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| Species | Perchtaine |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Wild Hunt |
| Sphere | Equality |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; perchtaine have equalized Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Subarctic to cold temperate forests |
| Food | Hearty mortal fare |
| Description | White-robed figures who, as they age, acquire many wrinkles. Their human-like foot is long and wide, while their other foot is a goose or swan foot. They stand about 7' tall. Their eyes are always bright, and they do not comb their hair, leaving it constantly messy. |
| Procreation | Perchtaine reproduce sexually with each other, other fey, sometimes mortals. They also convert some abused children they take in to be new perchtaine. |
| Esoterica | Perchtaine are beings of shavev mashkalran, poioumenon, b'qar, and dream energy. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use long path, glory, hegnh, curacion, euergasia, waarheid, lhair, dumaqu, greenlight aether, winds aether, fate, nommos, mijjit, emotional resonances, The Law, some humors, qi, other Damaskian powers, gebvel, mashoaab, some heavenly lights (especially justice and equality), spirits, kor, and symbolism. |
| The Tradition | Perchtaine have the following basic faerie powers:
When a perchtaine captures a fey, one of these things happens:
Any single perchtaine can let out a call on a horn made of the horns of fallen fey deer to summon the rest of their tribe. Any perchtaine can give protections to common animals by lightly touching their back. Perchtaine can spin flax or wool into almost any fabric so long as it is not in the 12 days after the winter solstice, though they never wear finery. They ride their Hunt during midwinter so that they may punish those who have forced their servants to work (especially spinning) during times of rest. They bring treats like silver coins and candy to good children. Abused children are taken to safety and replaced by simulcra that appear to have had their bellies slit open and stuffed with coal, straw, and pebbles. Perchtaine wear animal masks during their Hunt that give them powers of supernatural perception and movement. Wearing these hideous masks with tusks and fangs along with a horse tail allows them to drive out evil spirits, undead, demons, and even abominations. When not wearing the masks, they are supernaturally beautiful, but when wearing the masks, they are terrifying to behold. At the end of their Hunt it is Berchtentag, the 12th day afte Yule, and on this day, no one in their territories may eat anything but fish and gruel if they are not wholly evil. Anyone who violates this is caught out and their bellies slit open, stuffed with straw and pebbles. A perchtaine can grant good fortune to any good soul who requests it of them but once a century. They reward hard work. They are supernaturally stealthy. |
| Glamour | Perchtaine can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes to take animal forms. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, perchtaine 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 perchtaine into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a perchtaine from entering a house. Most perchtaine detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Contradiction and injustice harm them. |
| National Culture | Perchtaine live in large tribes. Most perchtaine are women, but there are men and other genders among them. Each tribe is led by a gleicheseele, a woman who holds justice in her heart. The tribes are devoted to each other and to making sure everyone is cared for. Children are raised by the whole tribe, there are no marriages or long-term relationships, and all property is held communally. Trade with other tribes and nations is not uncommon, but fairness is ensured by a tribeswoman known as the messrichter. She is elected by the tribe. The other main leader of the tribe is the altesschwert, the leader of the tribe's warriors, who enforce custom, law, and cultural taboos. Each tribe works the year round in order to prepare for the winter Hunt. Everyone shares equally in the work. Children are taught every craft of the tribe, and by the age of 16, they are given a special task that is of equal importance to all other tasks. At the age of 25, they may switch tasks with another if another will agree to it. They must keep a task seven years before trying to switch again. Weaving, hunting, childcare, and trading are the most important tasks; gathering, smithing, pottery making, and singing are next most important. No one in need is turned away from a perchtaine tribe if they come with good intention outside the days of the Hunt. They are allowed to stay until they are safe or healthy enough to move on. Those who stay for more than a month and a day must contribute somehow to the work of the tribe or be asked to leave. Each year, just before midwinter, the perchtaine of all tribes gather for a three day feast. They choose the Frau Perchta for the year, always a huntress of incredible skill. All in the tribe are hunters and weavers. On Yule, they ride out in Hunt, and on Berchtentag twelve days later they stop. The main entourage of Frau Perchta each year is entourage the perchten, a variation on their name as a nation. They are the most elite of the hunters, and usually, one of them will be Frau Perchta the next year. |
| Wild Hunt Culture | When all of the Hunts come together for the Great Wild Hunt, they answer to the inmortal Master of the Wild Hunt (at present, the Erlking). This happens every seven years. The united Hunt is chaotic. All national, social, and cultural boundaries dissolve as the Hunt rides out throughout all of Lyrilla to take fey, vaettir, and mortals who have violated The Law of the Hunt, an ancient law about when, where, and why one must hunt, but which has implications beyond the mere act of hunting. The seven parts of The Law of the Hunt are
This can be taken metaphorically, however. For instance, a police officer who makes a wrongful arrest (5), a lord who is too stingy (7), a wasteful farmer (3), a builder whose materials are not good enough (6), etc. will be likely prey. Those captured during these Hunts belong to the Master of the Wild Hunt alone. The Master will decide their fate. The role of the perchtaine is to find the unjust and wicked and scour them from the world. |
| Other Courts | A perchtaine who leaves their tribe is very, very rare, and almost always a result of some grievous crime or deep misunderstanding. In the case of the former, they are welcomed as treachers in the Unseelie and Unkindly Courts, but still disliked and distrusted. In the Winter Court, they may pay their way in with blood, but most are killed on sight. The Seelie refuse them entry no matter what, and the Summer Court require of them alteration to another nation. The Kindly Court will welcome those who are not wicked, but will try to rebuild their trust with their old tribe if they deem fit. |
| Mortal Interactions | Mortals face judgment from the perchtaine similar to the way fey do. They sometimes seek to appease the perchtaine by leaving out food for them. |
| Notables | Frau Berchta, Perchtaine Manifest; Frau Faste, the Lady of the Ember Days; Berigl, Crone of the Soft Pine; Stampa, Warrior and Huntress of the Fair Bear; Lutzl, Warrior and Huntress of the Fair Elk; Quantembermann, Warrior of the Just Wolf; Kvaternik, Warrior of the Kind Hound; Zloba Pehta, Lady of the Solstice Dark; Pudelfrau, Goosefoot Spinner; Rauweib, White Rider; Zamperin, Warrior of the Brown Goose; Perchata, Eld Daughter; Berchtold, Perchtaine Subsequent, Consort of Frau Berchta; Posterli, Huntress of the Sweet Badger; Fronfastenweiber, Crone of Winter's Justice |
| Special Classes | Gleicheseele, Messrichter, Altesschwert, Perchten, Weaver, Pottery Maker, Caregiver, Trader, Smith, Singer, Jaegerin (hunter) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 12 ATH 14 STR 14 AWA 12 Smell Sight Hearing in Masks 17 WIL 12 ROG 12 Sneak/Hide 15 Vanish (30 seconds) Glamour 9 Whistle 12 Horn 12 Petting 11 Spinning 12 |
GrandGuignol
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