Changeling: The Lost
Once upon a time you were a regular jack-off, living your regular jack-off life with your jack-off family working at your jack-off job. Then one night some crazy toad-faced fucker made entirely out of rotting meat abducts you, dragging you kicking and screaming through a forest filled with thorns that tears off chunks of your soul, memories and personality, and takes you to a realm where physics don't matter and forces you to slave under him for no reason. What a dick! Fortunately, you've escaped that crazy nightmare world with your psyche (mostly) intact, the only problem is that now you're a huge lizard made out of fire. Fuck! At least you can return to your regular jack-off life, except everyone thinks you've never left, and there's a sentient pile of leaves that looks like you screwing your wife. Fuck! Well, you might as well start a new life in another city. Except now that toad-faced asshole wants his toy back, and will go to any lengths to abduct you again, even hiring bounty hunters! Fuck! And on top of that, you're going crazier and crazier with every passing day, until you're running down the street naked and screaming and throwing rocks at pigeons to keep them from conspiring against you. Fuck!
Such is the life of a Changeling, a regular guy who fell into some shit through no fault of his own, and found himself transformed into a monster once he climbed out of it again. It's by far one of the most pessimistic World of Darkness splats that White Wolf has written out, but it also stands out as the closest to the traditional medieval fantasy world, filled with crazy-ass monsters, landscapes, dungeons and flora, as well as a nice hefty bag of crazed political intrigue. And it is AWESOME!
The Wyrd
If there was ever a necessary constant in the universe, it's the Wyrd. The Wyrd is an old Germanic word or some shit that pretty much means Fate, and while it's tied to everything that exists, only the fey have the power to manipulate it. It acts as an adhesive between every single thought, atom, and concept in existence, and since it's destiny in all its forms, it determines reactions, repercussions, and causes and effects between everything in the form of Contracts. This means that it's because fire has a number of contracts with the Wyrd that a flame is hot to the touch, that it can hurt you, that it cooks flesh, or that it dies when it runs out of fuel. Because it's only contracts sealed by the Wyrd that keep all of reality from unraveling and fucking our universe over, it's kind of a big deal that the biggest problem in this game is that the True Fey can rape reality with just a thought if they catch you in the wrong place.
Luckily, by proxy of being in such close proximity to where the Wyrd is the strongest, humans taken to Arcadia learn how to (Forced to, really) strike deals with elements and concepts, otherwise die from exposure to Time Cube logic. This is where Changelings get their Contracts, semi-magical spells that allow them, for the price of a point of Glamour (Emotional energy taken from humans), to mess with one aspect of reality when they wish. On top of that, contracts always have a loophole, known as a Catch, where the concept MUST grant you usage of the power for free if certain conditions are met.
The True Fey and Arcadia
To become a Changeling, a mortal must be abducted by the Gentry, also known as the True Fae or the Others, and taken to Arcadia, the land of the Faeries, where the Wyrd reshapes them by proxy of their being there. The Gentry are unique antagonists in that each and every single one is absolutely omnipotent, capable of doing anything they wish while they're in Arcadia, but incapable of understanding anything that's not in relation to them, and existing only to feed their egos and self-gratification. The problem is that despite their massive affinity with screwing with the Wyrd, they're both incapable of creation and exist empty lives without conflict, where they will eventually whither away into nothing without discord. Ergo, they find both slaves and friction in human beings, which they are eternally fascinated of, but not to the extent where they'll consider them anywhere close to their own glory. To that effect, they lord their status over their servants and screw with their perceptions, transforming people into inanimate objects for a time, and then back again only to change him into dog. The True Fae are creatures that can modify the Wyrd like they were breathing, but only while they are far from where reality is strong, in Arcadia, in their little corner of paradise, where they can change the color of the sky to their modding their own unique and original superpowers and keyblade designs, to whether snowflakes are radioactive and weigh half a ton. The further they get from Arcadia, the weaker their powers become, and when they're on Earth, while they're still powerful, they can pretty much only screw with the minor things that their contracts allow them to, and indeed reality itself poisons them, so they can't stay around for too long, so they generally don't leave Arcadia unless they wants something (That something is slaves). What it ultimately comes down to for the Gentry is "Is it fun for me? And how long will it be fun for me? What should I do afterwards?".
