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| Species | Duende (also, Dwende) |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Unseelie |
| Sphere | Hatred |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; duendes have hateful Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Mossy cloud forests high in the mountains, under rocks or in caves or in old rotted out trees |
| Food | Children |
| Description | Duendes are small human- or gnome-like beings with big hats. They have no thumbs. Some have black skin and some white, but not in human shades of black or white. |
| Procreation | Sometimes, when they kidnap a fey child before it has a Name, they give the child a hateful Name |
| Esoterica | Duendes are beings of feirua, hatred resonance, poioumenon, and uafas. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use cacophony, other forms of arnum and msawhat, infernum, imperium, rubedian aether, greenlight aether, Damaskian powers, gebvel, mijjit, mansam, blood energy, other body energies, other emotional resonances, entropy, rending, kor, and spirits. |
| The Tradition | Duendes have these basic faerie powers:
Duendes can also whistle several mystical songs: one to make mortals afraid, one to make children sleep, one to make children follow them, and one to make other fey confused. A duende can shape toes into strange lights after they have cut them off of someone by tying them to a string. They can hide in anthills or termite mounds if they have a toe-light. Their toe-lights lure people in who are related to the victim. If one says something is beautiful in the presence of a duende, they must destroy that beautiful object. A duende gains fiery breath from eating unspiced meat. If a duende takes someone's toe, they can enter their house at any time, from anywhere, if they cover the light with their own hand and kiss it. They can then go into any space in the house that is dark--inside the walls, dark corners of the attic, unused areas. If someone steps on them, the duende will curse them. |
| Glamour | Most faeries can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. Their glamours are horrifying. |
| Weaknesses | Children see duendes even if they are glamoured or vanished. If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, duendes lose their True Names. They have a fortnight to recover it or they become targets of the Wild Hunt, corrupted into another kind of fey, or turn into a hag or boggin. Iron or steel will bind a duende into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a duende from entering a house. Most duendes detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Love resonance and dumaqu harm duendes. |
| National Culture | Duendes prefer to be solitary parasites. They rarely work in groups, but when they do, it takes on a cruel hierarchy of dominance not unlike a gang, led by the toughest and most ruthless. Solitary duendes find peoples' homes to sneak into and hide in, living in the walls or dark corners, waiting for the chance to steal a child. At night, in order to mark the child as theirs, they often trim the child's toenails. If they accidentally take a toe, they make it into a little lamp. They almost never intentionally take a toe (it's too clear a sign they are in the house). Once they have a toe, they flee the house for a fortnight or so before returning to steal the child. They then take the child to their den somewhere in the woods to devour. Those who operate in gangs usually target whole communities and coordinate their activities, meeting up at night and following the orders of their leader, taking multiple children, and sharing their horrible harvest with the whole gang. These gangs sometimes choose to take on unNamed children to make into new duendes. Duende children are raised by the one who Named them, treated roughly but not so roughly they don't survive. Once the duende child is 13, they are given the task of taking a child for the gang or for their parent. If they succeed, they are an adult and allowed to go out on their own tif they prefer. If they fail, they are killed and eaten. In the forests, duendes sometimes lure children away from their families if they happen through. Other times, they help the families through, so they can follow them to their houses.
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| Unseelie Culture | During the wars that led to the formation of the Fey Courts, the duendes banded together to protect their forests. In this time, the Unseelie Queen came to them and made a deal: they would raid Seelie homes and steal Seelie children, and the Unseelie Queen would give them the support needed to keep their forests from being taken by their enemies (the engkanto, green children, fauns, etc.). They made a pact to do so, and in the years since, they have found themselves a place among the Unseelie Court as tolerated pests. Sometimes, they are enslaved. Rarely, a duende gang leader becomes strong enough to claim a forest as territory and be seen as a noble. Mostly, they exist on the edges. |
| Other Courts | Duendes are hated and feared by almost every other Court. The Summer Court kills them on sight. The Seelie Court requires they convert to another nation, as does the Kindly Court. The Unkindly Court welcomes them; the Winter Court enslaves them. |
| Mortal Interactions | Duendes steal mortal children to eat, take their toes for lamps, and confuse and baffle mortals lost in their woods. |
| Notables | Roggaman, Duende Manifest |
| Special Classes | Lampara de Pie (toe-lighter), Tagapagsipol (whistler), Ladron (housebreaker) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 7 AWA 7 WIL 8 ROG 10 Whistling 11 Toe-lamp 11 Home Return 11 Fire Breath 8 Step Curse 8 |
GrandGuignol
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