Changeling - Players Guide.pdf

ing a drum, shaking a rattle or dancing, and these are acceptable
substitutes. It is their belief that all such songs originated in the
Higher Hunting Grounds, were given into the safekeeping of the
spirits of the Upper World and were taught to the Nunnehi as the
need for them arose. They are not, therefore, toys to be used
frivolously or wasted on a whim. They are serious magic.
Most Nunnehi feel that they are, in some ways, the
caretakers of Medicine. They feel that they have been entrusted
with powerful secrets, and that it is their duty to see that such
powers are used wisely. The Nunnehi believe that the spirits of
the Upper World watch them to make certain that they don't
misuse the songs of power. This belief leads Nunnehi to justify
(either before or after) the use and necessity for using the songs
whenever they do so. Sometimes this causes the Nunnehi to
delay her action while she makes offerings, performs a purification
ritual or states her reasons to the spirits and those around
her who might be agents of the spirits.
No one said the Nunnehi are not vain. There is more of
a conscious sense among Nunnehi of being part of an ongoing
story or a living legend than is usual among other changelings.
Part of their approach to using songs of power is done
with a view to how it will sound when the story of their deeds
is later told around the campfire or sung of at a powwow. They
use their songs of power with more ceremony and are quite
aware of crafting them to create dramatic moments — but use
them only when they are appropriate.
Nunnehi magic is often used as part of a ceremony or
ritual, whether tribal or personal. Often, they use their
Medicine at the request of others or for the general good of
their Nunnehi Nation or mortal tribe. Rarely do they indulge
themselves simply for convenience's sake. This is particularly
true of the Wayfare, Soothsay and Spirit Link Arts.
Soothsay and Spirit Link are considered too important
to be wasted on minor issues. When they are used, the
Nunnehi usually undergoes a purification ritual and engages
in a ceremony designed to earn the favor of the spirits first.
Naturally, in an emergency, such things can be dispensed
with, so long as the Nunnehi performs a lengthy thanksgiving
ceremony afterwards.
Because they see themselves as part of an ongoing story,
Nunnehi usually prefer to travel by normal means rather than
via Wayfare whenever possible. To them, the journey is as
important as the destination. Journeys are symbolic representations
of the passage from one stage to another, and are
therefore a part of the cycle of life. When they really need to
get somewhere faster or utilize the other Wayfare powers,
they do so, but only to save a life, prevent a catastrophe, or if
it is the only way they can travel to a certain place.
Naturally, not all Nunnehi are equally concerned with
maintaining a balance or refrain from overuse of their powers.
Some Winter people (and even a few Summer people and Tricksters)
abuse their gifts, using them to gamer personal power at the
expense of others or bullying someone simply because they can.
These Nunnehi have embraced dark spirit energy, and are consid-
The Medicine Bag
There exists one piece of personal adornment
that Nunnehi always wear—the medicine bag. A
medicine bag is a small pouch, usually made of
deer skin or some other supple hide. It may be
decorated with shells, feathers, tufts of hair, beads
or quillwork, or it may be plain. Medicine bags are
strung on thongs and worn around the neck.
Nunnehi place items they feel a connection to in
their medicine hags — small stones, feathers, bits
of wood or flint, or anything else that they feel is
important to their life or that symbolizes their
totem or animal companions.
The medicine bag is at once and the same
time a protective amulet and a summation of a
Nunnehi's life up to the present time. Whenever
something of significance occurs, the Nunnehi
adds something symbolic of that event or that was
in the area when the event occurred to his bag.
Nunnehi believe that all the items they have
chosen to place inside their hags become imbued
with spirit energy. If something is lost from the
bag, given away or stolen, the Nunnehi feels
incomplete until its place is filled by something
else of significance. Until such an item is found
and acquired (for which a quest might be required),
the Nunnehi gains one less success in any
Medicine he attempts to use. If the whole medicine
bag is stolen or destroyed, the Nunnehi must
undertake a quest to replace it and its contents as
nearly as possible with duplicates of what was lost.
Until he does so, he is - 2 successes in the use of any
songs of power due to the psychological distress
involved in the loss of his medicine bag.
ered by most Nunnehi to have perverted the songs of power.
Nevertheless, many such Nunnehi become powerful warriors or
witches (a term used for either male or female sorcerers) and can
be quite dangerous. These are, in fact, the most likely Nunnehi to
raid other changelings' freeholds and attack them in the wilds.Spirits
The spirits of plants, minerals and the elements are frequently
willing to adopt Nunnehi as their charges. This
relationship between a Nunnehi and her "totem" spirit enables
her to enter the spirit plane. The spirits detailed in this section
do not cover the full range of beings available as totem spirits for
Nunnehi, but are meant to provide the Storyteller with ideas for
designing others for use in a chronicle involving Nunnehi
characters. A Storyteller whose chronicle is set in the American
Southwest, for example, may draw upon her knowledge or
research of that region in order to come up with totem spirits of
plants and minerals or natural phenomena specific to the land