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HYBRID CHANGELING'S

Dreams are fluid, emphatic creations of the mind, transcending all classifications and the Fae are equally indefinable. In the past the strict boundaries of Court, title and Kith served to regiment how the Changeling nation viewed itself, but each of these characterizations proved ultimately false. Changeling's can change court many times in their lives and the transition from Commoner to Noble takes nothing more than a ceremony, what then of the delineation of Kith? Once the spiritual Fae nature of the Dreaming was encompassed within the material flesh of the Changeling way some of the specifics of human genealogy crept into the mix. A child born of a Changeling and a mortal or one born of two Changelings might be either Kinain or another Changeling, and the details of a Kinain is well documented in WW7008: the Enchanted. The details of Changeling offspring are a little less concrete however. What would happen if two Changelings' of different Kith mated and the Child were a Changeling too? What Kith would the Child be? While it might be easier to assume that there were a 50/50 chance of the child being of the same Kith as either parent, in the Spikeyverse there is a third option, that the Child is a Hybrid, containing aspects of both Dreamed Kith.

HISTORY
Nobody really knows when the First Hybrid was born; there is at least one Wilder who managed to survive the hunts by being a member of House Balor. That being said, nearly all Hybrids have been murdered by a secret society, as has anyone who witnessed their birth. Simply knowing the Hybrids is enough to invite death among the Changeling's and so those few who work for their protection keep their lips sealed and struggle to keep others out of their dangerous field. The down side of this secrecy is that mothers are unaware that the possibly of a Hybrid even existing let alone where to find help if they give birth to one.

The control of information and the 'disappearance' of Changeling who discover the truth means that almost nobody suspects their existence, but should the Changeling nation as a whole discover the truth it would send shock waves through the community. Firstly the blurring of the lines between kith's, especially the perceived pollution of the Sidhe bloodlines, would call much of what the Changelings believe about themselves into question. Nobles of House Gwydion who first discovered the existence of Hybrids foresaw a mass breeding program by Sidhe who feared the oblivion of death. This House had secretly thirsted after a way to retain their immortality without the humiliation of the Changeling way ritual and they knew members of their House would see this as an ideal survival plan even if it came at the expense of the Sidhe Kith as a whole. Within a generation, they argued, the Sidhe would be replaced by Sidhe hybrids, creatures that were in effect nothing more than 'pretty Commoners'. After several secret meetings with representatives of the other Houses; Dougal, Eiluned, Ailil and Leaunhaun agreed to support the Gwydion suppression of information. Houses Liam, Scathatch and Balor were not invited to attend the meeting and House Fionna stormed out of the meeting in disgust only to discover that they had been tricked and that they no longer remembered the reason for the shadow council.

This is not to say that those houses all support the murders, far from it. This meeting was open only to a few old school tie Nobles, all of them considered reactionary and anti commoner in their outlooks. Even so, once support had been agreed and the creation of the Crimson elite sanctioned, no discussion about the slaughter of the Innocent Hybrids was even discussed. House Gwydion made that decision alone. Knights who had already proved themselves in the night of the Iron knives were given the earliest missions to root out Hybrids and to ensure news of these creatures did not leak out. They were sanctioned to use all means necessary and since that night they have been systematically murdering Kinain born of two changeling parents in order to prevent Hybrids undergoing their Chrysalis.

In the three decades since the night of the Iron knives and the creation of the Crimson Elite, the Hybrids have been a closely guarded secret. What little information did filter out was quickly suppressed or discredited as paranoia and New Age nonsense. For most Changelings, Hybrids attract the same amount of scorn as UFO's do in the waking world. The favourite tactic of Crimson Elite spin doctors is to claim that Hybrids would be a banal creation, following as they seem to do the rules of genealogy over the whimsy of the Dreaming. This alone is enough for most Changelings to accept their impossibility.

THE CRIMSON ELITE
As the ultimate expression of the Sidhes fear, the Crimson Elite are charged with preventing knowledge of the Hybrids reaching the commoners. The foundation of the Crimson elite, in fact the entire policy of the hybrid problem, is conducted in secret and has never been discussed in any official manner. It is fair to assume that the majority of the Sidhe remain as ignorant of the Truth as do the Commoners and only those considered 'trustworthy' and 'sympathetic' to the pogrom are made privy to the existence of either the hunters or the quarry.

Originally no more than a unit within the Red Branch the Crimson Elite have grown to become a secretive and autonomous 'black ops' force with its own funding and tactics. Membership is highly covert and not even the Red Branch knows of its existence within its own ranks. While it is assumed that the leadership of the Crimson Elite are also highly placed members of the Red Branch, none of them have been identified.

