The Prince with Pumpkin Eyes (Changeling Entitlement)
I told you it was a changeling thing...
Once there was a great prince among changelings, so brave and powerful that even the Kindly Ones owed him favour upon favour. Despite their fame, the prince’s most fervent desire was to unite strangers in bonds of merriment and friendship. They used food and drink to reconcile Loyalists and Bridgeburners with the Freebolds they left behind. For a year, a talking bear was their companion at every dinner. They brought a vampire to feast at a Kindly One’s banquet, then left with all the Keeper’s changeling slaves in tow as an entourage. On All Hallow’s Eve, they brought a Huntsmen into their home and freed them from bondage over dinner as the quarry they sought sat across the table. Listening to the trees and leaves, the vines and gourds, he wove a social web so delicate and intricate that the Wyrd itself was amazed.
That is how he became the first Prince with Pumpkin Eyes.
The original Prince is long gone and the Entitlement has passed down through the generations, bestowed to another once the current Prince feels they have fulfilled their duty. Either they’ve thrown as grand a festival as they possibly can or they have brought every last member of every Freehold they can together to share wine and mead. More often though, it is handed down in wills or granted as one changeling knells beside another’s deathbed with little fanfare or pageantry. The Prince is driven to be greater and do more, so most continue to chase the next milestone until they expire or are dragged back to Arcadia.
The Prince with Pumpkin Eyes is expected to host and attend gatherings throughout the Hedge and the Freehold. It is their business to know everyone else’s business and it is a common stereotype that the Prince is a people watcher. They are also obligated to stir things up by inviting unexpected guests and the competition around winning the Prince’s hand for an evening gala is intense.
All this means the Prince can often weasel their way into events, even without an invitation. They can rely on other changelings for an evening’s meal and pleasant company; other Lost are less likely to judge them for erstwhile faux passes. The Prince also gets all the best gossip, although traditionally, they offer up their own juicy tidbit if a changeling or goblin brings them something they don’t already know.
Mortals don’t see the Prince’s Mask any differently, but they smell it clearly. At first blush, the odour is sweet, but lingering in the Prince’s presence turns it sour and fetid like a jack o’lantern left too long in the sun. Those who look through the Mask see that the Prince’s body is hollow like a gourd and that holes in flesh allow one to see the stringy orange pulp within. Small leaves and vines emerge from the edges of the lacuna, occasionally sprouting flowers but never trailing far from the Prince’s body.
Heraldry Token: Corolla of Gourds
This circlet is woven from copper filigree that evokes the vines and fruits of a pumpkin patch. Its Mask appears tarnished and blackened like it has sat uncared for decades. Beneath the Masks, the token seems so vibrant it is almost alive and smells like a garden after a fresh rain.
By activating the token during a gathering, the Prince may tell at a glance who is a host, who is a guest, and who is unwelcome. The Prince does not gain any context as to why people fall into these categories. Once activated, this power lasts for a Scene.
The Prince can also activate the token to plant a seed in another’s body with a touch. The seed germinates at the Scene’s end, after which the Prince may experience the world through the victim’s senses rather than their own as an action. The seed does not harm the victim, although it appears as a plant or fungus growing out of her body to those who perceive Miens. Its Mask is a bruise or dry rash on the skin. The Prince may maintain a number of these seeds up to their Token dots and may dismiss the growth harmlessly at any time. Removing the growth through surgical or magical means ends the Prince’s influence considerably more painfully.
Catch: The Prince must tell the token’s target she will be watching them. For the first power, she must announce it to everyone present in the Scene; for the second, she only needs to tell the person she plants the seed on.
Drawback: The user suffers the Guilty Condition (Changeling, p. 340).
Additional Prerequisites: Empathy 2 or Expression 2, Socialize 2, and one of the following Merits: Etiquette 3, Faerie Favour, Inspiring
This entitlement Merit grants the following blessings:
• Glamour gain; see Oak, Ash, and Thorn p. 34.
• Enhanced new Specialty; see Oak, Ash, and Thorn p. 34.
• Additional Thread; see Oak, Ash, and Thorn p. 34.
• Enacting a ritual that takes a Scene, the Prince causes a goblin fruit to grow out of a corpse. This fruit does not replenish Glamour, but anyone eating it witnesses flashes of the corpse’s last moments.
• Gain Contacts (Wyrd/2, rounded up) for a particular group of plants or fungi, such as flowers in a specific garden or all pine trees. Despite not sharing a language, the Prince can communicate fluently with these Contacts. (Conditional)
