Glamour:
Glamour, fae energy, the power of Arcadia, the Stuff of Impossibility and the cloth of dreams. Distilled mortal sentiment, whether pulled from the arms of an ardent lover, culled from the fury of the battlefield, or plucked from the flowers on a grave, Glamour is the primal, elemental emotion that fuels the terrible wonders of Arcadia. Like the Gentry, minor fae cannot create Glamour, even though they need it to exist, and so rely on mortals to produce it. The Hedge, being a kind of dream realm, is fed by mortals each night in their sleep, but Arcadia is too deep, much too far buried within the Hedge to be sustained this way, which is why they abduct. Mortal bodies are not designed to hold large stores of glamour, so they warp and twist with fae energy and become Changelings.
Acquisition:
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Gathering this wondrous energy is not something particularly predatory, more like mortals exude a vapor cloud of emotional energy around themselves which the fae immerses themselves, breathing it in, tasting it, letting it fill their lungs and minds. They have to be at least somewhat nearby to feed on it, but can usually sense strong emotions from much further. They couldn't feed on the rage of a baseball player on the field while sitting in the outer stands with a pair of binoculars, but emotions they have a direct cause in are stronger, more focused than they would be if it was just a general emotion. Same as feeding from dreams, only the lack of the conscious mind makes it take longer, but they can reap even more because the rational mind doesn't get in the way by dulling them.
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Sources:
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Dreams: Dreams contain powerful emotional energy with the benefit of the conscious mind not interfering by dulling it. It takes much longer than harvesting from other sources, but is proportionately more rewarding.
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Emotions: The most frequent method of harvest. It doesn't matter what kind of emotions, positive or negative. Joy, hatred, lust, sorrow, as long as it's a strong emotion. Fleeting glimpses of emotions are somewhat like a bag of chips: Mostly air, not very filling and leaving you hungry again minutes later. Strong emotion however can provide a huge influx almost like a feast, so fae tend to congregate around mass emotion, from hurricane relief to Burning Man. Emotions directed at the fae themselves are easier to harvest. Joy at being given a gift towards the gift-giver for example, or anger at someone for making a remark.
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Pledges / Bargains: Upon fulfilling a pledge or similar agreement, the fae receives a small boost of glamour. Of course, a fae must be careful to only maintain as many deals as they can keep up with or else the backlash will hurt.
Hedge Bounty: Certain places and things in the hedge are full of glamour. Most common are Goblin Fruits, fruit with fae power locked inside with various effects for whoever ingests them. Some places can even give glamour, like dancing within a fairy ring of mushrooms.
Risks:​
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Addiction: Gathering glamour can be highly addictive, like a euphoric high, revelatory dream, and body-shuddering orgasm all at once for particularly strong sources of glamour. Even the most intense physical experiences pale in comparison to the sensation of absorbing such primal emotional power. To the Hedge-Fae it is both food and a drug, like sprinkling your morning pancakes with cocaine instead of powdered sugar or taking your cup of coffee with a jolt of Heroin right to the veins that never suffers from a build up of tolerance. Each hit is just as strong as the last.
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Overspending: All Contracts and Tokens feed on Glamour just as the fae do, so after a time using multiple contracts in a row without being able to drink in the Glamour from something like an opponent's rage or an audience's joy, it can leave the fae almost hungry in a sense, as if they just had a huge workout and nothing to refuel with. This also means that fae in the mortal world pay with these effects from their food source directly from their bodies, as if you had to pay for your sweet sports car in the garage by paying your mechanic in hamburgers worth of calories from blood transfusion. As a result, changelings who hit a glamour number lower than their wyrd have their bodies act as though starving. No matter how much the person eats or drinks, they cannot gain nourishment until their glamour rises.
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