Through A Glass Darkly 2.0

Comparing Exalted Fair Folk to 1st Series Chaosians

I don't know about anyone else, but I've often found the Merlin Series depiction of the denizens of the Courts of Chaos as kind of flat. Lacking poetry. Or rather, they come across just like the Elders only with bat wings and fangs. True, they come from a common stock- but the air of mystery and danger in the first series hangs upon the terrible and frightning nature of this 'unknown' power. To treat the Courts like the Munsters (that is, a depiction of a family that is superfically radically different from our family, but really just like us on the inside) just shatters some of the imagery.

Comparing the Fair Folk from White Wolf's anime / high fantasy game- I think I see some material that could jazz up an old fashioned view of the Courts of Chaos.

[author's note: Originally I wrote this article with a mind to substitute the Fair Folk for the Chaosians. Comparing them, I'm not sure they aren't actually too different from even the 1st series. However, I do see some good material to modify the existing Courts (via Wuj) into something that captures the feel of the 1st series. I will be following up with a hybrid of the Fair Folk and Chaosians in another article, and another piece about using the Fair Folk in their own right]

I would love to quote the entire first two pages of The Courts of Chaos, but not only would that be lengthy but perhaps not appropriate. Yet, to make my point, consider all that we know about Chaos from the 1st Series; the inhuman quality of Dara on the Pattern; the Shadowcats who recognize Corwin as the Opener of the Ways; Strygalldwir. Oberon's funeral procession; an inhuman parade of musicians, dragons of incalculable size, and white mythic cattle. The bestial creatures playing impossible musical instruments.

Consider this passage I will quote from Roger Zelazny:
There were ghostly drummers, beings of pure light and a flock of flying machines; I saw horsemen, clad all in black, mounted on a variety of beasts; a wyvern seemed to hang in the sky for a moment, like part of a fireworks display. And the sounds- of hoofbeats and footfalls, of singling and skirling, of drumming and trumpeting- mounted on a might wave that washed over us.
The Courts of Chaos

Now from Exalted:
The Fair are creatures of the Wyld. They are born into an incomprehensible realm, where they dwell in ever-shifting castles built in trees made of seawater and hunt mantis-headed stag that flee across plains made of human hands. This endless chaos lies beyond the furthest reaches of the mortal world. The Deep Wyld is a realm of infinite potential, unlimited power, and immeasurable danger. The mercurial forces of this realm can slay even its most powerful native inhabitants in an instant. In addition to an unstable environment, the Fair Folk also face other dangers. Fey nobles spend much of their immortal lives enmeshed in endlessly complex games of power and status. Failure at these intrigues can easily result in disgrace, enslavement, death, or worse.
Scavenger Sons, Appendix Two

Sorry Merlin fans, that sounds more like the Chaos I originally envisioned.

Sense many people don't have Exalted, let me expound on what the Fair Folk are like.

First, a brief comparison of Exalted to Changeling, for those who may not know. Exalted is perhaps easily described as the Prehistoric World of Darkness. Consequently, the Fae don't suck. Not that I thought they ever did, but fankids tend to point out how much weaker they are than vampires or werewolves. That was not the point of Changeling so those comparisons are not fair from the start. Nonetheless, just for the sake of clarity- the Fair Folk in Exalted suffer none of those banality issues. They are a potent force to be reckoned with. They also don't come in a 'class' structure that you usually find in a WW product. (In fairness, they're also not presented as a playable race)

The world of Exalted is flat. That is, it's rectangular flat world.. surrounded at it's furthest regions by Wyld- from whence the Fair Folk come. Exalted uses (what I believe is) an Eastern array of elemental forces, Wind (snow), Water, Fire, Wood, and Stone. Wind is the North Pole, Water to the West, Wood to the East, and Fire to the South. The center of world has a solitary mountain, which has the Pole of Stone. The Fair Folk call the world, "Creation" and they come from beyond it.. Their ever-changing land exists all around the borders of Creation.

From here- let me compare the relative similarities and differences.

Similarities
1.) Both are essentially shapeshifters. How they shapeshift is also one of their differences. Like Wujcik's interpretation of Chaosians, the Fair Folk have a definite elemental association as well (the nobility preferring raw elemental qualities and the lower classes taking animal forms associated with an element). More in the differences section

(For example: the Fair Folk, in their Deepest Realm, have no shape- they acquiesce to some of reality's rules in order to enter it. Yet once in reality they do have a true shape. ::rolls eyes:: It's no great surprise that White Wolf is fuzzy on this, as usual. More later!)

2.) Both are essentially immortal. Possessing a superior skill set than mortal beings (which is assumed in Amber DRPG).

3.) Both hail from an inhospitable shapeshifting realm, from which other beings would have difficulty surviving. Their reasons for invading Shadow, Amber, Creation, and so on are as varied within themselves as they are to each game. But that's not terribly specific, so I'll elaborate. The Fair Folk's motivations tend to range from a desire to destroy what is perceived as the irritating stability of Creation; to exploiting it for resources (tangible and intangible); ruling and controlling it; or simply using it as a safer refuge from their own terrible Realm.

