Editing Glamour (section)

===Weaknesses ===
Glamour's power is expended and it wears away whenever the glamour is challenged - when people notice or call attention to the flaws. If it breaks entirely, reality will reassert itself violently.<ref name=":0" /> A degree of faith or self-delusion is key to using glamour.<ref>I ran my hand along my arm, so the skin that stretched between thumb and index finger dragged along the surface.<br><br>I ''willed'' it to change.<br><br>The effect was minimal at best.<br><br>What had Ms. Lewis told me about the Faerie?<br><br>Self delusion.<br><br>I did it again.  This time, I relaxed and let myself ''believe'' it would change.  A leap of faith.  I visualized my hand peeling away the paler skin, revealing my normal skin tone beneath.<br><br>It was eerie, seeing it take hold.  My tattoos as they’d been before, less beautiful, but still gorgeous and entirely ''mine''. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/02/18 Excerpt] from [[Breach 3.2]]</ref> It has an inherent fragility to it, and if the lie is challenged directly in word or deed, it's liable to break.<ref>But there is a fragility to it.  An idea is an idea, after all, and if you dismiss it or if you challenge the lie and win, then it is liable to fall apart. [...] As your partner Rose already said, they’re weak against the unrefined, against crude things.  That includes attitudes.  Their court is one of dancing around subjects, allusions, games, masquerades, and complex plots that unfold over decades and centuries.  They shore themselves and their reality up with glamour, and they use these illusions-made reality to fool even themselves.  It catches them off guard when you are blunt.  It offends them on a fundamental level, because they thrive off of belief, real or otherwise, and they don’t like for those beliefs to be challenged. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/damages-2-5/ excerpt] from [[Damages 2.5]]</ref><ref>“How do you break a glamour?” Avery asked.  “You said it could be done delet-”<br>
“Deleteriously.”<br>
“Yeah.  How would I deal with it if someone did it to me?”<br>
“A complex question, depending on-”<br>
“Brute force,” Guilherme cut in.  “Typical glamour is fragile.”<br>
“Oh,” Lucy said.<br>
Avery jumped as Lucy tossed Verona out of her arms.<br>
The creature flipped end over end, and then hit the ground, sprawling.  In the hidden movements and shifts of dust from the awkward collision with the floor, masked by the tricks darkness played on the eyes, the weasel became human Verona again.<br>
“Ow!  Geez!  My tailbone!” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/stolen-away-2-3/ excerpt] from [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/stolen-away-2-3/ Stolen Away 2.3]</ref> Even emotional shocks can damage glamour<ref>Pamela leaned in, and Avery stopped talking, pausing to wrestle with herself.<br>
The glamour broke across her chest, like a crack spreading across ice, starting at the heart. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/stolen-away-2-3/ excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.3]]</ref>.<ref>He clubbed at her with a makeshift cudgel, and the armor glamour broke away.  Through his sleeve, she bit at his forearm, crunching down until something ''gave''.  The shock of it made more of the glamour peel away. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/11/30/playing-a-part-15-10/ excerpt] from [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/11/30/playing-a-part-15-10/ Playing a Part 15.10]</ref> Glamour is strongest when given something solid to serve as a backbone; for this reason, scraps of Other materials are often used by the Fae in their workings,<ref>“I dinnae have names for where I go.  I just go,” Alpeana said.  “Maricica comes, now and then.”<br>
“I need materials sometimes,” Maricica said.  “Glamour is strongest when you build on a solid backbone.  There are places you can go that are more Other than human.  Many are hazardous.  The ruins, the abyss, the warrens- detestable.”<br>
“Goblin infested,” Guilherme noted, speaking up for the first bit in a while.<br>
“The paths, the spirit world.  The Faerie courts, of course.  There are other Other places.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/stolen-away-2-3/ excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.3]]</ref> or physical materials such as moss or cobweb.<ref>I understand it happened, I was a short flight from here, on the west bank of the river, collecting spiderwebs and mosses for a structured glamour. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/stolen-away-2-2/ excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.2]]</ref>

