@Prince of Seraphs I am currently unable to continue with your roleplay, I do apologize.

Something has come up IRL.

I decided to go with the Aos Sidhe, and really stress the whole "underground" thing. Progress on the Race Sheet has been minimal, but I expect to have plenty of time tomorrow.

Blendecs [+]

(Faint inspiration drawn from Foul Blendecs of Dwarf Fortress fame).
Species: Blendec

Common Features [+]

Blendecs are foul man-shaped creatures with the legs of a goat and the empty-eyed skull of a goat. They stand 1.4 meters tall on average, and though their bodies are typically thin they are incredibly dense with an average weight of 181 kilograms. Their fur may range in color between black, brown, and red. Their skin may bear any coloration, though universally it is always cast with a deathly pallor. Blendec skin cannot heal naturally, and from the moment of each creature's creation each wound they sustain will rot and fester. A Blendec's age may be approximated through examination of their skin - the less they have the older they are. The most ancient Blendecs are entirely devoid of epidermis, their body covered only in tough scars and collagen.

All Blendecs come into being with a head resembling the hollowed skull of a goat. Contrary to expectation, their skulls are effectively accessories and their destruction is merely an inconvenience to the individual. An individual without a skull retains perfect sight, hearing, and smell - and these senses are effectively impossible to take from them. The skull itself serves as the seat of a Blendec's powers - when broken or misplaced, a Blendec loses all of their native abilities. As newly formed Blendecs with intact skulls are often far more trouble than they are worth, it is customary practice amongst nearly all fae to shatter their skulls on the spot, and even older Blendecs who can be trusted to keep peace are viewed with such wariness that threats to break their skulls are quick to fly.

Blendecs lack genitalia of any kind, though they are treated as male due to the inflection and pitch of their voices. They regularly form out of nothingness along leyline intersections, often in concert with the occurrence of intentional malign acts by other species of fae - their formation is thus easily monitored and regulated, as well as nearly continuous.

Skulls may be regained through certain rituals, kept as close secrets and unknown to even to most fae - the few who are aware of the dark proceedings often describe them as too repulsive to bear retelling. Blendecs cannot be coerced to reveal these rituals under most circumstances, and unlike most other fae will freely lie in order to safeguard the process.

Blendecs have an innate affinity and love for the mineral pitchblende, which amongst the Otherworld is found most frequently in the Far Lands and around the base of Yggdrasil, though not in proximity to Mimameith. They can sense when pitchblende is near, a factor contributing greatly to Blendec's status as pests due to their rampant and illegal mining operations in the more secluded areas of the four courts. A Blendec may draw power from from Pitchblende in order to fuel their innate abilities, though naturally they must possess a skull in order to do so. As power is drawn from a mass of pitchblende, it will deteriorate into a soluble crystalline material, highly toxic to most fae. A Blendec may warp and meld pitchblende by touch, capable of crafting deposits into wondrous curiosities.

Court:

Blendecs are most commonly found in the Summer and Autumn Courts, with fewer numbers in the Winter Court. They are a rare sight in the Spring Court, where they are often condemned to death on-sight.

Abilities [+]

While bearing a skull, Blendecs have the innate ability to conjure, emit, and project waves of an invisible power, perceived by most as a faint wavering or distortion in the air. This power burns all organic matter on contact, and penetrates most material barriers effortlessly including walls, iron armor, and even most magical barriers - though the power itself rapidly loses potency with distance, being most dangerous at close-range. The overall power available to a blendec is largely dependent on their age, with older blendecs rumored to be capable of outright slaying nearby fae in an instant. The greatest danger of this ability to other fae is that Blendecs can draw additional power from masses of pitchblende in order to increase their potency, such that even a newly formed Blendec can constitute a dire threat if supplied with the mineral.

Limits:

In practice, few if any Blendecs possess sufficient power on their own to critically endanger other fae except by landing repeated, consecutive bombardments - though few are foolish enough to charge even a newly formed Blendec, as it is also known that repeated exposure over time can create deleterious effects even if the power itself is nearly harmless in the moment.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

The power of even aged Blendecs is rarely as immediately dangerous as a proper weapon such as a blade or bow. The true risk lies in being continuous harassed and harried by it, or else being continuously subjected to it over time. Furthermore, the burns caused on contact are easily treated such that they will heal swiftly - only damage to the inner body via exposure to an intense surge of power or else by a direct hit to a preexisting wound is difficult to heal. Finally and most obviously, a Blendec is wholly incapable of using its innate power if it bears no skull, a fact most opponents will capitalize on.

Social Standing [+]

Blendecs are the archtypical minion, pure and simple. Their large numbers and simple, malicious intellects are both readily exploited in order to create on-the-spot militias. They have just enough restraint to indulge negotiation while being single-minded enough to be easily coaxed into one's bidding through the mere promise of being able to inflict anguish and suffering upon others. They are just cunning enough to use effective tactics and to act with relative intelligence, but lack sufficient initiative to turn on their masters without warning (they will, but the attempt it usually perceived several hours if not days in advance due to their lack of subtlety). They will reliably follow orders without question so long as they are convinced they can win and that their side will permit them the greatest opportunity to torment others.

