TOMTAR

By Joe Beason

Description

The Tomtar are Nordic in origin, but have through the centuries expanded their activities to other parts of the world. The fact that more suicides happen during the holiday season are in-part due to their malicious natures, and that they choose only to show themselves from the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month until the 2nd hour of the 2nd day of the 2nd month. Why they do this not even the Sluagh know. And where they go during their 'off-hours,' as they've taken to calling their hiding period, even fewer know.

However, during this season of activity the Tomtar make their presence known quite well. They range the world looking for whomsoever they feel deserves their attentions. Their activities include such things as stuffing cats up small chimneys, switching presents a man might send to his wife and mistress, attacking anyone dressed up in a Santa suit and many more stunts of this nature. Females are known for enticing unsuspecting men out into the cold night, subduing them with passionate embraces, and then leaving them to freeze to death.

They are not entirely evil or licentious however, just very very capricious. Acting in a manner completely devoid of logic or reason, they play wicked pranks or perform miracles completely at their whim. The only pattern of motive that seems to follow their actions is that they despise all who think of the holidays as a 'joyous' occasion. To them it is a time of freedom and wonder. It is a magic time of the fulfilling of dreams and of fallen hopes of the innocent.

Central to the purpose of the Tomtar is the concept of The Exchange, a sort of karmic equalizing force that they feel is their soul right to merit out. No one knows how they justify their actions through this, but the Tomtar insist that all they do is according to what each person deserves. Apparently they have a method for rooting out the deepest darkest secrets from mortals, and then using that to decide what to give or take from that person. They do however have a weakness in regards to children. The truly innocent children often receive that which they could only dream of, however, if a child is wicked of heart, or spoiled of nature, the Tomtar will take the matter more seriously than any other offense and often will simply abduct the child, who is never to be seen again. Some folk stories insist that these children are then turned into Tomtar, but no one is certain among the fey what the truth is.

Appearance

In appearance the Tomtar are small (4'-5' tall), thin, with long ears and long pointed noses. Their eyes are uniformly brilliant green and they often take to wearing red scarves, which are rumored to symbolize blood spilled from their throats (only a few changelings dare speculate the purpose of this symbol). The males frequently grow small beards and curl them into bizarre and twisted forms. Females are of very pale skin and possess a sharp beauty which speaks of frozen hearts. In centuries past they traditionally wore white rabbit skin loin cloths. Currently they seem to be seen in white business suits or gowns, sometimes with rabbit fur trim, often accompanied by the red woolen scarf.

Seemings

Childling are often very human childlike in appearance, the youngest of the Tomtar are perhaps the most wicked, performing acts of treachery and maliciousness only those too young for cultural mores could perceive of. They are also masters of hiding behind the face of innocence, and have managed to fool many a grump using this ploy. They are the most likely of the Tomtar to be unseelie, and have caused many to wonder if the Tomtar start out unseelie by nature then change alliances as they get older in nature.

Wilder are the workhorses of this Kith, scouring the globe during their active season looking for "what needs to be done." They feel their duties to be of extreme importance. Most of the time the things they do are in order to show the mortals that wonder and magic still exist in this world. They begin to get the hang of pulling off amazing feats right in front of many mortals, with it all being accepted as "miracles of the season." But when a Wilder is crossed or really feels someone deserves to learn a lesson, they are fierce in equating their so-called 'justice.'

Grumps are often of the kindliest nature. For men, their beards have grown long and white, and are formed into amazing architectures. For the women they have formed into an elderly beauty with long flowing white hair. They usually become more sedentary in nature, often reappearing each year in the same village or town. They begin to gain weight as a rule as well, losing their unnatural slenderness. This is in part due to a propensity for alcohol, spiced meads and wines being their favorites. Many children's tales of visits from Santa are the result of a drunk and weary Grump Tomtar stumbling through their house at night. Grumps are, however, perfectly capable of treachery, and are perhaps almost better at hiding behind a face of innocence than the Tomtar Childlings.

Lifestyles

Tomtar life is a savage three months of partying, trickery, and miracles. They seem to flourish on extravagance, of any form. They have been found in deep forests, as well as the center of metropolis', appearing to not have any particular favorite homestead. No Fae have yet detected one in its mortal seeming, so nothing is known of what they may be like. They are known to enjoy raw meat however, and frequently hunt their own meals and use the blood during their tricks on people.

Affinity:

Actor

Birthrights

Dark Secrets: The Tomtar are renowned for simply 'knowing' how good or bad a person is. They have the unique ability to ferret out the deepest darkest secret someone is keeping. To do this they roll Perception + Empathy against the victim's willpower. The only limitation to this is that the secret doesn't last in the Tomtar's mind but one second per success. However, even when the memory of the secret fades from the mind of the Tomtar it is left with a general feeling for how 'bad' the secret was. There is no limit to the number of times a Tomtar can try this on somebody, however it will always return the same 'secret' unless such a time as that person performs an even 'worse' secret. The measure of how bad the secret is is actually determined by the person holding the secret. And the feeling of how 'bad' the secret was that is left with the Tomtar is also derived from the victim's personal feelings of how bad it was. This birthright requires being able to see the individual.

Winter's Friend: The Tomtar are immune to the natural cold of winter. They can still be affected by magic which use cold as their medium, but they are able to withstand comfortably any natural temperature below freezing. A curious note about this ability is that it can be shared, but only via intimate contact. Also, heat has no special ill effects on them.

Frailties

The candle that burns brighter, burns shorter: This Kithain race has a rather unusual flaw in their lifecycle. They are only able to break out of their mortal seeming during a very specific period of time. From November 11th, 11:11pm, until February 2nd, 2:22am they can assume their rightful kithain form. Any other time of the year they are locked into their mortal seemings.

Quote

"Johnny's been a bad boy, a very baaaad boy. What does Johnny get for Christmas? How about this!"

Outlook

Boggans: Wonderful little tinkerer friends. We often petition them for gifts for those we feel are worthy. Good hearted souls, few secrets to fret about with them! Still, they do seem to pester us for our talents a bit often.

Eshu: They have carried the message of our purpose far and wide. The stories they tell of the wondrous activities of one of our members has charmed the world. Still many have alternate motives and hide some very dark secrets indeed.

Nockers: Can't take a good prank if it bit them in the face. Okay, so what if it really did, the scars came out eventually right? Still, their gadgets are handy, and in higher and higher demand lately. Great companions for a really wicked night.

Pooka: Our springtime brothers, who's minds have surely gone south for the winter. They do a decent job of it all though.

Red Caps: They know the darkness hiding in the hearts of man. Yet, like the Pooka they are one sided. Flip the coin brothers, it is not all blood baths and brutality out there.

Satyrs: Wild and ancient of heart. True Fae, to be sure.

Sidhe: They waste their time on issues which matter not to the Fae. They are stuck in the middle ages; we don't have the time to bother with them. As long as they don't stop use from going where we will, everything will be okay.

Sluagh: They make pretense to be the darkest of our kind, but even they do not know horror as we do. Yet seldom do we pry into their secrets; the cost is often too high to pay.

Trolls: Their honor goes unquestioned by our kind; they have proven it true.