4.) Both are alien to the Creation and Shadow. The Fair Folk may appear to be part of nature, due to their elemental associations, particularly if the association is Wood. Their eldritch green armor may be festooned with oak leaves, and acorns... But they are alien beings from beyond Creation. The spirits of nature and the Lesser Gods reject them because they have no place in the Celestial Courts, or the Spirit Heirarchies. They are Beyonders. That's how I see the Chaosians when they enter a Shadow that has it's own magic and beings of Power.

5.) Both exist in a hierarchical society. Rz and the Wuj leave most of this up to our individual imagination when it comes to the Chaosians. Yet we get a definite sense of a ranked society. WW takes it a step furter: the Fair Folk (at least in Creation) are defined two ways. By their elemental association, which is not relevant in this context, and by their social rank. The Ranks are worker, warrior, entertainer, diplomat, and nobility. The class system does sound like White Wolf, but I concede that in a heirarchial model everyone does have a particular role to play. Curiously enough; WW describes the Nobility as being the most common class encountered in Creation.

6.) Both have access to some wicked magical powers. I should also note that the Fair Folk tend to be inhumanly beautiful, particularly the upper class. That just fits with Amber. :)

Differences

1.) The Shapeshifting is quite different, and White Wolf contradicts itself slightly. That should not shock anyone. The Fair Folk coming from the Deep Wyld have no form. By entering Creation, they are subjecting themselves to some of it's rules and laws. Thus they acquire a shape upon entry from the "madlands". This is called their True Shape. This True Shape is theirs while in Creation and can never be changed- unless they return to the Deep Wyld and perform complex rituals, which in geekspeak is to 'wipe their template clean.' The True Shape of the Nobility is a generally inhumanly perfect and beautiful humanoid form with their elemental association. For the lower classes, it's usually an animal shape associated with a particular element (I'll probably be more specific in another post). The touch of cold iron will force them to revert to their true shapes. They can furthermore shapeshift into other forms, still adhering to certain elemental themes. This form of shapeshifting is more a "psyche versus subjective reality" as opposed to the malleable yet almost biological shapeshifting of traditional Amber Chaosites.

2.) Psyche is important to them, more important than any other Amber attribute. There is no feeling of mediation in the Exalted background, by anything like Endurance. If their psyche fails- then their external magic is broken, i.e. they enchant someone else so that they can walk on water, and that individual can do it until they stop believing. They can still be quite dangerous however.

3.) They require something as sustenance and can be vampiric if the need arises. In Exalted, if they live near the Threshold of Creation, otherwise known as the border between reality and the primal chaos surrounding it- then they can live off the ambient energies of such a location. Otherwise they need some location that generates enough ambient magical energies off which they can feed- the Keep of Four Worlds would be an excellent example. Finally, if they depart too far from the Threshold, and have no locus of magical forces to draw from- they feed off the dreams of mortal man. Like a vampire, they can take just what they need, or they can suck a person dry- leaving them a soulless husk. Again, their modus operandi is varied- as some are just ravagers, while others are more civilized about it. The alternatives to ravaging are bartering. Trading dreams for fantastic goods like brass horses and enchanted weapons of amazing lightness forged from green glass, impossible services like assassinations and deeds that only heroes could accomplish.. to something as simple as fantastic sex with their inhumanly perfect and exquisite bodies- all for a handful or dreams. Yet most Fair Folk are depicted as malevolent. They are more likely to create a situation to trap someone into giving away all their dreams in exchange for help, not knowing their rescuer is exploiting them. One interesting example was a northern snow queen who acted as a ruler of a remote town. She keeps every safe and well. But the price is that children, upon reaching puberty, must spend a single night with her- where she feasts upon their dreams of innocence. Afterwards, they block the memory, or forever look after her with a feeling of twisted longing.

4.) The Fair Folk are a bit more chaotic than the Chaosians, particularly the second series ones. This is best described by the following passage:

To the Fair Folk, there is no difference between sport and day-to-day existence. They know no fear, no hesitation, no remorse, and no regret. They approach everything with total dedication and with a total disregard for the outcomes and consequences. Every action is undertaken for immediate gratification. This fact does not mean that the Fair Folk do not have long-term planning abilities or that they have no memories or attention spans. It simply means that the idea of repercussions, moral qualms or the costs of an action to themselves has no effect on their judgement. Exalted Core Rulebook pg 82.

5.) Finally, there are a few minor rules that the Exalted suffer under that Chaosians don't. That is, they take additional damage from iron. They lie with great ease, but once they swear to something- they adhere to it. To know a faerie's true name is to force them to resume their true shape and to be largely immune to their external magics.

In conclusion, there are a lot of similarities, but some important differences. I think incorporating some of the ideas put down in Exalted, on the Fair Folk, could be useful in spicing up a version of Courts of Chaos that may seem just a little bit too much like Amber.

That and this article is getting too long. :) Thanks for reading to the bottom.

Posted by Himmaggery at October 24, 2003 9:57 PM | TrackBack