Overview
Glamourist
AX.GHW.08.03
The Faeborn's in-between nature creates a perceptual problem that becomes a perceptual gift: they see what things are rather than what they appear to be. A glamour designed to deceive human eyes simply doesn't work on them, because the Faeborn's awareness includes the fae layer of the world, where things wear what they are rather than what they choose to show. This is not something they learn. It is the residue of where they came from.
Glamourist is the discipline of that residue. It doesn't teach Faeborn how to see through illusion, their origin already does that. It teaches them how to use what they see deliberately: how to read probability rather than just present truth, how to understand the history of what they perceive, and how to create misdirections of their own, turning the inherited capacity to see through glamours into the capacity to build them.
The name is practical, not complete. The tradition's most commonly noted expression in the hidden world is the capacity to create and pierce glamours. The older practitioners call the deeper work The Seer's Art, not because they predict the future in any reliable sense, but because they learn to read the present more completely than ordinary perception allows: what a thing is, what it has been, and what the available futures look like from here.
Non-Faeborn practitioners of this tradition are rare and tend to have developed their access through extended proximity to fae-inflected spaces or significant fae contact, bargains made and not fully paid, liminal exposure, or the kind of debt to a fae entity that leaves marks on perception. They can learn the mechanics. The natural ease that a Faeborn has with True Sight, the sensation of simply adjusting focus rather than exerting effort, takes a non-Faeborn practitioner years to approximate.
System Integration
Glamourist as an Odd Talent
Glamourist functions as an Odd Talent per AX.C.04. Standard rules apply:
- The roll is: Governing Attribute + Glamourist (+ Focus if applicable)
- Glamourist dice are purchased from the Talent budget at character creation, or improved through Advancement at standard cost (Governing Attribute × 2 XP for a new Tradition at 1D; current value × 2 XP to improve)
- Maximum Tradition rating: 5D. Maximum Focus rating: 3D
- All three Expressions draw on the same Odd Talent pool
Governing Attribute
The governing Attribute is chosen at character creation and is permanent.
| Expression | Common Choice | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| True Sight | Wit (default) | Perceiving and interpreting the hidden nature of things |
| Reading | Wit or Speed | Wit for deliberate divination; Speed for fast intuitive reads in tense situations |
| Glamour | Wit or Speed | Wit for complex, sustained illusions; Speed for quick misdirections in the moment |
Most Faeborn practitioners choose Wit. Speed-governed Glamourist reflects a more instinctive, reactive practice, the misdirection comes before the conscious decision to misdirect.
Access
Faeborn Lineage Affinity: Faeborn who receive Profession access to Glamourist begin with 1D at no additional cost. The Lineage provides Access, a complimentary Profession is required to receive the 1D.
Profession Access: Any Profession listed as granting Glamourist access provides the option to spend Talent dice to learn and improve the Power.
Independent Study: A character without Lineage or Profession access may pursue Glamourist through extended contact with a Faeborn mentor of at least 3D and one week of Deliberate Training in a fae-inflected space or with significant fae exposure. Cost: Governing Attribute × 2 XP. This path is available but requires genuine fae-adjacent biography; it is not available to practitioners with no fae contact whatsoever.
Mechanics Summary
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tradition Category | Resonance, perception of hidden truth, probability, concealed nature |
| Default Attribute | Wit |
| Action Type | Primary Action (most effects); Free Action (passive perception enhancements) |
| Signature Feel | The surface of things is one version of them. This tradition works with the other versions. |
| Lineage Affinity | Faeborn (start with 1D) |
| Signature Focus | The True Glass |
| Expressions | True Sight, Reading, Glamour |
Threshold Scale:
| Threshold | Scale of Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Minor; immediate; perceiving a simple concealment or reading surface truth |
| 2 | Standard; reading through a deliberate glamour or seeing the nature of a supernatural being |
| 3 | Significant; multiple subjects or a deeply layered concealment; extended duration perception |
| 4 | Major; reading the hidden nature of a prepared, defended, or intentionally obscured subject |
| 5+ | Profound; perceiving something that actively resists being seen; permanent glamours; probability far from the present moment |
Access and Cross-Lineage Notes
Faeborn practitioners: This is the native tradition. High-rated Faeborn Glamourists are among the most effective information-gathering assets in the hidden world, and among the most dangerous social operators. Other practitioners are aware of both capabilities.
Haunt practitioners: The liminal and fae-adjacent perceptual frequencies overlap more than most traditions do. A Haunt developing Glamourist through Independent Study occasionally finds True Sight surfaces liminal information they weren't looking for. GM's discretion on whether this creates mechanical cross-benefit or mechanical noise.
Marked (Light-Bound) practitioners: Light-Bound Marked with Resonance access sometimes develop Glamourist rather than a dedicated sacred perception tradition, the discernment the Light accord provides operates in a similar perceptual range. The fae-layer and the Illuminated layer are distinct, but reading hidden truth is reading hidden truth. These practitioners tend to find Probability Reading their strongest expression, oriented toward understanding what the accord requires rather than fae-adjacent futures.