Changeling - Players Guide.pdf

cannot expose her true nature to the cold, banal world. As
with any animal in a dangerous world, natural or supernatural,
we need a bit of protective "camouflage" to survive. The
Chrysalis is a way we can maintain our sanity, while learning
what we need to know to survive in this mundane world.
In nature, there's a reason for everything. Whales have
blubber so they don't freeze under the water. Salmon lay eggs
in their birthplace to keep their young 'uns away from the
predator's teeth. Sidhe have their good looks so they can lord
it over everyone else... and changelings experience the
Chrysalis as a means of recognizing, expressing and resolving
their twin natures, as well as living in a world that denies their
existence. Not all changelings undergo the same ordeal; some
fledges experience a mild Chrysalis. 1 heard about this fledge
redcap who discovered his changeling nature by devouring
five suitcases of his Black Dog game cards in one slurp, but
that's another story. Some never get through this painful,
torturous first step to the state of self-realization. There are
those changelings who either retreat further into their banal,
mundane states, or they embrace Banality and become
Dauntain. Those who become Dauntain, thank goodness, are
very rare. Others may experience a mini-Chrysalis, and reject
it — or are never discovered by other Kithain — and return
to their mundane states, only to re-experience the Chrysalis
again much later in life.
In the majority of Kithain, the human psyche overwhelms
the changeling spirit at around six to eight years of
age, if it has not already emerged. Kids stop talking to their
imaginary friends and start paying more attention to the
mundane world. They are taught that the world is round,
dragons don't exist, and that elves and dwarves are fine for
Saturday-morning cartoons but not as confidantes. The stifling
press of this world is too much for the changeling spirit,
and she turns her back on the Dreaming. During this time the
Kithain soul protects itself from the banal world by wrapping
itself up within a cocoon of Glamour. This protection lasts
until a later point in the changeling's life.
Eventually, the Kithain soul begins to slough off its
outer, mushy, banal shell. A Kithain soul senses certain
changes in the environment and reacts to them by emerging
from its protective shell. No one really knows or remembers
exactly why or when the Kithain soul chooses to break out of
its shell. Sidhe are more recent arrivals than most of us, but
they lose all recollection of everything up until their Chrysalis.
Sidhe also do not "exist" with their mortal halves, but
rather they "replace" the mortal soul with themselves. Theft,
you say? Well, don't let a sidhe hear you say that.... Also,
sidhe do not return to this world as commoners do. Once they
die, that is the end, at least as far as we know.
With the exception of the sidhe, and even with some of
them, there are certain physical and psychological phases
that occur before a Chrysalis.