Accordance War, The: The war fought between the returning Sidhe and the commoner kiths in the early 1970s. It was ended by the ascension of High King David Ardry ap Gwydion to the throne of Concordia and the establishment of the Parliament of Dreams.

Arcadia: The magical homeland of the Fae; the home of all faeries within the Dreaming.

Arts: The ways of shaping Glamour; Changelings' magical powers.

Autumn: The modern age.

Balefire: the magical fire that is the focus of Glamour in a Freehold.

Banality: Mortal disbelief as it affects Changelings and their Glamour.

Bedlam: a kind of madness that falls upon Changelings who stray too far from the mortal world.

Bunk: The price Glamour exacts for its power.

Cantrip: a spell created with Glamour through a combination of Arts and Realms.

Changeling: a Fae who has taken on mortal form to survive on Earth.

Chimera: a bit of dream made real; unseen by mortals, chimera are part of the faerie world. They may be objects (suits of armor, weapons, toolkits) or entities (clockwork servants, dragons, giant talking rabbits).

Chrysalis: The dawn of fae consciousness; the great awakening into one's changeling nature.

Commoner: Any of the kiths who are not sidhe.

Concordia: the Changeling kingdom encompassing all of North America, from Canada to Mexico.

Dauntain: Faerie-hunters; once Changelings, now deeply twisted by Banality.

Dreaming, the: the collective dreams of humanity. Changelings often travel in these realms both to seek adventure and to gather the raw stuff of dreams that can be used in crafting chimera. The Dreaming includes the Near Dreaming, the Far Dreaming, and the Deep Dreaming.

Dross: Glamour in material form. Often used as currency by Changelings.

Enchant: to imbue a non-fae with the power to see the faerie realm.

Escheat: the highest faerie laws.

Fae Mien: a Changeling's faerie visage, visible only to other Changelings and enchanted beings.

Fledge: A newly awakened changeling of any age.

Freehold: a place that is infused with Glamour. Freeholds are proof against Banality, at least for a time.

Gallain: 1) Those who may be Kithain but whose origins, customs and magical ways are not understood. 2) Any inscrutable creature of the Dreaming.

Glamour: the lifeblood of the Dreaming; changeling magic.

Household: A family or group of noble fae.

Interregnum (known to the sidhe the Twilight Times): the 600 years between the Shattering and the Resurgence.

Kinain: Human kinfolk of a changeling who possess faerie blood and who often display magical gifts because of it.

Kith: The particular race of fae to which a Changeling belongs. Each Kith has distinctive characteristics, Birthrights, and Frailties. The nine most common Kith are: Boggans (hardworking helpers of the needy); Eshu (traveling storytellers originally from the Middle East); Nockers (irascible tinkerers with a gift for mechanical work); Pooka (shapeshifting pranksters); Redcaps (eating machines with bad attitudes); Satyrs (lusty, hedonistic "goats"); Sidhe (ruling nobles with unearthly beauty); Sluagh (secretive skulkers in the darkness); and Trolls (large, strong and honorable warriors).

Kithain: Changelings' self-referential term.

Liege: One's sworn noble sovereign (whether baron, count, duke, or king).

Long Winter, The: The prophesied eradication of all Glamour.

Lost Ones: Powerful Fae who retreated to their Freeholds during the Interregnum. Most went into Bedlam as a result of dwelling too long within their Freeholds.

Mists, the: a metaphysical curtain of mortal disbelief, responsible for the tendency of mortals to forget the effects of changeling activity after a very short time.

Motley: A family or gang of commoner fae.

Noble: Any changeling with a noble title; though nobles are traditionally sidhe, some commoners have also received noble positions.

Prodigals: Collective term for the other supernatural races of the world — vampires, werewolves, etc.

Realms: the five aspects of the world which Changelings can affect with their Arts. These are: Actor (the realm of mortals), Fae (the realm of the fae and all things of the supernatural world), Nature (the realm of the natural world), Prop (the realm of anything crafted by the hand of man), and Scene (the realm of places).

Resurgence, The: the time when the Sidhe returned in 1969.

Saining: "The Naming"; a ritual performed on a newly-awakened changeling to determine his kith, True Name, and place in the Dreaming.

Seeming: (1) a changeling's mortal appearance (also called the "Mortal Seeming"). (2) The particular "age group" to which a changeling belongs. These three are: Childling (under 13), Wilder (13-26; the most common Changelings), and Grump (alternatively, "Greybeard" [males] or "Grandame" [females]) (27+).

Shattering, The: the time during the Middle Ages when the last Sidhe left for Arcadia and the last of the Trods to Arcadia closed.

Sundering, The: The time when humanity first began to turn away from dreams; the Iron Age.

Trods: magical gateways; faerie roads. Some lead to other freeholds, and some may lead to Arcadia itself.

Tuatha de Danaan: the mysterious progenitors of the Fae.

Vassal: Any sworn servant of a liege.

Much of this Lexicon was taken from pp.8-9 of Changeling: The Dreaming 2nd Edition.

This web site copyright © 1997, Val Grey
New--May 1, 2001

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