After the attack on the Snowdonia Freehold left a handful of survivors and thus revealed the existence of the Crimson elite to the Troll's of the ap Annis family the eradication of Hybrid children has been more difficult. Both groups search for Hybrids and when found the targets life is often decided by which of the two task forces arrives first. Since the Crimson Elite came to the attention of the Snowdon underground they have had to fight several battles with the Trolls of that organisation and they have changed from mere assassins to heavily armed tactical units. Counter intelligence, misinformation and a continuing smear campaign against the Trolls takes as much time as the tracking, extermination and cover up missions themselves.

THE SNOWDON MASSACRE
While the existence of Hybrids had been kept a very closely guided secret, eventually a mistake was made. A mother fleeing her persecutors found sanctuary among a company of Trolls in the Snowdonia Freehold. Jarl Snowdon saw no reason to keep the existence of these children a secret and because of his openness he soon attracted several Hybrid's fleeing the Crimson Elite. Too late the Troll descendants of the Giantess Black Annis realised how much fear these children engendered among the Sidhe nobility and plans were made to hide them away from danger deep within the great Welsh mountain. Contacting his allies, jarl Snowdon sought to discover the identity of the Crimson clad Knights who were responsible for the Hybrid genocide but the answer came all to suddenly.

In dead of night the Crimson elite stormed the gates of his freehold in numbers far too great for the Trolls to defeat. As the Jarl and his house were slaughtered or sent to their deaths at the bottom of a cavern, the Sidhe knights murdered their charges. All the Hybrids were killed and their mortal bodies burnt and all but a handful of the household similarly butchered. Only the Jarl, his nephew and a handful of Troll youngsters survived the madness and it took them hours to climb out of the cavernous depths within the mountain.

After the brutal and criminal attack the Snowdonia freehold became untenable and so jarl Snowden and his few surviving family members travelled to London and sought the sanctuary the Regent of House Fionna. Since then, the ap Annis family have been the driving force behind Fionna's armed forces. The training in Chivalric warfare and courtly honour for which they were famous has become the guiding force behind the Troll and Sidhe units of the Fionna army and the Regency palace guard. He has shaped his loyal trolls into the Snowdon underground, a team of skilled special forces trained to smuggle Hybrids and those who know of them away from the Crimson Elite. Snowdon's forces garner a great deal of respect from other Changeling's, whether they know about their secret mission or no, but the ap Annis hold a dark secret.

Having his eyes opened to the dishonour of the Red Branch in such a heart wrenching way and his own frustration at failing to prevent the massacre mixed with his guilt at surviving the battle has driven Jarl Snowdon deep into his Unseelie nature. His driving goals, once centred on the ways of Chivalry and honour, are now bent towards vengeance. Protecting Hybrids is not enough for the heart broken trolls, the memories of their families lying in ankle deep blood has led to a more proactive desire. The intelligence gathered to counter the Crimson elite is also employed in the assassination of the their numbers and their allies. Anyone the Snowdon underground suspects of being involved with the Crimson Elite, and their fervour requires little proof, is singled out and soon faces death by Iron weaponry. In their bitter quest the ap Annis Trolls have aligned themselves with members of the Monkey's paw and other anti Noble coteries. They maintain a secret bunker of Iron weaponry and lend support to Bella trix the weapon smith who forges these items for them. How much the knowledge of this practice spreads or how much effect Snowdon's unyielding hatred has effected the hostilities is currently unknown.





HYBRID CHARACTERS
Hybrids were created as a plot device and as an NPC Kith, that being said I followed my usual practice and concentrated on story flow and Kewlness over rules and uniformity. Here are some guidelines which, being about as reliable as my train of thought, you should feel free to ignore. - Spike

Affinity: Fae

Birthrights - chose one each from each parental Kith.

Frailty - both Frailties. The Hybrid suffers the Frailties of both parents. In the case of Half Sidhe Changelings the frailty of Banalities curse is replaced with the House frailty of their parents. Additionally very few Hybrids outside of House Balor can expect to hold a title or to be recognised by their House.