Like most forms of magic, the workings of [[Karma]] mean that attempting to gain more than you have rightfully earned through glamour risks backlash equal to whatever you gained.<ref>“You said everything has a cost,” I said.  “What’s the cost, here?”<br><br>“A very good question,” Ms. Lewis said.  “Tell me, how does it go in the stories?  A woman gets the favor of a family of brownies, provided she rubs ointment on the brownie child’s eyes once a night.  She’s warned she should never use it on herself, but she does, and she gains the ability to see the brownies as they go about their business in the city.  She is discovered, and as punishment, they strike her blind.”<br><br>“Ironic punishment,’ Rose said.  “Karma.”<br><br>“The universe seeks balance, and it can be heavy handed.  You might earn the earring that gives you an uncanny ability to listen, and this is tolerable, because you earned it.  But when the earring is lost, balance is restored, and-”<br><br>“You might go deaf,” I said.  “Or you could lose the ability to hear kind words, or you could get the ears of an ass and your ass-ears can’t understand everyone’s mocking whisperings behind your back.  I think I get the drift.”<br><br>“You do.  Think of what you’re willing to lose before you turn that lock of hair to a purpose.  Should you misuse it or treat this little thing of power poorly, you’ll pay a price equal to what you gained.  But for the time being, I recommend you take time for it.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/damages-2-6/ excerpt] from [[Damages 2.6]]</ref> Some creatures, such as [[Brownie]]s, deliberately exploit this by giving their labor "freely" to build up a karmic price which they can extract when the terms of the bargain are broken, the weight of karma lending them strength in exacting it.<ref>She couldn’t express gratitude, or the brownies would turn on her.  With the one-sided arrangement, a karmic debt was accrued, but there were always rules.  The faerie-adjacent brownies might strike a deal, like never ever watching them work.  When a hapless, curious individual finally did, they would be blinded.  The more the debt, the worse the fate.<br><br>The last incident with the kitchen brownies had been six years ago.  Just over two thousand days and nights of breakfasts and dinners provided without a disruption of the arrangement.  At this point, the person who crossed the brownies would probably not be allowed to die, as the karmic debt came to roost. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/stolen-away-2-z/ excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.z]]</ref><ref>[[Gone Ahead 7.7]]</ref> Even inanimate glamours will eagerly take on forms that can lead to karmic backlash and further empower them.<ref name=":6" />

Imbibing glamour can give the Faerie whose glamour it is power over you,<ref name=":4">He adjusted his grip, no longer holding the hook properly, and instead held her hand that held the hook. He leaned in, and her wings intervened, patterns peeling away and swaying like cobras before the bite.<br><br>And he didn’t care. He bit into her arm, fended off the first cobras, and savaged her.<br><br>“Stop!” Lucy shouted. She didn’t have hook, knife, or gun. So she drew a weapon with the weapon ring, turning a pen into a rapier blade.<br><br>[...]<br><br>“Stop,” Maricica said, calm, as her arm was torn down to bone. “You know this only gives me power over you.”<br><br>“I don’t,” he started, mouth bloody and partially full. He swallowed and finished, “care.”. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/03 Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.1]]</ref> and using it on an object can give the Faerie claim over that object.<ref>“You give up a bit of claim to the person who gave you the glamour, every time you make the change.  They could take these items from you in a critical moment.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/vanishing-points-8-7/ excerpt] from [[Vanishing Points 8.7]]</ref>

Glamour feeds on subconscious acceptance, and strives to become unnoticed, which often entails slipping free of the user.<ref name=":1" /> It's possible to decieve reality and yourself too well and lose track of your true identity. To avoid this, glamour users will often leave a deliberate "tell" in their assumed shape to remind themselves of their real identity - although others can catch on to the tell as well.<ref name=":0" />