Overview
Fae Threats
AX.GHW.13.05
Fae are not simply magical creatures; they are beings from a different order of reality, one that predates the structures of the human world. The word "fae" covers an enormous range of entities, from tiny mischievous spirits to ancient predators that wear beauty like a weapon. What they share is a relationship to the hidden world's oldest layer: the Liminal, a space between the ordinary and the impossible where human perception has always been thinnest.
Fae do not lie, but they never tell the whole truth. They make bargains that they honor to the letter while violating the spirit. They remember every slight across centuries and forget nothing. They are drawn to human emotion (joy, grief, fear, longing) the way predators are drawn to blood. Some feed on it directly. Others simply find it interesting.
The Veil treats fae encounters as evidence management problems of the highest order. Fae don't leave conventional bodies or blood trails; they leave impossible things: a forest that grew overnight in a parking lot, a town where everyone has been asleep for three days, a child who returned from somewhere they cannot describe. These events require aggressive containment and are among the most difficult to rationalize for civilian witnesses.
Common Traits
True Names: Most fae above Minion tier have true names, their original, original designations in the old tongue. Knowing a fae's true name grants substantial leverage: +2D to any Wit or Resonance roll made to compel, banish, or bind them. Discovering true names requires research (Lore vs Threshold 3) or direct negotiation with fae informants. Fae will not volunteer their true names and will often give false names when asked directly. Faeborn PCs with True Seeing can detect when a name is false.
Cold Iron: Unalloyed iron, not steel, not iron alloys, is the universal fae bane material. Cold iron weapons deal +2 damage against fae and suppress their supernatural abilities for one round on a hit (Threshold 3 Body Save to resist suppression). Cold iron touching a fae's skin is painful even without striking; they visibly recoil from it. Cold iron objects can anchor fae to a location (preventing flight or dimension-step) when placed strategically.
Rowan Wood: Rowan (mountain ash) functions as a secondary bane material. Rowan stakes, charms, and barriers force fae to spend a Primary Action to approach or cross them (Wit Save vs Threshold 2 to push through). Rowan does not harm fae directly but is effective for containment and warding. Rowan barriers are a field expedient that any character with basic lore knowledge can construct.
Bargains and Compulsion: Fae are metaphysically bound by their own agreements. If a fae makes a sincere promise, breaking it has consequences, the more powerful the fae, the more severe. Hunters who understand this can use bargains strategically, but must be precise: fae will exploit every ambiguity. Poorly worded bargains are among the most common causes of fae-related casualties.
Feeding on Emotion: Many fae feed on specific emotional states. They engineer situations to maximize these. A fae who feeds on fear will not simply kill its victims; it will terrify them first. This predictable behavior creates exploitable patterns, but it also makes fae encounters more volatile and dangerous than their power ratings suggest.
Tradition Interactions
Faeborn PCs (AX.GM.06 Lineage) have enhanced Glamourist tradition access; they begin at 2D when their Profession grants Glamourist access, rather than 1D. Faeborn True Seeing specifically penetrates fae glamours without a roll; other lineages must succeed on a Wit + Lore roll (Threshold 3) or actively use a tradition ability to see through fae disguise.
The Glamourist tradition (AX.GM.08.02) covers the same fundamental reality-layer as fae power, which is why Glamourist practitioners can interact with fae abilities more directly than other traditions. A Faeborn Glamourist treating a fae as an adversary gains +1D to Wit + Glamourist rolls when using tradition abilities in direct opposition to fae magic, their shared resonance gives them an edge.
Sacred Fire tradition (AX.GM.08.05) has moderate effectiveness, radiance suppresses fae glamours and denies Blur as a defensive option, but does not deal bonus damage against fae.
The Veil and Fae Incidents
Fae incidents present particular containment challenges:
- Impossible physical evidence: Fae activity leaves traces that violate physics, spontaneous plant growth, temporal anomalies, buildings that are larger inside than outside. These cannot simply be cleaned up; they require Glamourist intervention or fade naturally over days to weeks.
- Witness memory alteration: Fae glamours affect memory. Witnesses to fae incidents may have genuine but false memories rather than accurate recall. Investigators may not realize the witnesses are not lying.
- Recursive encounters: Fae who escape do not forget. If a hunter drives off a fae without destroying it, that fae may return, changed, prepared, and vengeful. Multiple encounters with the same fae should escalate in danger and complexity.
