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| Species | Scealai (pl. Scealaithe) |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Aye |
| Sphere | Story |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; scealai have storied Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Forests |
| Food | Light mortal fare |
| Description | Scealaithe are humanoid fey standing about 4-5' tall. They have stooped backs and four arms. Their skin is usually some shade of green, purple, or brown, and they often have antennae or horn-nubs. They are known for wearing heavy, roughspun robes. |
| Procreation | Scealai reproduce by telling sensual, erotic, or sexual stories before they go to sleep to impregnate each other. Sex among them is purely for pleasure. |
| Esoterica | Scealaithe are beings of poioumenion and dream energy. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use yahas, kor, symbolism, fate, fortune, mystery, karma, mana, recursion, complexity, possibility, spirits, soul, ancestral memory, emotional resonance, flux, cacophony, euphony, euskepsia, banaru, long path, nommos, waarheid, black nommos, misfortune, entropy, shavev mashkalran and the Law. |
| The Tradition | Scealaithe have the following basic fey powers:
Scealaithe can remember any story they have been told. Scealaithe can learn any language if they hear a story in it. When a scealai tells a story at bedtime, the listener will dream they are in the story. If the scealai keeps telling the story each night, speaking for at least an hour after the listener has fallen asleep, the listener will begin to find things from the story in their dreams are true in the waking world. If the story is not completed, the listener can be trapped in the dream world the next time they go to sleep. If the story is completed and the listener wants the true things to remain afterward, they must give the scealai something special to them. A scealai can alter the Name of someone who has been in one of their stories with the object they are given if the listener displeases them later. When a scealai tells a story to a crowd, as a performance, if they draw the crowd into telling the story with them, acting out the parts, the people performing with them will leave with characteristics of the characters they played if and only if (a) the story is completed and (b) they give the scealai something for the performance (usually money). If a listener or performer takes on the role of a character in the story who dies within the story, they risk their life by doing so, but will come away with much greater skills, powers, or characteristics if they survive. The only way to survive dying in a scealai story without stopping the story is by making sure you leave some important part of yourself (in the form of a possession representing that part of yourself) in another place (with intention). Scealaithe can draw skills from stories they know by speaking those stories into a bottle, filling it with sand, honey, sunflower oil, and wine, and consuming the mixture after a fortnight. |
| Glamour | Scealaithe can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. They use these glamours to make their stories come alive. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, scealaithe 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 scealai into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a scealai from entering a house. Most scealaithe detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. Shadow energy will harm them. Though scealaithe can remember any story told to them and can relate stories they have experienced or lived through, they cannot make up their own stories. |
| National Culture | Scealaithe live in large tribes, deep in the woods. Each tribe is led by a council of elders; this council is made up of the finest storytellers among them. The whole community cares for children and each other, telling each other stories to teach and train each other, connect with their ancestors, and to grow and change. Children among the scealai are taught stories before bed, letting them gain powers and skills each night, so that by the time they are seven years old, they are able to tell stories themselves. Then, they begin learning a craft. The tribe decides what they will be by the stories they are told. Courtship among the scealaithe involves sharing stories, both personal and ones collected, and telling them to each other as they fall asleep. The scealaithe are traders and merchants, makers and crafters, mystics and scholars. They have special aimsitheoir sceal, scealai who find stories to bring back to the tribe. They keep special groves where they study and share stories, and they seek common ideas and themes within stories to share skills and powers. Every year, scealaithe honor four major festivals: the story of their nation's founding, the story of the defeat of the giants who once enslaved them, the story of the aimsitheoir sceal who brought back stories from all over the world, and the story of their first time meeting other fey. Each of these has shaped their culture. It is taboo among them to dishonor these stories by leaving the nation, enslaving another, changing a story, or harming another fey (without cause). The aimsitheoiri scealta have a special guild that has no allegiance to any tribe. This guild is led by the aimsitheoir an chead sceil. This aimsitheoir sceal is considered the leader of all scealaithe in times of war and emergency. Otherwise, it is the national council of elders who make decisions; they meet every 25 years. The traders also have an independent guild; this one is led by the maistir. The maistir of the trader guild has enormous power but no official standing as a national leader. |
| Seelie Culture | When the scealaithe met other fey the first time, it was when a sidhe hunting party wandered through their woods. They met, shared stories, and feasted together, forming a fast friendship. The elders of the tribe were invited back with the hunting party, and only when they got back to the city of the sidhe did they learn what it meant when the sidhe called one of their riders "The Queen." That night, the scealai elders entertained the Court of The Queen of All Faeries. She asked them to send their national leaders to meet with her. They came to her seven days hence, each bringing a story to entertain her. She welcomed them with a feast and asked them to tell their stories to the Court. Another night of wonders filled the hall. The next day, The Queen and her advisers worked out an agreement with the scealaithe: protection from the more dangerous fey in exchange for tribute in the form of storytellers, teachers, and scholars. Thus, the scealaithe live in their forest homes, mostly keeping their own culture, but send many of their best and brightest to court or to the cities and schools to teach and entertain. They are considered a privileged part of the servant class. |
| Other Courts | Scealaithe are welcomed in almost every court, though the Unseelie and Unkindly Courts enslave them instead. |
| Mortal Interactions | Scealaithe wander the world, seeking stories from every mortal nation they can find. If a mortal visits the scealaithe, they are regaled with stories, given food and shelter, and then sent away after seven days. |
| Notables | Insint, Scealai Manifest; Taibhiu, Scealai Wanderer; Mhor, Scealai Storyteller to The Queen |
| Special Classes | Stage Speaker, Night Speaker, Elder, Trader, Maker, Aimsitheoir Sceal, Scholar, Deantoir Buideal (bottle maker). Aimsitheoir an Chead Sceal, Maistir, |
| Sample Stats | PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 7 AWA 10 Memory 14 Story Memory 20 WIL 9 ROG 9 Fast Talk 11 Glamour 14 Vanish (30 seconds) Language Learning (Fast) Performance 14 Storytelling 17 Whistle 7 |
GrandGuignol
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