Venombite is one of the sub-types of the Beast seeming. They are Changelings who have an affinity with poisonous creatures, such as poisonous spiders and insects, or poisonous reptiles. Their blessing is Poisonous Bite.
Overview[]
Some Beasts’ natures go one step beyond the classifications of predator or prey, or of whether they were runners, swimmers or fliers. Their nature is simple: they’re venomous. Faerie is full of poisons and venoms of all sorts, and the Venombites are those changelings who were changed by such noxious substances to become lethal themselves. While not necessarily any more malicious than their fellow Lost, the Venombites know that there is always one more option when dealing with a bad problem. Whether or not they let this option poison their very hearts is up to the individual changeling.
Similar to other Beasts, Venombites have a wide variety of ways in which their natures may have manifested in their fae miens. Reptilian Venombites show notable scales, and the long folding fangs of a viper or the short envenomed teeth of a coral snake or Gila monster. A spider-kin might have cobwebby hair and a tendency to attract her smaller cousins, and a scorpionman might have fingertips ending in short stingers like the tails of his cousins. Their coloration is often quite vivid, and markings common to their associated animals typically show themselves on a Venombite’s flesh. A cobra-woman wears on her brow the spectacled marks on the back of a cobra’s hood. A small South American Venombite has the bright coloration of a poison-arrow tree frog. One spider-Beast has the fiddleback mark of a brown recluse; another displays a red hourglass just above her navel. Most Venombites show off these marks openly when dealing with other Lost. It’s something of a gesture of trust — a commodity all too dear to changelings.
Durance[]
Venombites are largely the creations of True Fae who had a particular need or affinity for Venombites’ poison. Many were enslaved by ogres, hags or other twisted and poisonous Gentry. Made into venomous animals to match their Keepers’ bitterness, Venombites shared their durance with Darklings, Ogres, and other unfortunates. Venombites may have served as familiars, or been used as “pest control.” Some were even used in the fashion of the legendary poison maiden: groomed to produce a particularly toxic venom, dressed up in the fashion of a concubine or decorative servant, then given to a neighboring True Fae as a present with instructions to bite when the time was right. Owing to the level of mistrust between Gentry, this ruse worked best when the recipient wasn’t a rival, but just an unwitting neighbor whose surprised agonies would amuse the sender.
Folklore[]
As noted above, spiders are often trickster figures in folklore. They can also be creators, fashioning the entire world in some Native American traditions. When spiders’ venom is a particular point of the myth, though, they are predictably malicious. The reputation of the black widow and similar spiders is well-known, and many cultures tell stories of spiders that take human form to attract a mate, and then a meal. Scorpions also have a generally poor reputation, from the common fable of the scorpion that kills another animal helping it because “it’s my nature” to the Sumerian stories of demonic scorpion-men spawned by Tiamat.
Frailties[]
Repelled by garlic, attracted to crushed basil, may not enter a domicile by the door, compelled to eat small insects, fears bats, cannot fall asleep in a lover’s bed.
References[]
- CTL: Changeling: The Lost Rulebook, p. 102
- CTL: Winter Masques, p. 65