Variant Rules
Cold Iron Availability
Standard: Cold iron is difficult to find and must be located through Lore research or specialist suppliers (The Network, The Hollow Market). Prepared hunters carry cold iron ammunition; improvised cold iron is rare. High Availability: Cold iron is well-documented in hunter networks. Characters may purchase cold iron items with appropriate resources (Basic Kit equivalent) and begin scenes with access. Makes fae encounters less preparation-dependent. Scarcity Mode: Cold iron items are extraordinarily rare, each one is a significant find, probably from an artifact source (Aldersham Institute, a Grimoire Compact cache). Encounters lean heavily on bargaining, rowan barriers, and true-name research rather than direct combat.
Courts as Factions
Optional: The GM defines two or three Fae Courts with distinct agendas and internal politics. Individual fae NPCs have court affiliations that create alliances and rivalries. Characters can play courts against each other, earn the protection of one court by serving it, or trigger court conflicts that reshape the regional fae ecosystem. This variant makes fae threats recurring political players rather than individual encounters.
Bargain Consequences
Optional Escalation: Any time a character makes a bargain with a fae and then breaks it (even unintentionally), the fae sends a Trickster Fae as consequence. If the bargain-breaker breaks a second fae agreement, a Redcap or Kelpie arrives. Third offense: the violated fae appears personally, with the Bargain Bind authority of a Fae Lord regardless of its actual power level. This variant creates genuine stakes for fae negotiation.
Plot Hooks
The Replacement: Multiple people report that a mutual friend has been "off", forgetting things they should know, behaving slightly wrong. Investigation reveals a Fetch has replaced the friend, but the real person isn't dead, they're being held somewhere in the Liminal while the Fetch gathers information. Rescue requires locating the liminal pocket (Lore + Mediumship research) and extracting the real person before the Fetch completes whatever its principal needs.
The Crying at Night: A neighborhood reports wailing sounds on three consecutive nights. Two people have died nearby, one elderly, one an accident. A Banshee is attached to a family bloodline in the area; she's crying for a third death that hasn't happened yet. If the characters can communicate with her, she can name the intended victim and even describe what she sensed about how they'll die. The question becomes: can they prevent the death, or is the Banshee mourning something inevitable?
The Beautiful Horse: A rural community near a reservoir is reporting a missing teenager. Investigation reveals the teenager was the fourth drowning death in three years, all near the same stretch of water, all on warm days. A Kelpie has been hunting the reservoir. The added complication: the reservoir is also near a Bureau of Unusual Affairs monitoring station, and a Special Agent has been assigned, but the Agent's mandate is containment and classification, not destruction, and the Agent believes the Kelpie can be bridled and used as an intelligence asset.
The Deal: A Trickster Fae has been systematically disrupting Veil maintenance in the city, not threatening the Veil itself, but making investigators' lives difficult with mischief that draws attention without quite crossing into exposure. The Trickster approaches the characters directly: it wants a bargain. In exchange for stopping the disruption, it wants the characters to retrieve something that was taken from it by a Fae Lord's court forty years ago. The object is currently in a Grimoire Compact archive and is classified as a research artifact.
Destruction Methods Summary
| Threat | Tier | Primary Destruction | Banishment Option | Key Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fetch | Minion | Cold iron damage | True name + command (Threshold 2) | Behavioral tells; poor at personality mimicry |
| Will-o'-Wisp | Standard | Iron-core rounds or cold iron | True name + command (Threshold 3); cold iron vessel | Incorporeal, non-iron weapons useless |
| Redcap | Standard | Cold iron weapons | Bible verse or Resonance (Threshold 3); destroy anchor | Blood Soaking, weakens if it hasn't fed |
| Kelpie | Standard | Cold iron during contact | Cold iron bridle + command | Adhesive Hide severs on cold iron contact |
| Banshee | Elite | Not truly destroyable | True name (Threshold 3); resolve obligation | Non-violent resolution preferred; death omen reveals fate |
| Trickster Fae | Standard | Cold iron; conventional damage if trapped | True name (Threshold 2); binding bargain | Compelled by interesting bargains; wants to play, not kill |
| Fae Lord | Champion | Cold iron + true name (3×) during killing blow | Binding bargain for permanent departure | True name (guarded); cold iron; Faeborn immunity to Presence |