Changelings
Long ago, there were legends of false children. They were said to be the result of faerie abduction, a twisted, monstrous copy left behind in place of a real child. They were wicked abominations, horrible empty things that desired nothing more than the misery and pain of all of those around them. They were know as Changelings.
The fact that this legend was quite a bit off has not done much to help the Changelings of the modern day.
The ancient faeries, the Fair Folk, did indeed once walk among us. They were the strange and twisted lords of beauty and madness, beings of pure, chaotic magical energy. Some lived in our world as lords and gods, while some skulked the shadows and took the role of our nightmares. All enjoyed our company...or perhaps servitude. When one is in the company of one of the Fair Folk, one tends to bleed into the other rather quickly. In any case, they took human lover/consorts/slaves, and bore and sired a race of halfbreed children. These children were the true Changelings, or Elderblood, or whatever the PC term is now. In any case, they were no more evil than any human being...which is to say that they could be quite wicked indeed.
But as time passed, the Fair Folk left our world. Why? This, in itself, is a great mystery. Perhaps they were driven out. Perhaps they did not like the idea of living in a world where their power would not be supreme. Maybe they got lost or board, their mercurial natures driving them away. Whatever the cause, they vanished. Their changeling descendants remained for some time, but their numbers began to dwindle as the old faerie blood began to grow thin. In fact, at the dusk of the twentieth century, only a handful of people were true changelings, and it seemed clear that their final chapter was being written.
Then something impossible happened. It was called the Changeling Advent.
No one know exactly what happened, or when it happened, but for some strange and unknown reason, the amount of faerie blood necessary to be considered a Changeling plummeted. Around the world, thousands of parents saw their children become monsters, and no one ever was told why. This, of course, fostered quite a bit of fear and paranoia. Anyone could become a changeling, and no one could tell until it happened.
The mass of negative emotions directed at the Changelings is often manipulated. Amoral politicians have one campaigns riding on the fear of the transformation. Radical and bloodthirsty hate groups have formed. And the Changelings themselves? Many have been filled with anger, giving birth to several changeling gangs, death cults, and terrorist cells.
Can we find peace? One man thinks so! (pick number 2, up later.)
A few facts about Changelings.
1) No one is born a Changeling. Not to humans, anyway.
2) People become Changelings at one of three times: when they turn seven, fourteen, or twenty one. This does mean that every Changeling transforms on their birthday
3) About .03 percent of the world has Fair Folk blood, or enough to matter. Most of these become Changelings, but anyone older that 21 before the Advent did not.
4) Less that five percent of all Changelings appear completely human. Granted, some inhuman features are more prominent that others.
5) All Changelings have a slight aptitude for magic. Few end up using it.
6) All Changelings have one or more supernatural abilities.
7) After they change, every Changeling spends seven hours 'lost to the change'. This does not always manifest in a violent way, but it does enough to worry people and keep meta human cleanup squads very busy.
8) Due to the chaotic nature of their ancestors, all these rules have exceptions.
