Mar 22

Changelings



On the first day of autumn, in Year 3045, young Basel Smythe had a problem.

He was late for seminary. He'd slept though his rooster... again. In his rush to get out of bed and put on his clothes he tripped, fell and rolled into his closet. The tunic he grabbed was too big, his breeches too long. And he had the damnest time buttoning his shirt with his foot-long beard in the way. Basel went to his bedroom mirror, and had a good, long look. Long beard, short legs, stout torso, stubby fingers, ruddy complexion... all the hallmarks of your average dwarf.

And thus Basel realized he had encountered a second problem. For sixteen-year-old Basel had gone to bed just as he had lived his entire life... as a human. Born and raised in a small village in Narcua near the Grasslands, the last time Basel had even seen a dwarf was ten years ago, when a few of them came with the circus.

Basel went downstairs and gave his mother the shock of her life. Once she had been convinced this was not a prank, the local high-ranking priest of Zigaad was discreetly brought in. He could find nothing wrong with the boy, neither magic nor mundane, and recommended that Basel make an offering to Zigaad and get some rest. Basel did as he was asked, and sure enough, the next morning he awoke as his old self.

And all was right in the world... until a week later. Basel was in seminary, when he sneezed in class... and turned into an elf.

Word spread quickly through the village of Basel's strange malady, for not only was it a small village but Basel was also the son of the local lord, who owned all of the surrounding countryside and ruled the area. Rumors abounded as to the origin of Basel's condition: a curse on his family, a test from Zigaad, some weird magical disease. And then some of the old women in the town started using the word, awakening an old legend.

Changeling.

People began to remember the tales, as old as the hills south of the village. Of how the fey would come when a baby was born. Of how the fey would take the baby, and replace it... something else. Something born in the fey lands, something with magical powers, something not human.

There was a druid who lived in the Grasslands, north of the village. The villagers drew straws and the unlucky one went out into the savannah, braving the tall grass and taller gnolls to find the old druid's hut. He told the druid of Basel, and the village's suspicions. With a sigh, the druid told the villager to go home, and the next day he got out his gnarled walking stick and hobbled his way further north, to a small copse.

The druid asked the local fairies - in a voice which if it had had a body would have rolled its eyes - if anyone had been going around switching babies. To which the fey replied no no of course not, what kind of sick fairy would do such a thing, that is quite a slanderous thing to say old man, I mean yes maybe hypothetically a long long time ago we maybe might have done some baby-swapping as a practical joke but that was like a thousand years ago hypothetically speaking and the baby-swappers surely would have been hypothetically drunk to the gills and wouldn't you know it if humans from two thousand years ago really can't take a joke kind of like the humans now not that any jokes have been played recently and definitely no baby swapping how dare you even think it. And with that the old druid nodded his head and hobbled  home.

The villagers eventually learned that the fey had nothing to do with Basel's condition, but by then the name had stuck. "How fares the changeling today?" "No better - he had a coughing spell, I heard, and turned into a doobil."

Basel's father, Duke Smythe, had been away on business when his son's conditon started. By the time he returned, near the beginning of winter, his wife had fallen ill, apparently from the stress of what Basel had become.

It was obvious the boy was not human. With concentration he could assume the form of many different humanoid races - dwarves, halflings, elves, orcs - but his "natural" state was that of a gangly, hairless, black-skinned humanoid with no nose, and only a hint of a mouth. His eyes were like a cat's, and he could see in the dark with them. He had quit seminary long ago, and confined himself to the family manor.

Duke Smythe began acting strange soon after his return to the village. Most people assumed that like his wife the stress of his son's condition was getting to him, but the truth was much darker. One night the duke crept into the village's church and tried to murder the head priest. His attempt failed, and the priest managed to knock him out. Unconscious, the duke changed, transforming into a creature looking much like what his son had become.

Duke Smythe was a |doppelgangers|doppelganger.

The duke was arrested for attempted murder and taken to Valis for interrogation, for none had seen the likes of him before. His wife succumbed to her illness... or committed suicide, depending on who tells the story. Basel had committed no crime but some Narcuan soldiers came anyway, keeping him under house arrest. By then there was no need to try and confine him, though, for insanity had trapped the boy in his own mind.

Duke Smythe, or the creature who had taken over his life over twenty years before, was interrogated for a month. One night during a guard change his cell was opened and inside was found one of the guards, gagged and beaten unconscious. The doppelganger had escaped.

A week later Basel also vanished. Neither have been seen since.

The Change

Since Basel's transformation, other changelings have arisen, enough to know that they are different from doppelgangers. Like tieflings, aasimar, and genasi, a changeling is someone from a human family who has a doppelganger as a direct ancestor. Though in Basel's case the doppelganger was his father, the ancestor need not be a parent - it could be a grandfather or grandmother, or an earlier ancestor.

The existence of a changeling casts the eye of suspicion on a family, for it means that someone in that family, either living or dead, was replaced by a doppelganger and is thus probably a drow spy. Some families are supportive of their changeling relative and battle against this suspicion. But many if not more families will try to absolve themselves of any supposed wrongdoing by casting the changeling out, though the changeling is almost always an innocent victim. Other families will attempt to hide the existence of their changeling member, which is indeed possible if the changeling's true form first manisfests in private and he quickly becomes able to control his shapechanging ability.

A changeling's doppelganger heritage grants him some but not all of the abilities of that race. Like doppelgangers, changelings can see in the dark, are immune to sleep magic, and are resistant to charm spells. Many inherit the doppelganger's charisma and persuasiveness. However, changelings cannot read thoughts.

A changeling's shapeshifting ability is limited when compared to that of doppelgangers. While doppelgangers can assume practically any humanoid form, changelings seem to be limited to forms close to their own size, and forms they are at least somewhat familiar with. And while doppelgangers, who are innately sexless, can assume forms of either gender, changelings seem to be locked into the gender they were born as (though their true form is also sexless; it seems that changelings are truly sterile, and cannot produce offspring, even with each other). Changelings cannot mimic other people like doppelgangers can. In fact, they can only assume one form for each race they can change into. For example, when a changeling turns into a dwarf, he always looks like the same dwarf, every time. A changeling's human form is the one he had in life before his changeling powers manifested.

Changelings cannot mimic clothing or other items on their person with their shapeshifting. Changelings who shapeshift often favor either loose clothing such as robes or form-fitting outfits with a degree of elasticity. However, changelings do have one ability doppelgangers do not possess - when in their true form, they somehow unconsciously camoflauge all worn items to match their dark skin. Lastly, unlike doppelgangers, who can shapeshift with ease, changing and sustaining forms seems to take a toll on changelings; overall they are neither as nimble nor as hardy as the average human.

Changelings react in wildly different ways to the realization of their true nature. Some revel in their abilities, changing forms asit suits them, and end up finding work which utilizies their unique skill - actor, confidence man, spy. Others choose a single form and try to live a single life, forever hiding their powers from even their closest friends. Still others use their abilities to lead several different lives at the same time. While some choose to worship Wyleven for obvious reasons, others simply try to blend into a community and will worship whatever deities are locally honored.

Like doppelgangers, many changelings suffer from an identity crisis. The elf saying "clothes make the man" applies to forms as well; a changeling in halfling form may start to get into the role and take on halfling personality traits. Indeed, some changelings eventually suffer a psychotic break, and create a persona for each of their forms. Though this split-personality case is extreme and rare, many changelings will create a role for each form they can assume.

Changelings are extremely rare, but word of their existence has spread across The Known Lands. Their indirect, supposed connection to the drow has been enough to generate a negative perception among most people, and known changelings can have a hard time socially.



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