Motley

motley: A small group of changelings, sometimes bound in a pledge of friendship^[1].

Motleys gather out of friendship and pledge to aid one another in rebuilding their mortal lives, just as they promise to stand beside one another and achieve standing, power and safety among the changeling courts. The hows and whys of their journeys, the lives they will forge or reforge for themselves — these are the stories that will unfold in Changeling: The Lost^[2].

Each motley of Lost that makes their communal way out of the Thorns is an object lesson in mutual strength.

The Motley Pledge

Though not all motleys use this motley pledge (or even us a pledge at all), this is perhaps the most commonly sworn pledge to bind motleys together. Some elements in changeling society don’t even consider a group of changelings a true motley until they’ve sworn a motley pledge.

The boons of this pact usually manifest in traits that the motley hold as important together: if they are a group of high society movers-and-shakers, their pledge may grant them a bonus to Socialize and two dots in Resources. Likewise, a gathering of martial changelings dedicated to defending their freehold from Fae incursions may gain a bonus dot to Weaponry and two additional dots in the motley’s token Fighting Style.

Of course, those who break this pledge not only lose the blessings of the motley, but suffer a loss of their own personal ability for a time — in stepping away from the motley and its preferred focus, the oathbreaker sacrifices some of her own ability and skill. To turn her back on her motley is to turn her back on the things the motley embraces.

--Hand to hand we stand, and side by side. Though my brother and I may quarrel, none may quarrel with my brother and not quarrel with me. This is my oath: friendship, assistance and the blessings that come of both, until the year has spun anew. May our prosperity desert us, and our talents fail us, should we break this vow of brotherhood. — We had our families taken from us, but now we’re family, bound by more than blood. I swear to stand by each of you as you swear to stand by me, for a year and a day, and accepting all curses that may fall on me if I lie.

--We had our families taken from us, but now we’re family, bound by more than blood. I swear to stand by each of you as you swear to stand by me, for a year and a day, and accepting all curses that may fall on me if I lie.

• Type: Vow (though sometimes changelings swear nemesis emblem corporals, using one another’s personal emblems)
• Tasks: Alliance, Greater (–3, all)
• Boons: Adroitness (+1, all), Blessing, Medial (+2, all)
• Sanction: Poisoning of Boons, Greater (–3, poisoning both Adroitness and Blessing boons)
• Duration: Year and a day (+3, though many long-established motleys bear Lifelong durations)
• Invocation: 1 Willpower (all)

Current Motleys

Past Motleys