Think about it, how can you truly be sure which is The Mask and which is The Mien? Occam's razor doesn't apply to dream logic ...
It makes sense. Fetches gain points of Wyrd when their corresponding Changelings do. What happens to a Fetch whose counterpart has reached the pinnacle of the Wyrd? Quite possibly the same thing that happens to the Changeling.
The True Fae reproduce themselves through abusing the Changelings, violating their identity and warping them to their selfish vision. How could have this cycle started? What if the first True Fae were created through unadorned, mundane abuse? Perhaps the pain and violation applied to a normal person had once gathered such mass and momentum that the misery broke reality, giving birth to Arcadia and the Wyrd. Perhaps the abuse one can inflict on another is the most powerful superpower in the World of Darkness.</grimdark>
No Genius knows where Inspiration comes from. Possibly they're an experiment on behalf of the True Fae...
In The Dreaming, you play a True Fae. You don't notice anything unusual because mad capriciousness is normal to you.
In addition to the Iron Seals, the Seers mythology numbers the Exarchs in the thousands, each of whom has a number of Ochema (albeit a smaller number than the 77 of the Seals). The True Fae are these lesser Exarchs, and each Title allows them another Ochema; when they lose all of those titles, their "true names" (true selves) are forced to the surface.
The Vardøgers are critters from the Summoners sourcebook, Fate-associated Fae from the Supernal version of Arcadia. When summoned, they allow a mage to get back someone they lost - by replacing that person and altering Fate so that things took a different path. The theory: that a Vardøger is essentially a very well-made Fetch, and summoning one alerts one of the Gentry that make them to send one out and take the original for themselves. Of course, this implies, much more strongly than some other theories, that Mage Arcadia and Changeling Arcadia are one and the same.
- Problem: While the Vardøgers aren't perfect copies, it's not because they're capricious-rather, their very presence "overwrites" Fate in some way, leading to some...very strange anomalies (such as the person they're a copy of still existing, only amnesiac). Worse (for the WMG), however it that they're...really nice. If you confront them with evidence that their existence is the result of magic, they'll leave without fuss and put everything back the way it was. No "Caprice of the Fae" here.
- Perhaps the Vardøgers are Fetches, but ones formed by the summoning Mage, and thus by something that has at least a modicum of humanity, which is passed on to the Vardøger.
- I'd agree. Consider: Changeling: The Dreaming never suggests Winter can be avoided. It's inevitable. The horror comes entirely from the total inability to avoid the obliteration of all you hold dear. By contrast, Changeling: The Lost opens with the greatest triumph you will ever have or need. From here it's on you. You may fail. But you have every chance to carve out a life. To survive. And to create something better.
- You can increase your Wyrd to 9 dots without going insane and have all sorts of the fun True Fae abilities while not going insane by joining the Office Of Vizieral Counsel, gaining resistances to Derangements, immunities to Major Frailities, Immortality, all at the cost of not being a backstabbing scumbag to your kin, kith, and king.
- I agree even before considering inevitable dooms and all that. In fact, I kind of consider Ct L to be the most hopeful and cheery of all the Wo D splats, old or new. Maybe it's just how strongly it maps onto experiencing the LGBT community, though... (particularly pre-Web 2.0). I mean, I literally cannot see Courts as anything other than an analogue for ball culture.
- As of Imperial Mysteries, the answer is...probably not, if you say the Old Gods of the Thistle and True Fae are one and the same. As it is, it's more likely a form of Dhatu (divine domain).
- Sarah from Labyrinth, as well as baby Toby, managed to escape Arcadia. Sarah probably would have ended up as a Fairest, and Toby as one of Jareth's Goblins.
- Allan from Jumanji. The world of Jumanji is clearly a part of Arcadia, the various things coming out of it are probably all Hedge Beasts. Allan was probably on the way to becoming a Wizened Woodwalker. Whether Allan (and the other players) escaped a Durance or not is up for debate.
- Greg and Wirt from Over the Garden Wall.
- Christine Daae from The Phantom of the Opera, who either became or escaped becoming a Nightsinger Darkling.
- Oz Vessalius from PandoraHearts.
- Charlie Bucket, and possibly the other four Golden Ticket winners.
- Tad from The 7th Guest, who escaped from the Stauf mansion as a Gameplayer Wizened.
- Ib and Garry, who were both able to escape Durances.
- Genki from Monster Rancher.
- The title character from Coraline
- The Villain Protagonist of Irisu Syndrome!, an unearthly pale Beast who lured her romantic rival into a Hedge-ringed campsite where she was vulnerable. Uuji is an Artist whose drawings are so full of despair they exacerbate madness.
- Tom from Tom Goes to the Mayor, for whom the series is actually a Durance.
- Literally everyone in The Platform, who were probably turned into Gristlegrinders and Roteaters, although none of them actually managed to escape their Durances.
- If I remember correctly, Cold Iron is a faerie's weakness because a long time ago they pissed the entire concept off. Maybe Bill never did, or appeased it somehow.
What if the reason the True Fae haven't full scale ravaged reality is because there was a pact made between humans and the Fae? This pact kept the Fae from harming humanity, in exchange for some small consessions...namely, the people who could be kidnapped? Of course, there is enough wiggle room in that not all True Fae succeed, and even then there's nothing saying that the kidnappees have to stay there.
As a result of this Pledge, the Hedge (notice how they rhyme?) grew between Earth and Arcadia. The Thorns act as a deterrent from either side going in or out as they please, especially with their soul-tearing abilities.