Fey Passion

Up to date: Summer 2025

Passion along with their Aspect of Nature are the two driving forces in a true Fey.
The Passion is an attunement to a specific mood or emotion, that the Fey is driven to feed upon, whether by being the target of said emotion or the imposer.
The specific emotion and the circumstances vary widely on several spectrums, between each Fey.

Transmission & Vectors

Passion is passed from the Fey parent(s) to their offspring genetically.
While Fey genes are more volatile in nature, most can look to their parents to see how much they will be ruled by their own Passion.
It is however suppressed as long as the child is under The Changeling Glamour.

Causes

Due to a mutation, the Fey have a unique, specialized gland in their body, capable of turning endorphins into sustenance, and a brain capable of producing larger quantities of endorphins than that of a human brain.
These endorphins are however triggered by a specific emotion, which is the base of their Passion.

Symptoms

The Passion becomes a driving factor in many Fey's lives.
To some it hardly makes a difference in their life, to others, it becomes an all-consuming factor controlling their lives completely.

While this too is a spectrum more than a ladder, here are some examples:
Minimal: The Fey gets a light sense of zen when being around their Aspect/Passion, but that is all.
Partial: These Fey feel connected enough to their Aspect/Passion that, while they may live a normal life, they occasionally need to return to it.
Fixation: The Fey’s Aspect/Passion often occupies their mind. They live near it, and it affects a lot of their decisions.
All-consuming: The Fey is their Aspect. They live it. They feel it. They live and die with it.

A Passion driven Fey will either feed on feeling an emotion themselves, being in an aura of that emotion or inflicting it upon others, making the nature of their Passion is the source of the true danger of and to a Fey.
For example, a Fey addicted or required to feel or make others feel true dread is easily driven to insane actions to accomplish this – possibly to even rush to the next action immediately after to sustain their hunger.

Treatment

No real treatment has been discovered.
The best a Fey can hope for, is that they draw a lucky level of control or find an easy and unobtrusive way to keep themselves fed.

Prognosis

The Passion is a part of their very being and will follow them for their entire lives.

Sequela

In severe cases, not feeding upon their Passion will leave them drained and depressive, or possibly even starved to death.

Affected Groups

Only Fey are affected by this, but in turn all Fey are, to some extent.

Prevention

Remaining a Changeling is seemingly the only prevention for the Passion to activate.
Is is surmised, that a skilled Dark Alf smith might be able to craft an artifact that might dull the hunger, but this is yet to be seen.

History

Legends tell that when the Fey were made, they were meant to be only driven by a Passion to protect their allotted Aspect of Nature, however the Fey quickly grew enamored with the Humans of Our World and their intricate emotions.
Many quickly forgot their mission for the quick fix exposure to human emotions had on their brains, and as they forgot their Aspect, their Passion evolved and changed their physiology to suit this tendency.
The validity of this story is too uncertain due to the passing of time, but it holds, that Fey carry both their Aspect and Passion with them, driven by either one or both of them.
Since The Unravelling and the new widespread understanding of this condition, many young Fey actively seek ways to dull their Passion or fight to find a way to live with it.

Cultural Reception

Within the younger Fey community there is an acceptance of this curse they all carry. Having been awakened after the Unravelling have left them in control of themselves in ways, older Fey rarely were.

Older Fey have no memories of their Changeling days, and thus can’t relate to the memories of a life unhindered by Passion.

Alfs look upon them with a clear understanding that this is the natural order that they must abide by. They do feel the pain of the young Fey, but they are more concerned with the passing of Fate.

Humans see Fey as perhaps the scariest bunch of all the Fey Folk. Their views are formed by rumours and folklore, and the Passion is the most uncertain and dangerous thing about them. Especially because humanity is the prime target of the Fey Passion.

The Vettir are wary for the same reasons as humans, but often considering themselves mightier, they feel they have less to fear from a Passion driven Fey.
Type
Genetic
Origin
Mutated
Cycle
Chronic, Congenital
Rarity
Common
Affected Species


Cover image: by Hassel

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