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| Species | Nixie (or Nisky, Neck, Nakk, Nokken, Nokke, Knucker, Nixy, Nixe, Nix, Nakki, Nekker, Nicor, Nikwus, Nikwis, Nihhus, Brook Horse, Bekhest, Backahast, Nykr, Sea Sprite) |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Summer |
| Sphere | Water |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; niskies have water-born Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Pools, ponds, waterfalls, rivers, lakes |
| Food | Raw meat, alcohol, and heavy mortal fare |
| Description | Nixes have several forms: a humanoid form with fish-like features, a reptilian form (snake or crocodile) with great wing-like fins (knucker or nihhus), a brook horse form that is a beautiful white horse, and a water-humanoid form made up of rapids. Their humanoid form usually has a fish tail, slit ears, fins, or scales. They always have wet hems on their clothes if they are out of water. |
| Procreation | Nokken reproduce sexually with each other, other fey, and mortals. |
| Esoterica | Niskies are beings of currents 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, euphony, cacophony, flux, bestial aether, tear energy, venom energy, vile energy, dumaqu, b'qar, yahas, and spirits. |
| The Tradition | Niskies have these basic faerie powers:
They can change their natural shapes by scrubbing with algae. They have several forms: brook horse, knucker, figure in rapids, and fish-like human. In brook horse form, a nisky binds a person to them until they choose to let them off if the person gets on willingly. In brook horse form, a nisky can go anywhere there are rivers so long as the rider wishes them to. They can only come ashore during heavy fogs unless called. Niskies can speak to many but not all freshwater animals: crocodilians, water snakes, hippopotamuses, most forms of fish, otters, dobhar chus, etc. are most common. They are excellent musicians and singers. A nisky's music will lure mortals in. It can also make trees dance and stop waterfalls. They can control the currents slightly by humming. The song of a heartbroken nisky will cause others to weep for a year and a day. They are also supernaturally beautiful. Niskies can sense where someone will drown within the next month. They are compelled to cry like a loon at the spot when they sense it to warn others. If a nisky dies young, their voice will echo along the banks of their home. Their blood spilled on the ground will cause water lillies to grow. |
| Glamour | Niskies can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. They use their glamours to look like treasures under the water or floating objects, to lure people in or make them go away. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, niskies 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 nisky into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a nisky from entering a house. Most niskies detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Brown aether harms them. They grow despondent if they do not have a source of freshwater to swim in. Most beings can be controlled via their True Name, but a nixie can be killed if they hear it in the mouth of a land-dweller. If someone throws steel or iron into their body of water, the charms of the nakk will be lost. |
| National Culture | Niskies live in small tribes based around bodies of fresh water. Their tribes are led by elders called aeltere, who are simply the eldest among them. Each tribe is made up of related families, and each tribe has alliances and feuds with other tribes in nearby bodies of water. This intricate network relfects the vast network of waterways on the continent. Children are raised by their parents; by age 10 or so, they have learned to sing and play at least one instrument (usually violin). Music is at the heart of nixie culture. Musicians and singers are the most highly valued members of the tribe. By the time chilren are 25, they are considered adults and welcomed into adulthood with a performance wherein they are the star. The whole tribe gathers to sing and perform with them. Niskies spend a lot of time creating music above water and living below water. Their music is well loved by those in the local communities, but travelers often become entranced and fall into danger trying to get near it. Many have drowned trying to reach the nokke in their rivers and ponds. Niskies wear elegant clothing or nothing at all. This often attracts strangers as well. Every week, on the fifth day of the week, they hold a performance where each nixie competes the week before to be part of. The aeltere reward them for their work in the community. On midsummer night and midwinter's eve, they hold massive festivals where many tribes gather. During this time, they trade, go courting, and share news. Niskies trade with the local community, providing fish and safe passage in exchange for alcohol, cloth, grain, tools, and other goods they can't get underwater. They will sometimes serve in their horse form as plough horses or riding horses, but they must be recompensed appropriately or they will drown those who cheat them. Some niskies seek non-nisky lovers. This often ends in tragedy, either because the lover drowns or the nisky cannot bear to live on land. This has led to many, many tales, including ones of suicide. Some non-niskies whose children fall in love with a nixie will try to buy the nixie's refusal. Some niskies take up shipwrecking as a career, focusing the tribe on violence and murder and plundering. These are disliked by other niskies for the danger they bring to all niskies. |
| Summer Culture | Niskies are a powerful faction in the Summer Court as they control the waterways. They protect the waterways and trade with all other nations freely, paying tax and tribute to the Summer Queen. They have some rank amongst them, but it varies by tribe. |
| Other Courts | Niskies are welcome in the Winter and Unseelie Courts if they offer the bounty or control of their waterways. The Seelie similarly are open to making deals with them. The Kindly Court require vows that they will not abuse their powers over the waterways, and the Unkindly Court tries to control them. |
| Mortal Interactions | For the price of three drops of blood, a black animal, vodka, and snus (wet snuff), a nisky will teach a mortal to play music. If they fall in love with mortals, it often ends badly as the nisky will return to the water quickly, missing it. Some niskies lure mortals to drown for many different reasons.
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| Notables | King Fossegrim the Brook Horse; Wasserspeier, fallen Nisky Queen, now with the Hunt; Woglinde, Lorelei, Flosshilde; Stromkarl, Waterfall Lord; Jenny Greenteeth, Crone of the River Marsh; Peg Powler, Crone of the Blue River; Haer Halewijn, Shipwrecker Lord |
| Special Classes | Aeltere, Geiger (violin), Saenger (singer), Schiffbruch (shipwrecker), Taenzerin (dancer) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 8 ATH 8 Swimming 11 Rapids Movement 14 Horse Endurance 17 Reptilian Swimming 13 STR 9 Horse 17 Reptile 14 Rapids 11 AWA 8 WIL 8 ROG 8 Vanish (30 seconds) Glamour 11 Singing 14 Dancing 12 Instrument 14 Animal Speech 11 Humming 11 Beauty 14 Drowning Sense (AWA) |
GrandGuignol
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