These facts are all generalized to younger Blendecs. As they age, their intellect grows considerably, making them less tractable to the whims of others. Most older Blendec are considered far more trouble than they are worth, and some fae even take it upon themselves to slay any elder Blendecs they come across as a matter of course.

Blendecs are singularly malicious creatures whose existence is defined through causing torment. Left to their own devices, they will usually seek out the nearest sapient being and attempt to plague them with misfortune and malaise. Although fairly characterized as simple-minded and dim, Blendecs have a deep well of cunning even by the standards of the fae. It is not uncommon to hear of some random fae who was not quite cautious enough or else became overconfident, and was outwitted during parlay with a Blendec. While they are young, most Blendecs will content themselves with the torment of individuals. As they grow older, Blendecs will expand their interests - elder Blendecs will spread plagues, poison wells and lakes, burn down forests, mount raids, or else hunt famous (or infamous) individuals.

Blendecs will readily band together with one another to form large groups referred to as malaises, generally led by any individual bearing a skull, or else by the eldest member amongst their number. Malaises will generally congregate to one area in order to conduct their secret rituals, or else to establish mining operations for pitchblende. Such encampments are seen as cancerous masses, and all four courts regularly mount expeditions to purge them from their lands.

Due to the general danger of permitting Blendecs to operate independently, almost all of their number are treated as slaves. It is standard procedure to break the skulls of newly formed Blendecs, and to brand them via iron sigils that they may be readily identified by their allegiance. They are employed in manners best-suited to their temperaments - as vanguard soldiers, skirmishers, torturers, extremely bothersome guards, customs and market inspectors, auditors, and jesters. Within these roles they excel, as their cunning and focus on causing anguish in others hones them to become supremely focused upon their tasks, as well as attentive. It is nigh-impossible to hide anything from a Blendec inquisitor, as they will endlessly burrow through sheaths of paperwork and webs of obfuscation if only to cause minute inconvenience for an individual. Likewise, Blendec guards are always as invasively thorough as their master will permit them to be, examining each and every centimeter of a visitor's body as well as their possessions - while also remaining at high alert during the course of their regular duties, always on the lookout for a potential victim to harass or question. They are easily rendered more powerful by supplying them with Pitchblende, enabling any lord to create a a formidable garrison, and they are generally insufficiently discreet to mount a mutiny or stage betrayal without forewarning.

To suppress their inherent malicious natures and to make them more pliable, it is standard practice to condition Blendecs from formation via averse conditioning, hexes, contracts, and glamours to make them more obedient to their designated master. Most Blendecs regardless have limited lifespans of usefulness, and past several hundred years will become too unstable to be reliably controlled - resulting in most of their elders being regularly executed and purged by the four courts.

Culturally, the Blendecs have a tendency to use the remnants of the fallen in their decor. They are fond of erecting cairns, bone totems, and crafting any number of accessories and jewelry with which to adorn themselves (some of which retains a high value even amongst the fae). Although they do not eat, Blendecs enjoy cooking anything or anybody they can catch in large diluted-iron cauldrons, smearing the resulting charnel across their furnishings and dwellings, and use specific spices and herbs in order to create unique, horrifying scents. One can always smell a Blendec home long before it is seen. On occasion, high-society fae might serve courses of Blendec cooking in order to insult their guests (though some will assert that it can be quite satisfactory, as an acquired taste).

Elder Blendecs are few in number, as they are regularly purged within regular society and hunted in the wild, secluded areas of the Otherworld. A small number of them are kept as elite guardians or else as advisers (as they make for excellent if dangerous verbal sparring partners), as well as to form a foci of authority within their dominion around which they can exert control over younger Blendecs. A large town might have a single elder Blendec, carefully monitored, as the head of a watch.

As a whole, Blendecs are not permitted entry into the Spring Court under any circumstance, and are to be slain on sight. This stems from their intuitive hatred for Mimameith, felt so keenly that few means of binding their urge to damage and destroy it are known. There are several historical incidents of attempted attacks on Mimameith by malaises prior to their permanent exile from the Spring Court. Younger Blendecs are typically incapable of verbalizing their aversion to the tree's existence, with elder Blendec's usually delivering cryptic answers.

The tree Mimameith...it is abhorrent. Like painless iron. I hear it...as one hears a flickering light needing to be doused.

Historical Impact [+]

Everything herein is subject to change pending review and various lore and world building.

