Changeling - Players Guide.pdf

and may shift members or dissolve; while it exists, however,
no outsider can shake a tragos' unity.
Leadership and Disputes
More often than not, the best musician in the band (in
game terms, the one with the highest Charisma + Performance
Dice Pool) leads the tragos, no matter her gender, age
or wisdom. The others follow her lead. As you can imagine,
this makes for some chaotic times. In the hands of an
especially talented childling, tragos have been known to gang
up on schoolyard bullies, start food fights at high feasts, or play
hopscotch till dawn.
If a dispute arises, tragos use one of three resolutions. In
the first, the contestants fight, either physically or through
riddles or contests. Seelie satyrs prefer the latter, and fae may
come from all around to see the goats out-do each other.
Unseelie types prefer to butt heads until someone's unconscious.
If the dispute is especially bad, the loser may be exiled
from the band.
The second recourse is debate. Many satyrs are skilled
debaters, and love to exercise their skills at others' expense.
These contests often begin with a subject — the color of the
sky and how it got that way, for instance — chosen by the band
leader (or by the challenger, if the band leader is involved).
These topics often veer off into insult contests until someone
either concedes by laughing or runs off in a huff.
The third (and least-favored) method is to invite a
respected outsider to judge the case. Two satyrs choose sides
and argue the question; in Seelie Courts, these "lawyers" are
usually third parties, not plaintiffs. Both sides agree to abide by
the judge's decision, but seldom do for long. Soon, the dispute
will arise again, unsettled. Goats suck at following orders.
Oathbonds and War
Like all fae, satyrs take their oaths seriously. Tragos stick
together; their music is considered a minor bond unto itself.
Other bonds take precedence, however. If an oathbound goat
joins a tragos (or if a member takes an oath later on), the group
concedes that the stronger bond comes first. They let her go
off to fulfill her obligations; if the band is still intact when she
returns, the bonded one always has a place to come home to.
Naturally, many a satyr has returned from a quest to find her
tragos scattered, but then such are the ways of the world.
Attacking a goat is a dangerous thing; more often than
not, an entire tragos will take on one member's enemies, even
if the group has no quarrel with them. Though they prefer not
to fight as a rule, satyrs make fearsome combatants en masse.
While the strongest protect the others, the best musicians
raise passions to a pitch, distracting their foes and heartening
theirfriends. In wartime, nobles set tragos aside as battlebands.
Their savage songs rival hurricanes for ferocity. (In game
terms, such warsongs subtract 1 from all allies' difficulties, and
add 1 to the difficulties of their foes. If two warbands play
against each other, they cancel each other out and make a
hellish racket.)
Calephetos
Few things depress satyrs more than Banality; if one of
their own falls into a funk, the others will do anything
(including beating the stuffing out of him) to shake him back
to his usual rowdy self. If this fails, they sing the mourning
song, calephetos. Such songs often end triumphantly hut sadly.
It's no coincidence that tragedy and tragos share the same root
word.
All satyrs know the calephetos from awakening on — it's
instinctive, not learned. This wordless dirge conveys all the
sorrow their kind have ever known. No one can resist weeping
at the sound, which hangs like fog long after the song has
ended. The band leader begins and the others join in, until
the subject is carried into the chorus. Each member of the
band takes turns until only the Banal one is left. As it comes
around to him, he makes a decision: death or life. His response
carries the answer.
If he chooses to live, he bleats happily and begins to
dance; if not, he begins to chant his fondest memories in
rhyme. When he comes at last to the tribute itself, the others
begin to stamp their hooves. As the rhythm builds, everything
around them start to quake. The beat carries for miles, compelling
all fae within hearing range to dance. Even mortals with
Banality ratings of 5 or lower join in (others look on, bewildered;
they can sense that something is happening, but they
don't know what). The tragos begins to caper madly, then
rushes out to the nearest fun spot and indulges in a night-long
binge. In the morning, the lost one dies smiling, and the others
disperse to find other bands. A vital part of the tragos is gone.
Courts
The greatest difference between the Seelie and Unseelie
satyrs is the number of people they hurt and the severity of the
wounds. Those who favor their better side generally try to do
right: they prefer good cheer to uninhibited carousing. The
darker variety don't care who gets hurt, or how badly, so long
as the goats themselves have a good time. If one member of
a tragos changes Courts, the others either adapt (by changing
Courts) or disperse. Given the savage nature of Unseelie
satyrs, few Seelie ones will join their debaucheries.
All satyrs love the company of artists and entertainers.
They inspire, and are inspired by, their companions, be they
mortal, fae or Prodigal. Some mingle in human rock bands, or
join artists' colonies in search of a good party. Some gravitate
to wherever the "beautiful people" are, bringing the party
with them. Depending on a given satyr's alliance (or his
tragos' Court), he may be great guy to have around, or a
nightmare.