to tend to your gardening. A broken pledge is a broken pledge.

Some Lost eschew the use of anything other than formal pledges. Most often the newly returned, these changelings believe that to lock another (be they fae or mortal) into a casual promise with the Wyrd is a form of treachery only suited to the True Fae. Others, however, embrace this ability as a vital tool. When there is little to nothing one can trust, the ability to bind others to their spoken word provides a basis for beginning to trust. It prevents treachery, betrayal and deception — or at least invokes a price for them. Binding humans into secrecy is a pledge few Lost would disagree with. If a few more complain if that pledge includes servitude or support, they really aren't arguing against the morality of manipulating others into pledges, but rather are splitting hairs about the nature of "proper" pledges versus unethical ones.

• Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Wyrd vs. the target's Resolve + Occult + Wyrd
• Action: Instant (costs 1 Willpower to initiate the roll which is then used to fuel the pledge or wasted)

Unwitting pledges must be a part of a conversation that could be manipulated into the target saying something that could be construed as a promise. The aggressor must determine the constraints of the pledge before making the attempt to trick the target into it. The target's resistance is reflexive, and they do not suffer an unskilled dice penalty for the Occult skill.

The power of the unwitting pledge is limited by the net number of the aggressor's successes. No aspect (positive or negative) of the pledge may be greater than the number of net successes achieved by the aggressor. With a single success, the aggressor is limited to Lesser sanctions, durations, boons and tasks (no greater than 1 or --1 in severity.) With two successes, Medial pledge elements can be added, and with 3 or more, Greater aspects can be enforced.

Unwitting pledges count towards the total number of pledges the changelings involved can bear at any given point, just as unforced ones do.

In addition to the standard Persuasion modifiers (p. 83, World of Darkness Rulebook), Storytellers can impose the following pledgespecific helps and hindrances to this challenge.

• Hindrances: Target is aware of the existence of pledges (--2), for each level of each aspect (sanction, duration, boon or task) of the pledge that is above Lesser (--1 cumulative), Pledgesmith Merit (--1 per level of Merit of target; see Rites of Spring, p. 94)
• Help: Pledgesmith Merit (+1 per level of Merit of aggressor; see Rites of Spring, p. 94), target is an ensorcelled human (+1), target is intoxicated or otherwise influenced to be more pliant to suggestion (+1)

Roll Results:

• Dramatic Failure: The target automatically knows that she was being talked into some sort of promise against her will. Any additional attempts to manipulate this target into an unwitting pledge within the next 24 hours automatically fail.
• Failure: The unwitting pledge does not "take" and the target may reflexively roll Wits + Occult + Wyrd to determine if they sense the fact that they were being manipulated into an unwilling agreement. Regardless of whether the target is aware of the trick or not, any additional attempts to manipulate this target into an unwitting pledge within the next 24 hours suffer an automatic --4 penalty (cumulative with successive attempts and failures over any 24 hour period.)
• Success: The aggressor has managed to bribe, bully, sweet talk or intimidate his target into unintentionally making an agreement that he then binds into to an immediately activated pledge. A side result of this entrapment is that the target becomes aware, at least in general, of what she has "agreed" to do or not do, and the punishment if she should break the pledge. She is not, however, aware that she has been tricked into it, and believes she swore of her own volition.
• Exceptional Success: No additional benefit results from an exceptional success beyond an increased threshold for the power of the pledge gained from the net successes rolled.

Note: Using this method to trick or force a supernatural into a pledge is a level 5 Clarity sin. At the Storyteller's discretion, exceptionally dangerous, restrictive or longlasting pledges may be level 4, 3 or even 2 Clarity sins, depending on how closely the Lost's behavior and demands resemble the means and methods utilized by the Others. Forcing a mundane human (who are inherently more vulnerable to such predations) is automatically one step lower Clarity sin (thus a minimum of level 4). Trapping defenseless humans into unwitting pledges is the purview of the True Fae.

Aeolian attempts to bind an unwitting human into a Reaper's Pledge. She spends a point of willpower and strikes up a conversation with the target. Her starting dice pool is 13 (Manipulation + Persuasion + Wyrd). The human's starting resistance is 3 (Wits 3, no Occult, no Power Stat). Aeolian is further hampered by the Medial Endeavour Task (--1) and the Medial Glamour Boon (--1), although all other aspects of the pledge are Lesser and thus impose no hindrances. Aeolian receives a +3 bonus for her three levels of the Pledgesmith Merit, and she has both intoxicated and ensorcelled the human (+1 for each) for a total of +5 bonus dice. Thus the Storyteller rolls 13 dice for Aeolian's attempt (13--3--2+5) and achieves 4 successes. This is more than the 2 she would need to achieve the Reaper's Pledge, as no aspect of the pledge is greater than Medial, and the human is bound in the pledge. Aeolian must now make a Clarity check versus a sin level set by her Storyteller (but at least a level 4 sin).

PLEDGE CURSES:

Pledge curses vary drastically, depending on the purpose of the individuals involved. A Lost who wants to bring about a foe's demise would, of course, use a far different pledge than one who simply wants to make her enemy eat crow or teach him to treat the less fortunate with a bit more respect. The following pledge curses are merely some wide ranging examples of some of the vast variety of pledge curses which exist, and serve as a demonstration of how such a curse might be worded, the mechanics thereof, and a sample situation which a Lost might use them in. They are not intended, by any means, to be the seen as the only pledge curses that exist, or even the only circumstances which the given curses might be used in.

Like any other pledge, a malediction must be balanced; its tasks, boons, sanctions and duration values all equaling out into a null sum. As the intention of most is to bind the "victim" into a pledge which he will eventually break, it is not unusual for the curser to use a Year and a Day duration or even a decade. This is long enough to ensure that she has sufficient time to manipulate the victim into breaking the oath, or to give him enough proverbial rope to hang himself with. This also allows for a greater sanction than a shorter duration would allow for, all other factors being equal, and lengthens the period of the sanction's effect to a year and a day for standard curse sanctions as well. The True Fae are known to trick their victims into swearing lifelong maledictions, but few Lost feel that it is worth the great expenditure of Willpower to do so. If a Lost cannot be tricked, pushed or tempted into breaking his oath in 10 years, chances are he may have the resolve to continue abiding by it for a lifetime.

Similarly, it is common for maledictions to use Greater tasks as well. While you could expend your effort into tricking someone into saying they would show up to a movie and then arrange for them not to do it, the potential "backlash" you could impose upon them for so minor an oathbreaking is fairly slim. Since it would be very difficult to lead them into making such a trivial promise on their True Name or a vital emblem, most such curses are lowlevel vows, and designed just to teach the cursed individual a little lesson about keeping his word (or casually making oaths).

*****