• During the fourth civil war shortly after the Seelie and Unseelie courts were further divided into the Four Seasons Courts, the then King of the Blendecs Amarok attempted to take advantage of the momentary chaos in order to conquer the Autumn Court. The attempt failed when the power of one of Caliburn's Shards was used in order to shatter Amarok's skull, which so thoroughly demoralized his hosts that many of them broke and fled on the spot.
• A Malaise of Blendecs led by the gluttonous Belphamin made an effort to seize the Dagda's Cauldron (details pending further development).
• Upon the creation of Mimameith, dozens of Malaises immediately descend upon the Spring Court and make a concerted effort to reach the tree. Disorganized and blinded beyond their normal cunning by their desire to ruin Mimameith, their efforts are easily thwarted. As constant Blendec attacks begin to plague the realm, their kind are exiled from the region for all time.
• A Malaise of Blendecs breaks through the boundary of the Autumn Court, vanishing into the Far Reaches. To this day, rumors speak of a Blendec Conclave in the desolate lands, built around and within a massive pitchblende mine.
• Sathanas, the current King of the Blendecs, forces entry through the boundary into the realm surrounding Yggdrasil.
• A Duke of the (pending court with worldbuilding), either by fluke or intentionally (it is commonly held), becomes bound to the service of a newly formed and nameless Blendec. His hold is transformed into a Blendec conclave, from which untold havoc in wrought before the Blendec forces finally succumb to a concerted siege.
• A Blendec triumvirate attempts to establish a freehold in the Autumn Court (more information upon further development).
• A small militia of enslaved Blendecs handily repel an overwhelming assault on their master's hold. While it was already common knowledge that Blendecs make for excellent guards, the enormity of their success in this instance inspires the creation of a military treatise on their effectively use, which has become a staple manuscript.
• The False-King Marduk is established as Ruler of the Blendecs by the (court pending further development).
• The Benign Compact is signed by (willing courts). The False King Marduk exerts total control over every Blendec that forms, being aware of their true names.
• The number of Elder and Ancient Blendecs amongst the various courts explode, as Blendecs are no longer considered threatening as long as the False King Marduk retains control over them. The interim period herein is referred to as the Era of Docility.
• The Era of Docility ends when Sathanas, current King of the Blendecs, emerges from the boundary surrounding Yggdrasil. Having formed prior to the Benign Compact, their true name is unknown to Marduk. The vexing distortions of time around the world tree have aged Sathanas considerably by this point, far further in degree relative to the thousands of years he spent around Yggdrasil's base. After wreaking considerable havoc in the surrounding area, he closes in on Marduk's stronghold. He enters and slays every entity therein, and subverts the Benign Compact to his own advantage so that he becomes aware of the true name of every Blendec formed from that point onward. He then retreats back through the boundary surrounding the world tree.
• A second False King, Ashinhil, is selected by the (willing courts), and a second Benign Compact Signed. However, the newly signed compact has no effect. Ashinhil struggles to control the Blendec populace in Otherworld at the behest of his masters, but manages to produce a viable if fragile stability.
• Sathanas emerges from the boundary surrounding Yggdrasil once more, and uses his knowledge of Ashinhil's true name to subvert the False King's holdings before slaying him. Sathanas then demands recognition of his authority from the four courts, promising to keep the Blendec populaces docile if the courts will recognize him as their True King (pending development).

I've got a couple of minor things but before that what are these fae based on? When searching the name the only thing I could find is an enemy from a fantasy video game.

@Prince of Seraphs my stage? Yeah, but...is there really any point in hammering out sheets for an rp I may not get to join? *eyes Nyx* Iunno, maybe I am a little bitter. ...Also trying to finish my 4e char's feats for next weekend, and wikis are dangerous when you're easily distracted. I have some ideas for things, and I do kinda like coming up with species and stuff, but mythological accuracy has never been particularly important to me. My preference is usually to be inspired, not constrained. *shrug* We'll see.

I do have a couple of proper Bards, though they're not generally fey in the Court sense. Might be able to bring one of those in. Would you be alright with traveling musicians being given leeway not usually granted to others, in exchange for the news they bring? Perhaps they are completely unaligned from any court, perhaps they have a loose allegiance but generally remain neutral (or are subtly taking sides but avoid actively doing so, as well as any serious twisting of facts). Perhaps the special permissions are suspended if they wish to take a side during times of conflict -- or perhaps they are lost permanently. Lemme know what you think.

@Prince of Seraphs It's not precisely a dealbreaker, but I can't think of anyone else at the moment that would fit an intrigue rp, particularly not that isn't in use anywhere else. Most of my characters are in use somewhere most of the time, though not always as a focus. And I'm still waiting on an answer to whether or not I'll get to play that dynamic elsewhere. *sigh* Kinda getting frustrated, but I just need to keep telling myself to be patient.

Intrigue is not my normal stomping ground, thus the lack of numerous suitable characters. I'm rolling the thought around, but it's not shaking anything loose yet. I might contribute a species or two as time and inclination permit. I just dunno. You have a fair point about duplicating dynamics. Hm. Maybe...I do have a couple of proper Bards, though they're not generally fey in the Court sense. Might be able to bring one of those in. Would you be alright with traveling musicians being given leeway not usually granted to others, in exchange for the news they bring? Perhaps they are completely unaligned from any court, perhaps they have a loose allegiance but generally remain neutral (or are subtly taking sides but avoid actively doing so, as well as any serious twisting of facts). Perhaps the special permissions are suspended if they wish to take a side during times of conflict -- or perhaps they are lost permanently. Lemme know what you think.