Changeling Inspiration Part One: Caitlín R. Kiernan

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by Shadowmancer | Nov 12 2007

Changeling is a game with a heady pedigree. Everyone from Shakespeare to Neil Gaiman have expanded on the cautionary tales that fill the folklore of nearly every culture in the world. This is the first in a series of entries that will cover a few bits of inspiration that you might have missed. Caitlín R. Kiernan’s work has always dealt with themes that stand front and center in most World of Darkness games, but her stories are especially apropos for Changeling: the Lost players.

In some way, each of her stories and novels deals with the dislocated, the confused and lost detritus of societies, both human and otherwise.

Daughter of Hounds and Low Red Moon in particular deal with changeling children, stolen and raised by monsters, and at least one “monster” child left in the normal child’s place. But any of her novels or even (especially) her run on the post-Sandman comic series The Dreaming, are good sources of inspiration, particularly if your chronicle leans toward the Lovecraftian.

Let’s take the aforementioned Low Red Moon. The most visible antagonist, Narcissa Snow, works wonderfully on a number of levels. Within the framework of Changeling, she could be one of the Mad, convinced in her delusion that she is Fae, rather than simply Lost, kidnapping children and eventually abandoning them, or subjecting them to darker fates… Or she could be a loyalist, serving the Fae wittingly or not, or even a Fetch, dangerous in her confusion.

We’ll look at this a bit deeper next time.

Tags: changeling, inspiration, ctl, caitlin r. kiernan, low red moon, crk, daughter of hounds

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