Category:South Court

Nicknames: The Vermilion Court, The Ink Brush, The Court of Song

Emotion: Ecstasy

Heraldry: Red & Black

Symbol: Phoenix

Contracts: Four Directions

Mantle: The Mantle of the Court of the South is one of passion and chaos. Those with Mantle 1 to 3 give off a kind of heat, a faint warmth radiating outward that excites the pulse. Those with Mantle 4+ often possess faintly red eyes, and those in their wake often find themselves giving into their Virtues and Vices more plainly. Sometimes, those of high Mantle leave behind an occasional bird-like footprint that smolders with smoke and steam.

A Vermilion courtier with Mantle 1+ gains a Specialty to her Empathy Skill. A character with Mantle 3+ finds that she can purchase the Empathy and Expression Skills at half the normal experience point cost. A courtier with Mantle 5 finds that her emotions affect others around her and may even shift her own flesh. She can take either the Inspiring Merit or the four-dot Striking Looks Merit. If both are already possessed, she gains +3 dice to the roll made to use the Inspiring Merit.

Life is chaos and passion. Life is also art, and art needn't be comfortable. The Lost of the Vermilion Court do not try to connect with humanity, but instead exult in being changelings. They do not deny any emotion, whether it be love or hate, hope or despair. Instead, they endeavor to feel it so keenly that it nearly destroys them. Love is felt so strongly that it might elevate one to the uttermost heights of bliss or the lowest pits of gloom. Anger is just as pure, and a changeling of the Vermilion Court might let his anger burn off swiftly in a sudden conflagration of violence, or he may instead let it simmer for years, even decades, nursing on his fury like a bottomless bottle of rice wine.

The Lost are a part of that emotional world, hewing far closer to it than humans ever could -- changelings experience it, feed from it, and the Court of the South rewards them for doing so.

How does this help them thwart the Fae? Because emotion can give the Lost power. It is tied intimately to Glamour, and a changeling who knows how to emote and orchestrate the emotions of others can be quite powerful, indeed. Each changeling of this Court consider himself an artist. While many embrace various means to express that artist's desire (calligraphy, song, sculpture, theater), all believe that a changeling's innate abilities represent a true art. They all practice it, learning new Contracts, clauses and catches, finding new ways to bond humans with Byzantine pledges, seeking out the rarest and most delectable fruits in the Hedge.

Changelings of other Courts find those of this Vermilion Court to be captivating and frightening. Because the Lost of this Court give into their emotions so fully, it becomes madness. These changelings know they're all at least a little bit mad (and of course, a loss of Clarity is common among them), but they feel it's a necessary price to pay. They try not to manufacture emotions, however -- it seems foolish to try to feel something that isn't obviously felt, to dredge up false emotions just for the hollow experience of having it. But when an emotion does well up naturally within them -- a flash of lust for a pretty thing across the room, a stab of jealousy for the Hunterheart who has already kissed the back of her hand -- they embrace it, act upon it, stoke it like a fire. The courtier might go to that pretty thing and casually push past the Hunterheart. Should his romantic rival react in an adverse way (and why wouldn't we), the courtier might kick him in the kneecap, break a bottle over his head or simply whisper a jaw-dropping threat in the poor Beast's ear. Then, of course, the courtier will sweep the lady off her feet and charm her like none other (until he's done with her, of course, having found a prettier thing by the door).

All within the Court are artists of some fashion, as well. This allows them some avenue to express their emotions, and it's suggested that this helps them mitigate any Clarity loss. One might be a perfect calligraphist, while another a harpist. But art needn't be so commonly defined: There is an art to seduction, an art to engineering or architecture, even an art to inspiring (and destroying) emotions in others.

Winter Masques pg 128-130