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| Species | Fear Liath |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Unseelie |
| Sphere | Darkness |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; the fear liath have malevolent, malicious Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | High mountains |
| Food | Fear, the flesh of those they kill |
| Description | Very tall (10'+) grey humanoids surrounded by mists. They have odd footprints, their skin is sometimes called olive-hued, and they have short hair. |
| Procreation | Fear liath reproduce sexually amongst their own and with other fey. They see mortals as prey and do not usually reproduce with them. |
| Esoterica | Feat liaths are beings of infernum, malice resonance, blood energy, poioumenon, shadow, and uafas. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by uafas. They also use other infernal powers, arnum, msawhat, mijjit, mansam, other humors, viscera, fear resonance, entropy, rending, Damaskian powers, earthpower aether, winds aether, pattern aether, spirits, blasphemy, kor, fate, psionics, other emotional resonances, mystery, and the gates. |
| The Tradition | The fear liath have the following basic fey powers:
Anything they kill, they can eat. If they eat a brain, it makes them smarter. If they eat a heart, it makes them stronger. If they eat a stomach, it makes them bigger. If they eat a lung, it makes them more durant. If they eat a liver, it makes them more resistant to poisons. If they eat a kidney, it makes them faster. If they eat an eye, it makes their vision sharper. If they eat a tongue, it gives them the languages spoken by the victim. If they eat an ear, it sharpens their hearing. If they eat a nose, it sharpens their olfactory sense. If they eat a hand, it makes them more dexterous. If they eat a foot, it makes them more balanced. If they eat a spleen, it makes them more brave. If they eat a colon, it makes them more resistant to pain. If they eat a spine, it makes them more limber. If they eat a bladder, it makes them more buoyant. Fear liath have no compassion. All fear liath are surrounded by mists, which they can control by scattering pebbles. Modern weaponry (bombs, bullets, lasers, etc.) cannot harm the fear liath as long as their mists are around them. The footsteps (which always sound like they are crunching gravel) of a fear liath instill fear in those who cannot see them but can hear them. When they stand near someone while vanished, their presence can instill a feeling that something is wrong or induce panic. This presence can create a completely oppressive atmosphere and darken the sky when they mark the mountain stone with their blood or the blood of others. They can also command bitterly cold winds by twisting threads in their hands, like a cat's cradle. |
| Glamour | The fear liath can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes, making their forms seem taller or more fearsome. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in about a minute, the fear liath 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 turned into a hag or boggin. Iron or steel will bind a fear liath into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a fear liath from entering a house. Most fear liath detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Heavenly light harms them. |
| National Culture | Fear liath live in small families in the mountains, mostly isolated from one another. Each family is led by a patriarch called a tighearna liath. He decides when and where the family hunts, who does the hunting, and who is responsible for other tasks among the family. Children are raised by those the tighearna liath demands raise them, usually women (boireannach liath); gender variation is allowed only when convenient to the tighearna liath. The tighearna are tyrants who control their families through terror and manipulation. Those who are privileged in the family are allowed to hunt and have a greater share of their prey. Some children are protected from the abuses of the family by the birth parent or another family member, but eventually, all fear liath children are subjected to the violence, manipulation, and cruelty of the privileged in the family. The tighearna liath is usually the cruelest and most manipulative, pitting the rest of the family against one another. Some children are chosen by the tighearna liath as special and pitted against the others. What qualities the lord looks for vary by family. These are raised as hunters. The rest are raised by other members of the family, as chosen by the lord or by happenstance, to fill other roles. There is no real marriage, but lesser fear liath are often sold to other families as sexual partners for privileged members or for other uses (service, food). Sometimes, the fear liath rise up against the tighearna liath. When the dust settles, either the leaders of the rebellion are dead or there is a new lord. Rarely does a new system develop, though, and if it does, other fear liath families will find out and hunt down those who strayed from the way. Though every family is independent and has their own territory, there is trade amongst them, as well as rivalries and alliances. Families often go to war, betray each other, hold feuds, or manipulate each other in a complex game of political maneuvering to gain new territory or for other benefits. In times of crisis, the families unite behind the strongest family to defend their collective national territory, usually calling upon the ancient Big Grey Man to lead them to war. |
| Unseelie Culture | The fear liath are feared even by the unseelie. They remain independent and retain their national culture even in the Unseelie Court, but they are considered ruling class when they interact with others, though the tighearna liath consider themselves the only aristocrats and do not allow other members of their families to take titles. |
| Other Courts | When a fear liath escapes from their family and seeks another court for protection, they are usually fleeing for their lives. The Kindly Court gently converts them. The Summer Court and Seelie Court will sometimes allow them to convert, but depending on what family they are from, they might turn them away out of fear. The Winter Court will sometimes allow a very powerful fear liath to buy their way into court, but betrayals are not uncommon. The Unkindly Court fears them and flees their presence. |
| Mortal Interactions | Fear liath prey on mortals, terrorizing, killing, and eating them. |
| Notables | Am Fear Liath Mor, Big Grey Man, the Walker in the Mountains, Fear Liath Manifest |
| Special Classes | Sealgair Glas (grey hunter), Tighearna Liath, Cocaire Liath (who prepares the food, body energy user), Sreapadair Liath (climber) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 12 ATH 8 STR 10 Weaponry Resistance 14 AWA 11 WIL 9 Intimidation Presence 14 ROG 12 Vanish (1 minute) Glamour 7 Whistle 11 Mist Control 11 Wind Control 11 |
GrandGuignol
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