Loyalist is a term used to describe a changelings who are, wittingly or otherwise, working for their True Fae masters.
Overview
Few changelings are as universally labeled “villains” as those who willingly serve the Others, either directly or by proxy. Madmen are insane and cannot be held responsible for their actions. Bridge burners have their hearts in the right place if nothing else. But actively working to return other changelings to the servitude of the Gentry is truly unforgivable. Even in freeholds with relatively liberal codes of justice, privateering and serving the Fae are almost always punishable by death.
Loyalists serve the Fae either of fear or of worship but they are universally reviled by every other Changeling as their goals oppose those of most other Changelings and they betray those with whom they should feel sympathy and companionship.
Regular contact with the Others is not healthy for the mind and as a consequence, many Loyalists are insane. The insanity of a loyalist is often tainted in some way by the strange compulsions and taboos of the True Fae the loyalist serves — a servant of the Prince of Ten Thousand Midnights goes into a hysterical panic if caught outside at dawn, while a slave of the Chatelaine of Crimson mumbles incessantly about the allure of blood.
Madness-driven loyalists are quite common, but are not encountered often in the mortal realm — the Gentry seem to find these loyalists’ derangements soothing, or at least amusing, and often call them back to longer and longer service within Faerie.
References
- Changeling: The Lost Rulebook, p. 67, 262-264