Mirrorskin is one of the sub-types of the Darkling seeming. Masters of disguise whose real forms are malleable as clay, theirs is the blessing of the Mercurial Visage.
Overview
Deceit and illusion are the fae’s stock in trade. The Mirrorskins are the epitome of deception, being shifters even without the benefit of Contracts. Mirrorskins have gained a number of possible faces, at the cost of their own.
Many Mirrorskins never make it back home to the mortal world, due to the dehumanizing aspects of their durance. When a Keeper creates a Mirrorskin, it’s usually by stripping away aspects of the captive’s identity so that they can be more easily replaced by the identity they’re imitating. Too many lose too much; it’s only those who can hold on to some vital core of themselves who can escape. There’s perhaps a higher proportion of Mirrorskins who suffer from partial amnesia than any other kith.
A Mirrorskin’s fae mien is often distinctive forits lack of distinction. Their features may seem somewhat more abstracted, almost artificial — if they have features at all. Some are practically faceless, or have features that run and drip like wax. Many are androgynous. Some appear to be almost patchwork creatures, their features mimicking one person’s eye, another’s nose, a third’s mouth. Only the Mask remembers a Mirrorskin’s original features, and even then it’s not a certainty. Some Mirrorskins have strengthened their Masks and looked at their reflections in hopes of seeing their true faces once more, only to discover that the Mask somehow didn’t reflect their memories. It, too, seemed just a bit more… homogenous. It’s enough to make a changeling doubt her own sanity.
Durance
The uses for a Mirrorskin are myriad. Particularly trusted servants might be sent to act as spies or tricksters in their Keepers’ name. Most Mirrorskins instead must wear different faces for their Keepers’ amusement, perhaps even serving as living mirrors to reflect the Keeper’s cosmetic changes. A Mirrorskin might be a masquer acting out plays of mortal folly, a concubine of a thousand different faces, a jester mocking the Keeper’s servants or rivals or a bogeyman used to threaten other servants. Some Mirrorskins are forced to take on the faces of other True Fae, so that the Keeper may practice his politics — or vent his frustration — without fear of reprisal from someone as strong as himself.
Folklore
Some Mirrorskins are apprenticed to classical doppelgängers, taught to mimic their enemies and prey. They may appear to the loved ones of the people they imitate, stirring up delicious anguish with their actions — such as appearing to a wife who had just received (or is just about to receive) news of her husband’s death. Many others are bound to shapeshifting fae of all stripes. Such Mirrorskins learn to play the coquette or helpless traveler to lure a kind -hearted or lusty human into a trap, or to take the form of a dreaded tormentor to milk the old fears of the abused.
Frailties
Cannot abide being called by true name, injured by strikes to the shadow, cannot ignore questions posed to them, repelled by mirrors, must stop and listen to echoes, cannot tread on broken glass.
References
- Changeling: the Lost Rulebook, p. 106
- Winter Masques, p. 70