| Species | Faun |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Summer |
| Sphere | Nature |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; fauns have natural Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Woodlands |
| Food | Light human fare |
| Description | Humanoids with the legs, horns, and tails of goats and the torso, head, and arms of a human. Their ears are pointed. |
| Procreation | Fauns reproduce sexually with each other, other fey, and mortals. |
| Esoterica | Fauns are beings of viridian and seasonal aether, poioumenon, and dream energy. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use greenlight aether, bestial aether, pattern aether, nourishment, amber light, qi, symbolism, yahas, and spirits. |
| The Tradition | Fauns have these basic faerie powers:
Fauns can calm a person or animal with their right hand if they hum certain ancient lullabyes. They can reignite the fertility of a person or animal with a special wine they make. They can also use that wine to nurture infants. When they want, they can intimidate others by breaking a twig from the shadows. Fauns bond with the woodlands they live in after a few hundred years and have the power to sense when others are lost in it. They can whisper from anywhere in the wood to guide them. They can also command the forest to antagonize those who wish it harm. They do either of these by whispering into the leaves or flowers of the plants nearest them. Fauns gain the ability to sense the future at the age of 1,000, studying leaves and twigs or entrails, seeing things season by season. However, what they see they can only related in cryptic rhymes. |
| Glamour | Fauns can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, fauns 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 faun into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a faun from entering a house. Most fauns detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Brown msawhat harms them. |
| National Culture | Fauns live as protectors of their woods, predictors of the seasons, and welcomers of the new animals each year. They live in small tribes led by a circle of elders whose prophetic powers are most potent. These ancient fauns rule with absolute power, their primary concern being their woodland territories. Faun children are raised by their birth parent and the siblings of their birth parent. These extended families make up the core of the tribe. Children begin learning about the woodlands and their role in protecting them at a very early age so that by the time they are 25, they are skilled at protecting the woods and beginning to be attuned to the tribe's territory. At the age of 16, every faun must meet with the circle of elders (dux). During this meeting, they are presented with their future in cryptic verse, then told what their role in the tribe will be. Those who do not wish to take the prescribed role are given the chance to leave for another tribe, if another tribe will have them. Those who cannot find another tribe may come back to their own tribe within 100 years; otherwise, they must live on their own. When a faun is given their role in the tribe, they begin training for it. Over the course of their life, they will meet again with the dux every 400 years, learning new things about their futures and being given new tasks or even a new role if need be. If a faun is destined to betray the tribe, they are usually killed by the dux; however, because the dux see things in seasons, sometimes these betrayals are unclear even to them. The dux also arranges marriages amongst the fauns, though a marriage does not imply monogamy. Many fauns have multiple lovers, and it is not uncommon that no one knows who their fathers are. Faun marriages are purely political. Gender is varied and respected. A faun marriage is a major celebration between tribes that lasts for weeks. Other festivals amongst the fauns are those marking the changing of the seasons. These festivals are times of drink, fun, sex, feasting, and games. Despite the power and guidance of the dux, fauns have a reputation for being foolish and frivolous. It is very common for fauns to wander from their tribes, seek adventures, or get into trouble with the outside world. |
| Summer Culture | In the Summer Court, fauns are considered to be the most powerful of the upper class along with the green children. Fauns are property owners, controlling their forests, and all within those forests are their vassals. They have many, many agreements about which forest belongs to the green children and which to the fauns. There is a constant national-political struggle between them and the green children none-the-less. |
| Other Courts | Fauns among the Kindly or Seelie Courts are usually welcome and honored. The Seelie welcome them as powerful landowners. The Kindly welcome them as protectors of nature. The Winter Court requires they corrupt themselves to join, or be enslaved or killed. The Unseelie Court welcomes them as landowners and treachers, demanding tribute for independence; otherwise they are enslaved or killed. The Unkindly Court kills them on sight, out of fear. |
| Mortal Interactions | Fauns will guide mortals out of their woods or kill them if they are a danger to it. If a faun enters the mortal world, they usually do so on some foolish adventure. |
| Notables | Silenus, Drunken Prince (deceased); Faunus and Fauna, Fauns Manifest |
| Special Classes | Dux, Videns (seer), Druid, Sussuro (forest guardian/whisperer), Vinea Retorquebit (wine maker), Moribus (adventure seeker) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 9 ROG 9 Glamour 9 Vanish (30 seconds) Calming Touch 9 Intimidating Twig 11 Whisper 11 Mancy 11 |
Topic revision: 28 Jun 2021, SallyJaneBlack
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