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| Species | Vodnik (pl. Vodnici) (also Vodyanoy) |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Winter |
| Sphere | Pestilence |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; vodnici have vile water Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Deep freshwater rivers, lakes, and ponds |
| Food | Aquatic fare |
| Description | Vodnici appear to be naked old masculine humanoids with a frog-like face, a greenish-grey tangled beard, long greenish-white hair, and a body caked in algae and mud. Their scales are ichthyoid and black. Their hands are webbed, and they have a fish tail. Their eyes burn deep, smoldering red. Vodnici have gills. |
| Procreation | Vodnici reproduce sexually. |
| Esoterica | Vodnici are beings of vile energy, poioumenon, and uafas. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use other msawhat powers, currents aether, soul energy, greenlight aether, bestial aether, Damaskian powers, infernum, mijjit, thorn energy, mansam, imperium, cacophony, arnum, shadow, void, mystery, gebvel, feirua, certain humors, viscera, and spirits. |
| The Tradition | Vodnici have the following basic fey powers:
Vodnici ride half-sunken logs when on the surface of the water; if they crack the log in half, a black cloud will come out, which they can ride. When signficantly angered, their supernatural strength magnifies, allowing them to destroy massive stone walls (like dams). If they capture someone (mortal or fey) who cannot breathe underwater, they can grant them the ability to breathe beneath the surface at the cost of their free will, thus enslaving them. If vodnici gather in large enough groups, they can use ancient songs to open new passages in rivers or lakes to create new ones. Some vodnici collect or create porcelain teapots in which they store souls of the drowned, which they gather before any psychopomp can by smelling the scent of death in the water and inhaling the soul as someone dies. These teapots give them power when displayed in their homes. The souls escape in a bubble if the lid is removed. A vodnik can control fish and other lake/river creatures and spirits by chewing on cattails and speaking with these in their mouths. They can smoke pipes underwater. Vodnici can walk and breathe on land for about nine hours before needing to go back to their lakes or rivers. |
| Glamour | Most faeries can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. Their glamours are horrifying. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same reflective surface in half a minute, vodnici 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 vodnici into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a vodnici from entering a house. Curacion, qi, and sanguine light harm them. They cannot survive in sea water. |
| National Culture | Vodnici live in a brutal slave/feudal society of connected lake and river fiefdoms. They are ruled by a tyrannical king called the vodyanik. The voyanik has vassals who control great networks of lakes and rivers and have vassals of their own, down a chain that includes vevoda, markyz, hrabe, vikomt, baron, and then rytir. The last one is the club-wielding warrior class that runs the vast militaries of the vodnici. All other vodnici are peasants (or, if they have violated the law, slaves). Even peasants control a lake, river, stream, or pond and have their own slaves. When vodnici are children, they are raised either by their parents or by slaves (or both) until they are eight years old, at which time they either begin to work or start to learn from their parents or tutors a special craft. At the age of 25, they are considered adults. The nobility are able to inherit and take authority of their own waterway at this time; peasants must toil to earn their own space or share with their families. As children under the age of eight, they take great joy in loudly splashing mortals who come near their waterways. Vodnici begin taking souls of the drowned as soon as they are able to swim and a convenient drowning comes up. Their parents (or duly appointed tending slaves) teach them how to do it. If they do not have their first teapot by the age of 13, they go on a hunting expedition to lure someone into the waters, let them drown, and take one. If they fail this expedition, they are enslaved if they are a peasant or demoted if they are a noble. Teapots are valuable heirlooms which they cherish and pass down through their families. The more teapots they have, the wealthier they are considered--other signifiers of wealth are secondary. The vodyanik has hundreds. Vodnici also hold land-based communities hostage and demand tribute lest they smash dams and flood their towns, destroy their mills, and kill their families and livestock. Fishermen, millers, and beekeepers are expected to pay tribute from these communities especially, giving them tobacco, willow bark, and honey respectively. These communities refer to the vodnici that extorts them dedecek. Some vodnici decide to try to live on land. They dress in patchy shirts and boater hats with long, speckled ribbons. They wear coats with tails that constantly drip. They develop a human habits and try to fit in, eating and drinking like them. They loiter in villages and take up begging. In their watery domains, vodnici pass the time playing cards and smoking their pipes.
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| Winter Culture | Vodnici nobility and peasants translate over into the Winter Court hierarchy, with the upper aristocracy in the vodnici nation being subject to the higher echelons of the Winter Court. They are still the second most poweful nation in the court. The Winter Queen respects the vodyanik and keeps his counsel. Other nations fear and respect the vodnici. |
| Other Courts | Vodnici are welcome in the Unseelie Court if they have rank; otherwise they are enslaved. The Unkindly Court also welcomes them if they go rogue. The Kindly Court requires that they convert to another nation, and the Summer Court requires them to take a vow to protect the waterways first. The Seelie Court will negotiate with them. |
| Mortal Interactions | Vodnici drown mortals, capture and enslave them, or demand tribute from them. At times, they terrorize them by flooding their communities. |
| Notables | Oggam Daol Bontaeth, the Vodnik in the Sea; Praotec, Vodnik Manifest |
| Special Classes | Vodyanik, Vevoda, Markyz, Hrabe, Vikomt, Baron, Rytir, Chodec (land-walker), Hrncir (teapot maker), Silahnevu (angry strongmen), Ricnirada (river maker cabals), Pastnaryby (fish herder), Otrokchytoc (slave catcher) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 9 ATH 8 Swimming 11 On Land 6 STR 10 On Poison 20 AWA 8 WIL 8 ROG 9 Vanish (30 seconds) Glamour 11 Whistle 7 Slime 11 Cloud-riding 9 Log-riding 9 Soul Inhaling 11 Fish Control (WIL) |
GrandGuignol
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