But all hope is not lost! Once upon a time, the Gentry pissed Cold Iron off, and now it's fucking mad and wants revenge, and it's not gonna let godlike powers stand in its way! Still, it's going to need all the help it can get. This Summer, get ready for edge of your seat excitement in this action packed thriller! '"Cold Iron"', starring Kurt Russell and Jason Lee! This film is not yet rated
Oh yeah, and if you're strong and crazy enough your character might become one of the Gentry.
The Hedge
If you wanna go from Arcadia to Earth or vice versa, you need to traverse the Hedge, a semi-sentient domain that appears as a vast, beautiful landscape littered with thorns. Spend too much time in the thorns and you go crazy, and for gods sake DO NOT WANDER OFF THE PATH. You can pretty much find anything here, and if you can't find it, you can find it at a Goblin Market, which is also here. Changelings can live here, but so can the True Fey, and Hobgoblins can be assholes. The food here is awesome!
The Mask
When dealing with mortals, what's left of your soul forms a sort of mask that hides your monsterous nature from the normies. It gets weaker as your connection to the Wyrd gets stronger, since it can't contain all the magic that envelops you as easily. The Mask usually looks like how you used to look like, but with minor details (An Ogre looks fatter then how he used to look, a Beast will have leathery or thick skin, while a Fairest may be taller or have a sort of strange attraction that draws people towards her.)
Fetch
So you've made it back home, whoop-dee-doo. Unfortunately, most people didn't even realize you ever left, since the Gentry like animating a bit of crap they find scattered around and have it live your life for you. Killing your Fetch fucks with your clarity, but it's a necessity if you want your old life back, plus you get a bunch of really cool magic stuff and merits out of it.
Mortals, Ensorcellment and Oneiromancy
You can make mortals see you and go into their dreams and fight and make stuff. Fuck you, go read about it in the books.
Changeling Kiths and Seemings
Kiths and Seemings are more of a method of classification of what they were forced to do while in Arcadia, and what kind of powers manifested from their Durance, since no two changelings are truly alike and can fall under several categories. A changeling can look like a cat and not be a beast, or an elf-like archer can actually be an Ogre. The Changeling is granted a blessing and a curse by his Seeming, and can further expand (or eschew) his blessing with a Kith, that classifies him even further.
- Beasts were taken and transformed into animals and monsters, usually by having their bodies and minds swapped around at their Keeper's discretions. They aren't very smart but they get shit done, and enjoy better animalistic perceptions and a sort of animal magnetism.
- Darklings were abducted when they broke some seemingly random and abitrary rule that the Fae set in place. They're grimderp boogiemen and nightmare creatures with the cold hearts that can only be melted with the love a beautiful innocent girl. They're also smart and sneaky gits. The sun fucks with their Contracts.
- Elementals were transformed into some kind of element sans the name. They're not really social capable or smart, but like the Beasts they can get shit done, and they can make themselves tougher with glamour.
- Fairest were treated like royalty or treasures, until their Keeper got sick of them and dumped their asses like an Alpha. The book says that their Durance in Arcadia was equally difficult to the rest of the Seemings but that's bullshit cause they were pampered, and at worst, had their feelings hurt. They're assholes but they're hot so...
- Ogres were forced to serve brutal durance that made them big and strong, whether it was fighting in eternal warefare, or building houses at the end of a whip. Though not necessarily stupid, Ogres tend to get pissed much easier then most other Seemings, and have a tenden-CRUSH PUNY HUMANS
- Wizened were the literal slaves, and the subjects of constant humiliation at the hands of their keepers. They're usually "less" in some way, whether they're thinner, shorter or just less substantial. If you want to play a flat craftsman or tradesman, this is the seeming for you. They're pissed off midgets who happen to be hella fast.