Awhile back, I wrote up an idea for a campaign using UFO trappings to build a conspiracy of fairies threatening the world, however, I neglected to provide the fairies.
Our mainstream pointy eared elves (Eldren in Victoriana) evolved from fairy
stories, but the Eldren are just a part of human society. Any fairies in a
gaslight fantasy world need to be distinct. The creatures in today’s post emphasizes the creepy and
inexplicable side of fairies typified by the stories of Arthur Machen
Description
If the world is a log, the Aos Si
are the worms, millipedes, and silverfish scuttling and slithering under it. They emerge from underground
burrows to carry victims away though the tunnels leading back to their fairy
world. Sometimes the people come back, sometimes they don’t,
and sometimes something else comes back.
Aos Si vary in size from two to
six or seven feet tall. Although short insect-like
legs extend down the sides of their bodies, Aos Si usually have two sets of
elongated appendages to use as arms and legs when upright. Dark barbed plates
cover their backside, and may even extend over the head like a pillbug. Sets of
small black eyes and sharp mandibles make their faces incapable for showing
human emotion.
Because of their strange
appearance, the Aos Si rely on their ability to reach into another's thoughts to
stay hidden in plain sight. Around mankind, Aos Si project a visage (their Glamour)
to appear human. They can trick the mind into seeing, hearing, smelling, and
feeling the illusion, but if they have to fool more than a couple minds, the
strain breaks the glamour.
Once their glamour breaks, the
projection of normalcy degrades. Their movement appears lurching and uncoordinated
or too fluid, like they have no bones; their eyes might shrink into small dots,
or seem to grow wide. Their enchantment continues to degrade unless the Aos Si regains
their audience’s confidence, or they will be unmasked for what they truly are.
If glamour doesn’t work, the Aos
Si have a wealth of ancient treasures in their barrows to tempt pliable humans
into making deals. More than a few greedy men have sold away their neighbors
for a bag of gold, but what do the Aos Si want with them?
In the country, superstitious
farmers whisper that Aos Si steal infants from their cradles. A small Aos Si tricks
the parents and takes the babies place. Do they gain power from the familial
bond between parents and newly born child? Or do they just want the child?
A human might be kept in the
world of the Aos Si and sent back to infiltrate the humanity. There could be
entire communities made of returned humans barred from returning to their
masters until the work is done.
Some people return confused
and unable to speak. Do the Aos Si feed on their thoughts and ideas? Are
imaginative children and reclusive scholars a veritable thought farm for the Aos Si?
In the fight between Order and
Chaos the Aos Si must have some sort of arrangement to stay neutral. Do the
humans serve as offerings to one power or another?
It could simply be no human words
equate to their use for humans and the Aos Si like it that way.
Aos Si
Physical: 7 Initiative: 6
Mental: 9 Health: 8 AR 2
Social: 6 Quintessence: 42
Traits:
Otherworldly Empathy +3,
Inhuman Intelligence +2,
Qualities:
Glamour: If no
humans can see it, an Aos Si starts projecting an illusion to appear human.
To maintain their illusion the Aos Si must pass a Mental test with three black
dice per human seeing it. Additionally, forms of magically enhanced senses
(such as the Magnetist ability ‘See the Supernatural’) add 6 black dice to the
test.
Damage: Clicking
Claws and Mandibles (5)
Adventure Ideas
Members of an isolated village refuse to discuss any of the recent disappearances. Even their
families seem glib about the missing loved ones, despite the fear in their
eyes.
A farmer found an old crown made
of gold left at his door. Ever since he took it inside, strange diseases plague
the town’s animals. Everyone blames the farmer. Did he accidentally agree to a
deal of the Aos Si?
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