Exiles 02: Bloodlines

The power of the Fey can be awesome. When the Fey mate with mortals, however, their children lose some of that power, that connection to the Dreaming. The children of full blooded Fey and mortals are known as Half-bloods. Half-bloods live much longer than mortals, but they do not enjoy the immortality of Full-bloods.

The children of two Half-bloods will be half-bloods themselves, but if a Half-blood mates with a mortal, the child will be what is known as a Touched. The Touched are mortals in most ways, although they often have enhanced powers of perception, or have longer a lifespan, but they do not have anything like the powers of the Half-bloods, not to mention the Full-blooded Fey.

Children of a Half-blood and a Full-blood will always be a Half-blood, as the mortal taint cannot be bred out of the bloodline. Half-bloods that give birth to a Full-blood know that their child is a Reborn, and will eventually regain all the memories of their past lives. A Rebirth can occur even if both parents are Half-bloods.

Half-bloods cannot create their own dream realms, but they can use glamour quite effectively. Some of the more powerful Half-bloods can create illusions strong enough to affect reality, such turning a piece of rebar into a sword that cuts, or recreating a room in a condemned building as a palatial hall. The Half-blood wouldn’t be able to make the space bigger, but the floors could be reinforced and the dull plaster walls could effectively be marble.

Half-bloods can absorb the passions of mortals, just as any Full-blood, though they do not quite have the reservoir that the Full-bloods have. They tend to gather mortals around them that radiate emotion, so that they have a constant supply of spiritual energy to channel into their glamour. Another advantage of Half-bloods is that they can feed on each other’s emotions, and thus, they form close bonds with others of their kind.

Half-bloods can slip into the Dreaming, with training. They can learn to control their own mortal dreams and find entrance into the actual Dreaming of the Fey Lords. They can only stay for short periods as they must eventually wake and care for the bodies their left behind. However, if a Half-blood is invited into a Dream Realm by the Fey Lord, they can enter as any mortal can. Half-bloods cannot be trapped by eating the dream food, though, as they already have the ability to feed on dreaming.

Full-bloods often seed mortal society with Half-bloods in case they meet an untimely death. If they have three or four bloodlines in the mortal world, their enemies will have a harder times tracking down the next birth in an attempt to kill the Reborn and end the line permanently.

Even in Dream Realms, Fey Lords keep families of Half-blood descendents as vassals, as they can be extremely loyal. Trouble can occur after a Rebirth, however, as all other bloodlines are then cut off from the Fey Lords lineage. The blood lineage is reset after each Rebirth and the young Fey must start making bloodlines once more to ensure his own safety. Parallel bloodlines can be kept loyal, however, and whole realms of the more powerful Fey Lords are populated with armies of Half-bloods.

Fey Lords are usually the center of a Household. Small Households usually have only one extended family of Full-bloods, Half-bloods, and mortals. Larger Households include multiple bloodlines. Some Fey Lords set themselves up as the head of multiple Households. Households are usually brought together to foster loyalty and protection.

When a Lord dies, a Regent steps up to hold the household together while the bloodlines wait for the Rebirth of their Lord. Political infighting has destroyed plenty of Households, however, and many Lords have been murdered soon after their Rebirth, if they have not sown strong loyalty within their families.

Some Fey Lords support secret societies of their half-blood descendents, fostering servants loyal from birth. These societies mingle among mortals until they receive word of their Lord’s death. Then, they party in frequent orgies, giving the Lord plenty of opportunity to be reborn into this secret society.