VIEWS ON HYBRIDS

House Fionna The House of the Regency supports the Hybrids and the Snowdon underground for several reasons. Firstly the House is far closer to the mortal realm and to the Commoners than most other Houses and secondly they were left out the original council to discuss the problem.
House Gwydion House Gwydion fear the Hybrids almost as much as they fear the Fomorians or the coming winter. They are behind the Crimson elite and the Genocidal pogrom to exterminate all Hybrids. Their position at the top of the heap of Seelie Houses has meant that several of the weaker houses have adopted the same stance.
House Eiluned House Eiluned holds no love for the Hybrids, but neither does it agree with the Gwydion that they will be the downfall of the Sidhe. To Eiluned the control of the hybrid conspiracy offers all sorts of opportunity and so they work within the conspiracy for fear of being left out of the loop. That being said, the Eiluned inclusion has allowed the House Fionna of London some insight into the society.
House Dougal House Dougal, as in all matters, followers Gwydion's lead and washes its hands of the more weighty political issues in favour of its own pursuits.
House Liam House Liam, in London at least, is happy to follow House Gwydion. Fearing to rock the boat after so recently being accepted as an ally by the Great House, Liam seems willing to sacrifice its morals so long as it is fae and not Mortals being exterminated.
House Balor Never included as part of the Sidhe nation by their peers and cursed by alienating deformities House Balor has not only sided with the Hybrids, they have begun to actively recruit them into their House. Pug, the Infamous Balor anarchist, has visited several Freeholds across England to speak with suspected Hybrids and he is known to be part of the problem as Gwydion sees it.
House Leaunhaun The Muses of House Leaunhaun have little if any real issues with the existence of Hybrids. While the representative of their House who attended the original council backed the Gwydion pogrom they have had almost no effect on the policy since that night.
House Ailil The Unseelie masters of intrigue dine out on the Hybrid issue, knowledge of which and details over the questionable acts committed by the Crimson elite giving them a vast amount of leverage. In many ways the Ailil share the arrogance of their Gwydion counterparts but their constant games of brinkmanship will always outweigh their personal distaste for the half breeds.
....................
Boggan There is something of a maternal instinct in the Boggans and this is instantly apparent amongst those few Boggans who discover the truth about the Hybrids. They want to nurture and protract the unlucky infants and will show just brave a Boggan can truly be when it comes to it by hiding fleeing Hybrids and their families.
Eshu The widely travelled Eshu are perhaps uniquely aware of how far the knowledge about Hybrids has spread and can also play a major role in the underground railway that smuggles Hybrids out of danger.
Nockers Not known for either their altruism or for taking direct action on behalf of others the Nockers remain in the background of the Hybrid debate. Many are involved with the Monkey's paw rebellion against the Sidhe and thus, in their own way, they support the hybrids.
Pooka A cause of panic among the Sidhe, a secret that has cost lives, a threat to the very nature of Changeling self view, if hybrids didn't exist the Pooka would have eventually made them up.
Redcaps While the majority of the Redcaps could give a shit about Kith, they still look out for their own. They also relish the opportunity to stick it to the Sidhe and so the Hybrids present an opportunity to cause their enemies a great deal of trouble.
Satyr The Wise and carnal satyr see the wider picture and recognise the possible catastrophe that may well yet result in the Sidhe tactics. Several influential Satyrs have tried and failed to bring the knowledge of the hybrids to the wider attention of the Changeling nation.
Sluagh The Whisperers have always had a link with children, although this hasn't always been a benign relationship they are a positive force for juvenal growth and survival. The secretive nature of the Snowdon underground relies a great deal on the Sluagh networks and the anti Noble feelings of that group attract many of the dark ones to its banner.
Trolls It is the Trolls of the ap Annis line that are at the forefront of the battle to protect the Hybrids from the Crimson Elite and the Honourable nature of these giants tends to be outraged at the Sidhe attempts at genocide.


INFAMOUS HYBRIDS
Pug
Maxamillian Schrodinger
Mephistopheles
Founder of House Balor(?)




NB - The concept of the Hybrids flies in the face of Changeling's cannon. It does however follow from the mood of my particular setting in which lineage and Family are primary. Parts of the Changeling books suggest that all Changeling soul's are reincarnated Fae from before the Sundering or Fae returned from Arcadia and that no new Changelings are born/created. I don't know if this has been stated as cannon in any FAQ or discussion, but if you as a Storyteller take this view then Hybrids are impossible. In the Spikeyverse the breeding of two Changelings' is likely to lead to the birth of a new Changeling, a new Fae soul within a Mortal body. Once I had revealed that the Fionna lineage from Lady Evelynn, through Regent Shaugn to the Prince regent Cathal and several other illegitimate offspring of his promiscuous father this quirk was undeniable.
Later in the Game a Pooka maid became pregnant by a certain Scathatch Nobleman and the question arose as to what Kith, if any, the Child might be. Obviously I could have just ruled that the child was born Kinain and avoided the dilemma, but with my own precedent set and the possibilities for storytelling that the idea presented, I opted for a Sidhe/Pooka hybrid. From that event I back filled a history of Hybrids appearing throughout the Changeling nation.
Much of the History and premise for Changeling's in the Spikeyverse hangs on the acceptance of the possibility of Hybrids, the Crimson Elite, the ap Annis trolls and entire History of the Snowdon freehold are based on this concept and it is an integral element of the Civil War. Here is a basic explanation of the Hybrids and the way they effect the Spikeyverse, if you decide to use any of these ideas in your own chronicles you first need to fix in your mind the truth of Changeling breeding and the possibilities of new Fae souls being born. - Spike