SR5:Race:Pixie
| 5th Edition Rules |
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| Basics // Combat // Magic // Matrix // Driving // Character Creation |
| Races |
| Humans | Elves | Dwarves | Orks | Trolls |
| Centaurs | Nagas | Pixies | Sasquatches | Changelings | Shapeshifters |
| CHARACTERS AND CHANGELING CULTURE |
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Changelings are outsiders by nature. They don’t want to be part of the normal society because they are special. They were pushed to the outskirts and found a home there, with others like them who understand them. While the world has had sixty years to adjust to the idea of 2.5 meter trolls, burly orks, stout dwarfs, and graceful elves (and haven’t gotten it perfect yet), they have had only a little more than a decade to come to grips with beaks, tentacles, frog tongues, and tails. And there are so many fewer changelings than metahumans, no one ever gets a chance for them to be seen everyday and make them seem normal. A character, even one running the shadows who is a natural outsider, still needs a place to call home with people who understand them. The character can choose whether they are trying to fit in, whether they go back to their neighborhoods, or whether they go the route of the hermit and live alone, away from the world. Roleplaying the difficulties of fitting in when you don’t look like anyone near you or even the difficulties of a life where finding someone like you may never happen should weigh heavily on the character. They may be the dreamer who knows that the right one is out there; they may be the shut-in, angry at the world because they can never know whether their present company is there for them as a person or because they want to watch the sideshow; or they could be oblivious, or play oblivious, to the reality of their situation. Being a changeling may seem cool to have the great abilities or nifty stat boosts, but the true advantage is in the character you can play, the chance to play out the role of the outsider on the outside, while struggling to be accepted on the inside. |
INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR CLASSIFICATION
| RACE | BODY | AGI | REA | STR | WIL | LOG | INT | CHA | EDGE | MAG | ESS | INIT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pixie | 1/2 | 3/8 | 3/8 | 1/2 | 3/8 | 2/7 | 2/7 | 3/8 | 2/7 | 1 | 6 | REA+INT |
| Racial Traits:Astral Perception, Concealment (Self Only), Vanishing, Uneducated; Movement (x1/x2/+1; x2/x6/+2m flight) | ||||||||||||
The still-developing culture of the changelings is an interesting area of study. Anthropologists are able to observe the breaking away of a sect of a culture in real time as opposed to making guesswork on what happened from writings or stories. Changelings today usually go one of two ways, depending on the severity of their SURGE expression. Those who have been greatly changed are what I’d rather focus on, as they are the ones who are developing a new culture for themselves and their kind. Those whose expressions are minor often simply stick within their original culture and accept their small differences as simply a part of who they are, or they hide them in order to fit in. These same individuals are also the ones who show up at changeling gatherings and then try to fit in because they “know what it’s like,” only to find themselves drummed out or ignored. Because in truth, they don’t know what it’s like.
The changeling culture is one of acceptance for their own kind and the expansive variations of their expressions, along with a reluctance to take part in the formalized culture of anyone else. They revel in their nature, and many have been trying to create changeling-only communities with varying levels of success due to the limited number of individuals with extensive expressions. Within these areas, and within the culture of the changelings themselves, is a world of accepting difference and expressing one’s self, often through art or stage performance. The revitalization of small portions of slum communities has become a calling card for changeling communities. As a group and as a culture, they help each other out, and every structure is customized for the changeling who will live there. They even work together to remodel homes for those who move in or when they have children who display different traits. The areas have also attracted many metavariants who also don’t feel at home in the rest of the world. Acceptance is universal for the altered. That acceptance is limited, though, as they have very little tolerance for any normal human (or “norman,” as they call them) who wants to live among them, feeling they are simply being used to boost the norman’s countercultural cred, or that they are being pitied as “freaks.”
The counterculture of changelings is about not accepting changes, but rather trying to erase them in an effort to fit in. They may attempt self-mutilation to get back to normal, they may cover up changes and act as if they don’t exist, or they may try to become a mainstream success in some field or another, giving something for the normans to condescendingly admire as an “inspiration.” For changelings, joining the culture of the world at large is their counterculture.
CHANGELING SPECIFIC
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These small humanoids resemble miniature elves with wings. They bear ethnic traits from around the world, usually similar to the local metahuman population. Pixies stand under a half-meter tall, though their feet are rarely on the ground to measure them. Their wingspan measures approximately one meter across. The average pixie’s wings resemble iridescent dragonfly wings, but other variations have been noted, including those mimicking the wing profiles of bats, birds of prey, butterflies, and grasshoppers, and pixies claim an even wider spectrum of wings is possible. Regardless of their wings’ appearance, pixies use an innate manipulation of mana for flight instead of actual aerodynamics. They also possess the innate magical ability to conceal themselves; this seems to be their natural state, as they immediately disappear at the moment of death, which makes postmortem study and taxonomical classification of the species a challenge. Unsavory elements have attempted living autopsies, but pixies are tricky and tough catch, and those who claim to have information from such procedures are not necessarily to be trusted.
Pixies tend to live in forested areas away from cities. They group themselves by family and develop treehouse villages. On rare occasions, pixies have been known to try out life in urban sprawls. Their size is usually the most limiting factor, though variations in mana levels also affect their ability to fly and magically conceal themselves.
The Korrigan, a coalition of paranormal entities, spirits, and fey entities, are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the creation of the independent nation of Brocéliande Forest within France. Pixies are a major force in this group, providing leadership and direction (insofar as this loose gathering allows itself to be led).
Estimated Worldwide Population: Unknown
Population Centers: Brocéliande Forest (Brittany region of France), United Kingdom, Tír na nÓg, Tír Tairngire, Ukraine, Duchy of Pomoyra, and the Black Forest Troll Republic
International Status: France is the only nation that issues permanent SINs to pixies; the governments of Tír Tairngire, the United Kingdom, Tír na nÓg, and the UCAS issue criminal SINs to pixies convicted of a crime. NeoNET and Evo are the only megacorporations with pixie corporate citizens.
